Denise Park has received an invitation to visit Nike's world headquarters in Port-land, Oregon, USA.

The chartered physio-therapist from Peel Street, Clitheroe, has been invited in recognition of her work in the sports medical field, and will have the opportunity to see the technology behind Nike footwear and their cutting-edge research labs.

Whilst in Oregon, the Hood to Coast Relay - the largest running relay in the world - will also take part. The race stretches 197 miles from the top of Oregon's majestic Mt Hood down to the beautiful Pacific Ocean in Seaside. The race is sponsored by Nike and over 12,000 runners will be taking part.

Denise knows some of the runners who are taking part in the race, and originally she thought that she had been invited to work with the Nike Elite Global Running team.

However, Nike have said they don't expect her to work while on her VIP trip, and would be delighted if she would participate in the race.

This will mean she will run through the night and will be covering a distance of up to 20 miles.

She has accepted the challenge - although she's told NIke she isn't a world class runner!

Denise has been the physiotherapist to the England junior and senior mountain running teams since 2004, and currently has a number of international runners on her books, including Olympic Czech Athlete, Anna Pichrtova.

Anna was involved in a serious car accident six months ago when her future running career was in jeopardy. She has met with Denise on a number of occasions over the winter months to receive intensive treatment and is currently training in the Ribble Valley for the San Diego marathon next month.

Apart from running her busy practice and looking after our England teams, Denise has also received invitations to the Mount Washington Race in New Hampshire, USA, and the Grossglockner Race in Austria where she will work with the elite athletes attending the races.

andy.mcallister@virgin.net