Mud, Mountains and Marathons

Summer has gone and autumn is here once again and with it the start of the cross country season. You’ve been out in force at Astley Park in Chorley with some fabulous results. We fielded 4 teams in the Hodgson Mountain Relays in the Lake District showing that our fell running heart is beating as strongly as ever. You’ve also been running in marathons, 10Ks and on challenging trails.

LAKELAND TRAILS – CONISTON

15K TRAIL RACE

Report from Darren Rushton

Had a crack at the Lakeland Trails race at Coniston fantastic route with mixed abilities some quick lads recommend anyone to have a go its not major fell running but all on runnable trails with fantastic scenery saw another clayton lady 191 ran I finished 67th a lovely day out.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
67	Darren Rushton	MV40	1:21:19

15K TRAIL CHALLENGE

Report from Jane Hylands

A perfect running day in the Lake District for the 10k and 15k events with dry weather and some sunshine. The 15k was split into 2 events with the challenge starting off earlier with a 3 hour cut off and the race starting an hour later with a 2 hour cut off.

I found it a tough event with 1386ft of climb and it was a longer trail race than I’ve done before so quite challenging. The majority of the climb was within the first 5k followed by about 5k downhill and then the last 5k along grass and mud along the lake. Finishing with a paddle through a cold deep river to wake you up! A really enjoyable event with some amazing views and waterfalls but if you fancy it you’ll have to wait until 2018 as it’s not on next year or alternatively try one of the other Lakeland trails. There was also the added bonus of a bar at the finish line!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
236	Jane Hylands	LV40	01:48:16

Full Results

MID LANCS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE – ASTLEY PARK

Bring it on! It’s Autumn, the leaves are changing colour, the temperature is starting to drop and the mud is getting muddier. Team Clayton was ready to rumble and made a great start in this year’s Mid Lancashire Cross Country League with some great results across the board.U11 Boys, U15 Girls and Senior Men all doing extremely well in this first fixture. It’s looking like it might just turn into another triumphant season for Clayton.

A special mention is needed for our super organised Cross Country Manager, Jason Pier, who makes everything run like clockwork – he has the tent up and waiting for the Clayton family, the numbers ordered and ready to go and words of encouragement for everyone – he even races too! A real superstar.

JUNIOR RACES

As a new cross country season begins, our junior runners are keen to build upon and continue the success they enjoyed last year. However, many of them have shifted to different age groups which can alter the dynamics of the team competition. As it turns out, this year this is no bad thing and we were able to field teams across the majority of the age categories only really struggling with numbers in the older teen age categories.

U11 GIRLS

Summer Hargreaves was our first finisher in the U11 girls’ race and raced hard to finish in 19^th place. Team mates Rachel Stevenson (61^st) and Ellisia Smedley (73^rd) both ran well to put their team in 9^th place. A great start to the season for the U11 Girls with all of them counters for their team.

Pos	Name	Time
19	Summer Hargreaves	7:09
61	Rachel Stevenson	8:18
73	Ellisia Smedley	9:01

U11 BOYS

There were 7 Clayton runners in the U11 Boys’ race. Dexta Thompson was our first finisher and overall winner of the race. Jenson Bentham, Robbie Smedley and Finley Stubbs all had great runs finishing in the top ten. Matthew Jackson, Thomas Ashworth and Finan Holdsworth completed the squad with some real racing effort thrown in. A comfortable 1^st place for our U11 Boys promises another great cross country season to come from this strong group of Clayton boys.

Pos	Name	Time
1	Dexta Thompson	5:54
6	Jenson Bentham	6:26
9	Robbie Smedley	6:39
10	Finley Stubbs	6:39
31	Matthew Jackson	7:01
37	Thomas Ashworth	7:12
68	Finan Holdsworth	8:16

U13 GIRLS

There were 6 Clayton girls in the U13 girls’ race. Ella Dorrington appears to be missing from the results so the team position is currently 9^th place but this could change once she has been added back in as it’s estimated she was around 13^th place overall.

There were plenty of strong performances from this team with a welcome return for Roanna who had a great run and was a counter for the team.

Even with the missing results this is a great start for our U13 girls.

Pos	Name	Time
??	Ella Dorrington	??
19	Sophie Ashworth	11:26
41	Roanna Holdsworth	12:39
43	Keira Stevenson	12:42
53	Bethany Wheatcroft	13:07
66	Bronia Olszewska	14:38

U13 BOYS

There were four boys in the U13 squad. Jackson McKay was our first finisher in 5^th place overall. Lennon Jackson was next in 37^th place and third counter for the team was Christopher Brown still managing 57^th despite a nasty fall on the course. William Nicholls was 59^th.

Pos	Name	Time
5	Jackson McKay	11:39
37	Lennon Jackson	13:57
57	Christopher Brown	14:43
59	William Nicholls	14:46

U15 GIRLS

After a bit of a sparse team last year, we are back on form with a number of our girls moving up an age category this year.

Briony Holt was our first girl and 2^nd overall with Millie Stubbs in 6^th place. Natasha Olszewska had a great run to finish in 14^th place and Claudia Bentham didn’t let a fall stop her from carrying on to finish in 27^th place.

Our girls took a comfortable 1^st place position for what promises to be a successful team in the U15 girls.

Pos	Name	Time
2	Briony Holt	12:24
6	Millie Stubbs	13:07
14	Natasha Olszewska	14:33
27	Claudia Bentham	15:43

U15 BOYS

Again, after a sparse year in this age group last time, we fielded 5 runners in this race. Nick Hennessey was our first finisher with Stanley Grewel and Jay Bowman taking the team to 7^th place. Adam Stevenson and Aaron Lundie completed the squad.

Pos	Name	Time
22	Nick Hennessey	16:32
27	Stanley Grewel	17:12
32	Jay Bowman	17:57
39	Adam Stevenson	19:23
44	Aaron Lundie	22:59

U17 WOMEN

Lucy Stevenson was our sole runner in this category. She finished in 12^th place.

U17 MEN

Reece Lawrence was our sole runner in this category. He finished in 18^th place.

SENIOR RACES

Another season begins and our senior runners are ready to rumble. There was a good turnout of runners and a few newbies in the mix.

SENIOR LADIES RACE

There were 17 Clayton ladies in the senior race. Donna Airey was our first lady in 29^th place overall with Elizabeth Mullan not too far behind in 33^rd. Irene Roche completed our 11^th place ladies team also taking 1^st L55 in the race. Cross country newbie Michelle Abbot enjoyed the race and was glad she had decided to get some spikes which she swears saved her from faceplanting in the muddy puddle.

Our ‘A’ Team were 11^th (D Airey | E Mullan | I Roche )

Our ‘B’ team were 20^th (M Abbott | J Bennett | C Darling-Smedley )

Over 35 Team were 4^th (D Airey | I Roche | M Abbott)

Over 45 Team were 4^th (I Roche | J Bennett | J Rushton)

Over 55 Team were 1^st (I Roche | S Allen | C Leathley)

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
29	Donna Airey	L35	29:23
33	Elizabeth Mullan	L	30:07
55	Irene Roche	L55 (1st)	31:39
57	Michelle Abbott	L35	31:46
64	Joanne Bennett	L45	32:18
65	Cassie Darling-Smedley	L35	32:23
71	Julia Rushton	L45	33:02
78	Nina Kewin	L35	33:49
88	Sarah Helliwell	L35	34:29
94	Janine Pollard	L45	35:04
110	Rachel Todd	L35	36:29
129	Adrienne Olszewska	L45	38:37
136	Yvonne Wickham	L45	39:21
138	Deborah Greenwood	L45	39:31
145	Jane Pier	L45	40:18
156	Susan Allen	L55	42:21
173	Christine Leathley	L65	47:18

MEN U20

Jordan McDonald was 3^rd U20 in the race.

SENIOR MENS’ RACE

We had 31 runners in the senior mens’ race. Unfortunately, Danny Collinge was forced to retire due to illness and we were missing Chris Holdsworth as well. This meant that, as well as 3^rd in the U20 category, Jordan McDonald was our first Clayton finisher in the senior men’s’ race in 29^th place overall. David Scott was 1^st V70. There were 232 runners in this race. Our ‘A’ team was still 3^rd even with a few of our fast lads missing from this race. A very promising start for our men.

’A’ team 3^rd (J McDonald | A Stubbs | L Smith| R Stevenson | J Watson | C Snell)

‘B’ Team 10^th (B Holdsworth | D Horrocks | A Holt | G Berry | A Orr | A Life)

Vet 40 Team 3^rd ( A Stubbs | R Stevenson | B Holdsworth | D Horrocks)

Vet 50 Team 3^rd (D Horrocks | A Life | J Wilcock)

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
29	Jordan McDonald	U20	39:53
33	Andy Stubbs	V40	40:11
36	Lee Smith	M	40:20
41	Richard Stevenson	V40	40:51
46	Jacob Watson	M	41:19
48	Chris Snell	M	41:25
52	Breton Holdsworth	V40	42:06
56	David Horrocks	V50	42:28
74	Andrew Holt	V40	43:42
88	Gareth Berry	V40	44:34
91	Andrew Orr	V40	44:56
98	Alan Life	V50	45:31
109	John Wilcock	V50	45:31
115	Andrew Payne	M	46:30
117	Brian Horrocks	V50	46:32
118	Alan Dorrington	V40	46:34
121	John Roche	V50	46:39
148	Nick Roscoe	V40	48:19
158	Andy Quinn	V40	48:50
162	Mark Wightman	V50	49:05
178	James Hickie	V50	50:15
198	Jason Pier	V40	51:30
208	Mick Hughes	V40	52:19
215	Matthew Duckworth	M	53:01
223	Peter Browning	M50	54:29
229	Geoff Smith	V40	54:53
230	Craig Nicholls	V40	54:56
235	David Scott	V70 (1st)	55:24
236	David Moynihan	V40	55:49
241	Ian Hargreaves	V50	56:32

Full Results

SUNDAY 2 OCTOBER

BURNLEY FIRE 10K

Fourteen Clayton Harriers took to familiar ground on this year’s Burnley Fire 10K road race. The route starts and finishes at Burnley Fire station, climbs up and around Towneley Park and, after a bit of respite as you descend on the road to Cliviger, takes in the beast of a climb that is Mount Lane before a fast downhill gallop back to the Fire Station. 216 runners took part.

Jacob Watson was our first finisher and 3^rd overall in the race with a time of 37:12. He was swiftly followed by Jonathan Pye in 6^th and Matthew Duckworth in 10^th. Terry O’Leary joined them in the top twenty finisher in 13^th place. Donna Airey was the first Clayton Lady finisher in 35^th place overall and 3^rd female in the race. Michelle Abbot was 77^th and 1^st F35.

Report from Deborah Greenwood

A beautiful sunny October morning at this very friendly, well marshalled race. It’s my third year in a row of running this race and I am progressively getting slower! In 2015 I had a time of 57:04 on Sunday I only managed 1:00.32! Yes .32 seconds over the hour, I was gutted.

Donna Airey smashed it, coming in 3rd lady overall with an amazing time of 44.56. A stunning performance after being our first lady at Cross country the day before. Jacob Watson also came in 3rd male overall with a brilliant time of 37:12, with the overall winner being a Blackburn Harriers runner. Exactly 200 runners finished the race and swelled the coffers of the Pendleside hospice and Firefighter funds.

Mount lane proved as challenging as ever, lots of people around me walked this part of the course, I of course ran every step as this is how we have been trained. A lovely resident half way up the hill had set up a water station to revive those that needed. The fires crews and marshals’ were brilliant, shouting and cheering everyone on.

I must do better next time!

Pos	Name	Category	Time
3	Jacob Watson	M	37:12.4
6	Jonathan Pye	M	38:29.0
10	Matthew Duckworth	M	39:19.1
13	Terry O’Leary	M	40:21.9
35	Robert Morrison	M40	44:48.1
37	Donna Airey	F35	44:56.4
44	Colin White	M40	45:45.9
48	Stuart Proctor	M	46:02.5
55	Andrew Webster	M45	47:06.1
77	Michelle Abbott	F35	49:13.8
139	Hayley Copeman	F45	57:07.8
141	Helen Harrison	F45	27:10.4
142	Robert Hirst	M65	58:27.8
156	Deborah Greenwood	F45	1:00:32.6

Full Results

BURNLEY FIRE FUN RUN

Well done to all of our junior runners that took part in this fun run. Results are not available but Nick Hennessey was the overall winner with Helana White taking first girl which is fantastic considering she was in hospital with appendicitis only a couple of weeks ago.

CHESTER MARATHON

Daniel Plant was our sole representative at the Chester Marathon. He finished in 303^rd place with a time of 03:22:22.

Report from Dan Plant

Arrived at Chester and conditions were perfect. We went and registered Tracy and the kids for the mini marathon then the Chester town crier got us under way. The plan was to stick with the 3:15 pacer but I got a bit carried away so pulled away

Once you leave the city centre, it’s a very scenic route with the occasional up and down. At 19ish miles I hit the good old wall but by 24 I was moving well again just on time for the main Hill of the route. I did manage a strong finish marathon number 4 of the year and the quickest can’t believe I’ve got to wait till April for another… what will I do with my Sunday mornings!

Full Results

GLENCOE MARATHON

This off-road marathon is an epic trail run that ascends a total of 1,608 metres through the heart of Glencoe and into the foothills of Ben Nevis.  The route snakes through the pass of Glencoe, surrounded by the towering remains of this ancient super volcano, before climbing 500 metres up the fearsome Devil’s Staircase. From the eastern edge of the Aonach Eagach Ridge you look straight onto the mighty Buachaille Etive Mor (the great herdsman) before dropping back to sea level at Kinlochleven where the Mamores Half Marathon starts. Climbing up through the Mamores the route undulates until the descent into Glen Nevis and the base of the mighty Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest peak.

Congratulations to Avril Duckworth who took part and finished in 56th place overall. She was the 6th lady finisher and 1st Vet 50 lady in a time of 4 hours and 29 minutes.

Full Results

 

HODGSON BROTHERS’ MOUNTAIN RELAY

The ‘Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay’ is a fell running relay race that started life as the ‘Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay’. It is set in the heart of the Lake District Fells, takes place every year on the first Sunday in October, and is competed by teams from across the country, but mainly the North of England. It is the longest-running mountain relay in the country.

The race is a tough one, with 4 legs each throwing up their separate challenges, including hard climbs and steep descents on difficult terrain. The route requires careful navigation, especially in bad weather. Each leg is run in pairs (so 8 runners per team) and teams compete for a number of prizes across different categories including Open, Ladies, Mixed and Vets teams.

We were one of the few clubs to field 4 teams in this event.

Men’s Team Report from Captain Ryan Wilkinson

My Sunday morning started @ 5:30am as I may have been a little excited because this is one of the best days out of the year…

After a bit of a shuffle around with the team over the weekend we were ready to go. First up was Jonny & the super sub Bretton who stepped in at the last minute after racing on Saturday at the XC, can’t thank the guy enough! We got off to a good start and came in 14th overall, a swift handover to out leg 2 runners Dave Motley & Dave Walker who set off up the long drag up to the trig then the long, fast run off on a few rocky paths & a steep rough descent to Kirkstone Pass. They had a good run together finished the leg still in a good position.

It was my turn to run leg 3 with Dave Bagot, he’s a bit quicker than me so I knew I had a big job on my hands. Off up Red Screes we went and started to catch a few teams up. We felt good & had a good climb. We dug in & ran our socks off to make up 3 positions and bridging a good gap on our local rivals, handing over to Mr Perry and Andy Laycock who had a cracker of a run putting more time between Barlick and ourselves who were set on catching us. Senior men finished 16th overall which is the best we have finished in a long time. Making it brilliant day as always. Thanks guys for all your effort. Roll on Scotland #TEAMCLAYTON

Our first team to finish were in 16^th place overall.

Leg	Runners	Time
1	J McKenna & B Holdsworth	00:42:55
2	D Motley & D Walker	01:19:11
3	D Bagot & R Wilkinson	00:58:20
4	M Perry & A Laycock	01:18:33

They were followed by the Vets team who finished in 30^th place

Vets Team Report

This year the vets were out in force with a really strong team put together by the new vet team manager Garry Wilkinson. First up was Andrew Stubbs & Mark Aspinall with a good solid run and coming in a respectable 22nd position. They then handed over to Carl Haliwell & Peter Coats who are both on great form picking off 4 other pairs on their dash to hand over to Paul Shackleton and Andrew McFarlane who did not waste any time climbing up Red Screes and putting a good shift in across what can only be described as a rugged 5 miles. Then it was time for Garry Wilkinson & Paul Hesketh to finish off the route with last dash for the finish line. All in all it was a good day out for all our teams

Leg	Runners	Time
1	M Aspinall & A Stubbs	00:45:43
2	C Helliwell & P Coates	01:15:22
3	P Shackleton & A McFarlane	01:09:37
4	G Wilkinson & P Hesketh	01:31:15

Clayton ‘Z’ Team were 55^th

Report from Chris Funnell – If Carlsberg did Fell Races

Nothing short of perfect is the way to describe the Hodgson Brothers Mountain relay on Sunday. Despite a very cool (4deg C start leaving home at 0630) and some spectacular cloud inversions, these eventually gave way to perfect blue skies and fantastic running conditions.

I felt very privileged to be running for the second year for the now “infamous Clayton Z Team” on leg 2 with Mark Nutter (a seasoned Z teamer).

We watched all the leg 1-ers get underway from Patterdale and then made our way across to Hartsop for the start of our leg (7.5 mile and 2900 feet of ascent). Andy Howarth and Keith Thompson were on leg 1 and Mark and I waited on the start line to try and catch an early glimpse of Andy and Keith sporting the new Z team colours (which team coach Andrew Walmsley has had his top R&D people develop). Angela Shian and Anna Kelly ran a great first leg and added to the pressure as Wendy Dodds and Tracy Mitchell set off into the morning sunshine. A minute or so later and Andy and Keith came in both looking like they’d run a race. As Mark grabbed the dibber he said “we’ve got some work to do”. Despite our pre-race pact not to set off too fast, we set off (too) fast up the long climb up towards High Street. Wendy and Tracy soon came into sight and we did our best to mask our heavy breathing as we inched alongside.

After a couple more scalps, we rolled the dice on a couple of alternative race lines which Mark had picked up studying the map prior to the start. Both route choices paid off and as we reached High Street we were at least 6 places up. A blast along High Street and a good scramble up Thornthwaite gained another 2 places. A final tricky descent down to Kirkstone and job done we passed the dibber into the capable hands of demon descenders Richard Bellaries and Andy Firth. The final leg was run by Ivan Wigham and Ralph Baines who had a blistering run in claiming a Lonsdale scalp in the final descent to the finish line at Patterdale.

At the customary post race debrief in the White Lion (attended by groupies and mascots) it became evident that Andy and Keith had opted to take in a bit more scenery (who could blame them) by missing an exit route, however with times and places up on last year it was clear the day had been a resounding success with the reputation and infamy of the Z Team intact.

Leg	Runners	Time
1	A Howarth & K Thompson	00:57:20
2	M Nutter & C Funnell	01:33:51
3	A Firth & R Bellaries	01:09:40
4	I Whigham & R Baines	01:40:59

And finally, our open mixed team finished in 64^th place

Report from Kath Brady

After illness/injury calls days before the event, the available experienced ladies had run out so had to swap our Ladies team to Open and run with 2 men. We finished 64th out of 70 in a time of 5:48.This event is just as tough and competitive as the British relays. Leg 1 Anna Kelly & Angela Shian (in her first Lakeland relay) started us off. Leg 2 legend Wendy Dodds ran with Tracey Mitchell (who’d moved from leg 3 on Thursday). Leg 3 A bit of childcare from me and Kieron Mitchell (who’d been over the route with Tracy) ran with an even later replacement and always smiling Paul Wale. Leg 4 Jean Brown guided Barbara Savage round having been moved from leg 2

Leg	Runners	Time
1	A Kelly & A Shian	0:56:11
2	W Dodds & T Mitchell	01:45:36
3	K Mitchell & P Wale	01:20:25
4	J Brown & B Savage	01:46:43

Full Results

LITTLEBOROUGH 10K ROAD RACE

Two club members took part in this 10K road race organised by Cannonball Events. Stephen Biscomb was our first finisher in 55^th place overall and with a time of 44:13 and also taking the 1^st V60 position. Joining him was Amanda Duffy who finished in 70^th place with a time of 45:37. A total of 239 runners took part.

Report from Amanda Duffy

I decided to try the Littleborough 10K on Sunday. The race started opposite the station with the first part being a climb up Hollingworth Road to the lakeside. The course took up around the lake and then on a few farm tracks and trail. It was a lovely day for it and a nice scenic route

Myself and Steve Biscomb were the only runners from Clayton

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
55	Stephen Biscomb	M60	44:13.1
70	Amanda Duffy	W35	45:37.0

Full Results

STANLEY PARK 5MILE ROAD RACE

Kevin Davies (minus the tiger this week!) was our sole representative in the inaugural running of this race. It’s proposed to run the event twice annually in the Spring and Autumn. He finished in 5^th place overall with a time of 30:51 and was 1^st V50 as well.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
5	Kevin Davies	M50	30:51

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Brighouse parkrun – A total of 378 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
271	Robin PRICE	32:54	VM70-74	First Timer!

Burnley parkrun – A total of 291 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Jacob WATSON	17:54	SM30-34
2	Jonathan PYE	17:56	SM25-29
5	Jonathan CLEAVER	18:31	VM35-39
14	Nicholas HENNESSEY	20:47	JM11-14
17	Kevin DAVIES	21:09	VM50-54
20	Stephen AINSWORTH	21:16	VM55-59
24	Adam STEPHENSON	21:36	SM30-34	New PB!
26	Gordon BARRETT	21:46	VM50-54
27	Terry O’LEARY	21:59	VM35-39
38	Colin WHITE	22:58	VM40-44
58	Michelle ABBOTT	23:51	VW35-39
68	Nina KEWIN	24:10	VW35-39
69	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	24:13	JM15-17
73	Chris LAWRENCE	24:32	VM50-54
75	Julie DAWES	24:35	VW45-49
87	Andy QUINN	25:10	VM45-49
89	Andrew TAYLOR	25:13	VM55-59
94	Annabel WILCOCK	25:22	JW15-17
95	John WILCOCK	25:24	VM50-54
104	Donna SCOTT	25:46	VW50-54
139	Hayley COPEMAN	27:23	VW45-49
140	Yvonne WICKHAM	27:23	VW50-54
149	Ron CHAPPELL	27:47	VM65-69
182	Carl CAREY	29:35	VM45-49
185	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	29:41	VW65-69
186	Robert HIRST	29:42	VM65-69
257	Helen HARRISON	34:43	VW45-49

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 189 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
47	Martin BRADY	23:53	VM50-54
103	Eileen JONES	28:51	VW60-64	New PB!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 92 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Paul BRANNON	19:54	VM55-59
4	John HARTLEY	20:56	VM55-59
25	Dawn TERRY	26:18	VW50-54
65	Harry WALKER	33:47	VM65-69

Witton parkrun – A total of 103 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
37	Stephen FISH	27:40	VM60-64