EIGHTEEN-year-old Nick Samuels led home a quartet of young East Lancashire stars in the Horwich Jubilee Road Race at Rivington.

In the third race of a series of four, Nick's time of 21:33 on the tough 4.2 mile course won him the junior prize with seventh overall. First under 18 was fellow Blackburn Harrier Ben Fish (14th) and 20-year-old Keith Johnston of Chorley Harriers (17th) was just eight seconds behind.

Chris White of Rossendale, barely 17, took third in the under 18 class, finishing 25th in the field of 182.

There was also an outstanding performance by a junior in the ladies race. Fifteen year old Laura Hughes was second behind Lisa Heyes of Wigan Phoenix. A measure of her achievement was that she beat in-form Clayton Harrier Vanessa Peacock by over a minute. Vanessa, who took third, was the leading veteran by a comfortable margin.

Blackburn Harriers' Evan Cook (12th) and George Woodburn (30th) were second and third M45s behind Altrincham's Peter Pickwell. Chorley Harriers' John McDonald (2nd M55) and Jeanette Coleman (3rd L40) were among a squad of 30 Chorley Harriers in attendance.

Campbell McCorkindale was 20th, Alan Alty 22nd, Travers Lawrence 29th and veteran John Chaplin 34th.

Race winner Duncan Mason (Salford) has not competed in the full series so veteran Stephen Williams is the overall leader despite finishing only 13th in this race. The final event is on Wednesday August 11.

Laura Hughes, who runs for Horwich already, and lives in Blackrod, has won the under 16s English Fell Running Championships, having won all four races to date.

Two other local runners, Candy Hamilton of Blackburn Harriers in the under 12s, and Katie Ingram of Chorley Harriers in the under 14s, could make it a triple success for the area.

Each missed the first race, but have won the next three. For both girls one win from the last two fixtures would clinch the national title.

Results - Men: 1 Duncan Mason (Salford) 20:38; 2 Andy Parker (Bolton) 20:47; 3 Anthony Rowlands (Horwich) 20:59; 7 (1st junior) Nick Samuels (Blackburn Harriers) 21:33.

Ladies: 1 (31st overall) Lisa Heyes (Wigan) 23:22; 2 (40th, 1st U18) Laura Hughes (Horwich) 23:46; 3 (57th, 1st L45) Vanessa Peacock (Clayton) 24:48; 10 (106th, 3rd L40) Jeanette Coleman (Chorley Harriers) 27:56.

Blackburn Harriers: 14 (1st U18) Ben Fish 22:08; 19 (2nd M45) Evan Cook 22:20; 30 (3rd M45) George Woodburn 23:20; 48 Tony Wood 24:18. Chorley Harriers: 17 Keith Johnston 22:16; 20 Campbell McCorkindale 22:22; 22 Alan Alty 22:52; 29 Travers Lawrence 23:19; 34 John Chaplin 23:32; 53 Adam Robinson 24:33; 56 Malc Christie 24:43; 60 Phil Walbank 25:06; 65 C Cowley 25:20; 69 Chris Lane 25:44; 75 Dave Lee 26:10; 76 Rick Bennett 26:12; 82 William Unsworth 26:30; 89 (2nd M55) John McDonald 26:55; 96 Michael Unsworth 27:04; 105 Martin Bennett 27:52; 119 Martin Harrington 28:55; 123 Lee Meredith 29:18; 130 Lisa Unsworth 29:39; 140 Richard Smith 30:29; 142 Mike Ogle 30:34; 143 Graham Stephenson 30:34; 145 Daryl Peter 30:52; 146 Don Hesketh 30:52; 151 Alan Matthews 31:17; 158 W Smith 32:39; 164 Tom Hilton 33:04; 172 Barrie Thompson 34:47.

Rossendale: 25 (3rd U18) Chris White 23:05.

Clayton: 39 Trevor Rutherford 23:45; 55 Michael O'Rourke 24:40; 99 Vincent Brodrick 27:26.

Hyndburn: 42 John O'Rourke 23:55.

West Pennine Runners: 58 Wilf Brindle 24:59; 154 Bernice Greenhalgh 31:51; 160 Peter Demaine 32:43; 169 Sheila Fogg 33:53.

Blackburn RR: 124 Tony Martin 29:19.

Darwen Dashers: 135 Brian Tull 30:09; 149 Jim Taylor 31:06.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.