NEAL Emmerson endured a sole-destroying experience in the Sedburgh Hills Fell Race when his shoe fell apart four miles into the 14-mile event, but he still soldiered on to finish as best of 12 Radcliffe Athletic Club runners.

Emmerson would have been forgiven for quitting the tough Cumbrian event when his progress was halted by the wardrobe malfunction.

But, determined to carry on, he used his lace to tie the sole to his shoe and finished the course, with its 6,000 feet of climbing in The Howgill Fells, in 3hrs 16mins 48secs, coming home 72nd overall out of 169 runners.

He said: "At four miles the right shoe went and I had to re-lace it to tie the sole to the upper part of my shoe.

"I kept doing this every so often until it failed at six miles.

"Luckily another runner gave me some spare laces to repair it.

"It was a bit tricky downhill but I managed to get round.

"I reckon overall it cost me about 30 minutes."

Emmerson's brave display maintained the club's strong challenge in the Run The Moors Grand Prix. In perfect weather conditions, but on some grassy yet brutal climbs, Fiona Lynch (V40) was second home for the club in 86th place in 3:25:14 and Chris Paxton was 98th in 3:31:41.

Other finishers: Ian Warrington 3:42:41, Paul Swyers (V50) 3:43:18, Dave Rushton (V50) 3:43:39, Mike Kontowtt (V50) 3:48:57, Katie Percival 3:51:01, Kris Lee (V40) 4:07:49. Caroline Mullineaux was timed out and both Sinead Hayes and Lisa Carter had to retire.

Jenny Yates added to her recent success at the Ramsbottom Summer Mile, finishing first woman V50 in the Fleetwood Half Marathon on Sunday in 1:42:20.

Also on Sunday, Amanda Hey led home a group of three Radcliffe runners at the Birchwood 10k in Warrington, finishing the relatively flat course on roads and paths in 49:00, ahead of Sheila Jones (49:38) and Ian Hopkinson (58:32).

The day before, Mark Wolfenden faced wet conditions in the Darwen Gala Fair Fell Race, covering the 4.7 miles and 928 feet of climbing in 39:10.

Neal Emmerson was first finisher of nine Radcliffe members in the midweek Golf Ball Fell Race, which was part of the club championship.

He completed the tough 5.5-mile course, which started at Loveclough in Rossendale and featured 900 feet of climbing, with both shoes in tact in a time of 43:36 to finish seventh overall.

Next in was Chris Paxton, 36th in 50:03.

Other finishers: Mike Kontowtt (V50) 53:02, Kris Lee (V40) 55:21, Katie Percival 56:02, Steve Hamer (V55) 58:24, McKenzie Madison 1:00:06, Rob Lister (V50) 1:00:40 and Caroline Mullineaux 1:07:51.

The event was the last of four in the Rossendale Fell Series, organised by Rossendale Harriers, with runners ranked on their best three performances. There was success for three club members with Katie Percival second senior woman in the series, Steve Hamer second V55 and Mullineaux third woman V40.

Wayne Holden ran the fourth and last of the five-mile Horwich Jubilee Series, clocking 48:12 on a course through Rivington. He was 19th out of 26 in the series in the senior men's category.