BURNDEN members are well poised to claim vets titles in the Red Rose Cross Country series after the third event at Leverhulme Park.

Keith Thomas and Stew Jones lie second and third respectively in the V55 category going into the final meet at Rossendale on December 3.

On the day, Thomas was fourth V55 over the 10.2km course in 44mins 30secs with Jones crossing in 49:11.

Andy Staveley led Burnden’s men home, coming 52nd overall, third V55 and 21st vet in 42:26, closely followed by Rob Short (44:28) after a nip and tuck battle in the final stages. Paul Christie was fourth V60 in 52:16.

Other men’s results: Ed Ashton 45:38, Marcus Taylor 46:42, Pete Hopley 48:26, Christophe Menand 49:24, Laurence Keighley 49:34, Steven Bate 51:50, Tony Wall 52:56, Don Nichol 54:16, Rob Mack 54:45, Colm O’Brien 55:06.

Paula Pilling is currently third F40 going into the last race. She was 20th overall at Leverhulme, eighth ladies vet and third F40, covering the 5k course in 24:27.

Burnden dominate the current L55 rankings. Lesley Fisher lies third after last weekend, with Gwen Kinloch and Anne Ferguson equal fourth and Elaine Roper sixth, despite her missing Saturday’s race.

On the day Fisher was 17th vet and third L55 in 25:34, followed by Kinloch, 20th vet and fourth L55 in 26:41. Ferguson crossed in 27:00.

Lyndsay Darbyshire was fourth L45 and 19th vet in 26:25. Sarah Watton finished the race in 25:33, followed by Vicki Hamer in 26:06, Jane Forrest in 28:28 and Louise Wall in 37:30.

The times of Pilling, Fisher and Darbyshire earned Burnden third place in the vets’ team standings and they are handily poised to maintain that position or even improve on it when the series is completed in Rossendale.

The annual Hell of a Hill challenge over six loops of Rivington Pike each day for five days, organised by Burnden members Phil and Melissa Eccleston, attracted several members.

Lorraine Halwood took the honours by completing the first three arduous marathons in remarkably consistent times. She finished the first day in 5:52:14, followed that up the day after with 6:08:25 and then finished off with a time of 6:22:31.

Dave Beevers managed to finish the first and last marathons, with times of 8:44:52 on day one and 8:53:34 on the Sunday.

John McMyler was the fastest over the course and the leading one-day entrant from the club with a really quick time of 5:08:38 to finish 18th overall on day five.

Matt and Carolyn Barker battled torrential water underfoot on the fourth day but posted terrific times in the conditions of 5:32:30 and 5:44:24 respectively.

Jackie Oakes recorded a similarly superb time on day one, returning in 5:52:13 with Craig Philpot also dipping under six hours with his time of 5:59:11 on day five.

Iain Conner picked a toughie for his first marathon and clocked a superb 6:21:26 on day five, just ahead of Peter Whiteside (6:49:02) while Brenda Sedgwick crossed in 7:06:49 on day one.

Four members headed to Lytham for the traditional Remembrance Day Windmill 10k – a bracing race along the seafront, looping round Fairhaven Lake, which starts with runners gathering at the start to observe the two minutes’ silence before setting off.

Sharon Drew led the quartet home in 1:05:57, followed by Gemma Chapman in 1:06:54, ahead of Louise Geoghegan (1:17:33) and Ann Butler (1:17:56).