Athletics: The 1999 British Fell Racing Championships got underway with the Anniversary Waltz race in the Lake District.

Defending champion Ian Holmes (Bingley Harriers) was poised for victory when he was outsprinted over the final yards by Borrow-dale's Gavin Bland.

Runners had to withstand atrocious conditions, with deep snow on the fell tops over an 111/4-mile course which contained over 3,500 feet of ascent.

Lakeland sheep farmer Bland has started the season off in style, winning the English Championship opener at Noon Stones, near Todmorden last month and following up with this victory.

Holmes's valiant effort - he was beaten by two seconds - will have boosted his confidence, however, as he beat another of his main rivals Simon Booth (Borrowdale) into third place by almost two minutes.

Bingley's Rob Jebb was fifth and team-mate Mark Kinch 16th, but overall it was a disappointing performance from Bingley as arch rivals Borrowdale took the team award, with Pudsey and Bramley, spearheaded by Paul Sheard (tenth) and Rob Hope (13th) second.

In the women's race, British champion Angela Mudge, of Carnethy, Scotland, showed she will again be a force as she finished only 30 seconds outside her own course record, set in 1997. Ilkley's Tracey Ambler was a creditable fourth, with Keighley and Craven's Karen Slater fifth and Polly Gibb (Pudsey & Bramley) sixth.

There were highs and lows from local competitors in the Flora London Marathon. Stuart McDonald had a storming run with a strong finish to clock 2-28-20, Bingley team-mate Chris Cariss coming just behind in a new best of 2-28-33. Dave Benson posted 2-45-00.

Chris Cariss's mother Sue admitted 'I never got going' as she struggled to a disappointing 3-17-00. Helen Morrell was more than happy with 3-37-00, but Barbara Carney suffered in 3-58-00.

Andrea Dennison (Bradford Airedale) once again suffered the frustration of failing to break the three-hour barrier. Despite looking fresh at the 20-mile mark, she clocked 3-06-00. However, Keighley and Craven's Martin Horbury was elated with 2-39-50 in his first attempt at the distance.

Anniversary Waltz Fell Race - Men: 1 G Bland (Borrowdale) 1-33-48, 2 I Holmes (Bingley) 1-33-50, 3 S Booth (Borrowdale) 1-35-39, 4 D Neal (Mercia v40) 1-35-56, 5 R Jebb (Bingley) 1-36-17.

Women: 1 A Mudge (Carnethy) 1-48-30, 2 T Brindley (CHB) 1-54-57, 3 J Wrae (Ambleside) 2-00-08, 4 T Ambler (Ilkley) 2-02-55, 5 K Slater (Keighley & Craven) 2-03-22, 6 P Gibb (Pudsey & Bramley) 2-04-23, 9 H Johnson (Ilkley) 2-08-22, 12 J Shotter (Pudsey & Bramley) 2-09-27, 14 L Lacon (Holmfirth) 2-12-21, 18 S Taylor (Bingley) 2-15-09.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.