DIANE Modahl has vowed to carry on the fight, despite losing her High Court damages action over a ban imposed in the wake of drug-taking allegations.

British middle-distance runner Modahl, 34, and her husband Vicente, of Sale, Greater Manchester, said they had spent around £1m contesting the case.

She had alleged bias on the part of a disciplinary committee which imposed the four-year ban in December 1994 - six months after urine tests in Lisbon allegedly showed a high level of testosterone.

An independent appeal panel lifted the ban in July 1995 after doubts were cast on the accuracy of the tests.

Dismissing her case, Mr Justice Douglas Brown said that she had had a ''fair deal'' and that her claim could not succeed because crucially there had been no contract between her and the British Athletic Federation.

A tearful Modahl said afterwards: ''I disagree strongly with the verdict of the judge.

''I feel that after six and a half years of a very difficult fight he has come to the wrong decision.

''In my opinion the judge has neither shown compassion nor justice in this case and since the outset of this case I have to say that both Vicente and I have received nothing but sympathy from the people on the street.

''But in the very place I expected to find sympathy and justice, here in the courts, I feel it does not exist.''

The judge refused her leave to appeal, but Modahl can still make an application directly to the Court of Appeal.

Asked if she planned to continue, she said: ''We are going to fight on, absolutely fight on.''

She added: ''It is crucial to remember that I was innocent and the only reason the dope testing system is in place is to protect the innocent.''

Her husband said: ''She was at the prime of her career.

"She has had the best years taken away from her. What is so bitter about this is that she has never been able to show her real potential.''

Modahl, the 1990 Commonwealth Games 800 metres champion, was claiming £480,000 spent on legal and medical advice.

She was also seeking a similar figure in punitive damages over the way the case was handled by the BAF, now in administration and superseded by UK Athletics.

The BAF argued that the doping charge had been fairly dealt with and that there was ''no substance'' to the allegation of actual or apparent bias.

The judge said that he was compelled to the view that the committee had ''carried out its function conscientiously and fairly''.

He emphasised that Modahl's innocence ''was established with clarity and forever'' by the decision of the independent appeal panel.