2017 gets off to a champion start

What a great start to 2017! One thing is for sure; Clayton-le-Moors Harriers don’t wait to kick start the new year. With parkrun doubles and classic fell races on New Year’s Day you were out and about as you mean to go on. And then, on the first proper weekend, a superb showing at the Lancashire Cross Country Championships with medals and champions galore.

SUNDAY JANUARY 1

NINE STANDARDS FELL RACE

150 runners shook off the excesses of Christman and New Year to line up for the Nine Standards Fell Race over an 8 mile course with 1801ft of climb.

Wendy Dodds at the Nine Standards Fell Race. Photo by Andy Jackson

Wendy Dodds was our sole representative in this race and she finished in 109^th place as 1^st V60 lady.

Full Results

WHITWORTH NEW YEAR’S DAY AWAKENER 5K

A quartet of Clayton men took part in the popular Whitworth NYD Awakener 5K. Stephen Green was our first finisher in 37th place followed by David McMullan in 38th. Robert Hirst was 85th and Ron Chappell was 89th. There were 98 runners.

Full Results

SATURDAY 7 JANUARY

LANCASHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

U11 Boys

55 runners took part in the U11 boys event with Dexta Thompson running strongly to take the win. Robbie Smedley battled hard to earn a bronze medal and third place. Finley Stubbs in 9^th place and Matthew Jackson in 16^th ensured a first place finish for the team. The U11 squad was completed by Jenson Bentham and Joshua McKay

U11 Champion, Dexta Thompson. Photo by David Wood

Team Position – 1^st (D Thompson | R Smedley | F Stubbs | M Jackson)

U11 Girls

Helana White was our first U11 girl in 8^th place in a field of 55 runners. The team finished in 7^th place overall.

Helana White running well in the U11 race. Photo by David Wood

Team Position – 7^th ( H White | K Thompson | R Stevenson | E Smedley)

U13 Boys

Jackson McKay had a great fun and finished 3^rd overall earning a bronze medal for himself. Lennon Jackson was 27^th. Sadly not enough U13 boys for a team at this event.

U13 Girls

Ella Dorrington was the first Clayton girl in 12^th place.

Bethany Wheatcroft in the U13 race. Photo by David Wood

Team Position – 6^th (E Dorrington | K Stevenson | B Wheatcroft | B Olszewska)

U15 Boys

Our U15 boys ran well in a small but very competitive field. Nicholas Hennessey was our first finisher in 13^th place.

U15 Boys in action. L-R Stanley Grewal, Aaron Lundi and Adam Stevenson. Photo by David Wood

Team Position – 4^th (N Hennessey | S Grewal |A Stevenson | A Lundie)

U15 Girls

Our U15 girls put in a strong performance in a very competitive group with a 3^rd place finish and bronze medal for Briony Holt. Some great running from her team mates secured a bronze medal for the team as well.

A rather packed podium. Bronze medal winning U15 Girls Briony Holt, Mille Stubbs, Natasha Olszewska and Liberty Thompson

Team Position – 3^rd ( B Holt | M Stubbs | N Olszewska | L Thompson)

U17 Men

Curtis Holt was our first finisher in this group which was very fast and competitive.

U17 Men. L-R Reece Lawrence, Simon Wilshaw and Curtis Holt. Photo by Andrew Holt

Team Position – 5^th ( C Holt | S Wilshaw | R Lawrence)

U20 Men

Ladies Race

What a champion bunch of ladies we have!

Clayton Ladies racing in the mist at the Lancashire XC Championship. Irene Roche leads with Teresa de Curtis not far behind. Photo by Steve Bateson

Eleven ladies turned up to race and left with a haul of medals to be proud of. We can boast the Lancashire ladies champion, the champion lady vets team and lots of age category medals as well.

Lancashire Cross Country Champion, Louisa Powell-Smith in action. Photo by David Wood

A really great race for Louisa Powell-Smith who took the race win and the 1^st L35 win as well the gold medal for the ladies vets team (on her birthday too!).

Lancashire Lady Vet Champions! L-R Cassie Smedley, Louisa Powell-Smith and Donna Airey.

Julia Rushton was 3^rd L50. Irene Roche was 1^st L55 and Susan Allen was 2^nd L55. Christine Leathley was 2^nd L65.

Lady V55 Champions. Irene Roche (gold), Sue Allen (Bronze)

Team Position – 5^th (L Powell-Smith | L Hesketh | D Airey)

Vets Team – 1^st ( L Powell-Smith | D Airey | C Smedley)

Mens Race

Danny Collinge was the first Clayton man in 14^th place overall. The team finished in 7^th place. Success was in the air for our vet men with a silver for the team. Mark Aspinall got a Gold medal for the V55 and James Hickie joined him on the podium with a bronze medal. Stephen Breckell got a silver medal for the V65 category and David Scott was 1^st V70.

Danny Collinge at the Lancashire Cross Country Championship Photo by David Wood

Team Position – 7^th ( D Collinge | M Aspinall | R Stevenson | P Coates | M Duckworth | A Orr)

Vets Team – 2^nd ( M Aspinall | R Stevenson | P Coates | A Orr)

Full Results

SUNDAY 8 JANUARY

CENTRAL LANCS HALF MARATHON

Dan Plant and Colin White took part in the Central Lancs New Year Half Marathon. Dan was our first finisher in 74th place overall and a time of 01:31:45. Colin White kick started his 2017 race diary with a brand spanking new PB of 1:38:56.6.

Full Results

FASTRAX JUNIOR 2K

We had a great turnout of juniors despite the Lancashire Cross Country Championships the day before. It was also a great opportunity for some of our youngest members to race.

Start of the Junior 2K Fastrax race. Photo by David Belshaw

Lennon Jackson was 2^nd overall and first boy in this 2K junior race. Helana White was our first girl and second girl overall.

Matthew Jackson with Helana White chasing at the Junior Fastrax race. Photo by David Belshaw

A very successful event for our juniors who took first place in every age group we entered!

Emily Nichols with flying feet at the Junior Fastrax race. Photo by David Belshaw

Full Results

FASTRAX 5K RACE

A baker’s dozen of Clayton Harriers took part in this super-fast 5K race. The top spot went to young runner, Max Wharton of Liverpool Harriers with Danny Collinge chasing him for second place and 1^st senior male. Michelle Abbot was our first lady finisher and also 1^st L35. Julia Rushton was 1^st L50

Fastrax 5K. Photo by David Belshaw

Full Results

GARSTANG 10K

Report from John Hartley

On a misty, but very mild, Sunday morning I set off over to Garstang to do their annual 10K road race. This being quite a tough and undulating course, I was chuffed at the finish when I saw the results and I had won the V60 category. Two other Clayton runners took part; Stephen Biscomb and Martin Brady. There were 480 finishers

Full Results

SCOUT SCAR FELL RACE

The Scout Scar fell race marks the start of the Kendal Winter League race series organised by Helm Hill. It is a classic 5 mile blend of fast hilly cross-country on rough limestone tracks with stupendous views (weather permitting of course).

Report from Stephen Fish

SCOUT SCAR – 4.5 miles/800’ – 08/01/17

Three Clayton runners, Wendy Dodds, Katy Thompson and myself, made the trip up to Cumbria to compete in the ever popular Kendal Winter League, Scout Scar race. This is held in a beautiful area of carboniferous limestone, just outside Kendal and was the first event in the excellent series of races hosted by Helm Hill Runners. The weather was mild (for a change) and quite misty, although navigation wasn’t a problem with approximately 150+ runners competing and a well-marked course.

Stephen Fish at the Scout Scar Fell Race. He says this is his pain face – looks like he’s having a great time to me! Photo by Andy Holden

Once the multitude of juniors had finished their races, we finally got under way. Wendy quickly disappeared into the distance, as I got into my rhythm to try and keep Katy in sight. Around the half distance mark, on a long gradual descent, Katy came past me again and gained quite a bit of distance, at which point I gave up any chance of staying with her. With around 1 mile to the finish there is a gradual climb and I was surprised to catch and pass Katy and had to work really hard to keep it that way into the finish funnel. I never saw sight of Wendy anywhere around the route, she had a flyer!

I can thoroughly recommend this popular series of races, especially the Barbondale race on February 12th.

Clayton Results:

Wendy Dodds – FV60 – Well in front of me!

Stephen Fish – MV60 – 45.29

Katy Thompson – FV60 – Approximately 20 seconds behind myself.

New Year’s Day parkrun

Congratulations to Alan Life, Martin Brady, Chris Lawrence and Christine Egerton on completing the New Year double parkrun at Skipton and Pendle!

Burnley parkrun – A total of 128 runners took part

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 172 runners took part

Pendle parkrun – A total of 138 runners took part

Skipton parkrun – A total of 175 runners took part

Parkrun roundup Saturday 7 January

Burnley parkrun – A total of 308 runners took part.

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 145 runners took part.

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 181 runners took part.

Pendle parkrun – A total of 72 runners took part.

Penrith parkrun – A total of 196 runners took part.

Puarenga parkrun – A total of 75 runners took part.

Skipton parkrun – A total of 230 runners took part.

UPCOMING CLUB EVENT

Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round Recce Sunday 15th January

For those thinking about stepping up in distance and doing a longer fell run (Stan Bradshaw is 16km/ 10 miles and this year is on Saturday March 4th) and are unsure if this race is for them, come try it out and run the route with the Race Organiser!

From Barley Car park (look for the Red VW Transporter).  Please bring running kit appropriate for the weather, if you have never been kit checked before under FRA rules, I am happy to advise if yours passes the standard.  Whatever you eat/drink on a longer run may be worth considering as this will not be run at race pace (it will be a gentle trot out!) and I believe we will be on the hill for two hours.  Please bring map of the race and compass also – I will have a few spare maps to share out if need be. The race map is also available from Pete Bland Sports.

Remember the aim of a recce is to gain some familiarity with a race route so on the day you can keep your head down and run, rather than wonder which way to turn next!

Meeting time.  My original plan was to run in the morning, however, I have been asked by several members if we can run this in the afternoon as there are other races/events happening that Sunday morning.  I am happy to do this so will start at a time the majority of you want to run at. Either 10.00 am or 1.30 pm.

Either email me at stanbradshawrace@yahoo.com and state the time (10 or 1.30), call me or better still, comment on the Facebook post I will put on to Team Clayton later this week. The time will be confirmed on Friday.

I will be accepting race entry forms and cash/cheque on this recce and the one on February 12th.  The entry form with route grid references (for the route) can be found here http://www.claytonlemoors.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Stan-Bradshaw-Entry-Form-2017.pdf

Clayton members only please for the recces