THERE was a seventh place out of 1,256 in the Wigan 5k on Sunday for Radcliffe AC's Neal Emmerson – and it wasn't even the race he had planned to run.

He clocked a fine 16mins 57secs but had entered the Wigan Running Festival's half marathon.

Snow forced organisers to cancel the half and competitors were invited to join runners in the festival's shorter 5k race.

For Emmerson it was a family affair as his wife Amy was already running the 5k, her first one, and she clocked 38mins 40secs, six minutes faster than her target time.

There was a nice surprise in the post on Monday for Emmerson too when he received a medal for coming third in the Yorkshire 20 Mile Road Race Championships.

Last week he ran the Spen 20 in West Yorkshire, coming fourth in 2hrs 01min 08secs.

The race incorporated the championships and, born in Leeds, he qualified but did not think his time was good enough to get him a medal.

"It was a really nice surprise when it arrived in the post", he said.

Radcliffe had two runners in the top 20 with Chris Whittaker coming home 16th and getting himself a personal-best time by 18 seconds with 18:27.

Mike Kontowtt was third vet-55 in 20:30 and Debi Warrington (V45) had a personal best of more than two minutes, clocking 28:20.

Five club members took on the Trimpell 20 at Lancaster, billed as fast and flat and perfect for marathon preparation although it did have a hill at the end of the course that ran through the historic city of Lancaster and the Lune Valley.

All five braved the tough wind and biting cold with Jenny Yates running the London Marathon next month and clocking 2:47.

Kate Holden was close behind in 2:48:00 and will be in the Manchester Marathon also next month.

Sheila Jones and Sarah Scott ran 3:05:00 both getting ready for Manchester, and Lucy Dewhurst, who ran 4:04:00 will be in the sunshine at the Rome Marathon.

Two fell races club members were to run were cancelled on Sunday and the brutal conditions also affected the local Two Crosses Challenge.

A popular event for both runners and walkers starting at Tottington, the longer distance of 25 miles was cancelled and four members ran the shorter 17-mile route taking in the Roman Cross at Affetside and Pilgrim's Cross on Holcombe Moor.

It is not classed as a race but Paul Swyers was ninth in 3:22:00 with Lisa Carter 23rd in 3:59:00 and Fiona Lynch and Luigi Salzano finishing 26th together in 4:12:00.

Swyers said it was a whiteout in places with the bitter wind whipping up the snow, and at one point he went into a bog up to his waist.

Karen Doherty also faced the bitter wind when she went to the seaside to run the Sweatshop 10 at Bispham, Blackpool and clocked 1:43:35.