“Excellent team performance from Team Clayton at the first Mid Lancs XC fixture from the Men, Women, and Junior teams, this is just the first step towards our goal of putting Clayton-le-Moors Harriers back in the top flight where we belong. Please continue to support the Club throughout the season, everyone on the start line counts.”
Ian Greenwood (Mens Cross Country Captain)

Cross Country News

There were two major cross country events going on for club members this weekend.

Firstly, the British Masters Cross Country Relays in Derby with three teams entered. Two ladies’ teams and a men’s team

Irene Roche (Ladies Captain) reported; “Had a brilliant day in Derby at the Masters Cross Country Championships with the Clayton ladies. Success and enjoyment are the words to describe Team Clayton’s trip to Derby on Saturday 25th. Whilst bronze was awarded to our LV55 team, Christine Leathley, Jean Knightley and Irene Roche, our LV45 team comprising of Anna Kelly, Barbara Savage and Julia Rushton gained 9th place amongst many teams of tough competition.

L-R: Irene Roche, Christine Leathley, Jean Knightley

The course was of neat dry grass consisting of one or two short hilly bits with a short visit through woodland. Two laps of this then brought each runner to the finish line. It was brilliant! Compared to many of our usual XC venues it was bit like running round someone’s very large back garden!

L-R: Barbara Savage, Anna Kelly and Julia Rushton

Next year we hope to arrive with more teams (hoping it doesn’t clash with our league runs). Thank you and well done girls!

Garry Wilkinson reported; “Many thanks to Paul Shackleton for organising this. Great to see him holding onto Bronze on the 5th, and anchor leg, in the British Masters XC in Derby today. Massive team effort from the ‘boys’. 5 x 3.1 km relay legs. 
We won a bronze medal in the 45-54 age cat and there’s only one of us under 50. That’s an average of 5 min 45sec per mile /average age 51 on grass”

Leg 1 Andy Stubbs 10:58
Leg 2 Mark Aspinall 11:24
Leg 3 Ian Greenwood 11:54
Leg 4 Garry Wilkinson 11:34
Leg 5 Paul Shackleton 11:47 Team Captain

L-R: Andy Stubbs, Mark Aspinall, Ian Greenwood, Garry Wilkinson, Paul Shackleton and mascot

Secondly, the Mid Lancs Cross Country League kicked off at Hyndburn at Wilson’s Playing Fields in Clayton-le-Moors. There was a huge turnout of 71 club members across the races, 30 junior members and 41 seniors.

12 juniors took part in the Under 11 races, some of them competing in cross country racing for the first time, and there were solid performances all round. Jackson McKay had a great run finishing in 3^rd place in his race. It’s great to see such enthusiasm in our youngest members and the future looks positive. A credit to the junior coaching team!

Clayton junior girls at the Mid Lancs Cross Country fixture

Girls U-11 Results (70 Runners)

13 – Ella Dorrington 9:20
35 – Roanna Holdsworth 10:06
50 – Keira Stevenson 10:34
60 – Kady Thompson 12:50

Boys U-11 Results (66 Runners)

3 – Jackson McKay 7:41
15 – Dexta Thompson 8:42
39 – Cobi Doyle 9:24
43 – Finlay Stubbs 9:42
57 – Jack Skelly 10:35
62 – Finan Holdsworth 11:07
66 – Matthew Astley 12:53

8 juniors took part in the under 13 races with a particularly strong performance from the girls team finishing in 2^nd place. The boys team finished in 9^th place.

U-13 Girls Results (51 Runners)

2 – Briony Holt 10:04
8 – Eleanor Root 10:41
13 – Millie Stubbs 11:10
31 – Liberty Thompson 12:03
41 – Natasha Olszewska 13:08

Girls team 2^nd place (53 Pts) Briony Holt | Eleanor Root | Millie Stubbs | Liberty Thompson

Boys U-13 Results (56 Runners)

22 – Adam Quinn 13:24
49 – Adam Stevenson 16:00
51 – Isaac Wilkinson 16:11

Boys team 9^th place (118 pts) Adam Quinn | Adam Stevenson | Isaac Wilkinson

7 juniors took part in the under 15 races. Only 2 girls meant no team placing there, but a strong boys team finished in 4^th place.

Girls U-15 Results (22 Runners)

8 – Alice Pier 13:29
22 – Lucy Stevenson 19:32

Boys U-15 Results (41 Runners)

14 – Curtis Holt 16:33
18 – Thomas Bradley 16:29
24 – Ryan Clarke 17:16
34 – Alexander Townrow 18:03
38 – Simon Wilshaw 19:32

Boys Team 4^th place (55pts) Curtis Holt | Thomas Bradley | Ryan Clarke

Only 2 juniors competed in the under 17 races. Bethany Quinn ran well finishing 9^th in her class with a time of 20:53, and Jordan McDonald finishing 6^th in a strong field of runners with a time of 22:24. Well done!

Jordan McDonald in the Mid Lancs Cross Country U-17 race

Senior Ladies

We had 11 ladies running in the senior ladies race with the over 35 team finishing in 2^nd place. Some great performances from the ladies team even with a number of ladies away running in the British Masters Relays.

Ladies Individual Results (166 Runners)

Clayton Ladies in action at the Mid Lancs Cross Country

Ladies Team Results

Clayton-le-Moors – 9^th place (95pts) Candice Heys | Vicky Heys | Fabienne Richmond

Clayton-le-Moors “B” – 22^nd place (211 pts) Angela Shian | Sarah Helliwell | Dawn Richardson

Over 35s Team – 2^nd Place (41pts) Candice Heys | Vicky Heys | Fabienne Richmond

Over 35s Team “B” – 11^th place (115pts) Angela Shian | Dawn Richardson | Sarah Whittaker

Over 45s Team – 9^th place (107pts) Dawn Richardson | Adrienne Olszewska | Susan Allen

Senior Men

An excellent turn out of 31 Harriers took part in the men’s race, including George Pier in the U-20 category. First man in was Chris Holdsworth who finished in 17^th place with a time of 37:34. The men’s teams finished strongly with a fantastic 1^st place for the V60 Mens team. Well done chaps!

A great run from Chris Holdsworth.

Mens Individual Results (296 Runners)

Clayton Harrier, John Wilcock, storming up the muddy slope

Men’s Team Results

Clayton-le-Moors – 8^th place (310pts) C Holdsworth | L Smith | C Helliwell | D Motley | R Stevenson | A Orr

Clayton-le-Moors “B” – 15^th place (617pts) M O’Donnell | G Pier | A Cran | J Roche | M Hogan | S Clare

Vets Over 40s – 8^th place (161pts) A Orr | M O’Donnell | A Cran | J Roche

Vets Over 40s Team “B” – 14^th place (267pts) M Hogan | S Clare | B Holdsworth | J Wilcock

Vets Over 50s – 7^th place (78pts) J Roche | J Wilcock | H Booth

Vets Over 50s Team “B” – 14^th place (143pts) J Pickup | A Howarth | D McCallum

Vets Over 60s – 1^st place (22pts) P Booth | J Pickup | D McCallum

Vets Over 60s Team “B” – 4^th place (49pts) M Thistlethwaite | R Hirst | T Orrell

Full Results

Trail & Fell News

Great Whernside Fell Race – 25^th October
9 of our club members took part in this classic fell race. Linda Lord finished 1^st Lady Vet 60.

Linda Lord at the Great Whernside Fell Race – photo courtesy of Woodentops

Individual Results (157 Runners)

Full Results

Montane Trail 26 at Rivington – 26^th October

Nicholas Olszewski and Tim Piggot took Harriers took part in this popular trail marathon.

Report from Nicholas Olszewski

This event has a lot of nostalgia for me as it’s my old stomping ground from the early 80’s when I lived in Bolton and ran for Horwich RMI.

The route takes you through the Chinese gardens of Rivington Pike, around the beacon and up to Winter Hill, dropping down into Belmont. Next is Delph Reservoir at Egerton before the long slog over to Darwen Tower, which seems to go on forever, partly due to the fact that you get a glimpse of it early on and it doesn’t seem to get any nearer.

Once you get Darwen Tower out of the way the climbing and bog is behind you, all that’s left is a little road work through Withnell and Brinscal before trails heading back to Rivington & Blackrod School, running alongside the reservoirs at Anglezarke.

Chuffed with my time and performance this year, knocked an hour of last years’ time, which I think was achieved by my increased running mileage and cycling, I’ll be back next year to try and break the 4 hour barrier; I was just over this year by about 8 minutes.

Individual Results (148 Finishers)

Full Results

Tandle Hill Trail Race – 26^th October
A couple of Harriers took part in this event. Tandle Hill is a famous landmark in Rochdale that is known for its amazing views of the Pennines and surrounding areas. The race has all the features people love about trail running. Country Lanes, woodland running, grassy trails and paths, undulations, amazing views and scenery and a very fast, long, downhill finish. 5.8 miles , 573 ft of climbing

Individual Results (87 Runners)

Full Results

Bronte Way Race – 26^th October
There were 9 Harriers taking part in this race with a number of them racing for the second time this weekend. There’s just no stopping some people!

New member, Julie Toman was the only Clayton lady running in this race.  She has come a long way in a short time; from her first park run 12 months ago to running tough local trail and fell races. Well done Julie!

Ian Greenwood, racing for the second time this weekend – photo courtesy of Woodentops

Individual Results (158 Runners)

Full Results

OMM – The Original Mountain Marathon
Founded in 1968 the OMM is the originator of the 2 day mountain marathon type event and is for teams of 2, carrying all clothing, equipment, tent, sleeping bag, food for 36 hours, navigating one’s own route and including an overnight camp. There are 7 different classes, (the course distances quoted are over 2 days) the longest being the Elite which is literally 2 consecutive marathon length days or thereabouts and with c2,500m of ascent over 2 days.

Class A – Wendy Dodds with Sarah Rowell 18^th place with a time of 13:18:44

Long Score – 12^th place Jean Brown and Mike Wallis with a time of 12:47:43

Full Results

Road News

Snowdonia Marathon – 25^th October
A demanding and spectacular marathon route, encircling Snowdon, Wales’ and England’s highest peak. Two Harriers took part and finished strongly in what is considered to be one of the most difficult road marathons.

Individual Results (1709 Runners)

Full Results

Accrington 10k
A modest turnout of 14 Clayton-le-Moors Harriers for this event. Again some of the competitors had raced the day before, like I said you just can’t hold back a Harrier! Well done to Johnny McKenna (McCann) who finished in 3rd place and well done to Claire Vincent who was the 3^rd Lady finisher.

Steve Biscomb also ran, finishing in around 42:30 but is missing from the results.

Individual Results (337 Runners)

Full Results

Parkrun News
The parkrun movement continues to go from strength to strength, with new locations joining in the fun on a regular basis. Club members Katy and George Thompson were lucky enough to be a part of the inaugural Fell Foot parkrun last Saturday and here is their report.

George and I were going up to the Joss Naylor Dinner in Wasdale so decided to set off early and take in the new Parkrun at Fell Foot, Newby Bridge.  One of the first people we saw as we arrived was Eileen Jones, former Clayton Ladies Fell Captain. She was with her sister Sheila, who has done most of her 205 Parkruns at Heaton Park.

Eileen had helped set up the Newby Bridge Parkrun and said the organisers were hoping for a small field for their first event.  But they’d reckoned without the enthusiasm of dedicated Parkrunners!  Of the 247 runners who turned up, four had completed over 200 Parkruns and another eight had 100 shirts.  Just under half were first time Park runners.
The run starts on the grass near Windermere then goes out and does a loop round a meadow, comes back along the Lakeside with a short sharp hill back up to the start, then once more round the meadow.  It was a lovely scenic route with the autumn colours on the surrounding hills. So if you’re ever in the Lakes on a Saturday morning it’s well worth a visit.  The usual car park fees at Fell Foot are suspended until after the parkrun if you put a barcode in your car.

Parkrun Roundup
Well done to all of our parkrunners. Many of you went on to run one or, in some cases, 2 other events over the weekend. Congratulations to Susan Burns for her first lady position in the Burnley parkrun!

Heaton Parkrun – 416 Runners

Burnley Parkrun – 172 Runners

 Pendle Parkrun – 40 Runners