Trogs, Trails and Winter Warmers

What a great week! A record breaking win at the Grizedale trail marathon for Chris Holdsworth, superb results at the Blackburn Winter Warmers, plenty of trogging at Wadsworth, orienteering at Spring Wood, and Clayton juniors all over the Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships. Read all about it! Plus information about the next recce day for the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round.

SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY

LANCASHIRE SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

An impressive fifteen of our junior members took part in the Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships at Witton Park in Blackburn and they were representing schools in 5 different areas; Burnley, Blackburn, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale. There were excellent performances from each and every one of our runners.

Report from Briony Holt

This year’s Lancashire Schools was held at the usual place, Witton Park. The weather was gorgeous ( lovely Winter sun ) and the course was relatively dry with a couple of bogs now and again. With all of the schools in Lancashire competing, I knew it would be busy so the “dry” course wouldn’t be so dry for long! We arrived well before my race just to find out that the race timetable had changed! Lennon Jackson hadn’t heard the news realising that he had turned up 2 hours early! Luckily, my race was the same as it was on the letter meaning I had plenty of time to warm up.

Briony Holt running for Pendle and qualifying to run for Lancashire

The course wasn’t the dreaded ‘saucer’ as everyone thought. They had changed it making some of the senior runners have to go 3 times around the initial field you see upon arriving! However, this wasn’t as bad as it sounds because the race went quickly.

As I watched other Clayton members race, the time passed and it was soon time for me to race. Coach Phil Hall was great at advising me where the driest parts of the course were and where to push on. I was over the moon to come 4th and consequently gained selection for the Lancashire squad in March!

We had several other juniors from Clayton running for different boroughs which made the start lines colourful as they were all wearing different race vests! Everyone ran really well in a highly competitive field showing great sportsmanship after the race. Well done everybody!

Year 7 Girls

A great run for Ella Dorrington earned her 6^th place and first counter in the Rossendale team which finished in 5^th place.

Junior Boys (Year 8 & 9)

Jackson McKay ran strongly in some stiff completion to finish in 12^th place. Adam Stevenson and Jay Bowman joined him in representing Burnley schools but sadly were one man short of a team on the day. Lennon Jackson is missing from these results but he put in a great show of grit and determination after losing a shoe on the first lap and finishing his race regardless!

Junior Girls (Year 8 & 9)

Our junior girls were representing 3 different teams with just Millie Stubbs with enough runners to make a team which finished in 5^th place.

Inter Girls (Year 10 & 11)

A fantastic run from Briony with a great finish to grab 4^th place in this competitive girl’s race. Briony was representing Pendle schools but there were not enough runners to make up a team. Lucy Stevenson was running for Burnley schools and her team finished in 7^th place.

Inter Boys (Year 10 & 11)

Nick Hennessey and Stanley Grewal were running for Burnley Schools and finished in 15^th and 30^th places respectively.

Full Results

PFO – SPRING WOOD

Mark Nutter, Jean Brown and Christopher Brown all took part in the Pendle Forest Orienteers event at Spring Wood in Whalley. This was the third event in a series of four offering a range of competitive levels.

Mark Nutter and Jean Brown took on the Green course which was the most technically challenging course consisting of a minimum distance of 3.1km and 140m of ascent.  Mark Nutter was second overall with a time of 38:04 and Jean Brown was 4th and first lady with 61:31.

Junior member Christopher Brown took on the Orange course consisting of a minimum 1.9km and 95m of ascent. He was second with a time of 33:16

Full Results

WADSWORTH TROG

Nine hardy club members took to the bogs and trogs of Wadsworth for this early season, long fell race organised by Calder Valley Fell Runners. It’s 19 miles over rough, moorland terrain with 3650ft of ascent thrown in and is affectionately referred to as ‘the beast’.

Report from Alan Dorrington

Forewarned is forearmed, or so they say. I had run the Wadsworth Trog for the first time last year, surviving and even enjoying the bogs and the rough single track paths on the moors north of Hebden Bridge. This year, armed with knowledge of the route, a good forecast as well as coming off the back of a streaky December spent running 256 miles for charity, I had reasonably high hopes of running hard over the 19 miles of what is known locally as ‘The Beast’.

Alan Dorrington channelling his inner Mark Knopfler at the Wadsworth Trog. Photo by Woodentops

Heading up onto High Brown Knoll for the first time, I felt pretty good and kept the Clayton vests of Martin Terry, Andy Armstrong and Neil Hardiman in sight up to the first checkpoint. This was the pattern for the first half of the race, Neil catching me when the terrain went downhill and me slowly reeling in him on the climbs with Martin and Andy around 100 yards ahead. Over the  bogs to Checkpoint 4 at Cock Hill I had the privilege of running with Nicky Spinks, marvelling at her ability to just glide across the difficult terrain whilst I lurched and stumbled my way behind.

Climbing on the road then bridleway to Stairs Edge I reeled in Martin and Andy just as we dropped down to Harbour Lodge and Checkpoint 6. Me being a less than average descender, Neil caught me again here and he, Martin and Andy pushed on up Harbour Hill and over to Top Withins. I however suddenly went in to reverse – maybe as I had been pushing too hard at first, maybe because I hadn’t eaten enough, who knows? Either way I was going backwards fast, runner after runner coming past and my mediocre descending got even worse on the rough single track paths. It wasn’t pretty and I had a real funk on, proper bottom lip quivering stuff. Seeing as we were at the furthest point from the finish, there was no option but to soldier on, though I am ashamed to admit I was going through bail out options in my head for later on the route as we climbed over to the Withins ruins and dropped down the flagged (as in stone) descent to the reservoirs. There wasn’t anything to do other than keep going but to my surprise, with some food and a bit of a self-imposed talking to, I began to pick off runners on the climbs and get going again. As the weather was sunny (as opposed to the rain of last years Trog) the return toward Hebden rewarded runners with great views over Calderdale and beyond, helping lift my spirits.

Barbara Savage and Vicky Heys at the Wadsworth Trog. Photo by Woodentops

By Checkpoint 10 and the second climb of High Brown Knoll from the West, I was going well again on the climbs and finished strongly, save for an emergency pit stop and a slight going off route incident. Even the final death-march up the fields to the finish was completed at a run and after the final gratuitous lap of the cricket pitch I finished in pretty good shape. To my surprise I was 3 minutes quicker than last year and had ‘only’ lost around 8/9 minutes on Neil and Andy, despite the major mid-race wobble. The Trog was the 3rd fell race of around 20 miles or more that I’ve done (all the others being fairly short races) and I’ve still a lot to learn about pacing, and simply toughing it out. To that end, this years Trog was a great learning curve but more importantly was a fantastic, if rather squelchy day out over some fabulous moorland scenery.

Full Results

SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY

BLACKBURN WINTER WARMER 10K

535 runners completed this year’s Winter Warmer 10K race organised by Blackburn Road Runners. As the first race in the 2017 Club Road Race championship the turnout was good with 26 club members lining up at the start with a particularly high turnout of lady runners.

Clayton ladies at the Blackburn Winter Warmer. L-R Sharon Wilson, Karen Clarkin, Lisa Ellis, Jane Rylands, Deborah Greenwood, Geraldine Varley and Anita Jones.

Danny Collinge was our first Clayton finisher in 3rd place overall with Jacob Watson joining him in the top 10 with an 8th place finish.  Reece Lawrence was 2nd junior male.

Amanda Duffy followed by James Dunderdale at the Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K. Photo by David Belshaw

Amanda Duffy was our first lady finisher in 126th place overall, Beth Quinn was 2nd junior female and Marion Wilkinson was 1st F75.

Training partners Cassie Smedley and Michelle Abbot crossing the finish line together at the Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K. Photo by David Belshaw

Race Report from Marion Wilkinson

Standing on the start line on a perfect winter morning after watching our wonderful juniors do their race, the same old questions come into my head. Why I am doing this and the reasons for it, are what drives me on. I can’t stop the advancing years but I can stop becoming unfit. That means I can continue to be involved with the juniors and understand and experience their feelings when they race.

We’re off! Only taken 20 steps and already Danny is leaving the track and on his way to a 3rd place finish. I can see a never ending line of runners heading out of the park and up Buncer Lane, this is the tough bit of the race where you have to focus.

Then it’s the part of the course that I love – DOWNHILL! I manage to pass a few runners thank goodness for my weight training classes as my legs feel strong. Andy’s voice on his loud hailer can be heard and I’m almost home. I know there are 4 Clayton ladies behind me and I intend to keep them there; after all it’s a club champs race and age does not diminish my competitive streak.

Team Positions

Ladies A Team – 2^nd place (A Duffy | C Smedley | M Abbott | C Vincent)

Ladies B Team – 7^th place (N Gill | L Scott | B Quinn | L Ellis)

Ladies C Team – 16^th place (J Hylands | D Greenwood | M Wilkinson | G Varley)

Mens A Team – 4^th place (D Collinge | J Watson | J Cleaver |R Lawrence)

Mens B Team – 13^th place (M Hughes | R Morrison | A Quinn | J Dunderdale)

Full Results

BLACKBURN WINTER WARMER JUNIOR 2K

218 runners lined up to take part in the Blackburn Winter Warmer 2K race. Dexta Thompson was 2nd overall and 1st M 11-13 with Robbie Smedley hot on his heels in 3rd.

Dexta Thompson and Robbie Smedley leading off at the Winter Warmer 2K race. Photo by David Belshaw

Helana White was our first girl finisher in 12th place overall, 3rd girl and 1st F8-10. Siblings Kady Thompson and Felix Thompson battled each other to the finish with Kady just pipping her little brother over the finish line.

Sibling rivalry between Felix and Kady Thompson at the finish of the Winter Warmer 2K. Jake Anford is hot on their heels. Photo by David Belshaw

It’s a great race for younger runners as the course is completely within the grounds of the park and athletics track.

Emily Johnson enjoying the Winter Warmer 2K race. Photo by David Belshaw

Full Results

LONG MYND VALLEYS

Wendy Dodds was our sole runner in this 18.5km fell race with 1370m of ascent organised by Mercia Fell Runners. She was 132^nd overall and 1^st W65. There were 199 finishers.

Full Results

MONTANE® TRAIL 26 – GRIZEDALE

There were168 finishers in the Grizedale trail marathon organised by Epic Events. The course is a figure of eight taking in a loop of Grizedale Forest before the second loop which takes runners over to Lake Windermere and back. Christopher Holdsworth was our sole runner and,  not only did he win the race, he smashed the course record set by Marcus Scotney by 13 minutes.

Report from Chris Holdsworth

A 5.30am start, a sore foot that hadn’t eased with rest and a grim, drizzly, foggy morning was not how I’d hoped the day would begin when I booked on to Grizedale 26. Nevertheless, it certainly didn’t put a dampener on the day in the end!

Chris Holdsworth breaking the course record at the Grizedale Trail Marathon. Photo courtesy of Sport Sunday

The marathon began at 9.40am, shortly followed by the half marathon at 10am. The marathoners (and half marathoners) would complete a 1500ft loop to the west of Grizedale forest, which was mostly on undulating, very runnable tracks. At the half way point we made our way back to the visitors centre and headed out for another loop, making our way over to Windermere. This half was much trickier underfoot and included much sharper climbs – the one at mile 24 being a particularly “memorable” one…

I’d known about Marcus Scottney’s course record (3:10) beforehand, and knew on a good day I could break it, and possibly even dip under the sub 3 hour mark. I set off feeling quite sluggish, but soon eased into the race recording the first half in 1.20ish. Going out for the second loop strangely gave me a second wind and quite comfortably made it to the 22 mile mark feeling strong. The last couple of miles were a case of “mind over matter” and knew I was on for a good time and to break the 3 hour mark if I could just hold on. I ended up finishing in 2:57:34, recording 26.7 miles and 3,600ft climbed, breaking the record by 13 minutes.

The course was great and the atmosphere even better. If you like your hills, trails and long distances I definitely recommend giving Grizedale 26 a try!

Full Results

SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY

Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round Recce

Its 4 weeks away! 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  – we were two and half hours last time, in the 2016 race the last placed person was about 2 hours 15 mins. 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!

Either email me at stanbradshawrace@yahoo.com or comment on the Facebook post I will put on to Team Clayton later this week to let me know you are coming.

I will be accepting race entry forms and cash/cheque.  The entry form with route grid references (for the route) can be found here.

Parkrun roundup

Burnley parkrun – A total of 336 runners took part.

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 36 runners took part.

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 144 runners took part

Pendle parkrun- A total of 86 runners took part.

Westerfolds parkrun – A total of 214 runners took part.