RAIDERS from Lancashire and Scotland again plundered the prizes in Saturday's Wuthering Hike - a 33-mile classic across the Bront' moors.

Fellrunners from the Red Rose county have recently dominated the event which began life 18 years ago as the Haworth Hobble.

This time the Clayton-le-Moors pairing of Lee Thompson and Mike Wallis were never under pressure.

Last year's winner Thompson and new partner Wallis - also a former Hobble winner - finished exactly 10 minutes down on the 4hr 9mins set last year.

Another of last year's winners Graham Cunliffe also switched his partner within the Clayton le Moors club - and cut a massive 21 minutes from the veterans' record. Cunliffe and Ray Lees came second overall in 4-31.

Hot on their heels were the Scots from Edinburgh-based club Carnethy, who included former Hike ladies winner Helene Diamantides and current British fell champion Angela Mudge in their ranks. Both helped blitz records.

Helene lined up with Adrian Davis to chop 14 minutes off the old mixed best (4-48) in finishing just three minutes behind the second-placed duo. Helene saw her women's best time disappear to clubmates, Angela Mudge and Maggie Creber. They wiped out the old record by a staggering 51 minutes in finishing fourth overall from around 200 teams.

l Top-placed locals, the Keighley and Craven AC pairing of Laurence Hellawell and Darren Brame also ran out of their skin for sixth spot, the best by miles by anyone this side of the Pennines.

Conditions were 'just perfect' said Darren (27) from Denholme, who was having his first outing in the event. Laurence (36) from Keighley, is deep in training for next month's London Marathon and the Fellsman in May. He cuthis personal best for the Hike by over an hour. Both men are press setters with Keighley engineering firm Teconnex.

Hellawell is raising cash for the Princess Diana Memorial Fund and would welcome more sponsorship for his London bid on April 26. Ring him on 01535-215527.

Hike organisers are planning a crackdown on solo runners and teams who don't pass through checkpoints together after problems with the strict safety rules. "Because of the distance, remote route and risk of adverse conditions runners have to run in pairs, and if one drops out the other must withdraw," said race director John Fish. "There has been confusion when one runnerhas pulled out and the team's tally card has not been surrendured."

"But despite those isolated incidents the run was one of the smoothest and most enjoyable Hikes," he said.

Oldest finishers Jack Riley, from Pendle, and Lou Myers (Glossopdale) finished to a rousing reception in exactly 10 hours. Their combined ages totalled 145 years; Jack's only disappointed was it hadn't come on his 76th birthday on Sunday!

It was completely unplanned but K&C's Neil Bland and Kevin Bogg, both from Silsden, were followed home, at a minute interval, by Bingley's Allan Greenwood and Maggie Dunn, exactly as they had been last year. A tiring Bland suffered a gashed knee after a fall but the duo hung on to finish in 5-50, a minute up on '97.

Many pairings posted faster than usual times. K&C's Rachel Sharples and Skipton LMS' Julie Stott (6-12) took 22 minutes out of last year's time.

Results

Under five hours: 1 Lee Thompson, Mike Wallis (CleM) 4-19, 2 Ray Lees, Graham Cunliffe (CleM) 4-31 *vets record, 3 Adrian Davis, Helene Diamantides (Carnethy) 4-34 *mixed record, 4 Angela Mudge, Maggie Creber (Carnethy) 4-43 *ladies record, 5 A.Preedy, S.Birtwhistle (Rossendale) 4-44, 6 Laurence Hellawell (Keighley and Craven AC) 4-48, 7 S.Colbert (LDWA), G.Armitage (Cumberland FR) 4-52, 8 A.Dunn, L.Davies (Mersey Fell) 4-52, 9 S.Whitaker, P.Browning (CleM) 4-53, 10 A.Sweatman, Carolyn Hunter-Rowe (Horwich) 4-54.

Locals include: 38 P.Whelan, M.Smith (Bingley) 5-27, 45 J.Young, I.Goodyear (Bingley) 5-38; 49 Neil Bland, Kevin Bogg (Keighley and Craven AC) 5-50; 51 Allan Greenwood, Maggie Dunn (Bingley) 5-51; 70 Rachel Sharples (Keighley and Craven), Julie Stott (Skipton LMS) 6-12; 76 Mick Ford, Bill Calvert (Bingley) 6-17; 90 John and Peter Dennis (Keighley and Craven) 6-42; 110 Keith Riddiough (Cross Hills, LDWA), Peter Bashforth (LDWA) 9-09

Independent: 5-08 Tony Knowles (Keighley and Craven); 7-08 Alec Ratcliffe (Keighley and Craven).

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.