Run, run as fast as you can

We could be forgiven to think that the weekend of Mothering Sunday would be a quiet one. Not at all! There’s lots to find out from Junior cross-country to fells and roads. This week’s compilation is care of Irene Roche. Read on!

Clayton Juniors have been busy competing in The English Schools Cross Country on Saturday.

Briony came 85th, 5 seconds behind Jasmine and a few places in front of Esme Davies. She pushed harder downhill than last year and felt it speeded her up compared to last time. Well done Briony!

Briony Holt at the ESAA National Cross Country Championship

Results
http://www.esaa.net/v2/2015/xc/xc15intro.php

Burnley Parkrun saw a total of 216 runners on Saturday.

Pendle parkrun – A total of 89 runners took part.

18 of our junior runners took part in the Pendle parkrun on Saturday morning as part of their summer series of races.  There were top ten finishes  from Jackson McKay and Thomas Bradley. There were also 6 new personal bests  for  Thomas  Bradley, Adam Stevenson, Finley Stubbs, Natashas Olszewska, Daniel Bradley and  Lucy Stevenson.  First times at this parkrun were Dexta Thompson, Harry Mason, Lennon Jackson, Sophie Ashworth, Beth Quinn, Joshua McKay, Kady Thompson and Milly McCabe. All of them put in great performances on a tough parkrun course –  a credit to the junior coaching team.  They showed great team spirit with many of them running back to support and run in with their teammates.

Preston parkrun – A total of 267 runners took part.

Gunnersbury parkrun – A total of 311 runners took part.

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 75 runners took part.

Shrewsbury parkrun – A total of 311 runners took part.

Next up, the fell news.

What better place to start with than the first counter for Team Clayton’s Fell Championship? Jean Brown reports Black Combe as an excellent day on Saturday, being a “really is classic race!”

Jean describes the race as a steep first section followed by a long runnable climb to the summit, the first time around. “After a wonderful long decent the second time up is rather different – a walking climb for the vast majority. All followed by a great run off – for which there is a fastest decent prize. Excellent pie afterwards as well. Only three Clayton ladies there – Katy, Kath Brady and me – Katy was first LV60 and I was 2nd LV40. Plenty of Clayton men there though.

For the men, Garry Wilkinson reports the event as a great day where David Bagot beat the “Old Master” (Garry himself), following his every move to the summit. He says Richard Briscoe had “a cracking run” as he took third place in the champs. Also, a well done was given to Dave Burnett for running his first Lakeland race and to all the other Clayton runners who travelled. Celebrations followed with a few beers in the town later. Full results.

Dave Bagot celebrating standing 1st place in the Club Fell Championship

Team Clayton were also present at The Howarth Hobble. Report from Nicholas Olszewski.

This is a great classic race and one of my favourites, it’s 32 miles with about 4500ft of climbing and a great introduction for anyone looking at distant running because of its low-key friendly atmosphere. 4 Clayton runners took part this year, Martin Terry, Ivan Whigham, Andrew Armstrong and myself. The race starts outside the Fleece Inn on the very narrow cobbled main street in Haworth with a very casual, “Have a nice day, go”.

Nicholas Olszewski at the Haworth Hobble. Photo by the Woodentops

The route is fantastic, with some brilliant scenery to take in on the way round. Basically, you’re heading towards Bronte Bridge, Top Withins then over to Widdop. From there Gorple Road then over to Long Causeway, off on the bend to the first very muddy bit at Stiperden House Farm. God,was it muddy! Onto Stoney Lane head then over to Mankinholes for a wee dram if you fancy as they have whisky on the checkpoint as part of the refreshments. The next bit up Stoodley Pike is a killer, after 20 miles of my Stuart Mills race plan (run as fast as you can for as long as you can) my legs where feeling a little tired, but once at the top it’s a nice steady trot down into Hebden Bridge, until you hit those dreaded steps heading up to Heptonstall which just about finished my legs off.

Once I’d reached Heptonstall and turned right at the pub I felt I was on the return. Everything had gone to plan and, apart from my legs feeling fatigued, I felt great. The next part along the packhorse track to Crimson Dene was a little gooey and quite breezy, at the last checkpoint Andy Armstrong caught up with me and we ran the last few miles together, which was great. I was grateful as he had his junior training head on and had us running and walking between road markers to speed us along, thanks for that Andy!

1  Chris Singleton  (Trawden)  04.09.10
12  Martin Terry                       04.50.37
78  Andy Armstrong                05.32.39
81  Nicholas Olszewski          05.33.15
131 Ivan Whigham                  05.57.49
325 finished. Full results.

On Saturday Paul Shackleton ran the Carding Mill Canter fell race at Church, Stretton, achieving 18th place overall and 3rd vet 50. The course is 7.8km with 580m of ascent. Paul added, “ what a beautiful place this is, not with massive climbs but they are steep”. Full results.

And some for the road…

Jonathan Pye and Jacob Watson ran in the Blackpool “Sweatshop” 10 mile road race. This was their first time racing this distance, so weren’t sure what to expect. However they both got the times they wanted “so happy days all round!” Jacob reported that  it was organised and marshalled well and had fairly decent, “not too windy” weather. It was an enjoyable race with a fast crowd out… definitely one for the race calendar next year!  Full results.

Breton Holdsworth reports his 4^th run of this 14.1 mile road race through the valley from Dent at Dentdale on Saturday describing the course as “a sort of figure of eight” and “quite undulating” (around 1000ft of ascent). Results.

He reports, “I was quite surprised when I realised that this was my first road race of the year! After a week of obsessing over checking the weather forecast it turned out to be near on perfect apart from a bitter wind. I knew there were some very quick lads due to race after looking at the start list. I wasn’t wrong, I did well to keep them in view for the first couple of miles then lost site of them. At this point I was in 8th and feeling strong, got to the halfway point and 7th position pulled out. I had 6th in my view and caught him around 11 miles (someone who was actually more colour co-ordinated than me) this spurred me on to put a 5.35 min mile and found I felt strong still. 5th place was then in view with around a mile and a half to go though. Unfortunately I couldn’t make the ground up before running out of race! In the end I finished 6th and a couple of minutes faster than my time 2 years ago when I won the race, overall very happy and it’s still one of my favourite races”.

Steve Biscomb did the 10 mile road race at Bispham on Sunday commenting that it was good to see a good number of Clayton runners there. He predicted his time well (as 70 minutes), completing in 70.33! Well done Steve! He said it was good to see Ted Orell there too, having a fast finish fighting off “another oldie” in the final 200 yards. Just beating him on the line! Steve said, “ Asking him which age group he was in, I was gob smacked when he said V70, wow! I am always amazed at the quality that there is in the older categories”.

A short but sweet report arrives from the Podium Road Race completed on Saturday. Paul Brannon was 1^st Vet 55 in the country, with his Podium run on Saturday. Well done Paul!

Also on Saturday, Mark Taylor competed in The Silverstone Half Marathon. Full results.

To include cycling with our running, some of our members have completed a duathlon this weekend. Vicky Heys claimed the third team ladies team prize, alongside fellow runner Julia Hartley from Accrington Road Runners. The prize includes vouchers for new goggles! Results.

Apologies to anybody who I’ve missed but it’s a challenge keeping up with everything as so much has gone on this weekend. Well done all! Irene Roche.