Time to say goodbye

Well dear readers, after three years of compiling the weekly roundup, the time has come to hang up my editorial hat and move on. Did you know that over 70 individuals have submitted race reports in that time which is a fantastic achievement and testament to the enthusiasm and commitment of so many of our members. Those words have really made this roundup write itself and come alive. Thank you.

WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER

ROGER WHITE COWM RESERVOIR 5K RACE

A quartet of Clayton runners took part in this midweek race. Junior runner Matthew Jackson finished in 5^th place overall and 2^nd JM. Michelle Abbot was our only lady runner and she finished in 18^th place and 1^st LV35. Jack McGuire and Ron Chappell completed the Clayton team.

Full Results

SATURDAY 23 SEPTEMBER

GREAT WHERNSIDE FELL RACE

Five ladies and half a dozen men competed in the Great Whernside Fell Race. Both ladies and men’s teams finished in 9th place

Ladies Results

Five Clayton ladies ran with supervet Wendy Dodds our first finisher and 1st LV65.

Linda Lord and Sarah Helliwell at the Great Whernside Fell Race. Photo by Woodentops

Full Results

Men’s Results

Chris Holdsworth was our first finisher in the mens race, finishing in 5th place overall.

Chris Holdsworth at the Great Whernside Fell Race

Full Results

ORTON FELL RACE

Alan and Carol Life ran in this 6.2 mile race with 846ft of climbing. Alan finished in 15th place and was 1st V50. Carol was 52nd and 2nd V50 lady.

Full Results

ROC MOUNTAIN MARATHON

Report from Colin Woolford

Confidence was high approaching this Mountain Marathon. Following the (still) amazing result at the OMM Lite two weeks ago, I was well up for the ROC, formerly the RAB. What attracts me to this event is that you can compete as a solo. Most MM’s are aimed at teams of two, so this one is a real novelty.  This would be my 6th RAB/ROC.

Since the OMM Lite, I had kept my running to a minimum, wanting to be rested for the ROC and had decided that my regular Tuesday CleM runs (about 10-13km per evening) and one other 10km run the weekend between would be enough to ‘turn my legs over’. The Tuesday before the weekend I went off for the usual session (this month from Barrowford) BUT with new Mudclaws on.  Fresh out of the box, I wanted to bring these in to circulation as the RAB previously has finished shoes off – and I mean absolutely trashed them, so I thought I would be ahead of the curve and get some km’s on some new shoes, leaving my regular pair ready for the weekend.

So that was mistake number one!  I have worn classic Innov-8 Mudclaw 300’s for the past x many years, I have had well over ten pairs, same brand, model and for the last three pairs same colour and probably even the same batch as I bought a job lot from Pete Bland Sports in a sale.  This was the last pair from that batch – why would they be any different?  Clearly they were and for whatever reason, this pair gave me a hot spot on my left heel two km’s in to the run and by km three I knew I had a blister…  I stopped, had a look and thought with a bit of re lacing I could get back to the van/pub at a slow trot.  Wrong. Within 500m I had bent the back of the heel down and was running gingerly as I was now wearing the equivalent of fell running crocs…. (a gap in the market maybe?)  I left the group and made my way back to the pub.

Ouch!

I am pretty good at managing and treating blisters, learnt over many years walking, first aiding and reading many articles/books etc, particularly “Fixing Your Feet” by Jon Vonhof (well worth purchasing for any runner) so I was confident I could get to a point where I could trot round the ROC, I may not get the good result I was hoping for, but still, I would be there.

The ROC arrived, or rather I arrived in South West Cumbria, in the shadow of Black Combe, near Millom and I was ready to start and collect my map and control sheet. This is the premise behind a “score” event. you have a time (6 hours day one, 5 hours day two) to find as many controls as you can over a given area. You get the details at the start line and it is part of the challenge to formulate a plan/route that allows you to collect as many controls on your dibber as you can and get back to where you need to be – in this event an overnight camp- before the time runs out and you start to lose points by way of penalties.  I have lost all my day one points before on these events… gutting to say the least!

Mistake number 2 then was a real school boy error. Somehow in my haste I marked up the map incorrectly and gave a control a points value when it wasn’t in fact live that day – or indeed in use at any point over the weekend!  This tipped my route choice into a direction I otherwise wouldn’t have taken.  I realised my error as I was charging along to what I thought was the first control. I reached for the control description, expecting to see something like “stream source” or “spring” looking at how the map was marked but what I found was nothing. Control 210 wasn’t even on the live list, so why and how I had given it a value of 10 points was beyond me.  I quickly checked the others I had marked…. all fine. Phew!  Not for the mad house yet then… but that all took up more precious time. Oh well, I will carry on, I will lose even more time if I head back and take an alternative route from the start, the next control about a km away, was in my plan anyway.

It was at this point that the cloud came in.

Typical Lakeland View

The weather forecast for Saturday was clear, overcast, but not raining and clear visibility on the tops.  By 10.30 am the cloud base was down to about 400 m, it was very damp in the air and any chance at a view was lost.

Now I am a good navigator and back myself in poor conditions like this, but with a scrambled brain from trying to understand why I had made a control up, sore heel and still cursing myself for starting so poorly my relocation took longer than it should have, with the added pressure being against the clock brings I was getting decidedly cranky! Several expletives may well have passed my lips, much to the amusement of the ever present Herdwick Sheep on Black Combe. Rumours I asked ‘lost’ fell runners from the 2016 championships on this hill for directions are unfounded!

I got there in the end- the next control a 20 point one loomed out of the mist.  The game was on!  I tore off north east following a trod heading gently down I was certain about my location and where to head next and the terrain was very runnable.  This would still rank as my worst start ever – 2 hours in and only 20 points!  I then came across three other competitors, a solo male and a male pair, all studying their maps and with compass in hand. They didn’t know where they were with any great conviction, so I advised them accordingly. “We’re here mate”, much gratitude was expressed and the pair carried on their way, the solo – a chap named Dan on his first MM asked to team up for a while.  Sure, with no view, conversation would be good for the next few km’s!

“OS Trig Pillar” control description with control.

Dan was clearly a better runner than I and as we got lower down and the visibility improved he sped off to follow his own plan.

From here on in I was navigating to my usual standard and hitting controls exactly where I expected them to be.  I still get a massive buzz from that, but essentially the damage was done.  The poor tactics, dodgy heel and slower going in the clagg meant I was in damage limitation mode and the main objective was to get back to camp without incurring penalties, which I was able to do and got back in with a meagre 200 points and four minutes to spare.  My plan had seen me get somewhere between 270 and 300 which would have left me comfortably mid table at half way, instead I was languishing in the bottom 20 or so 92^nd from 113 ish.

But tomorrow was another day!

Day two and the weather was much improved.

Sunrise Day 2

Feeling good and less achy than I usually feel on day two of these things and with a heel blister that hadn’t got any worse I was raring to go and at 8.13 am I dibbed out of camp to head back via as many controls as I could in a bid to make amends for the previous days woes.

And oh what a day.  Stunning conditions, runnable, although wet ground and with clear visibility.  It was like running a different event, my route choice saw me tackle some controls I had visited the previous day (all correctly marked up this time!) and a whole heap of new ones.  The views were stunning, with Eskdale and the Scafell Massif to the north and the Irish Sea and coast to the south and west it was a vista to inspire whenever your head was up.

The going was good and I was pleased with my lines and nav to the controls.  By two hours in from the five I had I had about 120 points… a much better haul!

My Day two total was 300, which placed me 53^rd on the day from the 113 that started  which is where I usually am, mid pack, but because of day one’s error and conditions I finished in a disappointing 75^th. The heel is now healing nicely and although somewhere between uncomfortable and painful did not get any worse which was pleasing. I almost wish I was competing at this year’s OMM I’m gonna have to wait till 2018 for my next Mountain Marathon.

SUNDAY 24 SEPTEMBER

ENGLISH SCHOOLS FELL RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP

Report from Alan Dorrington

This was the Championships that nearly wasn’t. After the original hosting school pulled out, a fairly last minute but very welcome intervention by Giggleswick School meant the fell champs could go ahead and the junior fell racing scene made its way to Settle for a full programme of racing.

The courses were long, as per normal for the English Schools but didn’t contain as much climbing as usual. However with steep initial climbs followed by fast running over undulating tracks, they were still challenging courses and tested the runners considerably. Our Clayton Juniors were there to represent their respective schools and all had good runs on a lovely later summer day.

Robbie Smedley (no 8) at the English Schools Fell Running Championship. Photo by Alan Dorrington

Robbie Smedley was pushing very hard from the off in the Year 7 race, and produced a great run for 7th despite falling hard AND losing a shoe. What might have been if he had had a clean run? Behind him, Helana White was battling hard to take a fantastic 5th place in the Girls race. Jenson Bentham was struggling with injury and didn’t quite manage to perform as he would have wanted to, with a still creditable 23rd.

In the combined Yr 8 and 9 race field of 178, Jackson McKay (Yr9) had his usual calm, collected performance for a great 5th place, and Ella Dorrington (Yr8) beat many older girls to take 10th in the Girls. She was backed up by a smiling and bouncy Sophie Ashworth (Yr9) in 29th.

Ella Dorrington at the English Schools Fell Running Championship. Photo by Alan Dorrington

Finally in the Yr 10 and 11 race Michael (Yr10) and Peter Stevens (Yr10) ran a tough 7km around the Settle Hills in another large and very experienced field containing international runners, to take 44th and 53rd respectively.

This event pretty much wrapped up the fell season for our Juniors, and they now turn their attention to the cross-country season where no doubt they will be to the fore again.

LOCH NESS MARATHON

Paul Foster has kicked started a holiday around the west coast of Scotland by running in the Loch Ness Marathon. He finished in 671st place with u 3:55:13.

Report from Paul Foster

Paul Foster after his successful Loch Ness Marathon.

This is a brilliant event in a great location. My target for this, my 1st Marathon, was to go under 4 hours so really pleased with my time of 3:55:13. Followed a training plan and John’s Tuesday and Thursday sessions definitely helped me. I managed to stick to the pace I’d set myself and finished strongly over the last 6 miles. The route follows the south west shore of Loch Ness and finishes in Inverness

Full Results

ROSSENDALE 50^TH MMM (Mini Mountain Marathon)

This combined event was staged by Rossendale Harriers for their 50th birthday, and was planned by PFO and SELOC members with orienteering controls and SI timing. It was a Mini Mountain Marathon score event run over 3 hours. The competition area was covering approximately 20 sq km, comprising Cowpe Moor, Lee Quarry and Stubbylee Parks.

Three club members took part

Full Results

RUN PRESTON 5K

Junior runners, Matthew and Lennon Jackson, ran in the Run Preston 5K race. Matthew was 7th and Lennon was 15th. Great results as usual for the Jackson boys.

RUN PRESTON 10K

Eight seniors ran in the Run Preston 10K. Matthew Duckworth was our first finisher in 17th place and with a time of 36:46. Michelle Abbot was our first lady finisher in 170th with a time of 46:09Full Res

Full Results

PARKRUN LINKS

This week’s parkrun results for Clayton-le-Moors Harriers

This week’s Burnley junior parkrun results

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