BEN Fish has broken the course record at the David Staff Memorial Fell Race, even though none of his rivals could press him.

It was the Blackburn Harrier’s first victory in this event although he did restrict the current British fell champion Rob Hope to a 20-second margin four years ago as he set the previous record of 31:43 for the 5.1-mile route.

The race starts at the Bandstand in Sunnyhurst Woods, heading out towards Darwen Hill and the famous Jubilee Tower.

A circuit around the hill incorporating two more climbs is followed by a return, which retraces the initial ascent.

Fish, who lives in Darwen, missed the major cross country meeting in Liverpool the day before to take part in his home town race, and he was rewarded with a time of 31:29 and a huge winning margin in excess of three minutes.

The former Todmorden man Alex Whittem was the runner up in 34:44 for Calder Valley, while in third spot Bowland’s Sean Bolland was almost another minute back.

Blackburn Harriers made three of the first five places with John Sutton and Brian Fogarty next home.

Mark Ellithorn, in sixth, won the Over 40s class for Chorley Harriers with Darrener Graham Schofield taking the Over 50s title in 12th outright.

Former Olympian Jeff Norman was first Over 60, while Mike McDonald of Bowland and the enthusiastic George Arnold from Preston took over 65 and over 70 honours.

George had initially arrived a week early for the race! All-rounder Fish feels that his performances on the track have reached a plateau in the last couple of years, but he says that this race was just a one-off and his future may be in marathon running rather than on the fells.

He recently returned 2 hours 25 minutes in Amsterdam after running in Dublin 12 months earlier and is aiming for the Paris Marathon in the spring.

The winning woman at Darwen was Anna Lupton of Radcliffe.

There were 148 runners but Anna still made the top 20 with 19th outright in 38:58.

Accrington’s Debbie Gowans with second in 42:09 was the winning Over 40 and in third Jacqueline Redmayne of Chorley Harriers took the Over 35 award, reaching the finish in 43:13.

Clayton’s Katy Thompson and Jan Atkins of Chorley Harriers were the leading over 55s and over 60s.