Adrienne Olszewska – Page 3 – Clayton-le-Moors Harriers

Springing forward!

The clocks have changed and the weather this weekend couldn’t have been more different to the grim conditions we saw just 7 days ago. The sun was out and the vests were on without a warming base layer for almost everyone! This week you have been competing in the English Fell champs, the Northern Road Relays, the Junior fell champs as well as classic fell races and road races.

LATE RESULT: SUNDAY 19 MARCH – TWO CROSSES CIRCUIT

Well done to Martin Terry and Simon Halliday who ran this 25 mile LDWA event in extremely testing conditions to finish in joint 4^th place with a time of 04:15

Full Results

And now on to this week’s action..

WEDNESDAY 22 MARCH

ROSSENDALE & PENDLE MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAM – DARK DASH

Report from Teresa de Curtis

The Pendle Hill Dark Dash on Wednesday evening was a 6 mile (approx.) fell race. I opened my curtains on the morning of the race and The Hill had been obliterated by black clouds and heavy rain, but hey ho what’s new? As the saying goes… if you can see Pendle, it’s going to rain. If you can’t see Pendle, it’s raining already.

A line of fell runner’s head torches snaking up the Pendle Hill steps. Photo by John Ealing

I came home from work and still no hill, so knew the conditions were going to be poor that evening. However, after running with Barley Badgers on Pendle throughout winter, in all conditions, I hoped it wouldn’t be a problem.

After putting a tonne of pressure on myself when I did The Stan Bradshaw round and hating every step I took, I decided to treat this as a Barley Badgers’ run. I made (several) mental notes to reign myself in at the start and not set off as if I was doing a hundred metres sprint.

84 runners set off from Barley car park and headed towards the Pendle Way where a bottle neck of runners awaited their turn to cross the wooden bridge. As we made our way to the bottom of the steps things were getting boggier underfoot (quelle surprise!). Going up the steps, in the distance, a line of head torches were lighting the way ahead like fairy lights. Here we go, it’s gonna hurt, head down, time to yomp. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt (I passed quite a few runners too) and I felt pretty good as I reached the top and made my way to the trig then on towards the flags to Ogden Clough, in poor visibility due to the fog and rain. The flags were a bit of a concern as they were wet and looked slippy, then I heard a voice geeing me on, Colin Woolford, just what I needed. Eventually, I got a spurt on after going off piste to get around the guy in front of me.

Runners using the rope set up for the unusually deep crossing in Ogden Valley

Going down Ogden Clough was treacherous. Streams had appeared on the track where usually there aren’t any and the brooks that were normally babbling were now raging torrents of water (slight exaggeration there but you’ve all heard of poetic licence). There were bogs, mud, rain and every path was extremely eroded, with water running over bare stones and rock. This is where you couldn’t let your concentration slip whilst picking your way down at speed without necking yourself.

Now I love a good downhill, and thanks to the Badgers training and the support and advice from them, running in dark, poor conditions is the norm and I managed to get past a few runners just before we hit the knee high stream at the bottom with a rope to help us across. As we got on the track before the drop down towards Upper Ogden Reservoir, a couple of guys in front of me took a tumble, then I spotted Martin Brady just ahead. Just what I needed, somebody I knew that I could keep in sight. I finished just behind Martin and we had a good natter at the finishing line. This time I loved every step and definitely had post run euphoria.

It was a great race, well organised and well marshalled by the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain rescue and there’s talk of a summer one too.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
18	Mark Nutter	M55	00:56:52
33	Martin Brady	M50	01:02:44
34	Teresa de Curtis	W45	01:02:59
36	Colin Woolford	M40	01:03:48
40	Wayne McIntosh	MSEN	01:04:47
46	Andrew Firth	M55	01:08:37
72	Adrienne Olszewska	W45	01:33:16

Full Results

SATURDAY 25 MARCH

BOULSWORTH BOG

Report from race winner Peter Coates

Boulsworth Bog fell race an 8.2 mile race setting off from Wycoller Country Park Hall. Exactly 100 runners set off in glorious sunshine to tackle the course. I soon found myself towards the front of the field with a small group which then became just myself and Calder Valleys Jon Smith. We were side by side as we approached the point where we left the path and went onto Boulsworth Hill. I increased the pace on the main climb and opened up a gap on Jon and then pushed on up to the trig point which we circled before retracing our steps back along the ridge of the hill before dropping back down the decent towards the bridle path and began the run back towards the finish.

Peter Coates at the Boulsworth Bog fell race. Photo by David Belshaw

I was very happy to get a win especially in front of my two young boys who had come along to spectate and who will hopefully now stop asking why does Daddy never win. A great little race in a very picturesque location and would definitely recommend.

Sean Clare at the Boulsworth Bog Fell Race. Photo by David Belshaw

Report from Sarah Helliwell

It was a sunny glorious day as we gathered next to the remains of Wycollar Hall and a few last minute runners signed on. It was a fast start as runners made their way up the track and onto the Pennine Bridleway to the foot of Boulsworth. It was good running terrain apart from the top section which was still saturated with the rain from the previous week as runners tried to avoid the bog! Runners cheered each other on as we crossed paths up to the trig and back before the decent back to Wycollar.

Sarah Helliwell at the Boulsworth Bog Fell Race. Photo by David Belshaw

The race was eventually won by our own Pater Coates, well done! Barbara Savage was our first lady home and was first lady vet 50. (There is a bag of chocolate goodies/winnings at our house, which our kids keep eyeing up )

Teresa de Curtis at the Boulsworth Bog Fell Race. Photo by David Belshaw

With Teresa not far behind and myself as usual bring up the rear!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
1	Peter Coates	MV40	00:54:11
14	Chris Snell	M	01:00:22
34	Chris Whiteoak	M	01:07:05
47	Sean Clare	MV50	01:10:47
70	Barbara Savage	LV50	01:20:00
73	Teresa De Curtis	LV45	01:20:55
76	Sarah Helliwell	L	01:24:14

Full Results

CAUSEY PIKE

Peter Dugdale and Mark Nutter took part in this 4.5 mile Lakeland fell race organised by Keswick AC with 1781ft of ascent

Mark Nutter at the Causey Pike Fell Race. Photo by Paul Dobson

COCK HOWE JUNIORS

Report from Alan Dorrington

A beautiful Spring day greeted runners the first round of the Junior FRA Championships, over at Chop Gate in the North York Moors.

Helana White

Whilst the weather might have been kind to the runners, the course certainly wasn’t. Starting straight up a very steep field and barely letting up before reaching the turnaround points for the U13 and U15 races, the course was clearly going to test climbing ability and with good runnable paths back down, the ability to descend flat out too.

Christopher Brown. Photo by Alan Dorrington

The Clayton Juniors got stuck in straight away with a win in the U9s for Felix Thompson, followed up by a win for his older brother Dexta in the U13s race. Both Jenson Bentham and Helena White had great runs to bag top 5 places in the U13s with Kady Thompson and Emily Nicholls finishing off a really tough race in style. Special mention to Christopher Brown too in the U13s, whose descending was spectacularly fast.

Jackson McKay. Photo by Alan Dorrington

Ella Dorrington. Photo by Alan Dorrington

Jackson McKay was also descending really quickly to a good finish in the U15s and Will Nicholls and Ella Dorrington ran well too, both putting in solid performances despite being right at the younger end of the age group.

Briony Holt. Photo by Alan Dorrington

Briony Holt was the sole older Junior in the U17s race finishing ahead of many older girls in the U19 and U21 races.

U17/19/21

Briony Holt has just stepped up to this competitive category and finished 34^th overall and 3^rd U17 girl. There were 64 runners in this race.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
34	Briony Holt	U17 Girl (3^rd)	20:49

U15

Three junior runners took part in the U15 race. Jackson McKay was our first finisher in 9^th place overall followed by William Nicholls in 34^th. Ella Dorrington was the only girl in this race and was 44^th overall. There were 52 runners in this race.

Pos	Name	Time
9	Jackson McKay	12:12
34	William Nicholls	15:02
44	Ella Dorrington	15:45

U11 & U13

Some great performances in this race from the juniors. There were 77 runners in total.

Pos	Name	Cat Pos	Time
1	Dexta Thompson	U13B 1^st	10:09
4	Jenson Bentham	U13B 3^rd	10:49
7	Christopher Brown	U13B	11:04
28	Helana White	U13G	12:09
64	Kady Thompson	U11G	15:58
68	Emily Nicholls	U11G	17:26

Great result for Felix Thompson in this race! There were 11 runners in total.

Pos	Name	Cat Pos	Time
1	Felix Thompson	U9B 1^st	4:27

Full Results

LONG MYND VALLEYS – ENGLISH FELL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE

A dozen Clayton Harriers travelled to Church Stretton to take part in the Long Mynd Valleys fell race which was the first race in the 2017 English Fell Running Championships. The race has an 11.5 mile route with 4501ft of ascent.

Christopher Holdsworth was our first finisher in 5^th place overall; a superb performance against a quality field a fortnight after his excellent finish in the Haworth Hobble a fortnight ago.

Super Vet, Jack Holt, at the Long Mynd English Championship race. Photo by Sue-Nigel Jeff

Super vets Jack Holt and Kieran Carr were 1^st M65 and 1^st M70 respectively. Katy Thompson and Wendy Dodds were our only lady runners. Wendy Dodds was 1^st W65.

Super Vet Wendy Dodds at the Long Mynd English Championship race. Photo by Sue-Nigel Jeff

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
5	Christopher Holdsworth	MSEN	01:34:10
102	James Williamson	MSEN	01:55:06
146	Andy Laycock	MSEN	02:01:02
148	Garry Wilkinson	M50	02:01:33
191	David Edmondson	M45	02:06:34
196	Paul Hesketh	M50	02:08:11
213	Jack Holt	M65	02:10:46
240	Paul Shackleton	M50	02:15:18
244	Kieran Carr	M70	02:15:39
251	Jon Sharples	M60	02:16:58
338	Wendy Dodds	W65	02:34:48
358	Katy Thompson	W60	02:44:09

Full Results

NORTHERN ROAD RELAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Despite a clash with the English Fell Championships, two teams of men ( 2 X 12 runners) and three teams of women ( 3 X 6 runners) headed to Stanley Park in Blackpool to take part in the Northern Road Relay Championships.

Women’s 6 Stage

18 Clayton Ladies competed in the Womens 6 Stage relays.

Some of the Clayton Ladies at the Northern Road Relays. Photo by James Boult

Report from Angela Shian

This year’s Ladies 6 Stage road relays took place at a sunny, seaside, Stanley park. It was the first year we have managed to fill 3 teams or this event. For over half of the ladies it was their first time competing in the road relays, which is always quite nerve racking, especially for leg 1 starters, nervously waiting for the dreaded gun to go off.

Laura Hesketh on her super fast leg of the Northern Road Relays. Photo by David Wood

As the sun was shining, Stanley Park was full of day outers, this could prove tricky dodging prams, dogs and toddlers around the park (especially as we were all running at speed). Everyone put in maximum team effort, and I know some ladies took time off work and arranged child care to be able to attend, which the club does appreciate.

Lisa Ellis at the Northern Road Relays. Photo by David Wood

Results are: ladies team A: 21st position Ladies team B: 39th position Ladies team C: 46th position

Stage	Team	Pos	Name	Time
1	A	30	Elizabeth Mullan	40:59
1	B	46	Michelle Abbott	44:10
1	C	47	Joanne Bennett	44:30
2	A	20	Laura Hesketh	18:53
2	C	47	Lisa Ellis	25:30
2	B	49	Deborah Greenwood	27:51
3	A	18	Donna Airey	23:02
3	B	46	Angela Shian	24:34
3	C	49	Judith Carey	30:31
4	A	24	Amanda Duffy	43:52
4	B	44	Nerina Gill	46:11
4	C	47	Julia Rushton	48:13
5	A	22	Claire Vincent	22:36
5	B	42	Jane Ryan	24:48
5	C	48	Karen Clarkin	30:04
6	A	21	Helen O’Rourke	22:58
6	B	39	Lucy Scott	25:25
6	C	46	Jane Hylands	27:24

Team A – 21st place with a total time of 02:52:20

Team B – 39^th place with a total time of 03:12:59

Team C – 46^th place with a total time of 03:26:12

A total of 50 teams competed plus 9 incomplete teams.

Mens 12 Stage

Report from Men’s Team Manager, Jon Cleaver

Set on a sunny day in Stanley Park in Blackpool was the 12/6 Stage Road Relays. We managed to recruit 2 teams for the Senior Men to compete on the day and all agreed they had a fantastic time supporting and running for the team.

Danny Collinge at the Northern Road Relays. Photo by David Wood

It was amazing to see such a vast array of talented runners compete from all across the North. For the Senior Men we had 4 long and 8 short legs (9.5km and 5.2km respectively) and the A team got off to a cracking start with Danny Collinge leading us out with the fastest long leg for the team, unfortunately however we couldn’t sustain the start that Danny gave us, but the A team did finish in a respectable 32^nd place overall.

Andy Quinn at the Northern Road Relays. Photo by James Boult

A big thanks from me for all the runners that put themselves forward and made for a great day!

Report from Michael Clarke

My first road race post injury. No expectations regarding performance, just fun to be had on a glorious spring day together with friends. The route was tricky with lots of twists and turns and the marshals did what they could to enable me to avoid running into the boating lake or small children.

Thankfully none of the aforementioned things occurred and I enjoyed the day whilst contributing to a good team “B” effort. Huge thanks to Jon Cleaver for putting it all together in what appears a logistical nightmare and thanks to my Clayton friends for a warm welcome back.

Stage	Team	Pos	Name	Time
1	A	22	Daniel Collinge	30:56
1	B	68	James Boult	39:43
2	A	30	David Motley	19:27
2	B	67	John Roche	21:03
3	A	37	Richard Stevenson	35:07
3	B	68	Mick Hughes	41:02
4	A	36	Jonathan Pye	18:29
4	B	67	Adam Stephenson	22:07
5	A	33	Jaboc Watson	33:32
5	B	66	John Wilcock	39:42
6	A	31	Kevin Davies	19:49
6	B	65	Gareth Berry	20:22
7	A	35	Matthew Duckworth	36:35
7	B	64	Michael Clarke	42:16
8	A	33	Lee Smith	17:59
8	B	64	Wayne McIntosh	24:40
9	A	35	Andrew Payne	21:07
9	B	63	James Dunderdale	21:45
10	A	34	David Walker	18:43
10	B	62	Andy Quinn	22:01
11	A	32	Jordan McDonald	18:30
11	B	60	Carl Carey	23:43
12	A	32	Jonathan Cleaver	18:35
12	B	59	Robert Morrison	21

Team A – 32^nd place with a total time of 4:48:49

Team C – 59^th place with a total time of 5:39:24

A total of 61 teams competed plus 8 incomplete teams

Full Results

SUNDAY 27 MARCH

CHESHIRE 10K

James Dunderdale and Lucy Scott set off amongst almost 1300 runners at the Cheshire 10K. The race follows the flat and rural roads of Antrobus in Cheshire and is a perfect race to get that PB.

Lucy Scott and James Dunderdale at the Cheshire 10K

Report from Lucy Scott

The weather was just perfect as me and James set off early doors for the Cheshire 10k. Its the second time we have ran this race so we knew what to expect from the course. Its a flat, traffic free route around the glorious countryside and lots of lovey views. Great conditions for a new PB!

Just under 1300 people set off at 9.30am sharp in the sunshine. My first few kilometres went pretty quickly and I was feeling good but I soon began to tire and my legs felt heavy from the road relays the day before. I managed to sneak in just under 52 minutes and was glad of the bottle of water at the finish. It was quite the warm one!

Overall, a very enjoyable and well organised race. I would definitely recommend the Cheshire 10k if you are gunning for a new PB. James did a fantastic run and knocked 20 seconds off his personal best! Well Done James!

Pos	Name	Time	Category
164	JAMES DUNDERDALE	00:43:22	V35
503	LUCY SCOTT	00:51:55	Female

Full Results

EDALE SKYLINE

Report by Andy Armstrong

Because of its time in the year the Edale Skyline can be blessed with glorious sunshine or be cancelled due to impassable snowdrifts. Thankfully this weekend’s race was the former! Jean Brown and I made the trip down to the Peak District for this 21mile/4500ft fell race over the gritstone landscape of the Dark Peak.

Andy Armstrong at the Edale Skyline (thankfully before the vest came off!) Photo by Sue-Nigel Jeff

The terrain is largely runnable with a mixture of trails, technical boulder sections and slabbed footpaths; the infamous Brown Knoll bog-fest has been largely neutralised and replaced by a faster but mind-numbingly tedious slabbed route instead. The route has changed slowly over the years, due to access and erosion issues but times remain similar and the race was won overall by Chris Steele of Borrowdale who came home in 2h48m (the first lady was Sally Fawcett of Dark Peak in 3h33m).

Jean Brown at the Edale Skyline fell race. Photo by Sue-Nigel Jeff

Both Jean and I kept it under four hours; I came back in 63rd place at 3h47m and Jean followed shortly after in 95th (6th lady) with 3h58m (winning the ladies Vet 40 prize). The event was very well organised; the village hall had steak pie and cakes after the race and the prize table was fully loaded. I’d thoroughly recommend this event, it used to be much more popular with Clayton and it’s a mystery why it isn’t now.

Pos	Name	Category	Time
63	Andrew Armstrong	M40	03:47:23
95	Jean Brown	W40	03:57:55

Full Results

MUDDY BOTTOMS 17 MILE RACE

Vicky Heys and Angela Shian took part in the Muddy Bottoms 17 mile race which is described by the organisers as an off-road run, walk or crawl mainly on tracks and trails which are rather muddy.

Report from Angela Shian

Myself and Vicky Heys did the Muddy Bottoms race yesterday. Only thing to say is it’s a really good event. A well organised trail race across beautiful countryside. It’s navigation, but thankfully instructions on the reverse of the map, which helped a lot…!! Hence we only did 18 mile instead of 17, do didn’t go far wrong..!! I would recommend this event, apparently they change the route each time so there’s no cheating!!! Pie and peas at the end so all worth it!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
15	Vicky Heys	FV45	03:49:35
16	Angela Shian	FV35	03:49:35

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Bolton parkrun – A total of 331 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
22	David MOYNIHAN	21:41	VM50-54

Burnley parkrun – A total of 381 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
22	Matthew JACKSON	20:45	JM11-14
23	Nick ROSCOE	20:47	VM45-49
28	Lennon JACKSON	20:58	JM11-14
33	Stephen AINSWORTH	21:23	VM60-64
39	Cassandra Darling SMEDLEY	21:59	VW35-39	New PB!
52	Charlie BARNES	22:41	JM10	New PB!
60	Sophie ASHWORTH	23:03	JW11-14
68	David Ian SCOTT	23:21	VM70-74
84	Nina KEWIN	24:12	VW35-39
87	Dawn TERRY	24:17	VW50-54
93	Colin WHITE	24:32	VM40-44
94	Bethany WHEATCROFT	24:34	JW11-14
112	Donna SCOTT	25:18	VW50-54
113	Bryn BARNES	25:23	VM65-69
116	Andrew TAYLOR	25:28	VM55-59
160	Adrienne OLSZEWSKA	27:20	VW45-49
166	Helen HARRISON	27:31	VW45-49
169	Heidi KEWIN	27:45	JW11-14
170	Aaron LUNDIE	27:45	JM11-14
175	Ian HARGREAVES	27:50	VM50-54
187	Richard LAWSON	28:31	VM75-79
207	Robert HIRST	29:07	VM65-69
218	Ron CHAPPELL	29:25	VM65-69
239	Marion WILKINSON	30:12	VW75-79
267	Jack MCGUIRE	31:40	VM60-64

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 41 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
3	Matthew JACKSON	7:41	JM11-14	New PB!
5	Aaron LUNDIE	7:57	JM11-14	New PB!
9	Charlie BARNES	8:57	JM10	New PB!
11	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:16	JW11-14
13	Imogen FERGUSON	9:31	JW11-14	New PB!
20	Darcey HIRST	11:04	JW10
28	Joni HIGGINS	13:09	JW10

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 135 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
125	Robin PRICE	36:36	VM70-74

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 165 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
110	Eileen JONES	32:48	VW60-64

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 258 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
149	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	28:54	VW65-69	First Timer!
195	Christine LEATHLEY	32:25	VW65-69	First Timer!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 96 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Simon WILSHAW	20:48	JM15-17	New PB!
8	John HARTLEY	22:02	VM60-64
23	Martin BRADY	24:48	VM55-59
50	Yvonne WICKHAM	30:48	VW50-54

Witton parkrun- A total of 71 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
24	Paul THOMPSON	27:54	VM45-49	New PB!

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Rainy days don’t get us down!

It’s been a week of long races, short races and plenty of mud! Even with a night of revelling and celebrating success at the club awards night at the weekend, there was still plenty of action around. Our talented juniors have been competing for their schools and in triathlons, there’s been seriously muddy fell running, marathon practice at the Trimpell 20 and some speedy PBs at all kinds of distances.

WEDNESDAY 15 MARCH

KEIGHLEY AND CRAVEN XC LEAGUE

Junior runner, Grace Root, took part in the Keighley and Craven XC League representing her school and came 19th in the year 7/8 race. Well done Grace!

Grace Root in the Year 7/8 girls race. Photo by Woodentops

SATURDAY 18 MARCH

LAKELAND TRAILS – CARTMEL 18KM

Three Clayton men took to the muddy trails around Cartmel for the first race of the ever-popular Lakeland Trails Series. All three put in tremendous performances with top ten finishes for Christopher Holdsworth and Dave Walker and a top twenty finish for Breton Holdsworth .

Report from Christopher Holdsworth

Myself, Breton and Dave Walker took on the boggiest and muddiest Cartmel Trail Race in years. I really can’t begin to describe just how waterlogged it was, other than ‘Witton Park XC on sterioids’.

Christopher Holdsworth at the Cartmel 18KM race.

I felt surprisingly okay after last week’s race, though the fatigue did set in towards the end of the race, along with a lovely stitch that coincided just in time for the downhill section with 3 miles to go. Happy to swim my way round to a 2nd placed finish, behind Tom Adams who didn’t even seem affected by the mud.

Dave Walker at the Lakeland Trails Cartmel race

Next home for Clayton was Dave Walker, a stranger to the trail scene but put in a great performance finishing in 6th. Breton, after another start battling with his flimsy lungs, managed to get himself round in 18th position – his first race finish in months. There’s life in the old invalid yet!

The unmistakeable Breton Holdsworth!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
2	Christopher Holdsworth	M	01:11:47
6	Dave Walker	M	01:20:32
18	Breton Holdsworth	MV40	01:26:46

Full Results

PODIUM 5K

A dynamic duo of Harriers took to the fast and flat cycle track at Barrowford to run the Podium 5k. Jonathan Pye was our first man in 10th place overall and Jack McGuire was 38th.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
10	Jonathan Pye	MS	(005/011)	00:17:31
38	Jack McGuire	M60	(003/003)	00:28:38

Full Results

SUNDAY 19 MARCH

HEPTONSTALL FELL RACE

When race organisers woke up on the race morning to the sound of rain hammering against the skylight they wondered if anyone would bother turning up. After all, no-one wants to go outdoors in conditions like that, particularly when it means slithering around on the South Pennine moors. The record turnout came as something of a surprise.

A packed out start despite the inclement weather at the Heptonstall Fell Race

So, well done all who ran for making this rain-sodden bog-fest the race that it was. Congratulations to all the runners for making the most of some very difficult conditions and a huge thank-you to all the marshals who not only did a great job but managed to do so in remarkably cheery spirits.

Cleaning off the mud after the Heptonstall Fell Race

Report from James Williamson

Originally I had planned to head over to the Lakes for Carrock fell race, but a last minute change of heart saw me making the short journey over the tops to Heptonstall for this gruelling 15 miler. A solid 8 days of running and hiking in the Lakes last week had certainly woke my climbing legs up and i was feeling good as I registered at the Cross Inn. The plan for today was to go off hard and just see how long I could hang on, and pray that i didn’t bonk given the tough training of late.

How very apt that the local vicar started this race off given the biblical conditions – the heavens were well & truly open and it didn’t stop at all during the entire race. A record number of 260 turned out for the race with a healthy clayton showing, the cobbled lined street were rammed tight and at the sound of the vicar’s horn (i’m sure there’s a joke there?!) we were on our way….or at least i thought…..my 1st steps were akin to Bambi on ice as i slipped on polished wet flagstones and collided with the side of a cottage! Well it can’t get much worse than that i though.

The first half mile or so was chaos trying to negotiate my way through countless bodies, ducking and weaving my way through to try and make some space. Once I’d escaped the initial mayhem I settled nicely in to a good rhythm & continued to work hard on the 1st few climbs and found myself as part of a small group as we crossed the open moorland towards Standing stone Hill – this was a real slog with knee deep bogs, thick tussocks & plenty of mud. I was glad to see the back of this section as i finally hit some fast running on more trail like terrain over Walshaw Dean Res then down the grouse butts, i was able to pick a few people off here just before the fun part of the route through the woodland….”careful lad it’s slippy through the woods” said the marshall….he wasn’t kidding either, i spent the majority of my time in here on my backside which was probably the quicker way to be fair!

A steady middle section of the run was uneventful, until a lad from P&B took a nasty tumble on a concrete tunnel and landed awkwardly on his shoulder, thankfully he was ok. And so to the grand finale….i’d heard the odd rumour about a sting in the tail at the finish, & it didn’t disappoint. A steep, almost vertical at times, and extremely muddy climb led us up through Hebden Wood, the steps at the top felt 8ft high and my quads were on fire! I was delighted to reach the top of this climb , a joy which was short lived as i tried to lift my legs and get going again through the final fields towards the finish. I literally couldn’t lift the buggers, i’d ran out of diesel! I had to dig in deep at this point, i had spent all my energy. As I crossed through the wall at the top of the field the finish funnel came in to view, what a sight! I knew there were flap jacks and hot drinks in the marquee so i got a bit of adrenaline flowing which saw me over the line in around 2:12 and in 12th place. Hot on my heels were fellow Clayton team mates, Peter Coates, Carl Helliwell, Kirt Livesey & Chris Snell.

This was a fantastic race route, which i doubt will be run in much tougher conditions, it’ll take the legs a few days to get over this one – only to be flogged again at Long Mynd Valleys next Saturday!

Report from Peter Coates

The Heptonstall Fell Race on Sunday was a 15.4 mile fell race with 966 metres ascent setting off from Weavers Square in Heptonstall. The £7.00 entry fee included an incredible amount of pain and suffering as days of rain had left much of the route a muddy, boggy quagmire. The poor weather conditions had not put runners off as a record field of around 260 runners including a good Clayton turnout set off in pouring rain and driving winds to tackle the course. This was proper brutal fell running at its harshest and in places was more akin to bog snorkelling. First Clayton finisher was James Williamson with a great run to finish in 12th place followed by myself in 22nd with Carl Helliwell just behind although Ryan Belshaw was ahead until an ankle injury forced him to retire. A very tough but enjoyable race and good preparation for the 3 Peaks race next month.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
12	James Williamson	M	02:13:01
22	Peter Coates	V40	02:16:48
28	Carl Helliwell	V40	02:19:34
36	Kirt Livesey	V40	02:23:24
49	Chris Snell	M	02:26:53
63	Neil Hardiman	V40	02:32:01
96	Chris Whiteoak	M	02:40:41
102	Chris Funnell	V50	02:41:52
113	Jean Brown	FV40	02:45:15
203	Stephen Ainsworth	V60	03:19:49

Full Results

LONGSLEDDLE FELL RACE

Katy Thompson was our sole representative in the latest race of the Kendal Winter League series organised by Helm Hill. She was 71st overall and 1st LV60.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
71	Katy Thompson	LV60	01:04:54

Full Results

TRIMPELL 20

Five Clayton Harriers took part in this 20 mile race with some great performances from them all!

Report from Jon Cleaver

Jon Cleaver at the Trimpell 20, Photo by Sprint Finish Photography

Five Clayton runners competed in the Trimpell 20 this weekend. It’s a reasonably flat course 99% off road with only 300ft of elevation. I went on full on attack mode from the start and held onto a top 15 position by half way but after running the half Mara in near PB pace my legs started to suffer on the way back to the finish, not helped by a strong headwind. It’s a great race for Marathon prep with normally quite a sunny day. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t with us today but it could’ve been worse. Special recognition to Dan Plant with his 20 mile PB.

Report from Lynsey Birtwistle

After barely sleeping the night before due to nerves and also the horrendous wind and rain Lisa and I set off for Lancaster to run in the Trimpell 20. I have never raced that distance before but I felt as if I may as well get a medal for one of my marathon training runs! The weather in Lancaster wasn’t as bad as home and we had wind and a bit of light drizzle throughout most of the race. The heavens opened once we had finished!!!

Lisa Ellis and Lynsey Birtwistle at the Trimpell 20. Photo by Justin Birtwistle

The course was out and back to Morecambe and then the Lune valley. It was great to have Clayton support from Jon Cleaver, Dan Plant and John Hartley as we passed them on the out and back route. The wind really picked up at about mile 17 and was head on for a couple of miles which was tough with tired legs.

The finish was horrendous! How horrible to have a hill finish from mile 19.5 which included slippery cobbles! We did it though and I was pleased with my time of 2:59:39! A PB at that distance and a nice little push towards my target for this years marathon!

Report from John Hartley

Tough day today at the Trimpell 20 with the weather – gale force winds and rain. Was hoping to run under two hours twenty minutes but just missed out but the time I did will move me to second in the vet60 British ranking over twenty miles so chuffed with that next one Manchester marathon in two weeks see what I can do there!

John Hartley at the Trimpell 20. Photo by Mark Forrest

Pos	Name	Category	Time
32	Jonathan Cleaver	M	02:13:04
47	Daniel Plant	M	02:19:31
54	John Hartley	MV60	02:21:06
258	Lynsey Birtwistle	FV35	02:59:53
358	Lisa Ellis	F	03:18:18

Full Results

WATERS WILMSLOW HALF MARATHON

Report from Stephen Biscomb

I decided to do the Waters Wilmslow half marathon at Christmas. So I have been training towards this race for the past 3 months. The atmosphere for these larger races is something special. Over 3000 entries means that for a 10.30 start we needed to get to wilmslow for 9.00. Sure enough when we arrived there were runners everywhere trying to get to their parking. Thoughts before the race were dominated by the weather, the day before was rain rain rain. Luckily the weather eased. It was good to see Jacob Watson before the race. The race itself was flat and all on closed roads which was good. My time was 1 hour 38mins 17secs. I was happy with this, but was just 27 seconds from a PB. Overall this was a good experience, and I would recommend the race, but get there early. Well done Jacob on getting a PB.

Report from Jacob Watson

I signed up to this race with the intention of setting a new personal best for the half marathon, a distance I believe to be my strongest. I ran Manchester Half back in October and managed to shave over a minute off my previous time, however since then I’ve been seeing some improvements in training and took it upon myself to see what kind of shape I was in. While not a flat course, I knew this race attracted a strong field, so all I needed was good conditions to give myself a fair stab of achieving a PB. After checking the weather pretty much every day on the run up to the event I realised this wasn’t going to happen, with 17-20mph winds reported for the eveFnt! I generally allow myself 1 hour to park up and get sorted before most events, however I wish I’d given myself more time for this one! It’s a big event with slow traffic as well as troublesome parking, not to mention a mile long walk to race HQ (from where I parked) which meant I was rushing a bit more than I would have liked. I’ll remember this for next time!

Jacob Watson at the Waters Wilmslow Half Marathon. Photo by Mick Hall

Thankfully I got warmed up and on the start line just in time! After the starting pistol, the first mile was fairly flat albeit pretty breezy. I tried tucking in behind a bunch of runners from the start, however this didn’t really shield me from the elements! It wasn’t until mile 8 that the wind got really bad and I recorded my slowest mile by far (in fact it was nearly 30 seconds slower than mile 7). The route was undulating which I believe played to my favour. For some inexplicable reason, I tend to set all my fast times on non-flat courses. I guess I just like the variety, plus most of my training is on hilly routes! I ran miles 2 – 10 with a chap called Tom Dart from Spenborough running club who was aiming for a sub 77 time. As soon as we got to the last 5k however, he decided to up the tempo and I couldn’t stick with him! He signalled for me to catch up, but in trying to match his speed my watch registered 5:25\mi, a pace which was just too quick for my liking 10 miles into a race! I feel I managed to run a strong last 3 miles and did manage to knock nearly half a minute off my PB which, considering the conditions, I was over the moon with!

Checking the results online after I also managed to bag myself a 10 mile PB so all in all a successful day out. I just need to break through 77 minutes now, which I hope to do at Manchester in May!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
42	Jacob Watson	M	01:17:08
632	Stephen Biscombe	MV60	01:38:17

Full Results

WIRRAL AQUATHLON

Report from Rachael White

Helana White and Ellie Root competed in the Wirral Junior Aquathlon which was the second race in Triathlon England North West league

It should have been a standard 10 Lengths of the pool, Transition and 4 laps of the field (2K) for Helana, in the T2 (U13 age), however, it is amazing how sometimes, something as simple as putting your shoe on (that you practice and practice) can go do wrong, as the one trainer takes a life of its own and refuses to go on the foot. So she was on the chase on the run, and managed to hunt a few down and overtake them as the run is her strongest discipline.

Helana White at the Wirral Aquathlon

All was going well, until I shouted encouragingly “one more lap and you are done”, she looked confused, moved back away from finish straight and headed out to the field again – only to be shouted back when she passed as she had done her laps -so she had to loop back round to get over timing chip, losing valuable time (time = points in triathlon), and got her a telling off from the marshal for not counting correctly ! Finally ended up 10th overall, with me having lessons in how to count to 4 on the way home. Lovely to see her making friends with girls from rival clubs (COLTS) . and smiling once the race is finished!

Ellie Root competed well finishing in 6th place in the Youth category.

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 267 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
4	Nicholas HENNESSEY	19:00	JM15-17
5	Dave MOTLEY	19:13	VM35-39
12	Matthew JACKSON	20:51	JM11-14
13	Richard STEVENSON	20:54	VM40-44
14	Martin TERRY	21:06	VM55-59	New PB!
18	Susan BURNS	21:15	VW55-59
24	Lennon JACKSON	22:06	JM11-14
35	Chris LAWRENCE	22:58	VM50-54
49	Aaron LUNDIE	23:46	JM11-14
55	David Ian SCOTT	24:04	VM70-74
58	Nina KEWIN	24:31	VW35-39
63	Dawn TERRY	24:53	VW50-54
68	Jean KNIGHTLEY	25:07	VW55-59
71	Jonathan PYE	25:18	SM25-29
85	Julie DAWES	25:54	VW45-49
89	Bethany WHEATCROFT	26:01	JW11-14
90	Annabel WILCOCK	26:03	JW15-17
91	John WILCOCK	26:03	VM50-54
99	Donna SCOTT	26:33	VW50-54
137	Stuart BARKER	28:54	VM50-54
142	Yvonne WICKHAM	29:11	VW50-54
160	Ron CHAPPELL	30:41	VM65-69
223	Heidi KEWIN	34:13	JW11-14

Burnley Junior parkrun – A total of 49 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Robbie SMEDLEY	07:31	JM11-14	New PB!
3	Finley STUBBS	08:20	JM10	First Timer!
4	Aaron LUNDIE	08:28	JM11-14
10	Charlie BARNES	09:29	JM10
12	Imogen FERGUSON	09:42	JW11-14
15	Bethany WHEATCROFT	10:15	JW11-14
22	Brayden CLARKSON	11:07	JM10	First Timer!
29	Ellisia SMEDLEY	12:06	JW10	New PB!

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 120 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
106	Robin PRICE	34:27	VM70-74

Hereford parkrun – A total of 152 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
27	Wendy DODDS	24:20	VW65-69	First Timer!

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 146 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
42	Philip NAYLOR	24:34	VM35-39	New PB!

Riverside parkrun – A total of 263 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
110	Helen HARRISON	26:54	VW45-49	First Timer!

Witton parkrun – A total of 60 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
25	Paul THOMPSON	28:38	VM45-49	First Timer!

Woodhouse Moor parkrun – A total of 416 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	David BAGOT	17:44	SM25-29

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Hobbling, Rolling, Navigating and Running Fast

It’s been a truly challenging weekend for our members. There have been ultra distances (both planned and unplanned!), navigational triumphs and woes, fell running, marathon practice, PB smashing 5Ks, and representing the county in cross country. You’ve been giving it your all.

SATURDAY 11 MARCH

BLACK COMBE FELL RACE

A dozen Clayton Harriers took the trip up to Silecroft to run in the Black Combe Fell Race. This is a tough race which often has “interesting” weather to contend with. Jack Holt was our first Clayton finisher in 50^th place with a time of 01:40:56. Jean Brown was our first Clayton lady in 88^th place and 01:48:09. Kieran Carr was 1^st V70. Excellent navigation skills are the key to this race it seems.

Martin Brady Reports

At 12:00 on Saturday 13 Clayton members set off to run the Black Combe Fell Race. Visibility was very poor which made route finding quite difficult. After a very steep initial 600ft climb the path up to Black Combe becomes more runnable. After the first visit of Black Combe summit the difficult navigation starts. There were runners comming from all directions whilst I was heading for the White Combe check point (including several Clayton runners).

The second climb up to Black Combe is also very steep to begin with. It is very similar to the last climb in the Tour of Pendle but 2.5 times longer. With the thick mist it was difficult to know how close the summit was which made the climb feel even longer. Pete Browning passed me on this climb and seemed to be moving twice as quick as every one else. I managed to get the wrong line off the last check point and ended up taking an extra 25 minute detour – I think I need the extra miles at the moment. Jack Holt was the first Clayton runner back with Jean Brown being the first Clayton lady. Kieran Carr had a great run just falling short of the V70 record (even after taking a detour on White Combe).

Peter Browning Reports

A typical day at Black Combe greeted the healthy contingent of Clayton runners who made the trip north to South West Lakeland. Low cloud blown in off the Irish Sea meant very limited visibility, and experience and navigational skills were required. It was a day when the fewest errors or following the right group was most important, and after the race there were many tales of going off course and losing time. The vastly experienced Clayton quartet of Wendy Dodds, Kieran Carr, Martin Brady and me all got it wrong at some point or other, and it was said that Kieran’s mistake cost him the chance of a new V70’s course record. All good fun though and all returned safely.

Report from Chris Snell

Drove up to Black Combe for a day out with coach Higgins to include a pub lunch and bit of Lakeland climbing with navigation practice. I navigated the course through the clag fairly well up until the last checkpoint. Unfortunately this is where I got over excited, and didn’t think it necessary to take a bearing being so close to the finish, and nearly ended up miles away from the finish line! Frustratingly top 50 to losing a painful amount of time and places according to the Black Combes dibber splits……lesson well learned!

A Footnote from Kieran Carr

Did Black Coombe, usual dense cloud and drizzle. Got to the top and tried to set my compass to 30deg and the needle was pointing south not north. Not sure how accurate so I’m down to tracking, good job I was brought up and played Cowies. Got help to CP3 with a lovely couple from Trawden, managed ok from there except for minor hiccup on descent. Anybody know what happened to my compass?

Pos	Name	Category	Time
50	Jack Holt	MV60	01:40:56
62	Ivan Whigham	MV50	01:42:42
88	Jean Brown	FV40	01:48:09
97	Kieran Carr	MV70	01:50:36
115	Chris Whiteoak	M	01:54:33
119	Wendy Dodds	FV60	01:55:12
123	Peter Browning	MV50	01:56:44
126	Andrew Howarth	MV50	01:57:43
133	Chris Snell	M	01:58:25
146	Dominic Carr	MV40	02:05:40
148	Andrew Firth	MV50	02:06:37
163	Martin Brady	MV50	02:29:49

Full Results

CROSS-COUNTRY INTER-COUNTIES CHAMPIONSHIPS

Four of our club members took the trip to Loughborough to represent Lancashire in the Cross Country Inter-Counties Championships.

Louisa Powell-Smith running for Lancashire in the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships. Photo by Adrian Royle

Danny Collinge, who only got called up to run three days before the event, ran in the Senior Men’s race finishing in 213^th place in a time of 32:08. Louisa Powell-Smith ran in the Ladies race and finished in 36^th place overall and 2^nd Lancashire counter; the team finished in 8^th place.

Briony Holt and Danny Collinge with Gemma Steel at the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships

Briony Holt ran in the U15 Girls race finishing in 95^th place overall and 2^nd Lancashire counter; the team were 25^th. Jackson McKay ran in the U13 Boys race and finished in 11^th place.

Well done to all four Clayton runners who have done both the club and their County Teams proud!

Full Results

HAWORTH HOBBLE

A team of nine Clayton Harriers braced themselves for the long haul as they took on the Haworth Hobble, a 32 mile route traversing gritstone moors around Haworth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridgewith over 4,400 ft of ascent/descent. Maximum time allowed 11 hours.

Team Clayton at the Haworth Hobble. Photos by Laura and David Bradshaw of Sportsunday Photography

Chris Holdsworth was our first finisher in 5^th place overall, an outstanding run and finishing time of 03:57:38. Next to finish was Nicholas Olszewski in 11^th and 05:

Report from Cassie Smedley

To say that I was nervous about the Haworth Hobble would be an understatement. I was being picked up by Team Olszewski/a at 6.15 am! We arrived early and signed, and collected my t-shirt. I must admit I did think now I have my t-shirt I can disappear, but I didn’t.

Team Clayton at the start of the Haworth Hobble.

The start was very busy, and bloody steep! Adrienne was brilliant throughout the race. The pace was steady going, lots and lots of up hills and not enough down. The terrain was varied, with lots of mud! I fell yet again which seems to be the norm for me now, and I hit a brick wall at 20 miles in, but carried on and loved it. Really needed the veg stew at the end as I felt very light headed, and the jam doughnut was the sugar fix I needed . I am now an ultra runner. Thanks Nick and Adrienne for all your guidance pre, during and post race.

Position	Name	Cat	Time
5	Christopher Holdsworth	M	03:57:38
112	Nicholas Olszewski	M55	05:37:38
127	Andrew Armstrong	M45	05:48:27
181	Alan Dorrington	M45	06:15:15
244	Chris Funnell	M50	06:44:24
245	Robert Morrison	M40	06:44:27
246	Simon Stansfield	M40	06:44:30
311	Adrienne Olszewska	F45	07:44:45
312	Cassandra Smedley	F35	07:44:58

Full Results

SUNDAY 12 MARCH

COLTS SALT AYRE JUNIOR DUATHLON

Helana White competed in the Colts Salt Ayre Junior Duathlon. This is the first race in the Triathlon England North West league. This is also her first race in T2 category (U13’s) whilst she is still 10. She had to do 1.6K run, 5.2K bike and 600m run. She did well on the run, coming out 5^th or 6^th, but lost places on the bike, as she is still learning about effective gear changes especially in non-drafting races. She battled back to come 9^th. Now to practice the gears for the next bike race (only unofficial results available so far)

FASTRAX 5K

10 Clayton Harriers took to the flat and fast cycle track in Barrowford to compete in the lasts Fastrax 5K race. Jonathan Pye was our first finisher in 11^th place. Nick Hennessey continues to work hard and was 1^st MJ, 15^th overall. Michelle Abbott was our first lady in 32^nd. Julia Rushton was 1^st F50 and Bryn Barnes was 1^st M65. PBs were in evidence as tough winter training is paying off for lots of our members.

Report from James Boult

Feeling inspired from JR’s endurance workshop on Saturday and the social that followed on Saturday evening with Denise Park and Mark Brown, I found myself race-searching for Sunday as a way to release all the built up motivation I’d gained having well and truly got the racing bug back. Fastrax have a great 5k series from the cycle track in Barrowford, the setting of the Grand Prix race later in the year; a great lung busting, PB searching course with 1km laps and no climb whatsoever. I’d missed the previous two races but felt this was a great way to see what I had in preparation for the Northern Athletics relays at the end of the month.

James Boult at the Fastrax 5K. Photo by David Belshaw

Thankfully it’s a stone’s throw from my house otherwise I would not have made the start at 11am. A warm, beautiful morning gave us the feel of a summery race day as 48 of us started from the corner and set off on a course that does not allow let up. A 6.01 first mile was far too optimistic and made for a struggle through the middle of the race but I recovered well to record my fastest road time in nearly 7 months, 19:49, in what is finally starting to be progress in my return from a plague of injuries stretching back to October last year. Although not where I’d like to be, it’s a start and maybe would have been better had it not been for the stomach full of beer and vodka… rookie mistake.

Report from Judith Carey

We decided to have a go at the 5k Fastrax as we were free and making the most of our holiday as it came to an end. Having just got a parkrun 5k PB in Bryan Bach park the day before I wasn’t sure how my legs would be on another fast run. I was nervous whilst waiting for the start as all the runners were much faster than me so I knew I’d be running on my own at the back and have at least a lap to the end when everyone else had finished.

Julia Rushton (L) and Judith Carey at the Fastrax 5k. Photo by David Belshaw

The race started and I tried really hard not to set off too fast with everyone and was on my own straight away so I began counting down the laps. As Carl passed me on the opposite side of the track I cheered him on thinking the end was in sight with one more lap to go to realise I had 2 argh! Thank you to the shouts out of encouragement and to Julia for running the final half a km with me. I smashed my 5k PB which I’d just done the day before. JR’s winter training has had a huge impact on my running, thank you coach Roche, the hard work is worth it.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
11	Jonathan Pye	M	(005/014)	00:17:58
15	Nicholas Hennessey	MJ	(001/002)	00:18:41
23	James Boult	M	(011/014)	00:19:50
28	Richard Briscoe	M	(012/014)	00:20:58
32	Michelle Abbott	F35	(002/003)	00:22:42
34	Carl Carey	M45	(005/005)	00:23:16
35	Julia Rushton	F50	(001/001)	00:23:23
46	Bryn Barnes	M65	(001/001)	00:26:03
47	Judith Carey	F35	(003/003)	00:28:30
48	Jack S McGuire	M60	(002/002)	00:29:51

Full Results

FASTRAX JUNIOR 2K RACE

Matthew Jackson won the latest race in the Fastrax series and was joined in the top ten by Charlie Plant who was first girl, Emily Nicholls, Olly Plant and Chris Barnes. Great performances, as always, from our talented junior runners.

Matthew Jackson racing at the Fastrax 2K junior race. Photo by David Belshaw

Pos	Name	Cat	Race3
1	Matthew Jackson	M10	00:07:49
2	Charlie Plant	F7	00:10:19
3	Emily Nicholls	F8	00:10:29
4	Olly Plant	M6	00:14:40
7	Charlie Barnes	M8	00:08:57
30	Jake O’Dowd	M13	00:09:50
33	Luke Guest	M12	00:08:40

Full Results

HEATON PARK 10K

Two Clayton Ladies took part in the Heaton Park 10K. Helen Harrison was our first finisher in 177th place and Deborah followed in 205th place. A total of 385 runners took part. The race runs on the paths through Heaton park.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
177	Helen Harrison	V45	00:57:36
205	Deborah Greenwood	V45	00:59:52

Full Results

HELM HILL

Four seniors and one junior member took part in the latest race of the Kendal Winter League Series. The Helm is a 4.8 mile race with 1197ft of ascent. Alan Life was our first finisher in 51^st place and Wendy Dodds was our first lady finisher in 75^th overall and 1^st L60.

Wendy Dodds at the Helm Hill Fell Race. Photo by Andy Holden

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
51	Alan Life	V50	44:59
75	Wendy Dodds	L60	50:05
102	Carol Life	L50	55:50

U13 Race

Christopher Brown was our sole junior runner in the U13 race. He finished in 14^th place overall with a time of 08:26.

Pos	Name	Time
14	Christopher Brown	08:26

Full Results

RODDLESWORTH ROLLER

Report from Wayne McIntosh

Just myself and Ron Chappell ran at the Roddlesworth Roller today. An undulating 5.5 mile trail race around the picturesque roddlesworth reservoirs. Treated as more of a training run after a spell of reduced running through a virus. I’d set a modest target of getting round in approx 50 mins and came in slightly outside that finding it tough over the largely uphill first half of the race. Finished in 51:48 and 144th overall. A good little race which I would recommend to fellow harriers.

Wayne McIntosh at the Roddlesworth Roller.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
144	Wayne McIntosh	MS	(042/046)	00:51:48
206	Ron Chappell	M65	(006/009)	01:05:35

Full Results

SWEATSHOP 10 MILE

Five Harriers toed the start line of this 10 mile race on the lower and upper promenade at Bispham near Blackpool. Elizabeth Mullan was both our first Clayton finisher in 45th place overall and fourth lady in the race.

Elizabeth Mullan at the Sweatshop 10 Mile race. Photo by David Wood

Report From James Dunderdale

Good old Blackpool was the stage for the Sweatshop 10 miler and just as the seaside town lures us northern folk to its coastline with the promise of ‘cheap and cheerful’, this race followed suit and offered an absolute bargain of a run out for around a tenner. That’s right… at the same price as ten sticks of rock or two donkey rides! Runners lined up to take advantage of the low cost and Blackpool’s flat promenade and set their sights on a new potential PB.

James Dunderdale at the Sweatshop 10 Mile race. Photo by David Wood

The ten mile route was more or less two laps of both the upper and lower promenades following a well known Blackpool to Bispham and back route that is well known to be at the mercy of the elements. However, the weather on the day while not good enough to warrant ice creams and deck chairs did behave itself enough to allow a fair effort without battling too much wind or rain. As expected, there was excellent team spirit on the day before and after the race and it’s worth noting that all Clayton runners stayed on to cheer the last of the Harriers across the finish line. Whilst there were only the five of us there on the day, this showed real class – defo something that makes me proud to have joined the club this year. Bargain run – well organized – get on it next year!

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
45	Elizabeth Mullan	FS	(004/027)	01:10:46
50	Stephen Biscomb	M60	(004/012)	01:11:19
82	James Dunderdale	M35	(015/019)	01:15:48
85	Adam Stephenson	MS	(013/019)	01:16:08
151	Lucy Scott	FS	(011/027)	01:27:29

Full Results

SPEN 20

Five Clayton men took part in the Spen 20, a hilly two loop road run in rural and urban areas. Lee Smith was our first Clayton finisher in 8th place

Report from Dave Motley

Another weekend, another road race! God I’m looking forward to getting back to the fells!

This weekend saw me target the Spen 20, a hilly 20-mile course in Yorkshire to see how my marathon preparation was going. I travelled across with fellow marathon men Lee Smith, Jon Cleaver & Dan Plant and we met Dave Bagot on the start line. I’d completed the course 5 or 6 years ago and had a vague memory of hills and I wasn’t disappointed, if you’re not going up you’re coming down in this tough 20miler.

Me & Dave B set the early pace for the Clayton men and found ourselves well inside the top 10 after 5 or 6 miles running probably a little too quick, early 6 min miles, mile 9 and we hit a long descent and my watch flashed up 5:50, definitely too quick as me & Dave B got carried away. We later paid for the early pace as Smithy came breezing past us with 4 or 5 other runners and went onto smash the 2nd half of the race finishing in 7th (I think) in a time of 2:09.

I struggled mile 10-12 but then got my s**t together and managed to come back and pick up 12th (I think) in a time of 2:12, Dave Bagot ran strong and finished in 2:14, Jon Cleaver 2:18 and Dan Plant smashed his target for the day finishing in 2:24.

Looking back I finished with an average pace of 6:35 on a very hilly course which is way in front of marathon target time, this despite me setting off and running mile 9 like an idiot, what was I thinking 5:50. On the form of this bunch of marathon men then I think the marathon will be a piece of cake.

Report from Jon Cleaver

Spen 20: We had 5 Clayton runners at the event Dave Motley, Lee Smith, Dan Plant and myself preparing for the Marathon in a few weeks and Dave Bagot preparing for the 3 Peaks. The course was tough clocking over 1400ft of climbing. Scenery was great and the weather was perfect. Lee Smith came in first in 7^th place showing all us youngsters (relatively speaking!) up. Decent day out and I think we were all chuffed with our times. Now onwards to the Trimpell 20 next Sunday where I will be pushing the pace a bit harder!

Position	Name	Category	Time
8	Lee Smith	M	2.09.07
14	Dave Motley	M	2.12.15
17	David Bagot	M	2.13.38
26	Jonathan Cleaver	M	2.18.14
37	Daniel Plant	M	2.23.56

Full Results

WEST PENNINE MOORS TRAIL MARATHON

Report from Richard Stevenson

I was looking for a long race to primarily use as a long training run and was unsure whether to choose the West Pennine Trail marathon or Howarth Hobble in the end I went against the majority and headed over to Darwen as I was put off with the 31+ miles of the Hobble.

The marathon promised me – 26.2 challenging miles across the glorious West Pennines, taking in the Iconic Darwen Tower! The route would take me on a journey across the Darwen Moor towards Rivington, stopping short, the route would change direction and takes runners to Peel Tower and over Holcombe Moor before running back to Darwen.

The weather was perfect on the morning and from the start in Sunnyhurst Park we headed off up the steady climb to Darwen Tower, the route took us straight past the tower and off towards the moors, a few miles in I had found myself out in front and with the course being partially marked I was finding the navigation ok.

By the time I’d reached CP1 near Belmont Reservoir I’d been joined by 2 others mainly due to me doing the navigating and they just following. We’d stayed pretty much as a group on to CP2 and for a few more miles before we hit a problem, we’d lost any sign of the route and the way the map showed us all looked to be fenced off with DANGER: KEEP OUT signs and plenty of barbed wire, we followed a track to the left which brought us to a farm but it turned out to be the wrong farm and we were about a mile off course.

So after our 2 mile detour we’d got ourselves back on the course again and I’d managed to open up a gap on my 2 comrades as we headed up to Peel Tower and onto Holcombe Moor, I’d gone past 1 chap and could see 2 more in front of me but I didn’t know how many had gone past when we went off on our detour.

Heading over the moors and the lovely peat bogs towards Entwistle I’d managed to overtake the 2 in front and was informed at CP3 that I was back in the lead, from here it was a slow and steady climb back towards Darwen Tower but by now the weather had turned and the mist was down so you couldn’t see the Tower, which seemed to make the climb back up drag on forever. Once there though it was a quick 1 mile straight down into Sunnyhurst Park and through the finish taking first place.

So I’d managed to turn the marathon which had a longer course anyway into a 30 mile ultra, maybe I should have done the Howarth Hobble after all.

AWAITING OFFICIAL RESULTS

JACKALS RUN HALF MARATHON

The Jackals Run Trail Half Marathon is a very challenging 2000ft trail half marathon round Darwen Moors. With an uphill start out of Sunnyhurst Woods, it’s a very tight start and you can lose a few minutes getting stuck behind people walking up the hill. The first mile and half was mainly uphill road and trail followed by 2 miles of more uphill through mud.

Someone had taken the markers down at this point and although the RD had sent a route video out to everyone I was glad I’d done a recce with Julia as the front runners did go the wrong way. The next 2 miles was more up and down in more mud and included a very technical decent which I was petrified of! I was pleased I managed both attempts without any bone breakages. Finally arriving at the Tower there was a lovely trail path downhill for about a mile back to the start. Then round again for those on the half! First lady Angela was in my sights most of the way round the 1st lap. She absolutely smashed the 2nd lap and I only caught glimpse of her once.

Very happy with 2nd place though and an overall top 10 finish (8th I think). Marshals fab as always and the veggie soup at the end was lovely. LOVE the medal, definitely on my list for next year!

AWAITING OFFICIAL RESULTS

AND FINALLY…

A very happy 60th birthday to David Belshaw, a great friend and supporter to our club.

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Bolton parkrun – A total of 352 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
185	Yvonne WICKHAM	29:36	VW50-54	First Timer!

Bryn Bach parkrun – A total of 135 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
69	Judith CAREY	29:09	VW35-39	First Timer!

Burnley parkrun – A total of 453 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Jacob WATSON	17:38	SM30-34
6	Jonathan PYE	18:30	SM25-29
8	Nicholas HENNESSEY	18:38	JM15-17	New PB!
20	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	20:08	JM15-17
23	Gareth BERRY	20:21	VM40-44
27	Matthew JACKSON	20:54	JM11-14
28	Sean CLARE	20:55	VM50-54
33	Nick ROSCOE	21:12	VM45-49
36	Mick HUGHES	21:20	VM40-44	New PB!
38	Andy QUINN	21:27	VM45-49
39	David MOYNIHAN	21:28	VM50-54
45	Lennon JACKSON	21:47	JM11-14
49	Stephen AINSWORTH	21:52	VM60-64
55	Kevin DAVIES	22:08	VM55-59
58	Aaron LUNDIE	22:28	JM11-14
73	Michelle ABBOTT	22:59	VW35-39
88	Sophie ASHWORTH	23:41	JW11-14
91	David Ian SCOTT	23:50	VM70-74
95	Charlie BIRTWISTLE	23:58	JM11-14
96	Charlie BARNES	24:02	JM10	New PB!
106	Brian WILDMAN	24:29	VM50-54
117	Nina KEWIN	24:43	VW35-39
130	Bethany WHEATCROFT	25:16	JW11-14
133	Dawn TERRY	25:20	VW50-54
138	Annabel WILCOCK	25:29	JW15-17
139	John WILCOCK	25:30	VM50-54
148	Toby BIRTWISTLE	25:53	JM10
150	Richard LAWSON	26:01	VM75-79
154	Bryn BARNES	26:10	VM65-69
162	Julie DAWES	26:21	VW45-49
173	Kian ADAMS	26:52	JM10
178	Wayne MCINTOSH	27:03	SM30-34
201	Justin BIRTWISTLE	27:46	VM40-44
213	Deborah GREENWOOD	28:28	VW45-49
257	Robert HIRST	29:47	VM65-69
261	Ron CHAPPELL	30:08	VM65-69
263	Marion WILKINSON	30:12	VW75-79
268	Darcey HIRST	30:25	JW10
270	Lucy STEVENSON	30:30	JW15-17
313	Rachel STEVENSON	32:05	JW10
314	Richard STEVENSON	32:08	VM40-44

Burnley junior parkrun – a total of 58 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Aaron LUNDIE	8:04	JM11-14	New PB!
4	Heidi KEWIN	9:10	JW11-14
5	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:28	JW11-14
6	Kady THOMPSON	9:39	JW10
16	Darcey HIRST	10:56	JW10
23	Jessica MCBRIDE	11:48	JW10

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 198 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
49	Martin BRADY	25:37	VM55-59

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 193 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
56	Philip NAYLOR	25:11	VM35-39

Pendle parkrun – A total of 88 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	18:45	VM35-39	New PB!
14	Richard BRISCOE	22:54	VM35-39
25	Simon WILSHAW	24:29	JM15-17
58	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	32:20	VW65-69

Penrith Lakes parkrun – A total of 121 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
86	Robin PRICE	36:12	VM70-74	New PB!

Witton parkrun – A total of 87 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
43	Helen HARRISON	31:30	VW45-49	First Timer!
85	Julia RUSHTON	56:44	VW50-54

Woodhouse Moor parkrun – A total of 718 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
358	Beth QUINN	27:21	SW18-19

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Harriers are Marching In

There was a brief sniff of spring in the air for a few moments on Saturday as our members raced hard at the cross country fixture in Leigh and on Pendle Hill. Another successful cross country season has come to a close with superb turnouts from stalwarts and new members alike. We’ve also had some great performances on the roads and the fells, as well as course record setting on the High Peak Marathon.

SATURDAY 4 MARCH

HIGH PEAK MARATHON

The HPM is open to teams of four all of whom must have experience of strenuous winter expeditions in mountainous country. Teams must be self-sufficient with no supporter assistance.

Jean Brown took part in this event as part of a team with Nicky Spinks, Beth Pascall and Kirsty Hewitson. They finished in fourth place overall and were the first ladies team in a time of 09:32:15

Report from Jean Brown

The High Peak Marathon describes itself as ‘The over-night mountain marathon around the Derwent Watershed in the High Peak District’ – the marathon bit is not about the distance – the FRA website has it down as 67km / 41.6miles with 1645m / 5397ft of climbing, however the actual distance depends very much on how good your navigation is over featureless bog! The race is run overnight in teams of four set off at one minute intervals. It is very difficult to get into being limited to 40/50 teams with a strong element of those who have done it before having priority.

L-R Nicky Spinks, Jean Brown, Beth Pascal and Kirsty Hewitson

It was therefore quite something to be on the starting line at 23:41 on Friday evening with Nicky Spinks, Beth Pascall and Kirsty Hewitson – a very strong team…and me! Nicky has done the race lots of times and had reccied the challenging sections plenty of times, to add to all of the team reccys we had had – both for the aborted 2016 race and again for this year (a very heavy dump of snow at exactly the wrong time meant the race didn’t take place in 2016 – the roads were all closed!). As Nicky has done well in mixed teams in the past (this was her first time in a ladies team for the event) we were set off fourth from last, giving us lots of teams to chase down and then try to pass on sometimes narrow paths.

I can’t remember too much of the night – it was 9 hrs 32 minutes of following the person in front, usually Nicky who did a fantastic job of the navigation. The heavy rain had almost stopped by the time we started and the mist cleared after a few hours – the bogs were, however, on top form having been fed by the recent very heavy rain and melting snow! The latter section over Kinder was the worst for still having snow on the paths – just to make it a little harder work when you were really quite tired! I had some gut problems and was never going to be one of the strongest on the team, but it is a team event and they were all great. Our finishing time gave us a new ladies record and 4th overall – which made the huge effort well worthwhile!

For anyone thinking, how did that all come about? It is down to Katy Thompson; in 2015, seeing Nicky at a race, I mentioned to Katy that I would love to ask her if she would be my partner for the Old Counties Tops, a long pairs fell race in the Lakes that I had done with Simon Halliday and Martin Terry, and really enjoyed. Katy said something along the lines of ‘there is no harm in asking’ – after checking up on the date, Nicky agreed. The rest, they say, is history! Thanks Katy!

Full Results

MID LANCS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE – LEIGH

This was the final fixture for this year’s Mid Lancs Cross Country League and our final chance to push for places and medals. Our Under 11 boys completed their excellent season with a win and a Gold Medal for Dexta Thompson as well as for the Team. Our U15 girls have also had an excellent series and battled hard to earn an individual Silver medal for Briony Holt and a Gold for the team.

All of our juniors have put in some tremendous performances in some tough conditions with some great results to show for it.

U11 GIRLS

Team position – 10^th (H White | K Thompson | R Stevenson)

Pos	Name	Time
11	Helana White	6:21
65	Kady Thompson	7:50
69	Rachel Stevenson	8:12
71	Emily Nicholls	8:20
74	Ellisia Smedley	8:54

U11 BOYS

Team Position – 1^st (D Thompson | R Smedley | J Bentham)

Robbie Smedley at the Mid Lancs XC fixture at Leigh. Photo by David Wood

Pos	Name	Time
1	Dexta Thompson	5:23
2	Robbie Smedley	5:39
20	Jenson Bentham	6:13
26	Matthew Jackson	6:27
57	Joshua McKay	7:25

U13 GIRLS

Bronia Olszewska in the U13 Girls’ race. Photo by David Wood

Pos	Name	Time
55	Keira Stevenson	10:36
58	Bronia Olszewska	11:26

U13 BOYS

Team Position – 6^th (J McKay | L Jackson | W Nicholls)

William Nicholls in the U13 Boys Race. Photo by David Wood

Pos	Name	Time
4	Jackson McKay	10:33
27	Lennon Jackson	12:05
38	William Nicholls	12:41

U15 GIRLS

Team Position – 2^nd (B Holt | M Stubbs | N Olszewska)

Briony Holt in the U15 Girls’ race. Photo by David Wood

Pos	Name	Time
6	Briony Holt	11:23
12	Millie Stubbs	12:05
24	Natasha Olszewska	13:52

U15 BOYS

Team Position 7^th (N Hennessey | S Grewal | A Stevenson)

Stanley Grewal in the U15 Boys’ race. Photo by David Wood

Pos	Name	Time
13	Nick Hennessey	14:40
22	Stanley Grewal	15:30
28	Adam Stevenson	16:28

U17 MEN

Curtis Holt in the U17 Mens’ race. Photo by James Boults

Simon Wilshaw in the U17 Mens’ race. Photo by James Boult

Pos	Name	Time
11	Curtis Holt	21:26
15	Simon Wilshaw	23:04

SENIOR RACES

Another cross country season has drawn to a close with some great results for the club. Division 1 placings for both the men and the women’s teams.

Clayton Ladies in action at the Mid Lancs Cross Country fixture in Leigh. Photo by James Boult

Our vet ladies have achieved Bronze (third place) for both V35 and V45 and Silver (second place) for the V55 team with and individual silver medal for Irene Roche. Our men achieved Bronze for the A team, V40 and V50 teams.

SENIOR WOMEN

Report from Irene Roche

As another Mid Lancs season draws to an end I just want to say a huge thanks to all the ladies who took part in one or more of the races. We have had an excellent turnout throughout from lots of regulars who turn out each season and new faces too. It’s a pleasure to see newcomers to cross country giving it a go and enjoying the experience, mud and working hard to keep going both included.

But the best part of it, as I’ve heard our ladies say, is the laugh together before and after the race. Another important thing to mention is the sacrifices some of our ladies have made over the winter to attend the venues. This includes season tickets for Saturday football at Turf Moor Burnley. So with our dedication we’ve managed to win medals for the V35, V45 and V55 teams.

Elizabeth Mullan at the Mid Lancs Cross Country. Photo by James Boult

We also have one senior lady, Elizabeth Mullan, achieve 18th position overall for the over 18 ladies. So between us all we’ve been just brilliant! Many thanks ladies!

A Team 5^th (E Mullan | C Darling-Smedley | M Abbott)

B Team 16^th (I Roche | D Airey | J Bennett)

Over 35 Team 3^rd ( C Darling-Smedley | M Abbott | I Roche)

Over 45 Team 2^nd (I Roche | J Bennett | D Terry)

Over 55 Team 2^nd (I Roche | C Egerton | C Leathley)

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
28	Elizabeth Mullan	L	25:22
31	Cassie Darling-Smedley	L35	25:40
32	Michelle Abbott	L35	25:49
37	Irene Roche	L55	26:04
45	Donna Airey	L35	26:53
48	Joanne Bennett	L45	26:55
56	Angela Shian	L35	27:43
69	Dawn Terry	L45	28:43
74	Bianca Bennett	L	29:18
79	Janine Pollard	L45	29:51
98	Jane Hylands	L45	31:38
124	Christine Egerton	L65	35:28
133	Christine Leatheley	L65	39:33
135	Susan Allen	L55	42:07

SENIOR MEN

Our men have put in a consistent set of performances throughout the season to maintain their division 1 status and take Bronze for Senior Men, V40 and V50 teams.

Chris Holdsworth. Photo by Donna Airey

Report from Adam Stephenson

“It’s a nice easy one”, “More of a trail race” and “You’ll enjoy it” were a few of the quotes I heard regarding the XC at Leigh Sports Village. I’d never done XC before, not really a fan of getting my shoes dirty. I don’t even own a pair of spikes! With it being the last race of the season I thought I would give it a bash, see if I enjoy it and then prepare myself for next year’s events. Jason kindly organised me a number a couple of days before. I rolled up and met up with the rest of the team at the tent and there was whispers that the course was a lot wetter and muddier than anticipated, people searching their bags to see if they had their spikes in there. Great!

Adam Stephenson in his first cross country race at Leigh. Photo by Donna Airey

The ladies had their race and I had a little wander round and realised that this was going to be hard work! We got our race underway and I set off relatively confidently, until I got about a mile into the course and hit what I can only describe as a mud bath… my trail shoes offered me nothing in the way of grip and I found myself swinging from tree branches to stay upright! Long story short, reached the 10k finish line and my legs were absolutely shot, totally different to anything I’d done previously.

Mick Hughes and Andy Quinn at Mid Lancs Leigh 2017

Overall I was happy I gave it a go and clocked in at around the 50 minute mark which I was content with for my first try. I’ll definitely give it another go, will keep an eye out for some out of season bargains and hit the ground running (pardon the pun) when the new season comes about later in the year. Great turnout of Harriers and great support.

Over 40 Team 4^th (R Stevenson | A Holt | A Cran | J Wilcock)

Over 50 Team 3^rd (J Wilcock | J Roche | A Life)

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
2	Christopher Holdsworth	M	37:05
9	Danny Collinge	M	38:29
18	Jacob Watson	M	40:51
44	Richard Stevenson	V40	43:09
48	Matthew Duckworth	M	43:09
61	Andrew Holt	V40	44:26
79	Alex Cran	V40	46:00
95	James Boult	M	46:51
99	John Wilcock	V50	47:10
105	John Roche	V50	47:32
121	Andy Quinn	V40	48:28
123	Mick Hughes	V40	48:29
130	David Moynihan	V40	49:07
137	Alan Life	V50	49:52
147	Craig Nicholls	V40	50:40
152	Adam Stephenson	M	50:48
163	James Hickie	V50	51:54
168	Jason Pier	V40	52:49
181	David Scott	V70	56:30

Full Results

MID LANCS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE – SERIES RESULTS IN FULL

Divisions | Individual Results

STAN BRADSHAW PENDLE ROUND

After what seems like weeks of rain and generally bad weather, the sun made a rare appearance for this year’s Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round which drew 241 runners to the start line including an impressive 32 club runners even with the final Mid Lancs cross country fixture on the same day.

The race was won by Rob Hope of Pudsey and Bramley AC in a time of 01:07:15. Matt Perry was the first Clayton man in 8^th place overall. Andrew Laycock, Peter Coates, David Bagot and Tim Edward all grabbed top twenty finishes. Alison Dugdale was our first Clayton Lady in 159^th place overall and Katy Thompson was 1^st F60.

Report from Sarah Helliwell

The sun was out and shining brightly as runners signed on and milled around Barley. There was a good atmosphere as Colin gave us his ‘words of wisdom’ before we set off. I was unsure what time I would do as it was my first time doing the Stan Bradshaw, however I wanted to get as close to 2 hours as possible so I knew I had to do a good pace along the road – flat road running I do not like!

Sarah Helliwell, Jo Perry and Kath Brady at the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round. Photo by David Belshaw

As we turned to go up Buttock there was a long line of runners disappearing into the distance. I could see Linda and Katy as they picked their way through runners and I tried to keep them in sight. Once past the trig I gave a “hello” to Richard at CP1 before making the boggy, muddy, wet and leg sapping journey past Scout Cain towards the Nick and eventually Churn Clough Reservoir with Kath and Jo on my shoulder. There was a shout out of “come on ladies” from the marshals and Team Motley at CP3 before we headed back round Churn Clough and over to Stainscombe and Stan’s Hut. It was here that I started to feel good and took my first look at my watch and thought right under 2 hours I come!

I started to pass runners up Lower Dale and down to Upper Ogden before the last climb up Buttock for the second time where I saw Teresa in front of me at the top of the hill. As I made my way back to Barley over the boggy, wet fields I could feel my calves cramping as I pulled them up out of the sticky mud. I was glad to see the last decent to the finish and was “well chuffed” with my time of 1hr 57mins. Comfortably under 2 hours in my book! A number of us waited at the finish to shout the other runners home before we cleaned ourselves in the stream. There were a number of good runs from male and female Clayton runners on a pleasant spring day on Pendle. Well done to all 32 Clayton runners who ran, and a special well done to Jo Perry and Teresa De Curtis who both had never done a 10 mile fell race before. Fantastic stuff ladies and all 8 ladies who ran!

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
8	Matt Perry	MS	(007/049)	01:14:00
11	Andrew Laycock	MS	(010/049)	01:15:51
13	Peter Coates	M40	(002/061)	01:17:56
16	David Bagot	MS	(013/049)	01:19:04
17	Tim Edward	M50	(002/057)	01:19:06
21	Carl Helliwell	M40	(005/061)	01:20:14
25	David Edmondson	M40	(008/061)	01:21:18
27	Paul Hesketh	M50	(003/057)	01:22:02
32	Chris Snell	MS	(017/049)	01:23:12
41	Ryan Wilkinson	MS	(020/049)	01:24:29
58	Dominic Carr	M40	(020/061)	01:28:11
66	Chris Funnell	M50	(013/057)	01:29:33
75	Jack Holt	M60	(004/018)	01:31:15
76	Ivan Whigham	M50	(015/057)	01:31:18
135	Sean Clare	M50	(026/057)	01:40:45
142	Peter Browning	M50	(028/057)	01:41:34
159	Alison Dugdale	F40	(009/023)	01:45:13
160	Geoff Smith	M40	(051/061)	01:45:26
175	Rick Moore	M50	(040/057)	01:47:36
177	Dave Naylor	M60	(012/018)	01:47:47
179	Pater Dugdale	M60	(014/018)	01:48:46
180	Martin Brady	M50	(042/057)	01:48:52
186	Richard Briscoe	MS	(045/049)	01:50:34
188	Simon Stansfield	M40	(057/061)	01:50:54
195	Katy Thompson	F60	(001/003)	01:53:31
196	Andy Firth	M50	(048/057)	01:53:45
202	Linda Lord	F60	(002/003)	01:54:31
204	Teresa De Curtis	F40	(012/023)	01:55:33
212	Sarah Helliwell	FS	(013/017)	01:57:14
219	Kath Brady	F50	(004/007)	01:59:10
224	Joanne Perry	FS	(016/017)	02:02:29
237	Adrienne Olszewska	F40	(021/023)	02:19:35

Full Results

SUNDAY 5 MARCH

CAUTLEY FELL RACE

Katy Thompson was our sole runner in the latest race of the Kendal Winter League Series. Cautley is a 4 mile race with 2175ft of ascent organised by Helm Hill Runners. The race starts with a brisk canter along a trail, across the river, then a big climb up Gr Dummacks. The descent is long and spectacular when not in thick mist.

Katy Thompson at the Cautley Fell race. Photo by Estelle Willis

Katy finished 109th and 1st LV60. Her second category win of the weekend having taking 1st LV60 in the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round the day before!

Christopher Brown ran in the U13 race, finishing in 8th place with a time of 10:12 in a field of 76 runners.

Full Results

HAWESWATER HALF MARATHON

Kevin Davies and Alun Hall took part in this out and back course from Brampton Village that passes along the shores of Haweswater in a remote and dramatic mountain valley.

Kevin Davies finished first in 42^nd place with a time of 01:28:34 and 1^st M55. Alun Hall was 153^rd in 01:43:59. A total of 458 runners took part

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
42	Kevin Davies	M55	(001/035)	01:28:34
153	Alun Hall	M55	(012/035)	01:43:59

Full Results

RED HOT TODDY 10K

Tracy Mitchell and Robert Hirst took part in this hilly course that climbs from Centre Vale Park in Todmorden to Sourhall before heading back down Bacup Road and Todmorden town centre before finishing back in the park.

Tracy was our first Clayton finisher in 44^th place overall as well as 2^nd Lady and 1^st F40. Robert Hirst was 112^th overall .

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
44	Tracy Mitchell	F40	48:47
112	Robert Hirst	M65	63:31

Full Results

RON HILL 10K

24 Club members took to the streets of Accrington for the Ron Hill 10K race. Danny Collinge was 3rd overall with a time of 34:54. Amanda Duffy was our first lady in 84th and 46:35

Danny Collinge at the Ron Hill 10K Race. Photo by Sean Hansford

Pos	Bib	Name	Cat	Time
3	40	Danny Collinge	M U23	34:54.0
25	41	Jordan McDonald	MU23	40:51.0
42	512	Gareth Berry	M40	43:19.0
60	88	Reece Lawrence	MJ U18	44:44.0
72	295	David Moynihan	M50	45:47.0
73	483	Robert Morrison	M40	45:50.0
74	375	James Dunderdale	M35	45:52.0
84	60	Amanda Duffy	F35	46:35.0
86	57	Christopher Lawrence	M50	46:57.0
87	373	Helen O’Rourke	F	46:58.0
90	100	Claire Vincent	F	47:10.0
111	329	Andrew Webster	M45	48:20.0
121	192	Michelle Abbott	F35	49:13.0
167	222	Lisa Ellis	F	52:08.0
168	525	Jane Ryan	F35	52:08.0
170	376	Lucy Scott	F	52:13.0
176	184	Bianca Bennett	F	52:32.0
248	392	Danny Pilkington	M40	55:59.0
260	188	Stuart Barker	M50	56:39.0
261	508	Mark Knowles	M40	56:42.0
276	120	Jane Hylands	F45	57:36.0
309	361	Justin Birtwistle	M40	59:16.0
340	125	Karen Clarkin	F40	1:01:45.0
388	454	Ron Chappell	M65	1:05:53.0
401	172	Anita Jones	F60	1:07:09.0

Full Results

RON HILL 1 MILE RACE

10 junior runners and Jack McGuire ran in the 1 mile race. Lennon Jackson was our first finisher followed a few seconds later by his brother Matthew. Helana White was our first girl in 9th overall and 2nd Girl . Some great running on show for our very youngest runners as well so well done to all that ran!

Clayton Juniors at the Ron Hill 1 mile race. Photo by Sean Hansford

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
5	Lennon Jackson	MJ U14	06:10.0
6	Matthew Jackson	MJ U12	06:18.0
9	Helana White	FJ U12	06:29.0
10	Luke Guest	MJ U14	06:41.0
11	Charlie Britwistle	MJ U12	06:48.0
14	Alfie White	MJ U16	07:03.0
15	Thomas Hopkinson	MJ U10	07:14.0
17	Jake Anforth	MJ U10	07:21.0
18	Toby Britwistle	MJ U10	07:22.0
34	McGuire Jack	M60	08:59.0
40	Freya Britwistle	FJ U10	09:24.0
45	Emily Johnson	FJ U10	09:46.0

Full Results

TRAFFORD 10K

Three club members took part in this fast and flat 10K road race in the South Manchester area. There were just over 800 runners taking part. Lee Smith was our first finisher in 223rd place and with a time of 35:46. Laura Hesketh was our sole lady runner and she finished in 270th with a time of 37:14 Dave Motley completed the trio in 281st place and 37:32.

Report from Dave Motley

2017 sees me return to the Marathon after my last attempt to run sub 3hr failed after my 2:59 was chalked off due to the organisers measuring the course short. In preparation for the marathon I made the decision early on to do a little more tarmac pounding and targeted Trafford 10k. I’d managed to rope fellow marathon man Lee Smith into the race. We set off from Burnley at 7:45am in glorious sunshine and the sunshine quickly disappeared as we hit the outskirts of Manchester and by 9:30am, race start we were getting drenched.

Dave Motley at the Trafford 10K. Photo by Michelle Searby

Another reason for targeting this race was the appeal of the course and calibre of the other runners, this was a PB course and the course didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately the start gets a little congested and it takes a few hundred metres to properly get into your stride, however it was great (in a strange way) to see 300+ runners already stretching out into the distance after only ½ mile. I felt to be going strong and was comfortable running 6min miles, but I just couldn’t get my body to respond to the 5:50’s I needed for a PB and I couldn’t get my body to surge the 30/40 metres I needed to get onto the group containing Laura Hesketh. I finished the race in 37:30 (ish) soaked to the bone about 20 seconds behind Laura and 2 minutes behind Mr Smith in his first proper 10k (he doesn’t get out much).

Although a little disappointed with not achieving a PB I’m still going to take the positives from this race, such as how comfortable I felt running at 6min miles. Next up is a hilly Spen 20 at the weekend with fellow marathon men Smithy, Cleaver & Plant, 4 weeks to go until the marathon.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
223	Lee Smith	M	35:46
270	Laura Hesketh	F	37:14
281	Dave Motley	M	37:32

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 265 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
5	Jonathan PYE	19:22	SM25-29
9	Terry O’LEARY	19:55	VM35-39
10	Michael HOGAN	19:57	VM45-49	New PB!
11	Daniel PLANT	19:58	VM35-39
12	Gareth BERRY	20:32	VM40-44
22	Nick ROSCOE	21:54	VM45-49
39	Sophie ASHWORTH	22:55	JW11-14
40	Chris LAWRENCE	22:56	VM50-54
49	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	23:36	JM15-17
50	Michelle ABBOTT	23:40	VW35-39
70	Nina KEWIN	24:59	VW35-39
72	Lisa JOHNSON	25:02	VW40-44
82	Bethany WHEATCROFT	25:28	JW11-14
84	John WILCOCK	25:33	VM50-54
85	Annabel WILCOCK	25:37	JW15-17
87	Donna SCOTT	25:38	VW50-54
105	Heidi KEWIN	26:27	JW11-14
163	Ron CHAPPELL	29:20	VM65-69
167	Robert HIRST	29:30	VM65-69
181	Helen HARRISON	29:51	VW45-49
198	Alan DORRINGTON	30:34	VM45-49
220	Erin HESKETH	33:04	JW10	First Timer!
252	Julie DAWES	37:18	VW45-49

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 62 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Robbie SMEDLEY	7:50	JM11-14
3	Adam STEVENSON	8:06	JM11-14
4	Aaron LUNDIE	8:19	JM11-14
6	Nathan KEWIN	8:50	JM11-14
10	Heidi KEWIN	9:32	JW11-14
12	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:52	JW11-14
14	Imogen FERGUSON	10:35	JW11-14
15	Charlie PLANT	10:43	JW10
16	Darcey HIRST	10:58	JW10
31	Jessica MCBRIDE	12:04	JW10
58	Olly PLANT	14:59	JM10

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 175 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
45	Philip NAYLOR	24:54	VM35-39	New PB!

Nepean River parkrun – A total of 180 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
125	Robin PRICE	34:13	VM70-74	First Timer!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 88 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	18:52	VM35-39	New PB!
19	Barry MITCHELL	25:25	VM70-74
23	Martin BRADY	26:26	VM55-59

Skipton parkrun – A total of 185 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
107	Yvonne WICKHAM	29:00	VW50-54

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Muddy miles, pacy parks and fast fells

A real mixed bag this week as our members have been racing all over the place; at the National Cross Country Championships in Nottingham, on the fells of Yorkshire and Cumbria, the parks of Lancashire and Cheshire with some tricky trail running thrown in as well.

SATURDAY 25 FEBRUARY

BLACKPOOL STANLEY PARK 10K

Three Clayton men took part in the first of two 10 races organised by Fylde Coast Running in Stanley Park, Blackpool. Terry O’Leary was the first finisher in 26^th place overall and with a time of 41:06. Stephen Biscomb was 36^th overall and 2^nd V60 in 42:45 and Craig Nicholls was 71^st in 46:21. There were 312 runners.

Pos	Name	Category	Time
26	Terry O’Leary	M	41:06.5
36	Stephen Biscomb	MV60	42:45.0
71	Craig Nicholls	MV40	46:21.4

Full Results

MIDGLEY MOOR FELL RACE

Two club members took part in this challenging, moorland fell race. Ryan Wilkinson was our first finisher in 11^th place overall and Katy Thompson was 55^th.

Ryan Wilkinson at the Midgley Moor Fell Race. Photo by Woodentops

Katy Thompson at the Midgley Moor Fell Race. Photo by Woodentops

Pos	Name	Category	Time
11	Ryan Wilkinson	M	49:20
55	Katy Thompson	W60	1:09:56

Full Results

SAUCONY NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Report from Pete Browning

The Big Weekender Away Day Racing Trip

Anyone who runs any cross country at all, must do the National at least once in their life. Not only is it the biggest and best XC event there is, it also gives a true picture of your ability. If you are used to a top 50 place in the Mid Lancs, prepare yourself for a massive wake up call. The standard is so high and the pace of the leading runners is so quick; small fish and big ponds come to mind! The 2017 race was held at Nottingham, not too far away really, so disappointing that only Danny Collinge and myself were on the start line for the Senior men’s race.

Pete Browning at the National Cross Country Championship

As I warmed up the under 13 boys race was taking place, and it was fantastic to see four Clayton youngsters competing so well, and Jackson, Robbie, Dexta and Lennon all got stuck in. The Senior ladies only had two Clayton runners also, Sue Allen and Christine Leathley flying the flag for us. The start of the Senior men’s race is something to behold with around 2000 runners charging uphill to the first corner, and after a quick thumbs up to Danny, off we went. The course and venue were really good with a challenging route and numerous mud baths available for the unwary. Just look at the photos of Danny on the internet to see how hard he was trying to get 468th position. For me, a lot slower and 1626th place, but still a lot behind me, and a really enjoyable day and a great sporting atmosphere.

Danny Collinge at the National Cross Country Championship

After all that effort, a stop over in the East Midlands was in order for Sandi and me, so that’s what we did. Sunday morning saw us back on the road heading for home, via Dewsbury to do the Hoppits Hill Race, an old fashioned local fell race organised by long distance queen Nicki Spinks with a minimum of fuss. A lovely 5k course awaited us, well flagged throughout, with me the only Clayton runner in the senior race. Two good climbs and some testing muddy fields gave us plenty to go at, and a finish position of 58th. The biggest contrast between the two races : 2885 entries for the National, 94 for Hoppits Hill.

U13 BOYS

A full team of U13 boys took the trip down to Nottingham to test their mettle against the best in the country. Some great running from our boys was on show on an extremely muddy and tough course with a much bigger field than they are used to.

Jackson McKay at the National Cross Country Championships

Jackson McKay was our first boy with a top 100 position; a really great performance from Jackson. Robbie Smedley managed to inch past Dexta Thompson to make second team counter after snapping at his heels all season – there’s sure to be an extra element of competition at the last Mid Lancs fixture in Leigh!

Robbie Smedley and Dexta Thompson at the National Cross Country Championships

And Lennon Jackson completed the team.

Lennon Jackson at the National Cross Country Championships

An excellent 24^th out of 48 complete teams.

Pos	Name	Time
69	Jackson McKay	0:13:27
150	Robbie Smedley	0:13:59
152	Dexta Thompson	0:14:00
354	Lennon Jackson	0:15:21

Senior Races

Four senior runners joined the junior boys. Cross country stalwarts Sue Allen and Christine Leathley represented our ladies. Danny Collinge and Pete Browning represented the men.

Women’s Race

Sue Allen was our first lady in 777th place and Christine Leathley was 783rd.

Sue Allen at the National Cross Country Championships

Christine Leathley at the National Cross Country ChampionshipsFull Res

Pos	Name	Time
777	Sue Allen	1:02:29
783	Christine Leathley	1:06:01

Men’s Race

Danny Collinge was our first Clayton man in 468^th and 48:40. Unfortunately, there appears to be an error on the results sheet and no positions are given for a number of athletes including Pete Browning who finished in 1:08:25.

Pos	Name	Time
468	Danny Collinge	0:48:40
1626	Pete Browning	1:08:25

Full Results

SUNDAY 26 FEBRUARY

BADGER BAR BLAST

James Williamson and Andrew Firth made the trip to the Lake District to take part in this 7.5 mile fell race with 2221ft of ascent

Report from James Williamson

Hosted by Ambleside AC, the Badger Bar Blast is a cracking little out & back lung buster, taking in the summits of Loughrigg Fell & Silver How. After a slow start to the year due to injury, it felt great to be finally donning the famous orange & white vest for the 1^st time since my move from Trawden.

Conditions were typical of the Lake District for this time of the year – cold, windy and very wet! This didn’t dampen the spirits of the 110 hardy runners and the numerous marshals and spectators who lined the route. The race started at 12.00 prompt and I set off around mid-pack with a view of just going with the flow given the rustiness, having not raced since the Tour of Pendle in November. Early doors I felt good so decided to push on a bit & found myself amongst a good group of 5 or 6 as we summited Loughrigg. A fast & slippy descent off the fell was a great relief to the quads for a short time before crossing the road & on to the ascent of Silver How. The trod leading towards the rocky outcrop of Silver How was saturated and it became a game of Russian roulette with foot placement!

The summit of Silver How was a welcome site as I was confident of gaining ground on those ahead with the fast descent back to the road crossing. The longer the race went on the better I felt, and I tagged on to a couple of Keswick vests, working well together to push up the final sting in the tail on the return to Loughrigg. A quick touch of the summit cairn & then it was pure joy as I let the legs loose on the rocky descent back to Rydal Water, thankfully taking a couple of places on the way. A final push over the finish line left me in 22^nd place in 1hr 11mins – a nice 8 minute improvement on the last outing on this race route in 2015.

A well organised, cheap & cheerful early season Lakeland lung buster was just what I needed to get the racing mojo back. Always helps when they chuck in soup, bread & cake at the finish. It’s time to knuckle down now & focus on the new fell season, one in which I’m Looking forward to being part of with Clayton.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
22	James Williamson	M	1:11
91	Andrew Firth	MV50	1:41

Full Results

BLACKPOOL STANLEY PARK 10K

Five Clayton Harriers took part in the second 10K of the weekend at Stanley Park in Blackpool. Jacob Watson had a great run and finished in 2^nd place with a time of 35:08. Mick Hughes continues to race well and was 29^th with a time of 42:02.

Mick Hughes at the Blackpool Stanley Park 10K. Photo by Mick Hall

Our first Clayton lady was Elizabeth Mullan who was 29^th overall in the race and 5^th lady. Adam Stephenson was 48^th with a time of 44:22.2 and our cohort was complete by Joanne Perry who was 145^th with a time of 52:55. There were 353 runners in total.

Adam Stephenson Reports

It was a gusty afternoon at the Stanley Park 10K but chuffed to have broken the 45 minute mark and got a PB; chip time was 44:22. Don’t know what I can do to run any faster so some hard work ahead! Well done Jacob who finished in 2^nd, Mick who ran an absolute stormer, and proud of Elizabeth as always.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
2	Jacob Watson	M	35:08.1
29	Mick Hughes	MV40	42:02.0
38	Elizabeth Mullan	L	43:22.8
48	Adam Stephenson	M	44:22.2
145	Joanne Perry	L	52:55.9

Full Results

HOPPITS HILL FELL RACE

Jenson Bentham and Ella Dorrington ran in the Blue (U13s) and Green (U15s) races respectively. Both of them took the win. Jenson won his race outright and Ella was 2^nd overall and 1^st girl in her race. They were presented with their prizes by Nicky Spinks.

Jenson Bentham and Ella Dorrington at the Hoppit Hill Races

Enjoying a weekend of racing, Pete Browning was our sole runner in the senior race having taken part in the National XC Championship the day before. He finished in 58^th place in a field of 94 runners.

Report from Alan Dorrington

Now in its 5^th year, this lovely little race held in memory of David Bell is organised by amongst others, Nicky Spinks. Perhaps given her input, the various courses for Juniors and Senior 5km race make up what they lack in distance with some good climbing in an area near Dewsbury known for its rolling hills rather than outright fells.

Jenson Bentham and Ella Dorrington travelled over on the M62 to compete in the 2.3km U13 and 3.2km U15 races respectively (note the new FRA age categories). Jenson was the winner of the U13 race with a solid climb followed by some super-quick descending and Ella used her climbing ability to take a clear lead before the 2^nd big climb on her course, taking first U15G and 2^nd overall in the U15 race. Medals and chocolate prizes presented by fell running royalty in the form of Nicky Spinks made for a memorable day out for both of them.

Full Results

ILKLEY MOOR FELL RACE

Three Clayton men were spotted in the provisional results for the AS category Ilkley Moor Fell Race. The race is a 5 mile race with 1316ft of ascent. Sadly, times are missing from some of the provisional results.

Chris Snell at the Ilkley Moor Fell Race. Photo by Woodentops

Report from Colin Woolford

The Ilkley Fell Race is a firm favourite of mine, which is odd as its short and fast thus appealing to all my weaknesses as a runner!

That said I’d describe it as a good first fell race, it’s at a testing time of year, and the weather usually plays its part: I’ve run this in horizontal sleet/snow before, but the course is marked and well marshalled. The route is everything a fell race should have in my opinion, tough terrain – rocky, muddy etc, steep climbs, runnable descents and good views. Ilkley has all that in squeezed into 5 miles that feels much longer! It has some punishing climbs that really sap your energy – but are over quickly, it has some testing terrain – both mud and rocky/technical stretches, but again they don’t last so long and all these parts are linked by a network of trods and paths, which give the race its speed. The mud made for some slippery descents and I nearly went over a couple of times and saw plenty that did!

I clocked three other orange hoops altogether on the start line, Snell, Hirst and Briscoe and two Clayton spectators – thank you your support was very much appreciated!

Not seen any results as I write this, but according to my Garmin I was faster than last year.

AWAITING RESULTS

OULTON PARK 10 K

Report from Amanda Duffy

It was one of those days where I felt like staying in bed! I had already pre entered for the Asics Oulton Park 10k so off we went! The conditions were very windy which made the race feel a lot tougher than last year. The course itself is on a race track which is undulating so not a PB course but great to run on. I finished 7th female and won the v35 category so it was worth getting up for!

Amanda Duffy in the 10K race at Oulton Park

OULTON PARK HALF MARATHON

Report from Jon Cleaver

There was a 10km and Half Marathon at the Oulton Park race track in Cheshire. I opted for the half as part of my London Marathon training preparation. The race was 6 laps round the track with quite a substantial head wind working against you for half the way. The first few laps flew past, but going round the same route over and over got a bit tiresome towards the end. It was really undulating, windy and over measured, so I was reasonably happy with just a shade over 01:27 & 33rd place for my first HM of the year.

Jon Cleaver at the finish line of the Oulton Park Half Marathon

SEDBURGH SCHOOL FELL RACE

Katy Thompson was our sole runner in the Sedburgh School fell race, the latest race in the Kendal Winter League series.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
88	KatyThompson	L60	46:28

Full Results

STOCKPORT TRAIL HALF MARATHON

Three Clayton Ladies took on the muddier than expected Stockport Trail Half Marathon. Donna Airey was our first lady in 112th place, Lisa Ellis was 250th and Jane Hylands was 317th.

L-R Donna Airey, Jane Hylands, Lisa Ellis

Report from Donna Airey

Lisa and Jane having already signed up and me wanting to get more off road made the Stockport trail half marathon ideal for a longer distance training run. A bit of research showed more hard paths and canal than “trail”. Slightly disappointed, we turned up in road shoes just like the majority of other runners. How wrong we were! It seems storm Doris had other ideas. Recent weather made it a very wet and very muddy run. A poor guy who ran alongside me kept having to keep me upright until he eventually got fed up and pushed on. A well organised race with lots of goodies at the finish. Route was out along the Middlewood way and back along canal. Not the most thrilling route so personally I was glad to have the mud there to make it a more interesting race. Overall it was a good day made even more so by Lisa getting a PB on that course.

Report From Lisa Ellis

Donna Airey, Jane Hylands and I did the Stockport trail HM today. It was a promising start as it wasn’t raining so we all decided to wear road shoes rather than trail as we thought we were running on dry paths, but instead were met with the muddiest paths ever even on the canal.

However we did our best and I even found myself getting a new PB. Donna did amazing and came in 13^th female and 6^th in her category, Jane 15^th in her category and myself 29^th in my category. Altogether 413 runners took part with 409 finishing.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
112	Donna Airey	F	01:44:24
250	Lisa Ellis	F	01:59:09
317	Jane Hylands	F45	02:09:50

Full ResultsF

TERRY NORTLEY 10 MILE TRAIL RACE

Jeffrey Pickup was our sole runner in this challenging 10 mile race on the trails, roads and paths of Ringley. He was 74^th overall and 1^st V65 in a field of 244 runners.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Time
74	Jeffrey Pickup	M65	(001/004)	1:18:47

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 322 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Laura HESKETH	18:20	SW30-34
5	Nicholas HENNESSEY	18:56	JM15-17
6	Jonathan PYE	19:15	SM25-29
8	Dave MOTLEY	19:37	VM35-39
10	Kevin DAVIES	19:41	VM55-59
13	Alex CRAN	19:57	VM45-49
14	Simon WILSHAW	20:01	JM15-17
15	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	20:06	JM15-17
17	Michael HOGAN	20:33	VM45-49
28	James BOULT	21:16	SM20-24
32	David MOYNIHAN	21:53	VM50-54
36	Matthew JACKSON	22:05	JM11-14
47	James HICKIE	22:37	VM55-59	New PB!
53	Chris LAWRENCE	22:52	VM50-54
58	Aaron LUNDIE	22:59	JM11-14
59	Stephen AINSWORTH	23:05	VM60-64
63	Martin BRADY	23:14	VM55-59
69	Michelle ABBOTT	23:33	VW35-39
85	Nina KEWIN	24:10	VW35-39
100	Jean KNIGHTLEY	25:08	VW55-59
110	Carl CAREY	25:22	VM45-49
121	Heidi KEWIN	25:56	JW11-14
122	Sarah ANGELONE	25:58	SW30-34
131	Annabel WILCOCK	26:38	JW15-17
132	John WILCOCK	26:38	VM50-54
148	Richard LAWSON	27:23	VM75-79
203	Nick ROSCOE	29:47	VM45-49
204	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	29:48	VW65-69
211	Judith CAREY	30:06	VW35-39
222	Ron CHAPPELL	30:30	VM65-69
226	Robert HIRST	30:34	VM65-69
235	Marion WILKINSON	31:10	VW75-79
256	Darcey HIRST	31:53	JW10
288	Wayne MCINTOSH	35:03	SM30-34
321	Julie DAWES	43:00	VW45-49

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 83 runners took part.

Our junior runners were out in force to support Burnley junior parkrun and showcase their running talent at the same time. 20 junior runners took part with the top ten dominated by our runners. Jackson McKay, fresh from a great run at the National Cross Country Championships in Nottingham the day before, came in first and Robbie Smedley who also had an outstanding run at Nottingham grabbed a PB and 2^nd place. There were also new PBs for Alfie White, Charlie Plant and Darcey Hurst together with debuts from Adam Stevenson, Charlie Barnes, Keira Stevenson and Rachel Stevenson.

Clayton Juniors out in force with coach Marion Wilkinson

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Jackson MCKAY	7:22	JM11-14
2	Robbie SMEDLEY	7:35	JM11-14	New PB!
4	Adam STEVENSON	7:58	JM11-14	First Timer!
6	Matthew JACKSON	8:05	JM11-14
8	Helana WHITE	8:18	JW10
9	Aaron LUNDIE	8:22	JM11-14
14	Alfie WHITE	9:11	JM11-14	New PB!
15	Heidi KEWIN	9:19	JW11-14
16	Charlie BARNES	9:26	JM10	First Timer!
18	Joshua MCKAY	9:39	JM10
19	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:45	JW11-14
20	Keira STEVENSON	9:46	JW11-14	First Timer!
21	Imogen FERGUSON	9:54	JW11-14
22	Rachel STEVENSON	10:06	JW10	First Timer!
23	Charlie PLANT	10:09	JW10	New PB!
29	Darcey HIRST	10:51	JW10	New PB!
56	Ellisia SMEDLEY	13:00	JW10
58	Emily JOHNSON	13:12	JW10
60	Olly PLANT	13:22	JM10
75	Jessica MCBRIDE	14:39	JW10

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 173 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
54	Philip NAYLOR	25:35	VM35-39	New PB!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 88 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	19:11	VM35-39
10	Susan BURNS	23:26	VW55-59
23	John HARTLEY	25:04	VM60-64
26	Barry MITCHELL	25:56	VM70-74
35	Dawn TERRY	27:08	VW50-54
62	Yvonne WICKHAM	31:34	VW50-54

Peter Pan parkrun – A total of 165 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
77	Eileen JONES	29:25	VW60-64	First Timer!

Skipton parkrun – A total of 170 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
35	Roger James BREWSTER	23:42	VM60-64

Witton parkrun – A total of 97 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat
20	Nerina GILL	25:52	VW45-49
24	Julia RUSHTON	26:13	VW50-54

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Fells, trails and promenades

Better weather this week as our members headed out onto the fells, trails and promenades to race. A trio of runners braved the dark for a night fell race and our ladies won a team prize at Bleasdale. The first race in the club trail championship was also popular. Conditions were much kinder this year for the half marathoners and there were PBs aplenty. There’s also been success in the junior Flower scar fell races, school cross country and a fabulous day on the beautiful trails around Silverdale.

Sunday 5 February – Late result

Grace Root represented her school in the Keighley and Craven Cross Country League (Race 3) on February 15th. She ran in a mixed field of year 7 and 8’s and came 20th out of 37 runners. Well done Grace!

Grace Root in the pink socks representing her school in the Keighley and Craven Cross Country Champs.

FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY

MR SPARKLE’S DARK ‘UN

This is a night time fell race organised by Darwen Dashers using head torches where runners can expect a couple of stiff climbs, open moorland, mud and a dash down to the finish. Three Clayton Harriers took part. Alan Dorrington was our first finisher in 18^th place overall and Katy Thompson was our first lady in 40^th place and 1^st F60. Geoff Smith was 68^th.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
18	Alan Dorrington	M40	00:39:49
40	Katy Thompson	F60	00:52:40
68	Geoff Smith	M40	01:51:40

Full Results

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY

BLEASDALE CIRCLE FELL RACE

Fifteen Clayton Harriers part in the Bleasdale Circle Fell Race; a 5 mile race with 1250ft of climbing. Peter Coates was our first finisher in 7th place overall. Kieran Carr was 1st V70.

Pete Browning with Mark Taylor following at the Bleasdale Circle Fell Race. Photo by Stephen Firth

Linda Lord was our first lady and together with Sarah Helliwell and Karin Goss came away with ladies team 1st place. The men’s team was 3rd.

Sarah Helliwell having fun at the Bleasdale Circle fell race. Photo by Stephen Fish

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
7	Peter Coates	MV40	0:40:56
22	Andrew Priory	MV45	0:44:54
24	Dominic Carr	MV40	0:45:36
25	Ralph Baines	MV45	0:45:47
46	Mark Nutter	MV55	0:49:51
48	Ivan Whigham	MV55	0:50:50
49	Kieran Carr	MV70	0:50:58
59	Mark Taylor	M	0:53:12
66	Peter Browning	MV55	0:54:44
69	Richard Moore	MV50	0:55:30
72	Simon Stansfield	MV40	0:56:08
76	Peter Dugdale	MV60	0:58:00
81	Linda Lord	FV65	0:59:42
89	Sarah Helliwell	F	1:05:38
92	Karin Goss	FV65	1:14:37

Full Results

FLOWER SCAR FELL RACE

Described by organisers, Todmorden Harriers, as a gem of a race with steep climbs, rough moor and fast paths, typifying all that’s best about South Pennine fell running. The race starts close to Todmorden town centre and takes take runners to the parts of Tod that other races don’t reach.

Three Clayton men took part in the race. Andy Laycock was our first finisher in 14th place. Dave Edmonson followed in 22nd place with Richard Stevenson snapping at his heels in 23rd in a field of 176 runners.

Andrew Laycock at the Flower Scar fell race. Photo by Woodentops

Report from Dave Edmondson

Although I’d originally planned to do Windy Hill, a niggle had kept me away and I’d figured the fast running there would test those problems too much. So I skipped to Flower Scar which, I now think, has even faster running. In fact, it’s got a bit of everything. Nice paths, rough tussocks, trail and fire roads as well as a dose of thick mud.

Dave Edmondson at the Flower Scar fell race. Photo by Woodentops

I last raced at Flower Scar in 2014 when it was a Clayton Fell Champs race, quite a few went astray near the top I seem to remember, and I luckily sneaked a few places then. It was just over 6 miles then and a bit less climb. Thinking about last time, I spent a bit of time looking at the race map and Google Earth and a bit of local knowledge had helped. Not too much to remember on the unflagged section.

I’ve been gradually cranking up the intensity of racing after a foot problem in the Autumn and wanted to test myself properly. Having said that I couldn’t live with the early pace, Andy Laycock moved away well with the lead group and I only ever caught occasional glimpses of him. I hung on to a group which included Richard Stevenson and just tried to keep contact on the climbs and across the moors. The nav section wasn’t a problem, the lads just ahead seemed to have it in hand and I was pretty confident about where we were. However, we got a quick look at a slightly lost Simon Bailey running back towards us before tearing off to get back in contention. I managed to work my way through maybe half a dozen places on the mainly trail descent working hard and ignoring my niggling calves. Once ahead of the group I hung on, eventually losing one place to a young lad with more hair than I’ve grown in my whole life.

Good banter afterwards with present and past club mates and very glad to be back in a tangerine hoop.

Race winner Andrew Worster – Todmorden

Report from Richard Stevenson

Todmorden Harriers describe this as a gem of a race and to expect steep climbs, fast but runnable descents and (probably) lots of mud! I can’t really disagree with any of these and can confirm there was lots of mud. This year the organises decided to also host a series of junior races which Team Thompson attend and picked up multiple awards, well done Felix, Kady and Dexta.

Richard Stevenson at the Flower Scar fell race. Photo by Woodentops

For the seniors there was just myself, Andy Laycock and newly returned member David Edmondson. Andy soon disappeared from my view not long after the start and went on to have a very good race finishing in 14th, David came past me about halfway around but I managed to stick close by and finished just a place behind him in 23rd.

Apart from a bit of mist on the tops, the conditions were good and with no navigational issues it was a good run out with a chance to get some fell running practice in.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
14	Andrew Laycock	M	01:14:18
22	David Edmondson	M45	01:17:42
23	Richard Stevenson	M40	01:17:57

Full Results

FLOWER SCAR JUNIOR FELL RACES.

A trio of Thompsons took part in the Flower Scar Junior fell races with great success. Felix Thompson ran in the U9s race and finished in 1^st place.

Felix Thompson in the U9s Race at the Flower Scar races. Photo by Woodentops

Kady Thompson ran in the U11s race coming 9^th overall and 2^nd girl.

Kady Thompson. Photo by Woodentops

Dexta Thompson ran in the U13s race and finished in 1^st place.

Dexta Thompson. Photo by Woodentops

Full Results

SILVERDALE CIRCUIT

This was the second event organised by Ascend Events who are striving to put on endurance events for runners and walkers on trails that are simply too good to fall into disuse. The events are self-navigated and challenging but still accessible to participants at all levels with comprehensive route descriptions and well stocked checkpoints. They are a great starter for anyone looking to move away from marked trails and take on more of a challenge. The Silverdale Circuit is a stunning 21-mile route around the Silverdale and Arnside AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). While not as hilly and dramatic as the Lakeland routes on offer, it is a route packed full of fabulous scenery and is entirely runnable.

Report by Adrienne Olszewska

Very much in the style of a LDWA event there is a choice of start times on this event for walkers or runners. I was persuaded (bullied) into putting on my big girl pants and toeing the line with the runners instead of the walkers as I usually try to do. Sure enough within minutes we were trailing at the back, absolutely and completely last. My heart sank and I was beginning to regret not setting off an hour earlier with the walkers. However, I have entered a number of ultra-distance events this year so I decided to not get down hearted and concentrate on joggling along as much as I could and to try and avoid walking any sections.

The course turned out to be runnable throughout with only around 2500ft of climbing in the whole course. The route undulates through lovely countryside, past historic buildings, through nature reserves, along lakeside boardwalks, twists through magical woodland and follows the Morecambe Bay coastal path for a while as well. Simply gorgeous.

While I was steadily trotting along, we gradually began to catch up with some of the other runners who had set off too fast and now were flagging, or were struggling with navigation. Before too long we had caught and passed the walkers who had set off an hour earlier than we had and I was having a ball!

Adrienne, Nick and Bertie the dog at the Silverdale Circuit. Photo by SportSunday Photography

I did begin to flag a little in the last couple of miles but I am blaming a 20-mile run a couple of days prior to the event for that! We finished in 4 hours 38 minutes, which is a superb time for me! I don’t think I’ve ever completed an event like this in much under 6 hours before and it’s all down to the continual trotting throughout and the pacing from Nick and Bertie. We finished halfway down the field in 35th place.

Full Results

STANDISH HALL TRAIL RACE

10 Clayton Harriers hit the bridle paths and woodland trails for this race, organised by Wigan Phoenix. It is also the first race in this year’s club trail championship. There were 238 finishers.

Our first finisher was Chris Snell in 12th place overall with Dave Motley close on his heels in 15th place. Peter Butterworth was 1st V60. Our Men’s ‘A’ team (C Snell | D Motley | J Wilcock) finished in first place.

Donna Airey was our first lady finisher in 98th place overall with Julia Rushton in 166th place.

Report from Mick Hughes

This was my first attempt at this course & first competitive trail championship race for the club. Think I perhaps expected a steady, level, leafy bridle path around a scenic hall but the start & finish is more like a sleepy country lane on a back road. However, it was a cracking view with decent mild weather too. Good turnout for Clayton again. It was a figure of 8 course with a couple of steep climbs and long narrow punishing straights as the sun came out. The biggest surprise was the obstacles in the woods (several tree trunks and a couple of bogs!). The second lap took it out of the legs and made the final mile a pull to most. All in all a good testing and interesting trail loop course and I can understand just why it was chosen for a champ course. The tasty Wigan pie awaited us at the finish and the mood amongst Team Clayton seemed very good once again.

Mick Hughes’ well deserved Wigan pie after the Standish Hall trail race.

Report from Stuart Barker

Ten Clayton Le Moors Harriers travelled to Wigan to complete in the Standish Hall Train Race which is part of the Club Road/Trail Championships. With a gorgeous reasonably warm day, standing at the start with Donna and Julia, chatting about our previous injuries, like you do…. Lots of other clubs in attendance and from conversations with them you get the impression that this is a well-respected race.

Race programme stipulates it as being just over 10k and is all trail, after a quick safety brief, we set of from a farm track, trying to avoid all of the pot holes, trying to settle down into the race (something which I struggle with) I followed Donna and Julia, Donna disappeared within a few minutes but I kept Julia in my sights for a few miles, than I lost her too.

About 2 miles in you tackle the first and only hill, straight up, similar to Widow Hill really, just a bit longer, no issues with that, more twisty left and rights to find yourself into a wood, this is where the sun was laughing at us, has it blinded you, as it filtered through the trees, with tree stumps to avoid and the occasion tree to jump over, it became more of a obstacle course, add muddy mud, twisty routes between trees and a couple of gates to negotiate, it was great fun, a couple of small, really small annoying hills and some steps, then back out into the sunlight, then back in again for more twisty curves. So glad it hadn’t rain leading up to the race, or else this write up would have been muddier.

Out of the wood for the last time, my legs were thinking, ‘we’ve had enough, time to go home now’ the mud was really sucking the energy from them. One last mile to the finish line, where you collect a pie, well actually I got two, that was my tea sorted, really nice too.

Chris Snell was the first Claytoner to finish, closely followed a few seconds later with Dave Motley, then John Wilcock, Peter Butterworth, Reece Lawrence, Mick Hughes, Chris Lawrence, Donna Airey, Julia Rushton, then myself.

Throughout the route, the race was well marshalled, well supported and well organised.

A really enjoyable race and I certainly will put it in my diary for another go in October, just hope it doesn’t rain beforehand.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
12	Chris Snell	MS	(007/047)	00:40:12
15	Dave Motley	MS	(010/047)	00:40:49
45	John Wilcock	M50	(006/025)	00:45:12
50	Peter Butterworth	M60	(001/013)	00:46:27
64	Reece Lawrence	MJ	(004/004)	00:47:33
70	Mick Hughes	M40	(012/022)	00:47:53
91	Christopher Lawrence	M50	(015/025)	00:50:04
98	Donna Airey	F35	(004/011)	00:50:29
166	Julia Rushton	F50	(007/018)	00:58:51
181	Stuart Barker	M50	(023/025)	01:01:03

Full Results

SUNDAY 19 FEBRUARY

CENTRAL LANCASHIRE 5K

Over 300 runners took part in this 5K race that takes part entirely within and around Leverhulme Park. It is a fast paced route and is usually well attended. Aaron Hargreaves was our sole representative in the race and he finished in 75^th place overall with a time of 20:51

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
75	Aaron Hargreaves	M	20:51

Full Results

GREAT NORTH WEST HALF MARATHON

A fast and flat course around the coastal front of Blackpool which race organisers, Fylde Coast Runners, describe as a great race for a PB and an ideal warm up race for the Blackpool Marathon or Virgin London Marathon.

The event is now in its 28th year, and grows in popularity every year. The event attracts over 1500 competitors of all ages and experience and is a great spectator course for the family as it is a two lap course. The weather in previous years has been somewhat unfavourable, however, this doesn’t stop plenty of runners braving the elements to finish this race!

Runners at the start of the Great North West Half Marathon. John Hartley and Dan Plant visible. Photo by David Wood

We had 11 runners in this year’s event. Our first finisher was Daniel Plant who was 78^th overall with a time of 1:28:18. Joining him in the top 100 was John Hartley in 95^th and 2^nd V60 with a time of 01:29:55. Dynamic duo Cassie Smedley and Michelle Abbott finished the course together and were our first lady finishers in 01:43:43.

Some great running and plenty of PBs for all of our runners in this event.

Report from the dynamic duo of Cassie Smedley and Michelle Abbott

The dynamic duo. Cassie Smedley and Michelle Abbot

Cassie: After doing this race last year in just over 2 hours, I was apprehensive as to what the weather conditions were going to be like. Thankfully, no gale force wind or getting covered in sea water! This was a great event and lovely people both racing and spectating. We had a nice chat with a few other runners on route, and found out that some are crazier than us Claytons! Coming up to the last mile Michelle was struggling with her injury, but we both said at the start we wanted 1.45 time, so I decided to offer a helping hand. The crowds were brilliant, and as we raised our arms coming over the finish line, they cheered even louder. This was a great run, with all Claytons getting great results

Michelle: What a brilliant way to do my first half marathon with my running partner, and having a chat on way round with some fellow running pairs. To top it off finishing in a better than expected time of sub 1.45. Cassie really gave me that last push running the last mile hand in hand to the finish after suffering really bad foot pain only 5 miles in. Will be back next year with comfy trainers and a sub 140 in our sight.

Report from Dan Plant

I have done this race twice before and the conditions ain’t been the best, but this year was slightly better and at least you could see the beach. As I was using this race as part of my marathon build up the plan was always to have a good go. I ran really consistent until about 11 mile and I’m sure that wind picked up a notch. But I dug in and I got a full minute PB which I was over the moon with. Well done on the rest of the Clayton runners there were some massive PBs in there. Well done all!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
78	Daniel Plant	M	1:28:18.9
95	John Hartley	MV60	1:29:55.9
165	Robert Morrison	MV40	1:36:06.8
176	Colin White	MV40	1:37:00.2
279	Cassandra Smedley	LV35	1:43:43.9
280	Michelle Abbott	LV35	1:43:44.0
300	James Dunderdale	M	1:45:08.6
523	Lucy Scott	L	1:57:06.2
569	Alison Dugdale	LV45	1:58:44.3
689	Philip Naylor	M	2:06:23.8
952	Jane Ryan	LV35	2:42:26.8

Full Results

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

Just a reminder that our club championships for road, trail and fell are now underway.

The 2017 Club Fell Championship consists of five races, with a member’s best three races counting. The races are:

Sunday 7th May 12 noon – Great Hameldon (BS), Accrington Tuesday 6th June 7:15 pm – Paddy’s Pole (AS), Chipping Saturday 19th August 11 am – Pendle 3 Peaks (AM), Barley Saturday 26th August 2 pm – Pendleton (AS) Saturday 9th September 1:30 pm – Hodder Valley Show (AS), Dunsop Bridge

The 2017 Club Road Championship consists of five races, with a member’s best three races counting. The races are:

Sunday 5th February 11 am – Blackburn Winter Warmer 10k Wednesday 29th March 7 pm – Colin & Brenda Robinson 5k, Whitworth Friday 16th June 7 pm – Barrowford Grand Prix 5k Saturday 15th July 9:30 am – Pendle Running Festival Half Marathon, Barley Sunday 13th August 10 am – City of Preston 10 miles

The 2017 Club Trail Championship consists of five races, with a member’s best three races counting. The first four races are:

Saturday 18th February 2:30 pm – Standish Hall 10k, Wigan Wednesday 17th May 7 pm – Wholan Nook 5 miles, Rossendale Saturday 3rd June 11 am – Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon, Grassington Wednesday 21st June 7 pm – Sabden Trail 5 miles

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 394 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
5	Jacob WATSON	17:18	SM30-34	New PB!
12	Matthew DUCKWORTH	18:22	SM25-29
14	Jackson MCKAY	18:51	JM11-14	New PB!
22	Nicholas HENNESSEY	19:55	JM15-17
26	Terry O’LEARY	20:39	VM35-39
32	Robbie SMEDLEY	21:08	JM11-14
42	Colin WHITE	21:30	VM40-44	New PB!
45	Kevin DAVIES	21:38	VM55-59
50	Helana WHITE	21:48	JW10
51	Adam STEPHENSON	21:54	SM30-34
54	David MOYNIHAN	22:01	VM50-54
58	Cassandra Darling SMEDLEY	22:18	VW35-39	New PB!
60	Sean CLARE	22:25	VM50-54
61	Gordon BARRETT	22:27	VM50-54
68	Matthew JACKSON	23:00	JM11-14
70	Michelle ABBOTT	23:05	VW35-39
76	Sophie ASHWORTH	23:22	JW11-14
77	Jonathan PYE	23:23	SM25-29
83	Wayne MCINTOSH	23:31	SM30-34
84	Carl CAREY	23:32	VM45-49
85	Nina KEWIN	23:34	VW35-39
93	Brian WILDMAN	23:53	VM50-54
99	Sarah ANGELONE	24:00	SW30-34
100	Martin BRADY	24:01	VM55-59
125	Liberty THOMPSON	24:53	JW11-14
127	Bethany WHEATCROFT	24:56	JW11-14
139	Annabel WILCOCK	25:30	JW15-17
140	John WILCOCK	25:30	VM50-54
144	Lisa JOHNSON	25:42	VW40-44
149	Andrew TAYLOR	25:52	VM55-59
159	Jane HYLANDS	26:15	VW45-49
164	Richard LAWSON	26:30	VM75-79
192	Charlie PLANT	27:43	JW10	New PB!
197	Helen HARRISON	27:58	VW45-49
215	Ron CHAPPELL	28:52	VM65-69
222	Robert HIRST	29:10	VM65-69
226	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	29:37	VW65-69
227	Judith CAREY	29:38	VW35-39	New PB!
245	Marion WILKINSON	30:10	VW75-79
317	Christine LEATHLEY	33:54	VW65-69
333	Ellisia SMEDLEY	35:40	JW10
367	Olly PLANT	37:53	JM10

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 54 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
6	Heidi KEWIN	9:13	JW11-14
7	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:32	JW11-14
31	Emily JOHNSON	12:27	JW10
38	Jessica MCBRIDE	13:10	JW10
52	Aaron LUNDIE	16:07	JM11-14

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 165 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
101	Eileen JONES	30:43	VW60-64

Heaton parkrun – A total of 695 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
8	Laura HESKETH	18:11	SW30-34	New PB!

Medina I.O.W. parkrun – A total of 312 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
20	Simon WILSHAW	21:36	JM15-17

Pendle parkrun – A total of 105 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	18:56	VM35-39	New PB!
7	Paul HESKETH	21:30	VM50-54
10	John HARTLEY	21:54	VM60-64
34	Barry MITCHELL	25:50	VM70-74
36	Dawn TERRY	26:10	VW50-54

Witton parkrun – A total of 94 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
31	Vicky HEYS	25:13	VW45-49	First Timer!

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Run to the Hills

It’s been a chilly and hilly kind of week with some harsh weather adding plenty of challenge for our hardy fell runners. There’s also been some coastal cross country, rugged recces, fast 5Ks and a touch of romance as well. There is definitely a fire burning in the hearts of our runners that no amount of arctic blast can extinguish.

SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY

CARNETHY 5 HILL RACE

There were some extremely testing conditions for this Scottish fell race with strong winds, sleet and snow to contend with. 472 runners finished the race with two Clayton Vet runners amongst them. Jack Holt was our first finisher in 190^th place overall and 3^rd M60, and Wendy Dodds was 281^st overall and 1^st F60.

Runners at the Carnethy 5 Hill Race. Photo by Katrina Johnstone

Pos	Name		Time
190	Jack Holt	M60	01:16:04
281	Wendy Dodds	F60	01:22:11

Full Results

MID LANCS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE – ROSSALL SCHOOL, FLEETWOOD

It was a cold and blustery day on the coast as the Mid Lancs Cross Country League moved to the fixture at Rossall School near Fleetwood with the impressive school buildings as a backdrop to a much drier course than many so far this season.

Our Juniors put in a strong showing with some great results for the U11 Boys who continue to dominate their category this season. Helana White had a great run in the U11 girls, Jackson McKay was 4^th in the U13 boys and our U15 girls’ team finished in 3^rd position. We are still very much in contention for a win in both the U11 Boys and U15 girls category. Sadly we didn’t have enough numbers for teams in all the age groups but well done to all of our junior runners for some strong performances.

U11 GIRLS

Team Position 11^th

Pos	Name	Time
6	Helana White	7:22
65	Emily Nicholl	9:37
69	Ellisia Smedley	10:39

U11 BOYS

Team position 1^st

Pos	Name	Time
1	Dexta Thompson	6:33
3	Robbie Smedley	6:46
11	Jenson Bentham	7:10
27	Matthew Jackson	7:39
47	Joshua McKay	8:20

U13 GIRLS

Ella Dorrington missing from the results

Pos	Name	Time
54	Bronia Olszewska	13:26

U13 BOYS

Team Position 5^th

Pos	Name	Time
4	Jackson McKay	10:40
19	Lennon Jackson	12:06
30	William Nicholls	13:00

U15 GIRLS

Team position 3^rd

Pos	Name	Time
10	Millie Stubbs	12:24
16	Liberty Thompson	13:14
17	Natasha Olszewska	13:15

U15 BOYS

Pos	Name	Time
22	Jay Bowman	17:28

U17 MEN

Pos	Name	Time
10	Simon Wilshaw	24:55
13	Reece Lawrence	25:47

LADIES U20

Pos	Name	Time
4	Bethany Quinn	30:45

LADIES RACE

Eighteen ladies made the trip over to Fleetwood to run in the penultimate fixture of the Mid Lancs League. On a cold and blustery days our ladies got down to some great running despite the chill and the wind. Donna Airey was our first lady and 29^th overall followed in by double act Michelle Abbott and Cassie Smedley. Beth Quinn was our sole U20 lady.

Cassie Smedley chasing Michelle Abbot at the Mid Lancs XC. Photo by David Wood

Team Positions

A Team – 8^th (D Airey | M Abbot | C Darling-Smedley)

B Team – 14^th (I Roche | J Bennett | B Quinn)

Over 35 – 4^th ( D Airey | M Abbott | C Darling-SMedley)

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

Over 55 – 2^nd ( I Roche| J Taylor | C Egerton)

Pos	Name		Time
29	Donna Airey	L35	28:18
30	Michelle Abbott	L35	28:36
31	Cassandra Darling-Smedley	L35	28:36
41	Irene Roche	L55	29:15
55	Joanne Bennett	L45	30:06
60	Bethany Quinn	L20	30:45
62	Julia Rushton	L45	31:16+
76	Bianca Bennett	L	32:33
81	Janine Pollard	L45	32:53
92	Jane Hylands	L45	33:59
96	Adrienne Olszewska	L45	34:43
108	Deborah Greenwood	L45	36:18
111	Julia Taylor	L55	36:30
118	Karen Clarkin	L45	37:10
126	Judith Carey	L35	38:45
127	Christine Egerton	L65	39:34
136	Christine Leathley	L65	43:27
138	Susan Allen	L55	44:40

VET 70 MEN

Richard Lawson was our only V70 in the race and he finished in 3^rd place.

Pos	Name	Time
3	Richard Lawson	35:49

V70 runner, Richard Lawson. Photo by David Wood

MENS RACE

Nineteen Clayton men raced at this fixture. Danny Collinge was our first man in 13^th place overall. Jacob Watson was next in 28^th place well out of his comfort zone but possibly beginning to enjoy cross country running. Dave Motley, Matt Duckworth, Alan Life and Andrew Orr made up our A Team who finished in 7^th place overall. Our V50 mens team finished in 2^nd place.

Jacob Watson swapping the road for XC. Photo by David Wood

Team Positions

Over 40 – 7^th (A Life | A Orr | J Roche | G Berry)

Over 50 – 2^nd (A Life | J Roche | J Wilcock)

Pos	Name		Time
13	Danny Collinge	M	36:31
28	Jacob Watson	M	38:28
44	Dave Motley	M	40:06
82	Matthew Duckworth	M	42:46
93	Alan Life	V50	43:54
96	Andrew Orr	V40	44:06
99	John Roche	V50	44:12
112	Gareth Berry	V40	45:12
114	John Wilcock	V50	45:17
129	Andy Quinn	V40	46:35
141	Mick Hughes	V40	47:54
152	Craig Nicholls	V40	48:39
161	Dave Moynihan	V40	48:59
172	Christopher Lawrence	V50	51:26
180	Andrew Howarth	V50	52:29
181	James Hickie	V50	52:33
182	Peter Browning	V50	52:43
183	Carl Carey	V40	52:48
198	Stephen Fish	V60	59:20

Full Results

SUNDAY 12 FEBRUARY

FASTRAX 5K RACES – RACE 2

On a cold and blustery morning, the second race of this fast 5K race saw a quartet of Clayton Harriers racing in a field of 68 runners.

Nick Hennessey at the Fastrax 5K. Photo by David Belshaw

Nick Hennessey was our first finisher in 21^st place overall and Michelle Abbot was our first lady in 47^th place.

Julia Rushton at the Fastrax 5K. Photo by David Belshaw

Julia Rushton was 1^st F50 and Jack McGuire was 1^st M60.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
21	Nicholas Hennessey	MJ	(010/011)	00:18:56
47	Michelle Abbott	F35	(004/006)	00:23:01
52	Julia Rushton	F50	(001/004)	00:24:15
66	Jack McGuire	M60	(001/001)	00:29:14

Full Results

JUNIOR 2K

There were twenty-one runners in the 2K race and nine of our juniors, including some of our youngest members, took part. All of them ran superbly in tough conditions with many of them finishing faster than last time despite the weather.

And they are off! The juniors at the start of the Fastrax 2K race. Photo by David Belshaw

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
3	Matthew Jackson	M11	(001/001)	00:08:23
4	Helana White	F10	(001/002)	00:08:34
5	William Nicholls	M12	(002/002)	00:08:42
9	Charlie Barnes	M8	(002/004)	00:09:11
14	Jake Anforth	M10	(001/001)	00:09:35
16	Emily Nichols	F8	(001/002)	00:11:07
18	Charlie Plant	F7	(001/002)	00:11:14
19	Darcey Hirst	F8	(002/002)	00:11:22
21	Olly Plant	M6	(001/001)	14:28

Full Results

VALENTINES 10K

Who said that romance was dead; it certainly isn’t at Clayton-le-Moors Harriers with a valentine race for Lucy and James.

Report from Lucy Scott

The weather forecast wasn’t great as we set off to run the Valentines 10k which is part of the Lancaster Race Series. Wind aside, we knew we were in for a fast and flat 10k and the route certainly lived up to its reputation, which was a welcome relief after the Blackburn Winter Warmer last week!

Romantic racers Lucy Scott and James Dunderdale.

120 runners gathered at the start and set off very quickly over the bridge and heading down a cycle path. We were pretty sheltered from the wind on the way down for the first 5k but encountered some gales on the way back up. The cycle path was great for running on with very little turns, a simple out and back run not too dissimilar to the Windmill 10k.

Overall, a great little run if you are after a new personal best as me and James were! Along with our new PB’s, a medal, a flower and some chocolate were awarded on the finish line!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
24	James Dunderdale	M	0:43:46
53	Lucy Scott	F	0:49:49

Full Results

STAN BRADSHAW PENDLE ROUND RECCE

Sunday saw the second of two race recces lead by race organiser, Colin Woolford. Conditions were a bit testing to say the least but we are a hard bunch and a bit of wind and snow wasn’t going to put us off!

Stan Bradshaw recce

Report from race organiser, Colin Woolford

Thank you to the 26 or so runners who came out to play over the last two recces of the Stan Bradshaw Race Route, both in decidedly poor weather conditions – you brave souls! Sunday’s 40-50 mph winds, snow and ice on the top and toward the end of the run, horizontal snow certainly kept us moving!

Heading down just ahead of the snow storm.

I hope this has given you a refresher of the route or if having never done it, inspired you to come and have a go on March 4th.

It’s been a pleasure meeting club members, and friends of the club, I’d not crossed paths with as well as extra time on the hill with those more familiar.

See you on the hill.

WINDY HILL FELL RACE

Four Clayton men braved the weather to race at the Windy Hill Fell Race. Andrew Laycock was our first finisher in 8^th place overall. He was joined in the race by Garry Wilkinson, James Boult and Wayne McIntosh and between them there was a 3^rd place finish as a men’s team.

Men’s team – 3^rd (A Laycock| G Wilkinson | J Boult)

Report From James Boult

After a sunny and bright 2016 race, I hoped for more of the same if I wanted to beat my time in what was my first Fell Race 12 months ago. What greeted me, and the 200 other competitors at Littleborough Rugby Club instead was the beginnings of snow and an icy chill which made conditions slightly treacherous and harsh underfoot.

James Boult at the Windy Hill Fell Race. Photo by Steve Bateson

With a couple of Fell races already under my belt for 2017 in what has been a slow return to racing, I felt good going into what was my toughest challenge, and furthest distance, of the year so far. Having never raced under such wild conditions I knew it would be an experience, however I underestimated just how much of an experience it would be. With sideways snow and hail pelting us as we set off, and then increasing as we made the steady climb up to the kissing gate, most of the race was spent with heads down and eyes stinging. Strong winds were thrown in as we navigated the treacherous open tops, with already slippy rocks even slippier with ice and small drops in the stones covered by patches of snow which only made themselves known when you fell though them. With no visibility the usually stunning views were masked behind a wall of white, and I had to rely on the fluorescent vest of the runner in front of me to keep on the right path at times.

Conditions improved for the final mile, but the snow and rain from the night before made the ground slippery and the XC style finish became a mudbath. I finished frozen to the bone but achieved what I set out to do; a top 100 finish and a couple of minutes faster than my time from than last year in what is one of my favourite races to kick off the year.

Report from Wayne McIntosh

A quartet of Claytoners headed over to Littleborough in wintery conditions for this year’s Windy Hill fell race. Largely described as a very runnable 9 miles with one memorable climb thrown in. I had done this race twice before and after a poor run last year I was hoping for some improvement. I felt good in the early part of the race, holding position well around mid-pack. Then came the long climb up to the gods, well Blackstone Edge but with visibility down to around 50m and the wind driving a horizontal blizzard it wasn’t the most pleasant part of the race. I got to the top of the climb without dropping any places and knew from here on in the course played to my strengths with some rough running over Blackstone Edge and windy Hill and a cracking descent to the finish.

I think I managed to pick up a few places to finish 133/200 and 1:32 – 4 minutes up on last year, on a day when most of my usual rivals were a good 15 minutes back. Good runs from the rest of the Clayton lot with Andrew Laycock first back in 8th place.

Andrew Laycock at the Windy Hill Fell Race. Photo by Paul Taylor

Pos	Name	AG	Time
8	Andrew Laycock	M	01:06:58
30	Gary Wilkinson	M50	01:14:46
101	James Boult	M U23	01:24:43
143	Wayne McIntosh	M	01:32:02

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 318 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
5	Jonathan PYE	18:02	SM25-29
8	Nicholas HENNESSEY	18:42	JM15-17	New PB!
32	Gordon BARRETT	21:56	VM50-54
39	Aaron LUNDIE	22:17	JM11-14	New PB!
42	John WILCOCK	22:29	VM50-54
45	Michelle ABBOTT	22:38	VW35-39
63	Wayne MCINTOSH	23:38	SM30-34
70	Brian WILDMAN	23:59	VM50-54
73	Charlie BARNES	24:10	JM10	New PB!
77	Dawn TERRY	24:27	VW50-54
102	Sophie ASHWORTH	25:16	JW11-14
105	Bethany WHEATCROFT	25:34	JW11-14
122	Ian HARGREAVES	26:28	VM50-54
143	Donna SCOTT	27:33	VW50-54
145	Stuart BARKER	27:35	VM50-54
164	Ron CHAPPELL	28:15	VM65-69
210	Charlie PLANT	30:07	JW10
229	Robert HIRST	31:06	VM65-69
290	Olly PLANT	36:43	JM10
291	Daniel PLANT	36:43	VM35-39

Heaton parkrun – A total of 611 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
6	Laura HESKETH	18:26	SW30-34	First Timer!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 78 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	19:10	VM35-39
25	Barry MITCHELL	26:02	VM70-74
28	Martin BRADY	26:30	VM55-59
43	Yvonne WICKHAM	30:56	VW50-54
45	Helen HARRISON	31:19	VW45-49	First Timer!

Yamba parkrun – A total of 43 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
6	Nerina GILL	23:27	VW45-49	First Timer!

ByAdrienne Olszewska

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.

Pos	Name	Team	Time
6	Ella Dorrington	Rossendale	9:04
66	Imogen Ferguson	Burnley	11:32

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!

Pos	Name	Team	Time
12	Jackson McKay	Burnley	15:32
42	Adam Stevenson	Burnley	17:34
47	Jay Bowman	Burnley	17:51

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.

Pos	Name	Team	Time
33	Millie Stubbs	Hyndburn	16:05
44	Sophie Ashworth	Burnley	16:45
45	Natasha Olszewska	Blackburn	17:14
53	Liberty Thompson	Burnley	17:44
60	Keira Stevenson	Burnley	18:53

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.

Pos	Name	Team	Time
4	Briony Holt	Pendle	16:48
56	Lucy Stevenson	Burnley	24:36

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.

Pos	Name	Team	Time
15	Nicholas Hennessey	Burnley	21:43
30	Stanley Grewal	Burnley	23:16

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.

Pos	name	category	time
50	Martin Terry	MV50	03:22:04
54	Neil Hardiman	MV40	03:25:45
56	Andrew Armstrong	MV40	03:26:44
74	Alan Dorrington	MV40	03:34:29
97	Nicholas Olszewski	MV50	03:47:35
127	Simon Stansfield	MV40	04:06:17
168	Vicky Heys	FV40	04:52:11
169	Barbara Savage	FV50	04:52:11
171	Angela Shian	F	04:53:47

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 at the Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K. Photo by David Belshaw

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)

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat/Pos	Time
3	Danny Collinge	M S	(003/128)	00:34:37
8	Jake Watson	M S	(007/128)	00:36:06
27	Jonathan Cleaver	M S	(017/128)	00:38:31
68	Reece Lawrence	M J	(002/004)	00:42:36
98	Mick Hughes	M40	(020/063)	00:44:29
111	Robert Morrison	M40	(023/063)	00:45:15
113	Andy Quinn	M45	(020/050)	00:45:24
126	Amanda Duffy	F35	(003/031)	00:46:08
127	James Dunderdale	M S	(051/128)	00:46:11
152	Cassandra Smedley	F35	(004/031)	00:47:41
153	Michelle Abbott	F35	(005/031)	00:47:41
154	David Moynihan	M50	(012/036)	00:47:44
167	Claire Vincent	F S	(006/046)	00:48:12
198	Nerina Gill	F45	(004/039)	00:50:08
236	Lucy Scott	F S	(008/046)	00:52:41
241	Ian Hargreaves	M50	(020/036)	00:52:54
256	Beth Quinn	F J	(002/004)	00:53:43
263	Lisa Ellis	F S	(010/046)	00:54:19
332	Jane Hylands	F45	(018/039)	00:57:36
361	Stuart Barker	M50	(032/036)	00:58:31
386	Deborah Greenwood	F45	(027/039)	00:59:25
438	Marion Wilkinson	F75+	(001/002)	01:04:10
447	Geraldine Varley	F55	(010/019)	01:04:08
451	Karen Clarkin	F40	(034/044)	01:04:43
482	Anita Jones	F60	(004/005)	01:07:37
496	Sharon Wilson	F40	(040/044)	01:09:07

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. Photo by David Belshaw

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

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat/Pos	Time
2	Dexta Thompson	M 11-13	(001/015)	00:07:30
3	Robbie Smedley	M 11-13	(002/015)	00:07:32
10	Lennon Jackson	M 11-13	(005/015)	00:07:57
11	Mattew Jackson	M 8-10	(003/047)	00:08:10
12	Helana White	F 8-10	(001/060)	00:08:13
23	Liberty Thompson	F 14-17	(002/004)	00:08:58
36	Jake Anforth	M 8-10	(013/047)	00:09:24
37	Kady Thompson	F 8-10	(007/060)	00:09:26
38	Felix Thompson	M 5-7	(003/040)	00:09:26
75	Charlie Plant	F 5-7	(002/029)	00:10:42
134	Ellisia Smedley	F 8-10	(044/060)	00:12:37
139	Emily Johnson	F 5-7	(011/029)	00:12:46

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.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat/Pos	Time
132	Wendy Dodds	W65	(001/002)	2:31:46

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!

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
1	Christopher Holdsworth	M	02:57:34.2

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.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
3	Jonathan PYE	18:42	SM25-29
26	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	22:07	JM15-17
32	Daniel PLANT	22:37	VM35-39
34	Gordon BARRETT	22:44	VM50-54
35	Sean CLARE	22:47	VM50-54
37	David MOYNIHAN	22:56	VM50-54
38	Michelle ABBOTT	22:59	VW35-39
39	Cassandra Darling SMEDLEY	23:01	VW35-39
70	Stephen AINSWORTH	24:32	VM60-64
74	Chris LAWRENCE	24:46	VM50-54
78	Nina KEWIN	24:57	VW35-39
81	Dawn TERRY	25:06	VW50-54
86	Wayne MCINTOSH	25:15	SM30-34
94	Heidi KEWIN	25:38	JW11-14	New PB!
95	Aaron LUNDIE	25:38	JM11-14
96	Andy QUINN	25:39	VM45-49
102	Annabel WILCOCK	25:50	JW15-17
104	John WILCOCK	25:53	VM50-54
116	Lisa JOHNSON	26:23	VW40-44
125	Donna SCOTT	26:53	VW50-54
138	Andrew WEBSTER	27:23	VM45-49
211	Robert HIRST	29:57	VM65-69
218	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	30:23	VW65-69
225	Stuart BARKER	30:36	VM50-54
226	Ron CHAPPELL	30:39	VM65-69
273	Christine LEATHLEY	33:28	VW65-69

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

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
3	Nathan KEWIN	8:39	JM11-14
7	Heidi KEWIN	9:14	JW11-14
9	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:45	JW11-14
10	Imogen FERGUSON	10:12	JW11-14

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 144 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
124	Robin PRICE	34:13	VM70-74

Pendle parkrun- A total of 86 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	David WALKER	19:13	VM35-39
5	John HARTLEY	22:02	VM60-64
23	David Ian SCOTT	26:40	VM70-74
36	Martin BRADY	29:38	VM50-54
45	Yvonne WICKHAM	30:52	VW50-54

Westerfolds parkrun – A total of 214 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
67	Paul Laurence WALSH	27:17	VM60-64	First Timer!

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Hoofstones, Whitestones and good deeds!

Another busy week for Clayton-le-Moors Harriers. There has been plenty of action across the board, with a select group travelling to Knowsley for the Northern Cross Country Championships, fell running, and road racing at both 10 mile and 10K distances where a helping hand was extended by our chivalrous chaps to a fellow runner when she needed a boost. All very focussed this week and not a great deal of coddiwompling going on unless you take into account some of the recce runs that have been going on over the weekend!

SATURDAY 28 JANUARY

HOOFSTONES FELL RACE

This race is a navigational challenge which takes runners to the highest point around Todmorden – Hoofstones Heights Trig Point – The Trig is situated on the East/West Watershed. There is route choice from checkpoint 1 – 4, as long as no fences or walls are climbed.

51 runners took part this year and there were two Clayton Harriers amongst them both finishing in the top ten. Dave Edmondson was our first man in 3^rd place and Andy Laycock was 8^th.

Race Report from Andy Laycock

Typical cold and wet Pennine weather greeted us for the start of the race at the Staff of Life in Todmorden. Worryingly billed as a ‘navigational challenge’ it began with a flagged climb up to checkpoint 1, where the flags finished and open moor began. Then we were faced with a choice; the direct line across Stansfield moor or a short detour to pickup a fast and runnable track leading to the second checkpoint. Navigating to Hoofstones – checkpoint 3 and the highest point of the route – was straightforward, but icy and boggy ground made progress slow. The descent down past Wolf Stones and back across the moor caught me out as I dropped too far west, having to climb back up and along to the last checkpoint cost me five places – 3rd to 8th. Then from here it was a quick sprint back down the flagged path to the finish line. All in all a great race, very well organised and an early reminder to brush up on my navigation.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
3	Dave Edmondson	M40	1:11:12
8	Andrew Laycock	M	1:14:29

Full Results

NORTHERN ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Six junior members made the trip to Knowsley to compete in this year’s Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships

Clayton Juniors at the Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships.

U13 Boys

Pos	Name	Time
42	Dexta Thompson	12:20
96	Robbie Smedley	13:04
174	Lennon Jackson	14:15

U15 Girls

Pos	Name	Time
38	Briony Holt	17:43
166	Liberty Thompson	22:02

U17 Men

Pos	Name	Time
117	Curtis Holt	24:24

Senior Women

Report from Karen Clarkin

This was my second attempt at cross country, trying to get my head around racing and overcoming my nerves. What a venue to pick!! It was ankle deep in mud for 2 x 4km laps with inclines. Thankfully the rain had stopped just in time for the ladies race. Tough run, but I really enjoyed the day. Special thanks to Louisa and girls for cheering us on in the tough conditions.

Clayton Ladies at the Northern Cross Country Championships. L-R Judith Carey, Karen Clarkin, Elizabeth Mullan and Donna Airey. Photo by Woodentops

Team position 40^th (D Airey | E Mullan | J Rushton | K Clarkin )

Pos	Name	Time
181	Donna Airey	42:29
194	Elizabeth Mullan	43:03
297	Julia Rushton	50:17
341	Karen Clarkin	58:30
347	Judith Carey	1:00:10
355	Susan Allen	1:04:10
358	Christine Leathley	1:10:56

Senior Men

Report from Carl Carey

Initially I wasn’t going to do this. Driving for an hour, doing the race, driving back, later starting time and a longer distance (12km) than I’d ever done before on cross country. I was eventually coerced by the female contingent of Clayton so I signed up. Weather was awful in Burnley and on the journey to Knowsley which didn’t encourage me much but hey, I needed the training so off we set.

The ladies did their race first, and after finishing, reported to me that it was all relentless mud. Donna, Liz and Judith had some good battles although Judith decided to take a dive in the mud in the beginning! Karin Clarkin was a counter in the ladies team on only her second cross country.

Then it was my turn. Off we set, me, Pete and Jim. There was a good number of runners there, and the races which had gone before us had churned it up nicely! Literally on the first mud we hit, there were men dropping out everywhere, having lost their shoes in the death grip mud. Having been shown by Coach Roche how to tie my shoes, I had no such problems. The mud, as correctly reported, was relentless. There was no respite at all, with a few sneaky rocks hidden in which I found, and a few hills too. 15mm spikes were no use whatsoever but I managed to stay on my feet. First lap was a bit of a tester to see how it was, then the next two I was able to push a bit, but the mud soon wore you down. At the end, having passed lots who were walking at different points, I managed a quick finish on the straight, grateful to see the finish. One of my worst performances, but I was determined to enjoy this one and use it for good experience.

An enjoyable day with the Clayton crew, and actually not feeling the effects too much. Thanks to Chris Thompson for holding our numbers for us, and Jason Pier for organising it.

Pos	Name	Time
51	Daniel Collinge	45:48
574	James Hickie	1:08:22
595	Peter Browning	1:10:06
645	Carl Carey	1:16:28

Full Results

SUNDAY 29 JANUARY

HUNTERS 10K

Just over 300 runners took part in this 10K race formerly known as the Vernon’s 10K. Two Clayton men took part. Robert Morrison was the first Clayton finisher in 76^th place and with a time of 44:16. Colin White was hot on his heels 4 seconds later in 77^th.

Robert Morrison at the Hunter’s 10K. Photo by Lucy Tickle

Report from Colin White

Only two Clayton Harriers ran this local(ish) event in Preston. Over 300 people arrived at the cold start line for this event. It was well marshalled, well organised and clearly signposted. Both Rob and I set off at a fairly slow pace, choosing to move through the field when we found our pace. The course is undulating, once over the icy bridge at Avenham Park, we really found our pace and picked up speed a little. Rob, was slightly ahead and helped a fellow runner who was struggling for approximately 1 mile, before picking up the pace even more when he saw me breathing down his neck. We both finished the course with PB’s , and another 10k under the belt.

Colin White at the Hunter’s 10K. Photo by Lucy Tickle

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
76	Robert Morrison	MV40	44:16
77	Colin White	MV40	44:20

Full Results

KENDAL WINTER LEAGUE – WHITESTONE FELL RACE

149 runners took part in this popular winter race series organised by Helm Hill. Wayne McIntosh was our sole runner in the senior race, finishing in 118^th place.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
118	Wayne McIntosh	M	51:02

Christopher Brown was our sole junior runner finishing in 8^th place overall and 6^th boy in the U13 race in a field of 66 runners.

Chrostopher Brown at the KWL Whitestones U13 Race. Photo by Geoff Thompson

Pos	Name	Time
8	Christopher Brown	6:54

Full Results

ST ANNES 10 MILER

Report from Stephen Biscomb

Not my usual distance of 10K, but this 10 mile race was well organised and luckily the conditions were very mild for the Fylde coast. We started from St Annes pier up to Lytham Green and back. Managed to get below my target time of 73 minutes. (71.30) my position in the M60 category was 4th. It was amazing to see four more M60s in the top 51. Just goes to show that us old men are getting fitter.

Pos	Name	Cat	CatPos	Time
51	Stephen Biscomb	M60	(004/013)	01:11:33

Full Results

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Burnley parkrun – A total of 298 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Jacob WATSON	17:59	SM30-34
2	Jonathan PYE	18:34	SM25-29
3	Chris SNELL	18:46	VM35-39
5	Nicholas HENNESSEY	19:16	JM15-17
8	Dave MOTLEY	19:46	VM35-39
9	Paul HESKETH	19:49	VM50-54
11	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	19:54	JM15-17	New PB!
15	Daniel PLANT	20:38	VM35-39
17	Gareth BERRY	20:48	VM40-44
22	Simon WILSHAW	21:25	JM15-17
24	Finley STUBBS	21:39	JM10	New PB!
25	James BOULT	21:53	SM20-24
38	David MOYNIHAN	23:01	VM50-54
44	Aaron LUNDIE	23:13	JM11-14
46	Millie STUBBS	23:19	JW11-14
52	Michelle ABBOTT	23:33	VW35-39
54	David Ian SCOTT	23:43	VM70-74
66	Nina KEWIN	24:17	VW35-39
68	Jenson BENTHAM	24:24	JM10
69	Wayne MCINTOSH	24:25	SM30-34
90	Dawn TERRY	25:26	VW50-54
95	Lisa JOHNSON	25:38	VW40-44
96	Annabel WILCOCK	25:41	JW15-17
97	John WILCOCK	25:44	VM50-54
108	Richard LAWSON	26:32	VM75-79
136	Sophie ASHWORTH	27:53	JW11-14
137	Heidi KEWIN	27:53	JW11-14
139	Stuart BARKER	27:57	VM50-54
147	Yvonne WICKHAM	28:20	VW50-54
156	Helen HARRISON	28:33	VW45-49
160	Stephen AINSWORTH	28:39	VM60-64
196	Ron CHAPPELL	30:29	VM65-69
198	Lucy STEVENSON	30:31	JW15-17
254	Olly PLANT	34:58	JM10

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 67 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
6	Aaron LUNDIE	9:02	JM11-14
18	Bethany WHEATCROFT	10:08	JW11-14
22	Heidi KEWIN	10:57	JW11-14
30	Imogen FERGUSON	11:53	JW11-14
32	Charlie PLANT	12:00	JW10
48	Jessica MCBRIDE	13:34	JW10
50	Emily JOHNSON	13:43	JW10
51	Olly PLANT	14:19	JM10

Chester parkrun – A total of 188 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
47	Nerina GILL	24:43	VW45-49	First Timer!

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 107 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
84	Robin PRICE	32:22	VM70-74

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 173 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
92	Eileen JONES	29:43	VW60-64

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 202 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
75	Philip NAYLOR	25:38	VM35-39	New PB!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 74 runners took part

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	David WALKER	19:15	VM35-39
8	John HARTLEY	21:51	VM60-64

Woodhouse Moor parkrun – A total of 436 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Jonny MCKENNA	16:46	SM30-34
210	Beth QUINN	27:12	SW18-19	First Timer!

ByAdrienne Olszewska

Long ones, fast ones and hilly ones

Even a quiet week still has plenty enough to report on. The Hebden kick starts the year for our longer distance and ultra runners and this year a couple of juniors joined in as well. There was also half marathon and fell racing action this weekend as well as recognition for our talented juniors in the North West triathlon awards.

SATURDAY 21 JANUARY

THE HEBDEN

The LDWA (Long Distance Walkers Association) put on challenge events all around the country following routes that are mostly on footpaths and other rights of way, across open fields and moors, avoiding tarmac as much as possible. The main challenge is usually 20 miles or over. These events are increasingly popular with runners looking for challenging training events and they are pretty cheap to do as well.

The Hebden is one of the most popular local LDWA events and is usually fully booked by Christmas. It is a great start to the New Year with its undulating tour of the valleys around Hebden Bridge taking in Hardcastle Crags, Colden Clough and Crag Vale with well over 4000 ft of ascent.

Ten Clayton-le-Moors Harriers tucked into the tea and toast before the start of the LDWA Hebden challenge event. 246 runners and walkers completed the long route.

First Clayton was Martin Terry who zoomed round in a mere 3:34:49. Paul Hesketh and Neil Hardiman followed in 24^th and 26^th place with times of 3:43:47 and 3:44:14. Andrew Armstrong and Alan Dorrington were 75^th and 76^th in 4:23:47 and 4:24:02. Barbara Savage was the first Clayton lady in 129^th place and just over the 5 hour mark with 5:04:19.

Andy Armstrong and Alan Dorrington having way too much fun on the start of the climb up to Stoodley Pike. Photo by Sportsunday

Joggling along at the back was Team Olszewski consisting of Nick, Adrienne and junior members Natasha and Bronia. The girls are possibly the youngest people to complete the full route on this event and did so in just over 8 hours.

Full Results

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY

INSKIP HALF MARATHON

There were four club members in this half marathon. Alex Cran was our first finisher in 75th place with a time of 1:26:57 and Nerina Gill was our first lady finisher in 268th and with a time of 1:50:18

Top L-R Alex Cran, Michael Hogan Bottom L-R Nerina Gill, Julia Rushton. Photos by Susan Wolstenholme

Pos	Name	Cat	Time
75	Alex Cran	M45	1:26:57
110	Michael Hogan	M45	1:32:30
268	Nerina Gill	F45	1:50:18
308	Julia Rushton	F50	1:55:32

Full Results

KENDLE WINTER LEAGUE – GIGGLESWICK SCHOOL FELL RACE

Report from Andrew Holt

Andrew Holt in the Giggleswick Race

As we had no runs planned for this weekend the choice, if we fancied a run was either a park run or perhaps a little fell race not far from us in Giggleswick. The fell race makes up part of the Kendal winter league which is a series of low level fell races most Sundays organised by Helm Hill. These races are highly rated by the fell running community, well attended and, having watched Briony run one or two over the last few years, seem good fun.

Plug over, the weather was great (sun, warm, hard underfoot, and not a breath of wind) loads of people running and watching and a location worthy of a Harry Potter movie.

Briony’s race was one big lap and the adults’ race consisted of two laps. The race involved river crossings, steep inclines, 6ft cliff drop offs and even a 3 points of contact scramble which was immense fun and gave us a welcome breather. I’m told I ran well finishing a respectable 30^th or so. Briony won her race despite focusing on cross country for the last few months, and was her usual humble self, breaking the course record in the process.

Briony Holt racing at Giggleswick

We weren’t alone of course, other runners we saw in the orange vest were Wendy Dodds, Peter Browning and Katy Thompson. All of whom were friendly and welcoming and all finished with a smile on their face.

Peter Browning in the Giggleswick race

Easily one of my favourite races and highly recommended

TRIATHLON ENGLAND (NORTH WEST) AWARDS

Congratulations to Ellie Root and Helana White for winning 4^th place in their respective age categories, Youth and T1. Excellent results for both of them as they were up against strong competition from Tri Clubs from Lancaster to Merseyside.

World champion para-triathlete Lizzie Tench presents awards to Helana White and Ellie Root at the North West Triathlon Awards

The girls were presented their awards by Lizzie Tench, the world no.1 para-triathlete.

PARKRUN ROUNDUP

Bolton parkrun – A total of 285 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
92	Katy THOMPSON	26:23	VW60-64

Burnley parkrun – A total of 377 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
2	Jacob WATSON	17:52	SM30-34
4	Jonathan PYE	18:14	SM25-29
6	Laura HESKETH	18:18	SW30-34
7	Chris SNELL	18:27	VM35-39
8	Jonathan CLEAVER	18:43	VM35-39
9	Matthew DUCKWORTH	18:44	SM25-29
10	Nicholas HENNESSEY	19:18	JM15-17
17	Reece Adam LAWRENCE	20:02	JM15-17
18	Simon WILSHAW	20:16	JM15-17
20	John HARTLEY	20:25	VM60-64
22	Nick ROSCOE	20:44	VM45-49
30	Robbie SMEDLEY	21:27	JM11-14
39	Finley STUBBS	22:14	JM10
41	Gordon BARRETT	22:24	VM50-54
50	Cassandra Darling SMEDLEY	22:52	VW35-39
51	Chris LAWRENCE	22:53	VM50-54
59	Michelle ABBOTT	23:21	VW35-39
60	David MOYNIHAN	23:23	VM50-54
61	Jenson BENTHAM	23:27	JM10
62	David Ian SCOTT	23:29	VM70-74
68	Alison DUGDALE	23:40	VW45-49	New PB!
69	Nina KEWIN	23:41	VW35-39
80	Wayne MCINTOSH	24:29	SM30-34
88	Bethany WHEATCROFT	25:05	JW11-14
90	Ian HARGREAVES	25:08	VM50-54
98	Sophie ASHWORTH	25:40	JW11-14
106	Annabel WILCOCK	25:59	JW15-17
107	John WILCOCK	26:01	VM50-54
113	Andy QUINN	26:14	VM45-49
167	Donna SCOTT	28:12	VW50-54
174	Stuart BARKER	28:20	VM50-54
214	Robert HIRST	30:04	VM65-69
223	Charlie PLANT	30:20	JW10
224	Daniel PLANT	30:20	SM30-34
247	Richard LAWSON	31:01	VM75-79
251	Marion WILKINSON	31:04	VW75-79
292	Ellisia SMEDLEY	33:49	JW10
302	Olly PLANT	34:31	JM10	New PB!

Burnley junior parkrun – A total of 52 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Aaron LUNDIE	8:21	JM11-14
4	Liberty THOMPSON	8:59	JW11-14
7	Bethany WHEATCROFT	9:25	JW11-14
13	Felix THOMPSON	10:28	JM10
14	Charlie PLANT	10:57	JW10
29	Emily JOHNSON	13:00	JW10
35	Olly PLANT	13:38	JM10

Bushy parkrun – A total of 1291 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
938	Eileen JONES	29:33	VW60-64	First Timer!

Dewsbury parkrun – A total of 131 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
107	Robin PRICE	33:41	VM70-74

Fell Foot parkrun, Newby Bridge – A total of 225 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
53	Wendy DODDS	25:00	VW65-69

Lytham Hall parkrun – A total of 296 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
108	Philip NAYLOR	26:26	VM35-39	New PB!

Pendle parkrun – A total of 98 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
1	Christopher HOLDSWORTH	16:48	SM25-29
2	David WALKER	19:04	VM35-39	First Timer!
13	Susan BURNS	22:51	VW55-59
36	Dawn TERRY	26:31	VW50-54
66	Christine Jennifer EGERTON	32:27	VW65-69
81	Christine LEATHLEY	35:52	VW65-69

Skipton parkrun – A total of 237 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
136	Yvonne WICKHAM	28:43	VW50-54

Southport parkrun – A total of 311 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
10	Alan LIFE	19:25	VM50-54	First Timer!
92	Carol LIFE	25:19	VW50-54	First Timer!

Witton parkrun – A total of 105 runners took part.

Pos	parkrunner	Time	Age Cat	Note
28	Julia RUSHTON	26:47	VW50-54

Author Archive Adrienne Olszewska