LONG distance expert Marcus Taylor showed his sprinting skills at the Northern Masters track meeting at Leigh Sports Village.

Taylor, who ran the Lakeland 100-mile race last year in under 37 hours, broke the club record for the 100m with 14.2 seconds.

Taylor and Steve Nolan both entered five track events on the night.

Nolan’s time for the 100m was 15.1secs.

In the 800m, Nolan clocked 2:24.4 while Taylor came in at 2:44.2.

The 200m race followed almost immediately and Nolan and Taylor ran 33.3secs and 31secs, respectively.

Nolan ran an excellent 1:03.9secs in the 400m while Taylor came in at 1:10.6.

The final race of the evening was the 1500m and a tiring Nolan dragged himself round in 5:24.3 and Taylor finished in 5:41.8.

The track meeting also hosted the Northern Masters 5K Championship and Mel Walker, in his quest for an England vest, took up the challenge of this 12.5-lap race.

Walker led his vet 70 category from the gun and with some well-paced running won in 22:22.1.

Holly Craggs made history by being the first Burnden woman to participate at a track meeting and ran the 800m and 400m races in 2:24.4 and 1:12.7 respectively.

Walker followed up his 5K track success by winning the V70 prize in the Joan Rhodes and Fred Norris Memorial 5K, a popular race organised by Radcliffe AC. He clocked 22:36, a full 20 seconds inside his previous best for the course.

Lorraine Halwood was first F40 in 24:42, with Julie Newton well on the way back to full strength after her cycling accident taking third place in the F45 category in 27:51. Lucille Corrigan was fourth F45, recording the same time as Newton.

Andy Duffy led the club home in fifth place overall with 20:08, earning him second spot in the M50 class. Neil Critchley was third M45 in 21:40.

Three club members took on the Prudent Riverside 10-miler at Lancaster with Laurence Keighley first home in 1:15:45. Jackie Oakes completed the course in 1:23:58 with Paul Christie crossing the line in 1:26:15.

Phil Eccleston’s preparations ahead of his assault on the Snowdonia Marathon in October took him to Leek, Staffs, for the Meerbrook 15K, a tough event with over 1,000 foot of climb. He was delighted to take third place in 58:36 in a strong field.

Marcus Taylor completed the demanding course in 1:11:53 as his recovery from surgery progresses impressively.

Lesley Fisher won another F55 first prize at the Worsthorne Moor Fell Race on the moors surrounding Burnley and was seventh female runner home, finishing the 6.8-mile course in 54:31.

Glen Kenyon was 16th overall in 47:20 with Keith Thomas 28th in 48:57 and Don Nichol clocking 55:46 in a strong field of 148 runners.