THE gale-force winds and freezing rain of Storm Deirdre did not stop Lostock members from enjoying a full weekend of competition, starting with a shortened Tour de Helvellyn in the Lake District.

A winter fell-running classic, this year's race was shortened from its usual 38 miles to 26.5 miles with 5,500 feetof climbing.

Starting and finishing at Askham village in conditions that made running treacherous, Mark Liptrot was the first Lostocker home in a time of 4hrs 55mins 30secs.

Albert Sunter clocked 5:24:55 with Mike Ernill and Brian Halton finishing in 6:02:37 and 6:02:44 respectively.

The second race of the South East Lancashire Cross Country league headed to Oldham and Tandle Hill – a notoriously wet and muddy race made even more difficult by the weather.

However, the weather did not stop Gill Caldwell from achieving an age-group second place in a time of 47:39, with fellow Lostockers Melonie Crompton, Karen Taylor and Kate Rotheram finishing in 41:44, 42:21 and 46:34 respectively.

Andy Laycock finished the men's race in a time of 1:01:51.

Elsewhere, the treacherous weather conditions resulted in a serious fall for Paul O’Brien but it did not prevent him finishing seventh in the second of Mad Bull’s Torch Challenge night time trail series held in and around Rivington.

One Lostocker who had no such weather problems was Claire Shewbridge who started her tenure as the club's women's road-racing captain with a time of 3:57:23 at the Valencia marathon.

At Bolton parkrun, Rachel Hancock clocked 26:08, while at Haigh Hall, Gareth Pratt finished in 22:58 and was second in his age group.