NEIL TATTERSALL'S supremacy was established early in the inaugural Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K Road Race on Sunday.

At the start, the athletes complete a lap and a half of the Witton Park track and by the time they peeled off to start the ascent of Buncer Lane, Pendle's Tattersall had already broken clear of a surprised group of chasers.

"It's hard to run slowly on the track," Neil explained afterwards. "When I looked at my watch I realised that I would run the first lap in 64 seconds so I thought I'd better slow down a bit."

The fast start failed to upset his rhythm and he ran the entire race out on his own coming home in 32:45, over two minutes ahead of former North Fylde runner Steve Littler, who is currently running unattached.

He was nearly a minute quicker than his winning time in the Europrint 10K over the same course in August and that will boost his confidence for this weekend's Inter Counties Cross Country after a disappointing run in the Northern.

There was a three-man battle to the line for third with Blackburn Harrier Paul Guinan edging out Ripon's Richard Johnson and former Chorley man Ken Moss.

Unusually, the first two veterans were both Over 50 with Northern Vet Moss shading Evan Cook, who was eighth. Tony Greenwood won the M45 class with 16th place, as Guinan, Cook and Greenwood celebrated team success for Blackburn Harriers.

No less than 35 Darwen Dashers lent their support to this new race, promoted by Blackburn Road Runners and sponsored by Sweatshop, and it was well supported by local clubs with a bumper turnout of 320 despite the poor weather conditions.

The Dashers got their reward as the women bagged the team prize with Linda Clarkson fifth, Zoe Haslam seventh and Jackie Shaw 11th. Their leading man was improving Andy Smith in sixth. Chorley Harriers could have challenged the Darwen ladies with leading local Gwen Farnworth third. Over 35 Gwen was the first veteran finisher and she was followed home by Claire Goulden in tenth, but for once one of the best organised teams in local athletics lacked a third counter.

Accrington Road Runners sent a strong team with John Wieczorek placing seventh while Mark Theaker in ninth just had the measure of tenth-placed Jason Harbour in the battle between Clayton's top two.

As ever, Clayton didn't leave empty-handed as Katy Thompson in the F45s and F60 Val Lawson both picked up age group wins. Todmorden won the M60s, M70s and F55s with Richard Blakeley, John Newby and Moyra Parfitt while Northern Vets Bill Atkinson and Jennifer Adams took the M65 and F50 titles.

Results: Men: 1 Neil Tattersall (Pendle) 32:45, 2 Steve Littler (u/a) 34:47, 3 Paul Guinan (Bburn Harr) 36:09, 5 (1st M50) Ken Moss (N Vets) 36:17, 6 Andy Smith (Darwen) 36:21, 7 John Wieczorek (Acc) 36:37, 8 (2nd M50) Evan Cook (Bburn Harr) 36:41, 9 Mark Theaker (Clay) 36:43, 10 Jason Harbour (Clay) 36:57, 11 Paul Prescott (Tod) 37:16, 13 Brian Shaw (Darwen) 37:42, 15 (2nd M40) Graham Collinge (Acc) 38:13, 16 (1st M45) Tony Greenwood (Bburn Harr) 38:19, 18 Matt Arnold (Bowland FR) 38:28, 21 (3rd M50) George Woodburn (Bburn Harr) 39:08, 28 (3rd M40)David Gaskill (Acc) 39:35, 29 Simon Galloway (Tod) 39:41, 30 Neil Cooper (Darwen) 39:57

Women: 1 (31st overall) Erika Johnson (Ripon) 39:58, 2 (42nd) Gemma Fiddes (u/a) 41:19, 3 (48th/1st F35) Gwen Farnworth (Chor Harr) 41:39, 5 (53rd/3rd F35) Linda Clarkson (Darwen) 42:03, 7 (79th/F35) Zoe Haslam (Darwen) 44:05, 9 (88th/1st F45) Katy Thompson (Clay) 45:04, 10 (91st/F35) Claire Goulden (Chor Harr) 45:12, 11 (92nd/F35) Jacqueline Shaw (Darwen) 45:13, 12 (101st) Nicola Wood (Acc) 45:37, 13 (119th) Julia Hartley (Acc) 46:57, 19 (162nd/2nd F40) Mandy Goth (Tod) 49:40, 20 (165th/1st F50) Jennifer Adams (N Vets) 49:53, 22 (167th/F35) Julia Mangan (Darwen) 50:08

Good for Age: Accrington RR: 35 (M45) Geoff Biscomb (A) 40:18, 228 (3rd F50) Alison Hope 53:49, 237 (F45) Karen Jackson 54:32 Blackburn Harriers: 65 (2nd M55) Chris Fay 42:57, 73 (Junior) Andy Lake 43:31, 213 (F45) Carole Kay 52:47 Burnley AC: 127 (Junior) Simon Woods 47:13 Chorley AC: 95 (2nd M60) John Swift 45:20 Chorley Harriers: 37 (3rd Junior) Michael Unsworth 40:26 Clayton Harriers: 250 (F50) Christine Egerton 56:00, 258 (1st F60) Val Lawson 56:36, 274 (2nd F65) Kitty Garnett 58:59 Darwen Dashers: 34 (M40) Kevin McGrath 40:17, 233 (F45) Sheila Gudgeon 54:16, 277 (2nd Junior Woman) Lucy Barnes 59:33, 293 (2nd F60) Pat Ashton 62:55, 310 (2nd F65) Maureen Roberts 71:40 Todmorden Harriers: 43 (M45) Keith Parkinson 41:23, 72 (1st M60) Richard Blakeley 43:29, 157 (M60) John Devlin 49:16, 262 (1st F55) Moyra Parfitt 57:06, 301 (1st M70) John Newby 64:49 Other Locals: 87 (1st M65) Bill Atkinson (N Vets) 44:53, 117 (2nd M65) Peter Dibb (Longwood) 46:52