BURNDEN’S Paul Duke led the club home at Leigh Sports Village in the third race in the South East Lancs Cross Country Series.

Duke was the first to finish the men’s event, coming fifth V40 in 45mins 29secs, closely followed by Keith Thomas, second V55 in 45:43.

Andy Staveley, who was fourth V55 in 46:18, Ed Ashton, third V50 in 47:13, Marcus Taylor (47:59) and Laurence Keighley (49:27) all came home in under 50 minutes.

Other Burnden results: Pete Hopley (50:33), Christophe Menand (50:54), Tony Wall (53:03), Andy Duffy (53:26), Steven Bate (55:32), Don Nichol (56:48), Andy Warburton (1:02:57), Don Taylor (1:05:10).

Duke, Thomas, Staveley and Ashton's combined times earned them eighth place in the team event, with Duke, Thomas and Staveley second in the over-40 list and Thomas, Staveley and Ashton combining to win the over-50s' category.

For the ladies, Lesley Fisher was first home, second L55, in 34:31 ahead of Lyndsay Darbyshire, second L45 in 35:07, and Gwen Kinloch, fourth L55 in 35:35.

Anne Ferguson was fifth L55 in 36:27, with Katy Thompson (38:33), Julie Newton (44:01) and Louise Wall (49:39) completing the club turnout.

Fisher, Darbyshire and Kinloch’s times won the third team prize and they were in second place in the over-35 and over-40 listings.

Fisher, Kinloch and Ferguson were first in both the over-45 and over-50 team placings.

After three races, Fisher lies in 14th place with 25 points and there are three other members in the top 30 – Darbyshire in 23rd position on 37, Kinloch in 26th place on 46 and Ferguson in joint 28th place on 48.

The ladies are sixth in the overall team rankings after three races, but second in the over-35 and over-40 team categories and first in the over-45 and over-50 classifications.

In the men’s section, Martin Whalley is currently 19th overall on 42 points, with Keith Thomas (35th on 73), Andy Staveley (38th on 74) and Paul Duke (42nd on 84) all in the top 50.

Duke lies fifth overall in the V40 age category with nine points. Christophe Menand and Laurence Keighley are joint seventh in the V45 group with 17 points each, while Ed Ashton is fifth in the V50 with seven points, followed by Pete Hopley, in 11th on 18.

Thomas and Staveley sit in second and third places in the V55 category with four points and five points, respectively, ahead of Andy Duffy (eighth on 15) and Andy Warburton (15th on 32). Don Nichol is joint fifth in the V60 category with 10 points.

The men lie in eighth place in the team standings but with genuine chances of getting in the top six come the final event at Astley Park in Chorley next month.

They are third in the over-40 team standings and second in the over 50 table.

Marcus Taylor was in action again the following day when he travelled to Preston for the Inskip Half Marathon, finishing in a time of 1:37:31.

*BURNDEN has introduced a long-distance training group for those targeting a spring marathon.

The group runs alongside the existing “next steppers” group which aims to take runners who have managed 5k move up to 10k. Both groups meet at Smithills Sports Centre every Monday at 7pm.

The structured training schedules for the marathon will last until April. The next steppers’ group runs all year round.

All groups are taken by qualified coaches. For more information visit the Burnden website at www.burndenroadrunners.co.uk