A Bit Of A Do

Huge thanks to all of the organisers, volunteers and supporters who helped make this year’s British Athletics Hill & Fell Running Relay Championships go so smoothly on Pendle. As well as organising we put three teams into the event so read on to find out how they went on. Don’t forget the Mid Lancs cross country fixture is at Towneley Park this Saturday so come on down and take part for the club. Let’s have a good turnout on familiar ground.

Saturday 17 October

British Athletics Hill & Fell Running Relay Championships

74 clubs entered 147 teams in this prestigious event organised by us and run on and around Pendle Hill. Calder Valley Fell runners were the overall winners of the event in 3:29:19, with some stiff competition from Pudsey & Bramley AC 3:29:55 and Dark Peak 3:30:10. Borrowdale Fell Runners were the first vet team, finishing in 3:42:43, 13^th place overall.

The British Relay Championships. Photo by Sarah Helliwell

We entered two men’s teams; an open team and a Vet 40 team. The open men finished in 25^th place with a time of 3:57:06 and the Vets in 34^th with a time of 04:02:36.

First Ladies’ team was Ambleside who were 48^th place with a time of 4:11:06. First Vet Ladies team was Dark Peak in 65^th place with a time of 4:27:14.

We entered a Vet 40 Ladies team who were the 5^th Vets team and 120^th place overall with a time of 5:25:43.

Report from Ladies’ Fell Captain Kath Brady

We entered our only ladies team in the LV40 Championship to support the first year of this new championship category. We finished 5^th out of 11 teams in a time of 5.25.43. 4^th team were just 12 seconds in front of us and 6^th team were just 4 seconds behind us so every second counted.

Irene Roche, a very last minute call up late on Thursday, lead us off up past Black Moss Reservoir and up the Big end of Pendle (7K approx with 450m of ascent) coming home in 8^th in a time of 55.54.

Alison Dugdale & Vicky Heys ran 2^nd leg (15K approx with 630m of ascent) pulled back one place to finish 7^th in 1.41.10.

Vicky Heys at the British Relay Championships on Pendle. Photo by Woodentops

Top navigators Jean Brown & Wendy Dodds on leg 3 picked up their maps half a mile after their start and had a storming run with the 3^rd fastest time in 1.42.53. Both enjoyed the challenge of navigating the optimal route.

Our last leg runner Barbara Savage, set off in the ‘staggered’ mass start finishing in 1.05.46, 9^th fastest on the leg.

There was great club and team spirit throughout the day, Jean was on car parking at 7am, Barbara had been on the start/finish field all day and at 9.45 was digging a trench to lay electric cables! Irene, Alison, Vicky & Wendy were around encouraging all our teams.

We can build on this result at Loch Lomond in 2016, so keep a weekend free for a recce trip to Scotland!

Irene Roche – Leg 1 Runner – Reports

On arrival at Barley, ready for leg 1, I found there was a great buzz about the place. After collecting a map, dinner voucher, dibber and complimentary head buff from Captain Kath Brady, I was ready for Kit check and dibber activator. Off we then all set for the big hill in view! A brilliant atmosphere amongst fellow runners was followed by the lung busting, energy sapping race up the “big end” of Pendle.

Irene Roche at the British Relay Championships on Pendle Hill. Photo by Woodentops

The descent by the steps followed by the immediate climb back up the cart track gave no rest to any of us. I must say my favourite part of the course was running down the steady descent towards Buttock Farm and finally the finish. I loved every minute of it. An excellent team effort from all the Clayton Lady runners in an extremely prestigious event!

Report from Christopher Holdsworth

A lot of people seemed eager to see Clayton fail in their efforts to host this year’s British Relay Championships, so it goes to show just how well the members involved managed to pull it off with all the praise and compliments they have received.

Jonny McKenna (L) and Chris Holdsworth at the British Relay Championships. Photo by Sarah Helliwell

The senior men, although having a few dropouts through injury, fielded a very strong and young team. We started our day with Jordan McDonald eager to induce stress in us all by forgetting his dibber (literally 5 minutes after I gave it him). Jordan had a storming run bringing us back in 30th position in a very strong opening leg. Jonny and I managed to reduce the places by 12 coming in at 18th. Dave Bagot and Paul Thompson took over and put in a solid navigational effort, taking some big scalps along the way. Lee Smith rounded off the day with a good performance, finishing 25th overall.

Jordan McDonald (Front) and Andrew Stubbs at the British Relay Championships. Photo by Woodentops

The vets, who posed a threat throughout the day, finished not far behind in 34th – showing just how even our two teams were at times.

A really great day was topped off by attending Marie Flood and Thomas Brewster’s wedding do in the evening. Congratulations to them both!

Full Results

Pilling 10k

Run on a flat & quiet roads in the pretty village of Pilling. This 10km race series aims to be a friendly series organised by runners who are dedicated to delivering a well-supported series of 10km’s for every type of runner. This is flat, fast and has some excellent opportunities to stretch your legs!

Full Results

Sunday 18 October

Green Drive 5 Road Race – Lytham (incorporating Lancashire 5 Mile Road Championships)

Congratulations to Dave Scott who is the 1^st V70 and to Kath Brady who is 2^nd V50 Lady 5 mile road champions.

Kath Brady sends this report

Having set off from a gloomy East Lancashire heading for better weather in the West of the county, we arrived in plenty of time to check out the first part of the course and to see and encourage the four Thompson Clayton juniors flying by in the 1 mile race

The course starts on a tarmac pedestrian, tree-lined avenue for the first km then onto the pavements of the flat road between Lytham and Warton. Shortly after 2 miles on the main road a left turn on to a country lane, this doubled back and brought us on to the main road back into Lytham. An ideal race for a 5 mile PB.

This would make a great Club Road Championship race. It is a well organised, friendly race. £11 to enter (going back into Lytham club funds) with a nice technical tshirt along with physio students doing free massages at the finish I’d recommend this race.

I tried to set off steady and get into a rhythm to see how my legs would work after a long day helping at the relay. After 2 miles, started to pick a few off with the focus of a couple club of Trawden vests to chase, the remaining 3 miles seem to pass fairly quickly.

Paul Walsh looking resplendent at the Lytham Green 5 Mile Race.

5 Mile Race Results

1 Mile Race Results

Another sterling performance from Team Thompson at this event. There’s just no stopping them!

Full Results

Jimmy Cricket’s 70^th Birthday Cowm 5K

http://www.ukresults.net/2015/cricket.html 

Parkrun roundup

Plenty of PBs and top ten performances from our club members at Burnley and Pendle parkruns this week.

Burnley parkrun – A total of 312 runners took part.

Burnley parkrun. Photo by David Belshaw

Pendle parkrun – A total of 61 runners took part

Witton parkrun – A total of 173 runners took part.

Bolton parkrun – A total of 267 runners took part

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 223 runners took part.

 Oakwell Hall parkrun – A total of 149 runners took part.

Preston parkrun – A total of 261 runners took part.

Woodbank parkrun – A total of 138 runners took part.