Christmas passed with not a sight of the white stuff and then the skies opened this weekend, which in the end caused a little disruption to the racing.
A number of races were cancelled or postponed this weekend including the Podium 5k which attracts a super quick field at its monthly event in Barrowford and the East Lancs Hospice 10k from Great Harwood, this race has been re-arranged for Sunday 25th January.
But there were races that defied the weather with Clayton Harriers as usual out in force. The first race of the weekend the Hebden 22 had a number of our members competing, although technically not a race the popular LDWA event attracts runners from all over the local area with promises of a fantastic route, great organisation and I think your weight in cake, sandwiches and other goodies. In total 156 runners took part in this event with the following members finishing:
30. Paul Hesketh 3:57
34. Neil Hardiman 3:58
94. Wendy Dodds 5:11
141. Adrienne Olszewska 6:32
(L-R – Neil Hardiman & Paul Hesketh)
Sunday Morning came and the prospect of Stanbury Splash, the first Fell club championship race of the year. With the adverse weather conditions and the race organiser making the decision to both shorten the course and announcing that the approach roads to Penistone Quarry were in a poor condition a late announcement was made by club captains myself and Jean Brown to cancel this as a club championship race. This decision was not taken lightly, however we felt the safety of our members was paramount and we did not want anybody to feel they had to drive in those conditions just to get a club championship counter. My apologies again for such a late announcement as I know a number of individuals had already set off to the race and talking of those individuals John Hanson sends this report.
Race day again and my 2nd fell race since I’ve joined the club. Build up to this race was a little different and everyone’s eyes were on the weather. Personally I’d googled the race ( as every proper geek would) and was so impressed by the look of it that I was doing the race whatever the weather, once my mind is set on something I’m doing it.
The morning of the race came and it had been changed to a shorter 5 mile course, it didn’t matter as I was looking forward to it, so off we go.
On the way over I saw a few club members making their way over and I was glad that I’m not the only one. Sanity check not needed for today.
On arrival the land is covered in snow and the views are amazing, really gave me the buzz for being there and wanting to race. Time to register and have a quick warm up before its time to get to the line. Just before 11:30 we all gather at the bottom of the quarry and get ready to start, I’m stood with Dave Bagot and John Roche. I’m enjoying the atmosphere and also looking forward to getting going just to warm up a little.
Race starts and we are off to a 1 mile climb, fairly boggy but a steady easy climb. I was unfortunate to get stuck behind people on the climb but I kept managing to find a place to overtake as we got further up the hill.
(John Hanson above in the red jacket)
Race continues to get even boggier and one minute you’re on your legs, the next your down to your knees in mud and just about staying upright. Tough going but great fun and let’s face it we all love getting muddy on a fell run. About 2 and half miles in Dave Bagot is still in sight and I feel strong, I just keep pushing through, tapping up the hills and overtaking as often as I can. Then the downhill comes. We all start flying down and people are hitting the deck left right and centre, including myself. We make it to the bottom and then a slight climb up and I manage to overtake a few more on a good section where I could pick some speed up down to the road crossing, we make it past the road but I can’t just get in front of the next guy and before I know it we are at the finish line.
A fantastic race which had me smiling all day.
(Still smiling……..L-R Natalie Harrison, Vicky Heyes, Angela Shian)
31. Dave Bagot 40:34
59. Jon Hanson 42:43
97. John Roche 44:54
99. Chris Funnell 44:57
110.John Wilcock 45:27
140. Richard Briscoe 47:16
144. Vicky Heys 47:24
171. Angela Shian 49:26
176. Natalie Harrison 49:42
251. Katie Thompson 55:02
277.Kath Brady 57:05
Full results here
At Giggleswick in the Kendal Winter League series we had another fantastic junior performance from Briony Holt who battled in tough conditions to win the girls race.
(Briony Holt)
In the senior race we had great performances from…….
22. Alan Life 28:01 (1st V50)
112. Carol Life 36:42
118. Wendy Dodds 37:13 (1st LV60)
132. Stephen Fish 38:34
At the Inskip 1/2 Marathon Michael Hogan said “I think I was the only clayton vest at the Inskip 1/2 marathon this morning, chuffing chilly and icy in places but a really good morning out. Here comes Marathon Training – Happy Days”
Full results are not out yet but I will update asap.
and finally Parkrun – I’m not going to do the usual World Update because I don’t know (Adrienne will be back next week) 🙂 but as usual we had members out in force at both Burnley & Pendle (and im sure uk wide).
and the only other thing is a reminder about the ‘Club do’ or Annual Presentation evening.
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