Carroll wrecks proud record

ATHLETICS: OWEN Flage suffered his first defeat in a Royton Road Runners club race when Stuart Carroll secured victory in the Vera Hirst 5K in Littleborough.

Taking the lead inside the opening mile, Carroll powered away to cross the line in 18 minutes and one second in the fourth race of the club’s championship series.

Flage, 40 seconds adrift of the winner, was pushed all the way by Bernie Goodwin, who claimed maximum points in the club’s V40 competition.

Debbie Shaw led home the Royton women, and her time of 22:53 was good enough to win the first FV45 prize.

Other age-related prizes were claimed by Dave Phillips (second V65 in 20:58) and Debbie Fielding (second FV40 in 23:06).

Elsewhere, the first 5K of the season saw Bill Balmer (19:26), Richard Fiddling (19:35) and John Higgins (19:38) make significant progress in the V40 & V50 competitions.

Other finishers: David Emanuel (19:40), Eamonn Nolan (20:15), Mark Kelly (20:32), Rob Kellett (20:52), Steve Shaw (21:37), James Holdaway (21:52), Shane Reading (22:55), Ronnie Quinn (23:17), John Lambe (24.02), Rose Rowson (24:05), Steven Hayes (24:54), Tony Kane (25:17), June Allingan (30:31) and Marilyn Guest (31:56).