IN FRONT: Rossendale's Jon Ferguson came 105th in the London Marathon
Jon Ferguson and Sarah Ridehalgh were East Lancashire's first finishers in the 2008 Flora London Marathon held last Sunday.
Ridehalgh broke one of the few Accrington Road Runners' club records she didn't already possess as she clocked 3:13:04 to eclipse Donna Beardmore's previous mark of 3:19.
Clayton-le-Moors Harrier Tracy Mitchell, now an over 35 veteran, pushed her all the way though with a personal best of 3:14:16, and by breaking 3:15 the pair will now earn an earlier start with the elite women in next year's race.
Davina Raidy from Rossendale, Clayton's Dany Robson and Laura Bannister, Burnley Athletic Club's only entrant, all beat the 3:30 mark.
Sports journalist Robson set a lifetime best of 3:24:49, while Raidy, who managed 3:19:21, will now be looking forward to Davina's Birthday Bash, an Andy O'Sullivan race in her honour at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Rossendale's Ferguson was easily the fastest of our local men, his 2:35:30 put him 105th outright and nearly 13 minutes clear of over 40 veteran Paul Archer of Clayton, who was the only other local under 2:50 with 2:48:09.
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Alex Whittem of Todmorden, Red Rose Road Runner Fred Lynch and Kevin Davies representing Clayton all cracked three hours, Fred as an over 50 veteran.
Also in his fifties, Clayton's Mick Green continued his remarkable sequence of more than 20 high quality Londons' with 3:05:46, and there were more vintage performances from Norma Smith, Bill Atkinson and Kitty Garnett.
Smith, Blackburn Road Runners chairman, improved by four minutes to 3:51:46, yet surprisingly was only' fifth over 60 woman after taking third 12 months ago.
Clayton's Kitty Garnett, who has advanced to the over 70s this time, was third in class in 4:42:08, while Atkinson from Longridge was 11th over 70 in 4:09:41.
Usually he only runs in London when he changes age band, but now aged 71 he was a year late this time.
Accrington's Harry Haseley completed well over 100 marathons in his time, and even though he has now retired, he continues to organise a trip to the capital for around 50 local runners.
Haseley has now passed the baton to his daughter Caroline Lee, who made her debut over the distance in this year's race. Obviously just as competitive as her dad, she is claiming a personal best time!
l The entry procedure for next year's Flora London Marathon has changed, with a switch to an online system.
The public online entry ballot opened during the race on Sunday, but was closed again at 10pm on Monday by which time the limit of 80,000 applications had already been reached.
You can apply for one of the remaining 35,000 places in the ballot from Monday at 9am on the website www.london-marathon.co.uk.
There are also 5,000 paper ballot entries for runners unable to enter online, and you can apply for one by pre-registering with the London Marathon helpdesk on 020 7902 0200.
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