Leigh Lennon has returned to the top of the National Ranking List after setting an indoor mark of 58.93 seconds for the 400 metres at Sale Harriers' Open Meeting held at Sportcity, Manchester last Wednesday.

Exactly a year ago the Witton School student caused a sensation when she clocked 61.35 seconds to set the inaugural UK age group best in the first year that the distance became a "permitted" event for under 15 girls.

Her time remained the best for the remainder of the indoor season and is believed still to be the best ever recorded by a 13-year old British girl.

This year, a Hyndburn AC club member Leigh is still in the same under 15 age group and has bettered her time by nearly three seconds to set another UK record, although she remains a second outside Linsey MacDonald's 57.8 seconds, which was posted way back in 1978 at RAF Cosford when the distance was "unpermitted" for the age group.

MacDonald went on to gain Olympic success, and while Lennon would love to emulate her at London in 2012, her next stepping stone is the AAAs Indoor Championships at Birmingham this weekend.

There was a rash of personal bests for Hyndburn athletes at last week's meet with Charlotte Edmondson, Ashleigh Williams, and Catherine Dudbridge setting new marks in the 400m and Robbie Schofield, Nathan Riding, Amy Crabtree, Annabelle Ralph, Suzanne Bailey, Heather Williams and Abbie Dowling all improving in the 1,000m.

Abbie lowered her best by an astonishing 42 seconds while Ashleigh rose to 5th in the under 17 rankings.

There was also success for Park High School AC athletes Rebecca Robinson and Tiffany Boswell who were first and second in their 1,000m race.

l Leigh Lennon is fortunate to have been assisted by Eclipse Sports of Colne for the last two years, but her club mate, 17-year-old Blackburn College student Steve Sumner, is desperate for a sponsor to help him reach the next level by taking part in the bigger competitions.

The sprinter recently reached third in the UK Indoor Under 20 Rankings with 35.64 seconds for 300m and last year won medals in both the 100m and 200m at the Lancashire County and the Lancashire Schools Championships. Steve was also the Hyndburn District's Young Volunteer of the Year at the Lancashire Sports Awards in 2004 for his work with Hyndburn AC where he is a Level One Coach.

If you can help Steve, call his father Phil on 07813-628378.