AN ALTERED course at Burnley in the Mid-Lancs League looked deceivingly less strenuous than the test in previous years, but a warning from the youngsters, who had already raced, about heavy conditions proved accurate.

Traffic queues just outside the town added to the pressure. Kendal AC's senior ladies arrived only 20 minutes before their start time and were unable to run a course warm-up.

New member 22-year-old Laura Parsons was well ahead of her team-mates on her debut run, even though she was unsure where the race would end, and she finished 24th in 27min 7sec.

Adrenaline flowing, Jane Quine was still pinning on her number when the race started, and improved on her previous Mid-Lancs performance to be 39th (28-16).

Travelling difficulties have kept Helen Parsons out of the race scene, but newly married and settled locally, she made a welcome return in 43rd (28-29).

Paula Lernelius, whose passion is for the fells, enjoyed the Blackburn race and returned for more to be 46th (28-53), closely followed by Christine Handforth, 47th (28-54) and Dianne Priestley, 48th and 4th vet 45 (28-57).

A determined Marion Smith was 59th (30-42) and eighth vet 45 while Carolyn Kevan's strong-finishing 66th (32-03) completed the vet 45 team, whose combined effort earned them first team overall.

Pauline Powell of Blackburn Harriers won for the second team ahead of Mary Wilkinson (Skipton AC) and Louise Gardner (Lancaster & Morecambe) in a field of 91.

The Kendal men had a good turnout with 10 athletes but were one short for a vet 50 team. They now have to score in the remaining four races to count for the overall prizes.

Finishing places were: A Miller 72nd, J. Quine 102nd, P. Acland 107th, M. Cronshaw 134th, M. Walker 152nd, S. McGurk 167th, D. Whitehead 205th, A. Stafford 211th, P. Ferguson 221nd, P. Percival-Smith 225th.

U15 runner Daniel Edmondson was unhappy with his previous run in the series and stepped up his performance by applying constant pressure to be rewarded with fourth place in 14-59.

Having run only one other Mid-Lancs race, Peter Jones is learning to cope with the standard required and was a pleasing 37th in 17-58.

Alisdair Russell stormed through to finish second, ahead of Dominic Jones (Lancaster & Morecambe) for the first time.

U13 Philip Jones did well on his first effort in 31st.