"IT'S good to be back on my dad's old stamping ground" smiled Graham Hill after the Europrint 10K.

Hill knows by now that whatever he achieves, he will always be first and foremost Ron Hill's son. But his victory and course record in Blackburn Road Runners' flagship event, confirmed his own status as an athlete from the top drawer.

The race from Witton Park begins with a climb of nearly two miles. Last year's winner Mark Brown (Clayton) and Neil Tattersall (Hyndburn) were the early pacesetters, but briefly turned off course.

They lost little distance, but their rhythm suffered which allowed an opportunist move by Preston's Jason Parker to give him a lead of around 200 metres by 2.5 miles.

Having joined the two local athletes in the chasing group, Hill started to run down Parker's lead as they started the long gradual decent. He caught him at the four-mile mark, and went straight past as the Preston man temporarily lost his form. By the time Parker regained his composure the race was lost, and Hill powered through to the finish to win by over 30 seconds in 32.36 with Blackpool policeman Darren Hale (Rotherham) a similar distance further back in third. Parker and Hale will run for Lancashire in the inter-counties 10K at Bradford on September 12.

Only two weeks after running the Blackpool Marathon, Brown was strong enough to withstand a powerful challenge from Wigan's John Worthington for fourth, with Tattersall sixth. Alan Clarkson was the leading veteran in eighth place just ahead of M45 winner Evan Cook (Blackburn Harriers). Clayton took the team prize by a single point with Brown, Clarkson and 10th-placed John Wieczorek.

Chris White of Rossendale was the leading junior in 38.15 from David Riley in 40.36 and John Riley 42.28, both from Pendle. At the other end of the age scale, M60 winner Ted Orrell (Clayton) defeated Bill Atkinson (Northern Vets) by two seconds and Padiham's Richard Packer (Red Rose) was top M65. After finishing second last year, Vanessa Peacock was first lady in 39.27. It was a round of the Club Championship for Accrington Road Runners, and among their 28 entries were Gill Craske, Sue Pickup and Jacky Wright who comprised the winning ladies team, and Valerie Robinson and Barbara Bassett, winners in the L55 and L50 age groups. Sheila Gudgeon of Darwen Dashers took L40 honours.

To promote extra interest for the mid-field runners, four Darwen Dashers ran the race with signs on their backs offering spot prizes to the runners who finished a single place ahead of them. This resulted in a series of hectic sprint finishes.

Results - Men: 1 Graham Hill (Stockport) 32.36, 2 Jason Parker (Preston) 33.12, 3 Darren Hale (Rotherham) 33.45, 4 Mark Brown (Clayton) 34.37, 5 John Worthington (Wigan) 34.37, 6 Neil Tattersall (Hyndburn) 34.48, 7 Warren Birchall (Stockport) 34.56, 8 (1st M40) Alan Clarkson (Clayton) 35.19, 9 (1st M45) Evan Cook (Blackburn Harriers) 35.37, 10 John Wieczorek (Clayton) 35.47. Team: 1 Clayton (Brown, Clarkson, Wieczorek).

Ladies: 1 (38th overall and 1st L45), Vanessa Peacock (Clayton) 39.27, 2 (54th and 1st L35), Deborah Webb (Taunton AC) 40.49, 3 (82) Susan Coulthurst (Red Rose) 43.48, 4 (109) Christina Maguire (Pendle) 47.26, 7 (124 and 2nd L35) Gill Craske (Accrington RR) 49.12, 8 (137 and 1st L40) Sheila Gudgeon (Darwen Dashers) 40.08, 9 (142 and 2nd L45) Sue Pickup (Accrington RR) 50.08, 10 (148 and 3rd L35) Jacky Wright (Accrington RR) 50.44. Team: 1 Accrington RR (Craske, Pickup, Wright).

Club results (good for age):

Blackburn Harriers: 12 (2nd M45) Eric Wilson 35.58, 19 (3rd M45) George Woodburn 36.58, 53 Richard Robb 40.40, 63 Christopher Fay 42.07, 69 David Fearnley 43.11, 155 (3rd L45) Crole Kay 51.45.

Accrington RR: 13 Mark Theaker 36.06, 24 (3rd M40) Adrian Fearnley 38.00, 36 Mervyn Owen 39.11, 42 Marc Chadwick 39.47, 45 David Gaskill 40.00, 58 Geoff Biscomb 41.34, 95 (3rd M60) Brian Scully 45.30, 103 (3rd M55) Harry Haseley 46.37, 111 Michael Walmsley 48.03, 126 Brian Mizon 49.29, 135 George Newton 50.04, 140 David Heppenstall 50.17, 154 (1st L55) Valerie Robinson 51.38, 157 Joanne Bramley 52.24, 163 Alison Hope 53.29, 172 (1st L50) Barbara Bassett 54.48, 183 (2nd L50) Kathleen Walmsley 56.45, 185 (3rd L50) Linda Walmsley 58.33, 189 (3rd L40) Pauline Breckell 59.55.

Clayton Harriers: 16 Jason Harbour 36.37, 22 Paul Hindmarch 37.56, 35 Neil Worswick 39.00, 41 Steve Breckell 39.44, 68 Ben Brown 43.06, 27 (1st M60) Ted Orrell 43.24, 105 Chris Doney 47.04. Rossendale: 17 (2nd M40) David Schofield 36.49, 25 Richard Stott 38.02, 28 (1st junior) Chris White 38.15, 74 Lee Leishman 43.31, 86 Michael Winnick 44.29.

Pendle AC: 29 Chris Singleton 38.16, 50 (2nd junior) David Riley 40.36, 66 (3rd junior) John Riley 42.28.

Red Rose RR: 43 Geoffrey Orritt 39.51, 62 Stuart Pound 41.54, 156 (1st M65) Richard Packer 51.50.

Darwen Dashers: 101 Dave Shorrock 46.16, 113 Brian Tull 48.10, 137 (1st L40) Sheila Gudgeon 50.08, 173 Colleen Morris 55.13.

Northern Vets: 73 (2nd M60) Bill Atkinson 43.26, Bowland FR: 20 Rob Wynne 37.35. Chorley AC: 116 Terry Dickinson 48.19. Chorley Harriers: 18 Mark Schooling 36.53.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.