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ByDave Motley

Clayton Harriers Road Champion 2013

2013 has been another busy year for Clayton Harriers with success coming on a number of fronts with individual success and pb’s tumbling throughout the year (especially the junior section)!

To become Clayton champion is a prestigious accolade and runners have to compete in a minimum of 3 out of 5 nominated races. The champion is the individual with the best results combined over the 5 races (Burnley Boys 10k, Towneley 10k, Fleetwood 1/2, Ron Hill 5k and Guys 10mile).

The Clayton Road Champion 2013 is Jonny McKenna who was first past the post in 3 races; fantastic achievement in his 1st competitive year as a harrier. In 2nd place with a number of fantastic performances over the races was Breton Holdsworth and road Capt.Brewster capped off a good 2013 with a 3rd place finish in the championship.

The Clayton Harries Ladies champion 2013 is Irene Roche who dominated with some fantastic performances. Irene was closely followed by Vicky Heyes in 2nd & Georgina Slater in 3rd.

The V40 club champion is Paul Hesketh who dominated the category. Steve Biscomb finishing 2nd and John Wilcock 3rd.

The V50 champion (also winning the V60 category) is Steve Biscomb narrowly beating John Wilcock(2nd) & Coach John Roche finishing 3rd.

The runner up in the V60 was Jeff Pickup with the ever present Ron Chappell finishing 3rd.

In all 75 different members took part in the Road championship 2013 and special mention needs to go to Paul Hesketh who was the only member to compete in all 5 races. The 2014 road fixtures will be announced soon. Will you be the next champion???!!!

 

ByAndy Armstrong

Charitable Donation 2014; you get to choose!

For a number of year the Club has made an annual donation to charity.

Amongst the recipients have been; our junior section, NW Air Ambulance, RNLI, Bowland/Pennine Mountain rescue team & Rossendale Mountain rescue team.

This year, the committee is inviting nominations for suitable recipients. If you have any suggestions for a charity that you feel deserves the club’s support, please contact Chairman Jim or Mike Wallis by the end of 2013.

Include as much details as you can to back up your nomination and the committee will make a final decision at January’s meeting.

ByJim Hickie

Team Clayton Results – W/C 02/12/13

Here are the results from the last weeks racing, it’s good to see a healthy Clayton turnout throughout the Winter & lot’s of you keeping at the sharp end of the races!

TodPark5K1372R

Well done to Tom Brewster, Chris Holdsworth & Nick Gaskell for a second consecutive team prize at the Cannonball 5k race 2, they were of course joined at the top by Gayle Whittaker, Rebecca Rawcliffe & Alice Pier as they scooped the Ladies prize!

Results (click on the name to be directed):-

Cannonball Todmorden Park 5k Race 2

Burnley Parkrun

Longridge Xmas Pudding 7 Mile

Red Rose XC – Rossendale

Mytholmroyd Fell Race

ByIrene Roche

Clayton Ladies Liverpool Cross Country

With six ladies at Liverpool, we achieved just about mid table in results from senior to vets. Excellent work girls :-), Rebecca Louise Rawcliffe, Jean Knightley, Georgina Slater, Sarah Whittaker, Christine Leathley and me…
And Clayton Ladies won the FV55 award – Jk, C.L. and me 🙂
Conditions were certainly better than last year, that is, not quite as much mud! With last minute nerves left on the start line, we all enjoyed the race with our own stories to tell.
Its certainly a race apart from the other Mid Lancs fixtures as this one entails standing alongside runners competing for the European Championship qualifiers.
There was a special “buzz” about the whole day out.

Cheers girls, Irene

ByDave Motley

The Futures Bright – Burnley Parkrun 16/11/13

Well the park run today was flooded with Clayton both young and old. At the start line there was tension in the air with the seniors hoping they would not get beaten by their younger counterparts and the juniors fired up with Coach Armstrong message of ‘Just go mental’.

Go mental was the order of the day with Clayton picking up the first 5 spots with road captain Tom Brewster leading they way, closely followed by Chris Holdsworth in 2nd, 14yr old Clayton junior Jordan Mcdonald in 3rd, new member Jonathon Pye in 4th and Capt. Motley 5th.

In the ladies race 14yr old Clayton junior Briony Holt scooped the prize, narrowly beating Sarah Toms (Blackburn Harriers) in a sprint finish up the home straight.

In total 36 members completed the race (majority under 16yr old) with many of them setting new pb’s. THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT!!!!
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Full results can be found here

ByIrene Roche

Liverpool Cross Country

Quick reminder!
If you wish to run at Liverpool for the Mid Lancs Cross Country fixture please let the XC captains know as soon as possible. The Mid Lancs organisers need to allocate numbers to the clubs taking part ASAP.
This is the only race within the Mid Lancs calendar which requires a seperate number to the one you already have. So whether you have raced or not (e.g.Townenely) you still require a new number at Liverpool. Ladies contact me, the gents contact Paul.
Face Book is the ideal quick way ….you can give either Paul or me a call by phone. Our contact numbers are in the Clayton News Letter.

Cheers, Irene

ByJim Hickie

Mid Lancs Liverpool

We have been sent an e mail re the Liverpool xc regarding numbers.You may or may not know your Mid Lancs number does not apply for this race.We therefore need to let them know who from the club is likeley to run,this is for juniors,ladies and men.Please let the respective xc country captains know as soon as possible,either directly or via replying to this message.
It is a cracking race and the opportuntity to see and race against some of the best in the country as it is used as a qualifier for the British teams.You often see athletes from Norfolk,Devon, Scotland etc so no excuses about how far it is,only takes an hour from Burnley and look to car share. We appreciate it is the same day as the Tour but if that is not your cup of tea come and support the club at this National event.

ByIrene Roche

Ladies Cross Country

Well done and thank you to all the Clayton ladies who ran at Towneley on Saturday. We had a good a turn out, so good we could hardly fit on the photo taken before the race!! (to be placed on here soon…). A brilliant effort from all, achieving around mid table over all for Clayton ladies, proving “the more the better”  :-).

Next up is Liverpool at the end of the month. Although a bit of a journey its a good experience with the slightly longer course, lots of mud, flat (apart from one little incline worth a few strides)  and an earlier start to the other Mid Lancs races (check details for times in the news letter).

Hope to see you all there.

Regards Irene

 

ByAndy Armstrong

Helwith Bridge Duathlon, Sunday 13th October

Helwith Bridge is a low key road event run by Vince Ashton of VLA events. It’s a classic run-bike-run format in the Yorkshire dales, with some moderately tough hills.

This year’s weather was challenging; 9 degrees combined with a stiff breeze makes kit choice difficult and I opted to put an extra layer on for the bike instead of trying to stick to one outfit for the whole race. The first run is always hard to pace; it’s only 4 miles and in previous years I’ve gone out too fast then regretted it on the bike leg. This year I went far too slow and took an extra two minutes!

The bike leg was tough; a strong head wind made the stretch from Helwith Bridge up to the viaduct at Ribblehead seem endless then a fast and furious return in the direction of Ingleton precedes another winding stretch through Clapham and Austwick. The second run is identical to the first and I desperately attempted to make up for lost time, with quads right on the edge of seizing up all the way round. For those who’ve never done duathlon; the second run is extremely uncomfortable as your thighs scream out at you, especially after a hilly bike route.

The race was won in 1:57 by Mark Flannery of Tri Kudu, finishing 3 minutes clear of the second place runner. First lady was Molly Ralphson of Trawden AC in 2:16

First Clayton home was Paul Brannon (2nd V50) and congratulations also to Alan Life on his first duathlon.

Next year; I need to get out on the bike more as I really struggled with maintaining momentum in the headwind. I also need to push harder in the first run (my second run was two minutes faster which shows how far off the pace I was!)

I’d recommend duathlon to all; it’s easier/cheaper to get into than triathlon and the bike training is invaluable for runners wanting to tackle hilly courses, on or off-road.

Andy Armstrong

ByJim Hickie

Report – Sabden 6 Trail Race.

The second running of this increasingly popular local race saw nine Clayton Harriers tackle the Sabden 6 mile trail race. The undulating course takes in a decent mixture of gravel tracks, tarmac roads and grassy trails with several styles and gates to overcome – not to mention a ridiculously steep ascent up the side of Churn Clough Reservoir between the 4th/5th miles!!

Newly appointed road & trail captain Tom Brewster claimed the “Cannonball Mile” prize – leading the field to the first mile!

Just a shame this was followed by taking a tumble at the first sign of rough terrain to drop back to 5th overall with new addition Nick Gaskell hot on his heels in 7th. The race saw superb efforts from Dave Motley, Garry Wilkinson and Richard Briscoe, all still sporting aching legs from the epic Ben Nevis mountain race a week before. Also present and on form were Laura Hesketh, Mark Taylor, Ron Chappell (Claiming MV65 prize), Bob Hirst and Karin Goss (claiming FV65 prize)

Full Results can be found by following the link HERE

Thanks to Mens Road & Trail Captain Tom Brewster for this write up of the race.