THERE was a bumper turn out at the annual Darwen Triathlon with more than 80 athletes taking part in the event.

The recent block on athletic events due to the foot and mouth epidemic meant that with 86 entries, the 16th event was biggest attend since it began.

The competition, which was centred around Darwen Leisure Centre, included a 800 yard swim, a 16 mile bike ride followed by a three mile run.

The competition was open to individuals, pairs and teams.

In the first event, the 800 yard swim, Lee Cook had the fastest individual time of 9 minutes 41 seconds with Michael Vickers a very close second with 09.42.

Competitors then had to cycle a 16 mile course via Tockholes and Egerton, returning to Darwen and the fastest individual time in this event was 45.20, achieved by Paul Cook.

Adrian Selby came in second with a time of 46.31

The final event in the Triathlon was the 3 mile (5k) run, in which the fastest time of 13.16 was clocked up by team runner, Ben Fish, and fastest individual competitor was Adrian Selby with 14.17.

Selby's consistency -- finishing in the top two in both the run and bike ride -- earned him first place finishing more than two minutes ahead of second placed Lee Cook with a time of 1 hour 11 minutes 11 second.

Danny Hope finished in third place with a combined time of 1.13.56.

Awards for each category were presented in the Tower Room at the Leisure Centre.

Results -- male open: 1 Adrian Selby 01:11.11, 2 Lee Cook 01:13.41, 3 Danny Hope 01:13.56

Female Open:1 Corina Cramer 01:30.22, 2 Erica Rogerson 01:35.08, 3 Alyson Woodall 01:41.43

Male 40/44: 1 Paul Cook 01:11.32, 2 Michael Vickers 01:12.41, 3 Dave Clamp 01:13.23

Female 40/44: 1 Carolyn Wright 01:37.39

Male 45/49: 1 Ralph Holt 01:19.43

Male 50/54: 1 Tony Hesketh 01:24.07

Female u/18: 1 Emma Timmis 01:36.01

Team: 1 Sue Duckworth, Tony Walters, Ben Fish 01:17.08

Pair: 1 Neil Riding, Martin Hitchen 01:12.32