AMBLESIDE'S Nick Sharp became the fifth runner to win one of the Kendal Winter League races this season with a comfortable victory in the sixth event at Cautley.

For good measure his wife Louise took the honours in the womens' race by beating series leader Karen Slater.

They both set new course records as well.

Nick dominated the race from the off and was chased to the summit by Helm Hill veteran Billy Procter, who ran every step of the steep climb but was too far adrift at the summit turn to make any impression on the descent.

The race to be second vet saw a thrilling finish between Keswick's Colin Valentine and Bowland's Quentin Harding with just two seconds separating the pair at the end.

Harding, who lives at Caton, currently heads the championship table with 319 points and is followed by Ian Atkinson (297 points) who was fourth on Sunday.

Louise Sharp was up among the front-runners and turned sixth among the men at the top, but she lost places on the descent but still finished almost three minutes ahead of Slater.

Adam Crowe and Matthew Hurst shared first place in the boys U17 race while Ryan Thornborrow used his descending speed to great effect to win the U14s race ahead of Helm Hill teammate Tom Addison who had led for most of the climb.

Helm Hill's Jonathan Wright has now won all six U12 boys' races with Jos Addison giving chase and that was again the case on Sunday. Meanwhile, Gemma Crowther and Jenny Addison continued their dominance of the girls U14 and U12 races. Samantha Morphet was the only competitor in the girls' U17 event.

Results:

Senior Men: 1 N Sharp, Ambleside, 26-48; 2 B Procter, Helm Hill, 28-32; 3 P Targett, Clayton, 29-44; 4 I Atkinson, unattached, 30-22; 5 C Valentine, Keswick, 30-39; 6 Q Harding, Bowland, 30-41.

Ladies: 1 L Sharp, Keswick, 32-22; 2 K Slater, Settle, 35-19; 3 S Harding, Bowland, 39-00.

Boys U17: =1 A Crowe, unattached, 25-08 and Matthew Hurst, 25-08; 3 T Rodgers, Settle, 28-04;

Girls U17: 1 S Morphet, unattached, 45-13;

Boys U14: 1 R Thornborrow, Helm Hill, 12-21; 2 T Addison, Helm Hill, 13-07; 3 B Morphet, CFR, 14-43;

Girls U14: 1 G Crowther, Helm Hill, 14-42; 2 R Parkinson, Helm Hill, 15-52; 3 G Biddle, Pendle, 17-34;

Boys U12: 1 J Wright, Helm Hill, 5-59; 2 Jos Addison, Helm Hill, 6-13; 3 C Tuson, unattached, 6-19.

Girls U12: 1 Jenny Addison, Helm Hill, 6-09; 2 Z Harding, Bowland, 8-05; 3 M Morphet, CFR, 8-29.

February 13, 2003 11:00