Brighton and Hove's Julie Drake stepped back into the limelight with a fourth place in Steyning Athletic Club's golden anniversary celebration race walk.

Steyning members dominated the field of nearly 100 walkers which competed from all over the south and as far afield as Coventry.

In the women's race, Drake was competing for the first time as a walker for nearly a year and this was only her second walk in the past three years. Her previous walk had been at the Preston Park Boxing Day races last year.

Drake's fourth place suggests that she still has the talent to challenge the top British athletes if she chose to focus on race walking instead of road running. She still holds all the Sussex race walking records from 1993 while her 10,000m track time of 45min. 53.9sec in 1990 was a British record and is still the third fastest time ever recorded by a British walker.

In 1993 Julie clocked 1hr. 36min. 32sec for a 20km road walk at Greenwich, a time that smashed the then British record by several minutes.

The course was later found to be nearly 100m short so the record was never recognised but morally she did break another British record.

Her times for the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000m walks are in the top three of the British all time lists nearly a decade on and were she still clocking those times today she would be heading the British 10,000m best performance list for this past season.

Drake is still the holder of the British under-23 10,000m walking record.

She started at the Margaret Hardy School as a cross country runner but tried a one mile walk at Withdean, just for fun, and Alan Buchanan, then the Brighton and Hove and Sussex race walking secretary spotted her potential and it was he who coached her through to the top of British race walking.

So dominant was Drake in the early Nineties, she won six national senior titles. One of the reasons she turned her back on race walking was the lack of competition nationally but mainly was the urge to try something different.

She admitted: "I wanted to try some triathlons and I was enjoying training with a group of runners. I had had some brilliant trips with international teams, as a walker, including the 1991 Tokyo World Championships and the European Championships in Yugoslavia in 1991 as well as the Toronto World Indoor Championships in 1993.

"I really retired early in 1993. I was already training with the runners and it was that year that I broke three hours in the London Marathon.

"I was still doing the odd walk but I was surprised to be selected for the World Championships at Stuttgart that year so I had to buckle down to some serious training again for those championships. I did not, however, really get back to form and did not do myself or the British team justice in Stuttgart.

"I had already won several national senior titles, raced in two World championships and a European championship so I decided this was the time to try something different.

"I have not walked seriously since 1994, in fact apart from Boxing Day last, which was not a serious outing, and the Steyning race everything has been geared towards running."

With two sons, Adam five and Karl four, to look after as well as working as a registered childminder and quantity surveyor, Drake does her best to keep up with regular training.

She said: "I enjoyed the Steyning walk and was surprised I walked so well. I may do the Sussex Championships in February and if I qualify for the Inter-counties then I would consider doing that as well, but at the moment I am looking to the London Marathon where I am aiming to break three hours again."

At thirty-two Drake still has time on her side.

Entries have closed for the Brighton and Hove City 10km road race tomorrow and will not be accepted on the day.

Three-times winner of this event David Miles from Birchfield last won the race in 1998 and is keen to notch up another victory but he is likely to face a strong challenge from Crowborough's Darrell Smith, the winner of the recent Barns Green Half-Marathon and Trevor James from Shaftesbury, who was clocking some fast times in South Africa last year.

Leading the Sussex challenge is likely to be Tom Naylor (Phoenix), who finished in sixth place last year but has been in fine form this season. Vying for the top Sussex placing will be Brighton & Hove's Huseyin Ibrahim and Mike Buss.

In the women's race, Caroline Horne, a former winner of the event when she was with the Crawley Club, returns after ten years and should be a contender. Clubmate Lisa Webb, another former winner, and former clubmate Julie Briggs (Crawley), are also in contention.

Next Friday Arena 80s' Caroline Hoyte will be making her Great Britain debut in the Ekiden Road Relay in Japan while next Saturday the second of this season's Sussex Cross Country League events will be held at the Thomas Bennett School at Crawley with the first race starting at noon.