Trawden 7 Trail Race
‘Pushing hard trying to catch the runner in front I slipped coming down one of the descents and ended upside down at the side of the path. After picking myself up it was nice to hear my fellow runners asking if I was ok as they moved past me taking advantage of my fall…’
Sunday saw the 10th race of the Pendle & Burnley Grand Prix Series with the Trawden 7 Trail, we arrived earlier as my kids wanted to take part in the junior races which had been scheduled before the main race. The 2 junior races attracted over 50 children with 6 of our very own Clayton-le-Moors Juniors participating. Well done to all 6 with special mention to Finlay Stubbs for a great sprint finish in the U11 race and to Tom Bradley with 1st place in the Over 11’s.
Courtesy of Deborah Stevenson
With the junior races done and prizes handed out it was time for a quick warm up before the main race. I lined up alongside the other 150+ runners and off we went around the edge of the Trawden recreational ground and onto the road. The runners had already started to spread out and I settled into a steady pace hoping that I hadn’t set off to fast.
Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race
The course left the main road onto a track that dropped steeply down towards Hollin Hall; we rounded the corner to the road where we started the long climb up towards the Pendle Way. It was one of them hills that just when you thought you were near the top, it turned a corner and climbed again.
Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race
As we reached the top the course moved onto an undulating section of tracks which makes for great trail running but this was to prove my downfall, pushing hard trying to catch the runner in front I slipped coming down one of the descents and ended upside down at the side of the path. After picking myself up it was nice to hear my fellow runners asking if I was ok as they moved past me taking advantage of my fall.
It took a minute or two for me to get back into my stride and I was glad to see the water station up in front of me, passing through there the course dropped down and headed for Wycoller village, it was here that I was joined by fellow Harriers Dave Motley and Russell Clarke.
Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race
The 3 of us stayed together through the village and across the stone bridge; from there we started the last climb up the main road heading for the finish. By now I had got my breath back and sensing that some of the runners in front were slowing I pushed on up the hill.
This last section certainly seemed longer than I remember after visiting Wycoller only a few weeks ago with my family. After passing a couple of runners on the climb I reached the recreation ground and could see the finish in the far corner, luckily I had no one chasing me too hard as I didn’t fancy a sprint finish around the field.
Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race
I finished in 23rd place overall with a time of 45:22, apart from taking a tumble I really enjoyed the race it’s a good trail running course with plenty of climbs and nice scenery.
Well done to all 30 Clayton-le-Moors runners who competed and thanks to Trawden AC for the bottle of Trawden Trail ale, homemade cakes and for organising a great morning of running which the whole family enjoyed.
Courtesy of Rachel Todd
Full results:
Pos Time
10 Thomas Brewster M 43.31
12 Kevin Davies M50 44.14
18 Paul Hesketh M45 44.43
21 Paul Brannon M55 45.06
23 Richard Stevenson M 45.22
25 Dave Motley M 45.26
28 Ruessell Clarke M 45.55
32 alan Life M45 47.08
34 RogerBrewster M55 47.2
47 Nick Roscoe M40 49.05
49 Nicholas Olszewski M50 49.29
55 Stephen Biscomb M60 50.07
59 Sean Clare M45 50.42
61 Andy Bradley M45 50.52
62 Gordon Barrett M50 51.05
68 Stephen White M55 52.23
69 Richard Briscoe M 52.38
81 MartinBrady M50 53.24
88 David Scott M70 54.28
92 DawnTerry F50 55.2
107 MartinGriffin M50 58.44
120 Jean Knightly F55 60.34
122 SarahHelliwell F 61.32
127 Rachel Todd F40 62.41
134 Robert Hirst M60 64.57
135 HelenBurnett F40 65
139 Michelle Butsgot F40 66.36
140 Richard Lawson M70 67.06
141 Adrienne Olszewska F45 67.3
149 Christine Leathley F65 77.51
Thanks to Richard Stevenson for this weeks race report! Full results can be found here.
The Rest of the Weekends Action
It would seem that this weekend, if you wasn’t at the Trawden 7 Trail Race, you were at this years Wasdale Fell Race 2014! A total of 8 Harriers made the trip to the Lake Districts. Spencer Riley (feels good to write that name again) was the first back, finishing 6th in his age category, and 29th overall. The next male through was Martin Terry, who also finished 6th in his age category, shortly behind in 32nd. 3rd Harrier through the finish was Mick Dobson, scraping in under the hour mark in 5:55:40 and in 66th over. One place behind him, and only 8 seconds too was Ivan Whigham in 67th. Lastly, John Russius and Andrew Firth completed the fell race in 06:01:16 and 06:30:43 respectively.
There was only one lady and the race, and she outdid herself once again. Not only was she the the 6th lady to finish, she also finished as the 1st FV60 – finishing in front of four of the men too!!
Our solo runner of the week comes from our top road runner, Johnny McKenna. He raced at the Eccup 10 Road Race, finishing 7th out of 167 runners, in 00:57:47. Well done Johnny!
Unless I have missed a race, it would seem our attentions were split between Trawden and Wasdale! Well done to everyone who ran!
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