Kings of the castle

Another week of success!  Kings of Lancaster Castle 10K and Half Marathon. Winner of the OMM Lite. Part of team GB at the World Mountain Running Championships. And not forgetting team competition at the Northern Road Relays, 10Ks galore, Lakeland & Yorkshire Fells and parkruns. There’s just no stopping us!

Tuesday 15 September

Club Handicap Race
The race was based on last week’s Coppice Race (the last of the Summer Series). In effect the last runner in the race sets off first on a zero time and then the rest of the field set off on the time difference achieved last week – in other words last week’s winner sets off last on a time difference equal to that achieved last week – so Alan Life won last week and was 24 minutes 20 seconds in front of Sue Allen. In theory all the runners should cross the finish line on the same time.

* Means Estimated Handicap Time

Wednesday 16 September

Roy Lee Memorial Brownhouse Wham – Awaiting Results

Saturday 19 September

Good Shepherd Fell Race

Described as a pleasant, but tough, end of season fell race over woodland paths, moors and rough fell this is a 15 mile race with 2000ft of ascent.

Alison Dugdale at the Good Shepherd Fell Race. Photo by Richard Sunderland

Alison Dugdale was our sole competitor finishing in 41st place with a time of 2:32:41

Full Results

Northern Road Relays

Ladies 4-Stage Races

Report from Ladies Captain, Angela Shian

Clayton had 12 lady runners compete at a sunny Stanley Park on Saturday. It was so hot we even had to take off our renowned orange hoodies…! We had a few nerves in the 3 teams, as most or our runners had not competed in relays of this kind before! A special well done to leg 1 ladies; Laura, Amanda & Elouise, as this is by far the most nerve racking stage.

Clayton Ladies at the Northern Road Relays

We did have a marshal trip up one of our competitors – Bianca Bennett (I wont repeat her language at the end!!!). Unbelievably, we were also told off for the noise volume of “cheering” our ladies in (Rachel Todd).

There were 62 teams competing in total – Our first Team came 23rd which now qualifies us for the National road relays championships at Birmingham! Team 2 came 44th position, and Team 3 came 57th position. All in all cracking day and effort by the ladies, roll on next year!

Mens 6-Stage Races

Report From Chris Holdsworth

The improvements made between 2014 and 2015 6-Stage Road Relays has been excellent. Having raced at both, it was great to be able to see our teams compete for places throughout the day.

I had a poor personal performance having been too eager to get us off to a good start, but the rest of the lads were able to keep our position with some solid performances throughout.

Chris Holdsworth at the Northern Road Relays. Photo by David Wood

Finishing the day in 31st place, we narrowly missed out on qualifying for the National relays having fallen out of the top 25 requirement.

However, on another day I believe we’d have had enough quality to qualify which is very encouraging. With an improvement of over 50 places from 2014, I’m sure we’ll continue that trend in to 2016 and beyond!

Junior Races

We fielded an U13 girl’s team but due to a last minute change of lineup, they were omitted from the team results. They would have been in 21^st place. Still a set of great runs from the girls!

U13 Girls Team at the Northern Road Relay. L-R Claudia Bentham, Liberty Thompson, Sophie Ashworth

Full Results

OMM Lite

Congratulations to Ralph Baines on his win over the weekend at the OMM Lite Long Score event- Reeth, Swaledale

Report from Ralph Baines

Ralph Baines at the OMM Lite.

Having done a few Orienteering score events this year and really enjoyed them I was asked by my brother-in-law Barry to partner him on this. It was a two-day score event, 7 hours on Saturday north of the river and 5 hours Sunday south, but without the usual OMM overnight camp and carrying your tent/food etc.

It was beautiful weather and a good selection of people doing both the mountain biking and orienteering. We spent a good 5 minutes marking the scores on the map and deciding which route to set off on, this turned out to be time well spent since through the weekend we managed to get lots of the high value checkpoints. After about 5 hours I was, as usual, starting to get really tired and the cramp kicked in but plenty of determination and encouragement from Barry got us to the finish where I could have a sit down and be served tea and cake in the sunshine, and be unable to get out of the chair for 20 minutes! The pain was eased by the fact we were winning, if only by 10 points. I texted my wife Naomi to tell here the good news but with the caveat that there wasn’t a hope in Christmas of us holding the place for the following day.

Day 2 and a large bacon sandwich, to replace some lost salt, and lots of tea just before being first to set off worked a treat and didn’t feel too bad after we had done the climb up to Grinton Lodge YHA and got onto the beatiful grouse moors up there. Lots more points came and the time seemed to pass much quicker albeit I did feel slower still. Anyway we got 22 miles in which I was more than impressed with and we had to sit and wait for an hour to see who beat us. Nobody did, we were second on the day and extended our lead so got to go and receive the prizes, one for overall winners and one for the vets. So after 25 years running it has taken until now for my first win. Thanks to Barry for encouraging me round.

Full Results

PFO Orienteering – Marl Pits

Team Motley (Dave and Joanne) took part in this orienteering event organised by Pendle Forest Orienteers.

Full Results

Scafell Pike – AWAITING RESULTS

Three Shires –

Clayton shirt spotted in the photos I’ve seen but can’t quite identify the runner.

AWAITING RESULTS

World Mountain Running Championships

Well done to Jacob Boyle who competed in the Bronze medal winning, junior GB men’s team at this prestigious event. He reports;

Wow what a hectic couple of days. Down at the World Mountain Running Championships and met all the squad getting to know them before the event. Met some amazing people and made some great friends. The race didn’t go how I wanted to but I can now go away and train even harder. Was really proud to represent Great Britain. My team mates did absolutely amazing helping us become the bronze medalists for the worlds. So inspiring to see some of the team getting individual medals and great news at the fact we all came away with a World Championship medal. Well done team GB. Hope to see you all soon

Jacob Boyle (Red Shirt) with Team GB at the World Mountain Running Championships. Photo by Helen MacVicker

Still awaiting full results.

Sunday 20 September

Aintree 10K

Running legend, Ron Hill took part in this popular 10K race from the Grand National race course at Aintree in Liverpool. He finished in 476^th place with a time of 59:48

Full Results

Burnley Leisure 10K

Fourteen Clayton-le-Moors Harriers toed the start line in this inaugural Burnley Leisure 10K race in Padiham. The route is almost entirely off road and starts and finishes at the Padiham Leisure centre, taking in the Padiham Greenway, Leeds Liverpool Canal towpath and some single track riverside footpath.

Amanda Duffy at the Burnley Leisure 10k in Padiham. Photo by Adrienne Olszewska

First Clayton man was Jonathan Pye who finished in 7^th place in a time of 39:36 and our first lady finisher was Amanda Duffy who was 2^nd lady (1^st F35) with a time of 48:40. Stephen Biscomb was the 1^st V60 and Julie Dawes was 1^st F45.

Full Results – not yet published but emailed to participants

Dale Head

Carl Helliwell tackled this 4.5 mile Lakeland fell race with 2215ft of climbing organised by Keswick AC.

Carl Helliwell at the Dalehead Fell Race. Photo by Paul Dobson

Report from Sarah Helliwell

Carl was either 15th or 16th out of 51 runners. He went hard and managed to keep up with the front runners on the way up, however the Lakeland lads showed their skill on the way back down, as he lost roughly 4 or 5 places. This was his first Lakeland fell race and it was a steep sharp nasty one of just under 700m of climbing, then descending in 4.5miles. He said the brief 5 seconds he had to admire the view was pretty impressive. He thoroughly enjoyed it and is hoping to do some more Lakeland fell races.

AWAITING OFFICIAL RESULTS

Embsay (BOFRA)

Danny Collinge, Tim Edward and Richard Briscoe took part in the senior BOFRA race. 83 runners took part. Danny had a great run finishing in 3^rd place in a time of 19:51 and 1^st MU23. Tim Edward was 12^th and Richard Briscoe 29^th.

Tim Edwards at the Embsay Fell Race. Photo by Estelle Willis/Geoff Thompson

U14 Race

Liberty Thompson was our only competitor in the U14 race finishing in 17^th place overall, 3^rd girl.

Liberty Thompson in the U14s Race at Embsay. Photo by Geoff Thompson

U12 Race

Jackson McKay was 2^nd in the U12 race with a time of 9:01 and Dexta Thompson was 4^th in 9:11.

Jackson McKay chased by Dexta Thompson at the Embsay Races. Photo by Geoff Thompson

U9 Race

There was a win for Jenson Betham in the U9 race in a time of 4:33. Kady Thompson was 29^th and Felix Thompson was 32^nd.

Jenson Bentham at the Embsay U9s Race. Photo by Geoff Thompson

Full Results

English Half Marathon

5,000 runners took to the streets of Warrington for the new look English Half Marathon and 10k. It started and finished at the Town Hall. The Golden Gates marked the finish line for the first time

Bryan Searby was our sole representative at this event and finished in a respectable 476^th place with a time of 1:41:35

Full Results

Lancaster Castle 10k

Report from Dan Balshaw

After the 6 Leg relays, and a moment of madness, I turned up for the Lancaster Castle 10k; an out and back course finishing with a nasty little hill, before the finish line in the castle grounds. When I went to pay my fees and get my number I was directed into the old prison which has got to be the strangest place I’ve ever seen a race registration.

Dan Balshaw at the Castle 10K. Photo by Sprint Finish Race Photography

When the race started along with the Half Marathon, I somehow managed to create a lead from the off and after hitting 5k in 17m20 I was a bit surprised that no one had come with me. At the turning point I had a good 30 seconds over 2nd place (who’d also done the relays), and tried to make more of this only to literally run into someone coming the other way. Despite my efforts of shouting and letting people know I was coming, one headphone-wearing runner got in the way. I managed to get going again and claim the win finishing 50 seconds ahead of 2nd and was one slow cooker better off. It was a good day for Clayton, with Richard Stevenson winning the Half Marathon and a Microwave.

Full Results

Lancaster Castle Half Marathon

Report from Richard Stevenson

It was a bit confusing at the start of the race, as we started alongside the 10k runners so didn’t have a clue who was running what until the 10k turned around to head back.

Richard Stevenson at the Castle Half Marathon. Photo by Sprint Finish Race Photography

At that point I found myself at the front with another runner so took it steady and stuck with the planned pace and soon found myself pulling away.Tried to keep it steady and not panic and the plan worked perfectly all the way back to the finish.

First ever race win and a new PB to boot. Roll on Yorkshire Marathon in 3 weeks!

Full Results

Utterly Butterly Fell Race

This race is described as a nice introduction to fell running. A third of the route is on tracks, a third on paved footpaths and a third on grassy / gravelly footpaths. It is a scenic run passing 5 reservoirs in under 5 miles. The route goes over the moors above Marsden keeping on good footpaths all the way.

Julie Toman was our sole runner finishing in 68^th place with a time of 53:05

Full Results

Yarrow River Trail 10K

Sharon Wilson was flying the tangerine flag in this 10k multi-terrain event in and around the woodland and river of the Yarrow Valley Country Park in Chorley. She had a great time taking part in this event which she found tough but great fun, especially running through the river!

She finished in 164^th place with a time of 1:21:06

Full Results

Parkrun roundup

Looks like we stayed pretty local this week as far as parkruns go; perhaps because of all the other events many of you took part in over the weekend. A big turn out as usual at Burnley with plenty of PBs and top ten finishes. Well done to Dexta who continues to improve and push for faster times – and he’s only 9! Lots of good runs from the juniors who are getting ready for the cross country season that kicks off next week. There was a trio of first time visits to the Witton parkrun and a trio of returners producing more PBs and great placings.

Burnley parkrun – A total of 271 runners took part

Pendle parkrun – A total of 66 runners took part.

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 126 runners took part.

Witton parkrun – A total of 193 runners took part.

AGM – Reminder!

Don’t forget that this Thursday, 24^th September, at 8.00pm, it will be the club Annual General Meeting. The AGM receives the Secretary’s Report, the Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statements, and elects the committee for the forthcoming year. The committee is responsible for running the club and appoints members to roles to assist with this responsibility.

If you want to change things, or get involved, then this is your opportunity. Come along and make yourself heard.

In addition to the business side of things, there are also some races to take part in beforehand.

6:15 2K Junior Track Race

6:25 5K Track Race B – Juniors and Seniors (time 21 mins or over)

6:55 5K Track Race A – Juniors and Seniors (time sub-21 mins)

The race venue is Seedhill Track in Nelson and the AGM will be in the Cricket Club behind the track.

See you there!

Sad News – Michael Wrigley 1944 – 2015

Martin Brady writes;

I was sorry to hear the sad news about the death of Michael Wrigley. He was a true member of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers and always wanted the best for the club. I remember racing with him in the early 80’s when he regularly would do sub 60 minutes for 10 miles. He was easy to identify then with his green and white celtic style top under his Clayton vest. When he became unable to run he could be seen at many local races supporing the club e.g. Hendon Brook, Three Peaks etc. When my brother died in 1986 aged 23 he was one of the people who carried his coffin. Rest in peace Mick.

His funeral will take place on Friday, 25th September, at 2:20pm at Burnley Crematorium and after at the Rosegrove Club. No flowers and donations to Friends of Marsden Park.