TOM Cornthwaite has suffered a painful end to 2006, ruling him out of running for the rest of the year.

The 21-year-old Blackburn Harrier was heading for a third consecutive victory at the Bolton by Bowland Fell Race when he launched himself into the second stream crossing and turned his ankle. With a timed lead of exactly a minute, he gamely carried on, but with two thirds of the eight miles still to run, he was rapidly overhauled by Bashir Hussain.

The England Junior manager duly came home first in 48:57 with Cornthwaite struggling on the final road stretch to stay second. He just made it in 49:41 with three seconds still in hand over Tom Addison of Helm Hill Harriers but with only 15 seconds to spare over the sixth man Andrew Wrench from Todmorden. Wrench picked up the second prize in the over 40 class behind Hussain with Paralympian Mark Brown third in class and seventh overall.

Darwen-based Graham Schofield won the over 50s for Horwich Harriers in 53:02 and Clayton's Barry Mitchell was first over 60 in 57:44, only 15 seconds behind Lawrence Sullivan's record on a very muddy course.

Luckily for Cornthwaite, England junior physiotherapist Denise Park witnessed his accident and treated him with ice and compression strapping at the finish before sending him to casualty.

Her fears that he may have broken his fibula were fortunately unfounded, although he does have a bad sprain and will be on crutches for a fortnight.

He is still hoping to run in the Lancashire Cross Country Championships in early January.

Candice Leah of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers produced a tremendous run in the women's race to defeat Amy Green from the Keighley and Craven club by over three minutes.

Her time of 54:23 placed her 24th of the 164 runners and was the fifth fastest by a woman in the 20-year history of the event. Leah is intending to race in Europe next season.

Debbie Gowans, of Accrington, Road Runners picked up the veteran prize with fifth in 1:02:54. With an extra 20 athletes running this year, the Village Hall Fund stands to benefit by around £500.