THE best local athlete of his generation joined the veteran ranks this week.

Dave Lewis had his 40th birthday on Monday, but the Rossendale Harrier wasn't able to celebrate with his customary dash across the fells.

Five weeks ago he had surgery to relieve a tightness on the outside of his right knee which has kept him from racing for over a year.

The procedure held no fears for Dave as the left leg had been operated on a decade ago with complete success.

In fact it required only a single day in hospital, but this time there was a serious side effect as he suffered a thrombosis in his calf. For a week he had to have injections into his stomach every day to thin the blood, and still he is taking tablets to wear the clot down.

The doctors won't allow him to do any exercise which would raise his pulse rate and possibly move the clot, and he has gained a stone in weight even though his leg muscles are wasting.

The surgeon said he wouldn't be able to run for three months after the operation but Dave admitted: "To be honest I haven't even thought about running yet."

After watching him at Witton Park dominate the Lancashire Cross Country Championship in January 1999, I wondered whether there might be a fourth and record equalling National Championship in prospect.

When I interviewed him afterwards he refused to be drawn and said that at his age he was just glad to get up each morning and still be able to run.

His caution proved to be well-founded as first his achilles tendon then the knee have restricted his racing.

Needless to say he didn't reach the Nationals that year and his race appearances since have been infrequent.

He had hoped for one last crack at the Olympics at Sydney after twice failing to make the team by the narrowest of margins and he targeted the Marathon as his best chance.

With a qualifying mark of 2:13, and a 2:13:49 to his credit in his only previous attempt, the prospect looked realistic, but it was not to be.

Instead he turned to the fells to win the World Trophy Trial much to the delight of organiser Malcolm Patterson who confessed that they had been trying to get Dave to run in the event for years.

That was in July last year. Dave missed the World Trophy because of his knee injury and hasn't raced since.

People are often surprised that Lewis has stayed loyal to a small club like Rossendale because they can't offer competition at a national level.

While that is true - he holds every club record on track and road from 400m to the marathon - he feels that he has benefited from the relationship.

Being born in Haslingden, his strong roots in the area has had a bearing, but also he has found that with Rossendale there has been no outside pressure on him to run in the big races and he has been allowed to be his own man.

That has kept him fresh and enjoying his running long after many of his contemporaries have left the scene.

Retirement is not an option for Dave Lewis.

"If someone told me I could never race again, I would still run because I just love it," he said.