IT was no coincidence that the winners of this year’s Tour of Pendle were both in their forties, with experience proving to be the all important ingredient as temperatures plunged and the heavens opened.

It was only two or three degrees above freezing as the runners left a breezy Barley village on Saturday morning with a gruelling 16.8 miles and almost 5,000 feet of climb ahead.

There was soon worse to come with hail and icy rain bombarding the field before the leaders finished under clear blue skies.

Most of the athletes started well-wrapped in cagoules but it was James Logue and Lynne Clough who proved to be best equipped for the job, finishing in respective times of 2hrs 27mins 34secs and 3hrs 7mins 56secs.

Todmorden-based Logue has completed the Tour around five times before and he was in front almost from start to finish.

Apart from the first half mile he was headed only briefly by Matt Nuttall of Blackburn Harriers, who caught up when Logue paused to take food on board.

Logue, now with the Calder Valley club, represented Northern Ireland in the 1999 and 2000 World Trophies and was also an orienteering international until 2001, so he knew the optimum route and gave the opposition no overtaking opportunities.

He enjoys the course because it is challenging without having the rocky terrain of the Lakes and felt that local knowledge was vital as the second half is harder than the first.

Chorley Harriers fielded a race winner for the second successive year as Clough followed Dominic Raby into the record books.

The race is her favourite and she has been third in each of the last two years.

It was only after the event that she realised that she had been in front all the way.

To prevent the marshals being out on the course for too long, the race organiser had allowed some of the slower runners to start half an hour early, and because of this the spectators hadn’t been able to tell Clough if she was the first woman.

Whether she knew it or not, she was under pressure late on from Molly Ralphson of Trawden AC, the Pendle and Burnley Grand Prix champion, who was less than a minute behind in 3:08:42.

Tiring during the final climb, the person handing out flapjacks at the top proved to be Clough’s saviour, helping maintain her energy levels to the finish.

The leading men were well spaced out with 17 minutes between first and fifth.

Logue had three minutes in hand over Holmfirth’s Tom Brunt and 2008 co-winner Paul Thompson, the first Clayton Harrier, was third in 2:34:36.

Nuttall, the second veteran, took fourth in 2:36:08 and Blackburn had a second counter with John Sutton eighth in 2:45:52.

Clayton’s Tim Edward and Garry Wilkinson were first and third in the over 45s, taking 10th and 12th respectively, while last year’s champion Raby was 23rd this time.

Just 33 athletes bettered three hours – including Craig Stansfield of Rossendale Harriers, Leigh Warburton representing Bowland Fell Runners, who was second over 50, and the Clayton duo of Dave Motley and Neil Hardiman, who made it by seconds.

Club chairman Pete Booth missed the target by a minute but won the over 60 class with nine minutes to spare.

A record 404 entries produced 329 starters and 310 finishers – a great tribute to organiser Kieran Carr and his team of marshals, many of who spend hours at their posts every year.