Category Archive Seniors

Clayton Harriers on the up!!! – Ron Hill 75th 5k (Littlebrough)

Wednesday night saw race 4 in the Clayton Harriers club championship and our members joined the legend that is Dr Ron Hill in celebrating his 75th birthday in style by competing in the Andy ‘o’ Sullivan organised 5k race at Littleborough.

The evening started with our captains Dave Motley & Tom Brewster being interviewed live on Radio Lancashire as part of the celebrations, followed by Ron Hill MBE. Lots of other members were being photographed, interviewed and filmed by the TV crews.

The race itself saw near to 400 runners competing in what now are regular Andy O’Sullivan 5k races from Littlebrough with the proceeds going to charity.

Team Clayton!

The route which is a twisty undulating route where runners have to navigate the roads of Littlebrough including a railway underpass and a flight of stairs. On the night I.Mcbride won the race in a time of 15:51. Clayton’s very own Jonny McKenna was not far behind in 4th, Capt.Brewster followed in 10th, Breton Holdsworth (13th), Nick Gaskell (18th), Dave Motley (27th). In addition it was a great night for the juniors with Leon Passco finishing 2nd U17 and Isaac Wilkinson 1st U11 in a fantastic 22 minutes! A number of other juniors posted new pb’s.

In total 39 members competed in Clayton colours and 8 out of the first 10 counters were senior members, this shows we are a club on the rise and we have a bright future.

The next races in the Club Championship are the Full Tour of Pendle in November followed by Guys 10mile in December.

The full results are available HERE and a selection of pictures can be found HERE

Saturday 21^st September saw the Northern 6 Stage Road Relays taking place at Stanley Park in Blackpool, 115 teams from clubs all over the North gathered in the picturesque park to complete 6 legs of 6.6km – racing against some of the best club athletes the North, our lads had a serious challenge on their hands!

As 2pm chimed the first leg runners lined up on the track to begin the event; first off for Clayton Harriers was Captain Tom Brewster, after a faster-than-usual start and subsequent drop-off he finished the leg with a typical sprint finish to regain some places lost on the way round.

Standing by to take over for the second leg was Lee Smith, taking up the challenge with enthusiasm to complete his first 6 stage relay.

Taking the “baton” from Lee was Terry O’Leary, never seen without a smile on his face despite the toughness of the fast 6k course.

 Running the 4^th Leg for Clayton was David Hogan, giving it his all in an excellent comeback to competitive running having not raced since the Hameldon Hill Fell Race at the start of May!

 With the clouds having moved on the temperature started to really ramp up, Richard Briscoe took to the course having no problem dealing with the excessive heat to complete the penultimate leg.

Clayton newcomer Adam Shaw completed the final leg taking the relay and the day to a close, voicing everyone’s feelings that it had been a very enjoyable day overall.

A pack of Haribo was produced as the Captains reward to the lads who each put in a sterling effort on their individual legs, after the dust had settled the team compared notes and comments such as “Did you see how fast that lad was running?!” and “He made me feel like I was stood still!” were rife as we’d faced off against some of the elite of the North. The results were released, Clayton were revealed to have achieved 71^st place overall; an excellent result and well done to the lads who represented their club!

Given that this competition includes 4 junior categories and a Ladies relay, more efforts will be made to enter as many teams in as many categories for the 2014 relays.

Full results for the event can be found HERE

Thanks to Road Captain Tom Brewster for this excellent report.

Here are a couple of good facebook updates written by club members over the weekend with feedback of their weekends racing :-

Dom Carr – Three Shires Fell Race.

Three shires fell race yesterday with a big group from Clayton Le Moors Harriers. Managed 95th out of an as yet indeterminate field. At the last count 197 had finished with countless others deciding to DNF due to bad visibility and the Cockley Beck triangle. Jean Brown was 90th, not sure about Ivan Whigham though he was well in front of both of us, just in front of Jon Sharples. At a first attempt I did 2:52 and finished fairly strong. Must have been 15 Clayton there, the atmosphere was great. If it wasn’t for following Mark Nutter off Blisco, I would have been well over 3 hours. Great but tough race. Next year sub 2:40!

Garry Wilkinson – Cannonball Littlebrough 10k

Team Clayton

Well done to Laura Hesketh the one and only Clayton lady and 1st lady at the new Cannonball Events Littleborough 10k race today with Christina Singleton of Trawden AC in 2nd but close on her heals.In the mens race hotshot Tom Brewster got 4th, Nick Gaskell 5th and 1st Vet ,Spencer Riley 7th .Nice to see young Leon Passco 3rd Clayton counter and holding off Lee his Dad into 22nd. Terry O’Leary 22nd, Steve Biscomb 27th and 1st V60, Mark Taylor 33rd, Ryan Wilkinson 42nd & Wayne McIntosh 75th .Thanks to Event sponsor Serious Supplements for the race hydration. Just to let everyone know Pete Baistow from Trawden AC, after suffering from exhaustion at the finish is being checked out at BRI, spoken to Sarah and he’s fine.Thanks to the onsite First Aid!

The Hilliest Marathon & Half in the UK??? – Langdale 2013.

Saturday 21st September saw over 400 runners descend upon the picturesque Langdale valley for the annual Marathon & Half Marathon. The route, a hilly ‘Hendon Brook’ esk course, winds through the Langdale valley taking in some of the most scenic roads in the Lake District.

Leading the way in the Marathon for Team Clayton was Dave Motley finishing 4th overall. Breton Holdsworth also started the marathon but after Lap 1 unfortunately had to pull out after an old hip injury flared up.

The half Marathon saw ‘Team Brewster’ flying the flag for Clayton with Roger Brewster finishing 12th and wife Andrea having a strong run in 286th.

Highly recommended race so put this in your diaries for 2014; and if the full is too much go for the half!

Full results for the Marathon can be found HERE & the Half Marathon HERE

Thanks to Fell Captain Dave Motley for this report!