SNOW and ice restricted the opportunities for athletes in the borough's athletic clubs this week.

Radcliffe Athletic Club's Lucy Dewhurst turned out to be the club's lone racer at the weekend after the wintry conditions caused havoc and events were cancelled.

She took on the Longridge Christmas Pudding Race at Preston on Sunday and, braving a strong, cold wind, clocked 1hr 14mins 15secs.

Even that event was hit by the weather as organisers were forced to use a revised seven-mile course.

But it was worth the run with a Christmas pudding for all competitors and a festive medal.

The main event for the club should have been the Mytholmroyd Fell Race near Halifax.

A big Radcliffe turnout had been on the cards for the West Yorkshire race, which was supposed to be the last event in the club's fell championship, but it fell victim to heavy snow.

The week before, Radcliffe member Down Under Tony Holt had no problems with the weather, when he competed in the Ironman 70.3 in Brusselton, Western Australia, clocking an overall time of 4:29:40.

After completing the 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and 21.1km run, he finished sixth V55 out of 30 and 84th overall out of 683.

Bury Athletic Club members had a similarly frustrating weekend.

One of the few events to survive the weather was the Saturday morning parkrun at Heaton Park, although competitors did have to cope with a snowy and slippery course.

Marcus Dey managed to stay on his feet to secure second place behind Altrincham’s Andy Norman. Dey's time of 17:35 was more than a minute slower than his best, giving an indication of the impact of the conditions.

Byron Edwards was fifth, despite taking a fall in the race leaving him with gashed knees. His time of 18:38 was also a minute off his best. Edwards was just more than 30 seconds ahead of team-mate Giles Bennett, whose 19:11 clocking secured him sixth place.

Father and daughter pairing of Edward and Pamela Hitchen safely navigated the course with respective times of 25:06 and 26:15.

Pole vaulter Hattie Vaughan made the long trip down to Cardiff to compete in the Cardiff AC Indoor Grand Prix meeting.

She took an excellent second place in the competition, setting a new lifetime best of 3.42m in the process.

Always ambitious, Vaughan was a little disappointed with her performance, but as coach Matt Cullen stressed: “A pb is a pb!”

The vault moves Vaughan up to seventh best in the UK in her age group.

In addition to her primary event, she also competed in the 60m sprint, setting another personal best of 8.40.

This weekend, weather permitting, will see members competing in the club's Christmas handicap races.