RADCLIFFE Athletic Club had success with its men's and women's teams when they took part in the Halifax Harriers Rochdale Canal Relay.

A seven-strong team took first place among the men, and the ladies team were just pipped at the post for first place by 44 seconds.

After a solid start the men worked their way from sixth to second place and it was all down to the last leg.

Middleton thought they had it in the bag but they had not reckoned on the pace of Radcliffe's Andy Mullarkey.

Not only did he catch the Middleton runner but he put a couple of minutes' lead on him as well to take Radcliffe to first place.

The Radcliffe team comprised: Andy Mullarkey, Steve Hamer, Dave Bartlett, Adrian Harris, Danny Appleby, Brian Booth, and John Young.

In the women's team Carly Hancock arrived straight from a nightshift but gave the team a good start on the first leg.

They battled with Middleton and were beaten into second place by 44 seconds.

In the team with Carly were Vicky Launders, Vicky Heyes, Sarah Massey, Alison Aspinall, Anne-Marie Rampley and Kath Davies.

Andy Mullarkey also showed his ability when he took part in the Chorley 10 mile event at Worden Park.

He managed to break the 60-minute barrier with a 59.03 run and was the first Radcliffe runner home.

He was 28th overall out of more than 300 runners. Behind him was veteran runner Adrian Harris (V50) with 59.32, and in third place among the Radcliffe runners was Danny Appleby in 1.00.28.

The Radcliffe team, which included the trio and Neil Kirby (V40) who recorded 1.02.37, took fifth place out of 17 teams.

Other results were: Tony Davies (V45) 1.06.07; Dave Bartlett 1.06.23; Gary Wilson (V40) 1.08.02; Mark Emmett (V45) 1.10.21; Steve Hamer (V45) 1.12.40; Carly Hancock 1. 17.48; Glenda Gary (L45) 1.22.12 and Iain Harris (V55) 1.22.45.

In the recent BUPA Great Manchester Run, much-improved Kath Davies clocked 50.33 for the 10k course.