Seniors Road – Page 19 – Clayton-le-Moors Harriers

ByJim Hickie

Winter Training – Wilson’s & Gt Harwood

For those members who either do not want to travel to (or want to get out of) Burnley, there is a weekly training session each Tuesday from Wilsons Playing Fields in Clayton-le-Moors.

Starting at 6.30pm each week the training covers six measured road routes each to be run 3 times between now and the end of March. Each route has two timed effort sections. Additionally there is a monthly 10k time trial – all of this enables you to measure your progress over the winter training period.

The routes measure between 8 and 10.5 miles but shorter distances can be accommodated. The group is generally mixed ability but there is regular re-grouping.

All members should wear good reflective clothing.

On Thursday each week at 6.30pm we also meet at Memorial Park Great Harwood. There is a choice of road training or off road trail running (head torch advisable). This training lasts approximately 1 hour.

Please contact me on 07951 424780 or mjeddleston@btinternet.com for further details.

Mike Eddleston

ByJim Hickie

Club Championship Update – Road Section

After 4 races the road club championship is coming to the boil, with only Guys 10 left on 1st December in Garstang nr Preston. The overall road champion for Clayton Harries in 2013 is likely to come from one of three men; Jonny McKenna who currently holds the advantage over Breton Holdsworth and Tom Brewster.

The V40 championship is being led by Paul Hesketh who looks unstoppable this year with a number of runners lining up for podium places including John Roche, Jason Pier, Steve Biscomb and John Wilcock.

The V50 champion is a 4 horse race and you can throw a blanket over all 4 men: John Roche, Steve Biscomb, John Wilcock & John Rusius.

Steve Biscomb is nailed on for the V60 prize as long as he completes Guys 10 with Ron Chappell & Jeff Pickup fighting the podium places.

The Ladies championship is a three way race between Irene Roche, Vicky Heys and Georgina Slater.

Guys 10 is going to be a belter so get your pre-entry in early and watch this space to see who is crowned road champion of Clayton Harriers 2013.

ByJim Hickie

Ron Hill 75th Birthday 5k Race – Littlebrough

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 1 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

ByJim Hickie

Winter Training 2013/14

Well it’s that time of year again when it’s time to charge the headlamp & dig out the long tights for your winter training! Below are details of John Roche’s planned winter sessions. Details of Ladies training runs & Fellrunning sessions will be added just as soon as i have them!

Monday Night Beginners/Improver Group – 6.00pm at Barden Track, Off Barden Lane, Burnley. Please Note a £1 Charge for this session.
Tuesday Night Speed Session (All Welcome) – Meet Queens Park (opp fire station) 6.30pm or Widow Hill Rd Traffic lights at 6.45pm – Excellent winter speed and conditioning session.
Thursday Night Beginners/Improver Group – 6.00pm at Barden Track. Please Note a £1 charge for this session.
Thursday Night Experienced Runners Group – Meet 6.30pm to warm up, session at 6.45pm. There is a £1 charge for this session.

ByJim Hickie

Northern Six Stage Road Relays

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.

ByJim Hickie

The Facebook Generation!

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!

ByJim Hickie

Great Langdale Marathon.

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!

ByJim Hickie

Weekend Racing 21st & 22nd September

This Weekends Racing is as follows :-

Road

12 Noon 21/09/13 – Great Langdale Full & Half Marathons – New Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, Great Langdale. £18 (Full) £15 (Half)
10 am 22/09/13 – Littlebrough 10k – Wheatsheaf Pub, Littlebrough. £10(eod)
10.30 am 22/09/13 – Rochdale Kingsway 10k – Kingsway Park High School, Rochdale. £15 On the day.

Trail

10 am 22/09/13 – Stainland Trail Race – Recreation Ground, Stainland Rd, Halifax. £12 On the day.
9.45 am 22/09/13 – Harewood House 10k Trail Race – Harewood House, Leeds. £8 On the day.

Fell

10.30 am 21/09/13 – Good Shepherd Fell Race (BL) 14.3 Miles, 2000′ – Good Shepherd Centre, Mytholmroyd. £7 On the day.
1 pm 21/09/13 – Scafell Pike Fell Race (AS) 4.5 Miles, 3000′ – Wasdale Head Campsite. £9 On the day.
11 am 21/09/13 – Three Shires Fell Race (AL) 12.4 Miles, 4000′ – Three Shires Inn, Little Langdale. £8 On the day
12 Noon 22/09/13 – Embsay Fell Race (BOFRA) (AS) 2.7 Miles, 800′ – Main Street, Embsay. £3 On the day

Enjoy!!

ByJim Hickie

A new Committee and Chair

The club’s AGM on 29th August agreed to reduce the size of the club’s committee to seventeen posts. Dave Scott was elected as President, Jim Hickie was elected as Chair, Mike Wallis was elected as Secretary and Mike Eddleston was elected as Treasurer. The new Committee includes four new members: Tom Brewster is Men’s Road and Trail Captain; Candice Heys is Ladies’ Road and Trail Captain; Wayne McIntosh is Media Manager; and Andy Armstrong is a committee member.

Retiring Chairman, Pete Booth, and retiring Vice-Chairman, Paul Healey, have served the club so well over many years. Pete and Paul will continue with much of their work whilst no longer serving on the club’s committee.

The AGM also agreed that future AGMs will be held in September. A proposal to introduce an alternate club vest was not passed. However, the Committee does recognise the need to modernise the club’s clothing, and this will be discussed at the first meeting on 16th September.

Ours is a large club, with some 400 members. With four new committee members and all committee posts filled the club is well placed to move forward. Our future’s bright, our future’s orange!

ByPeter Booth

Alternative Club Vest – Chairman’s Statement

At its meeting on 12^th August the committee voted to recommend to the Annual General Meeting that the design of vest, as presented and discussed in the meeting, should be adopted by the club as an alternative club uniform. Picture here.The vote was not unanimous (10-3) and during the meeting members of the committee expressed their dissatisfaction with the way the issue had been originally brought to committee and how the process had developed subsequently.

I take full responsibility for any mistakes that were made in the process. However, the most important point to stress is that there is no intention to change the traditional hooped vest.

The idea of adopting an alternative vest is not being proposed on a whim. Many of our newer, younger members (not juniors) have noticed that other clubs have updated their vest to a more modern design with a better look and feel than the traditional one. They find our current vest unfashionable and uncomfortable, to the point that a considerable number decline to wear it for races. At first I had little sympathy with complaints about the vest, but conversations with some of these members persuaded me that it is a real issue. The club is trying to attract and retain new members in a very competitive environment. 20-30 years ago there were relatively few clubs in NE Lancashire. Now runners and prospective runners have lots of choice. Rightly or wrongly, as a long-established club, Clayton Harriers is seen as elitist and old fashioned – top heavy with vet runners; not the best attributes for attracting new young members! Therefore, I feel that it is not just desirable, but absolutely essential to ‘move with the times’ and make the alternative vest available if we are to have a thriving, successful club as we approach our century in 2022.

The proposal means that we can retain the traditional vest and have an alternative for those who wish to wear it. Many older and long-standing members I have spoken to can see no problem with the alternative vest, although some would not choose to wear it!

So that’s it. The committee’s recommendation to add the alternative vest to the constitution will be proposed, discussed and voted on at the AGM. Whatever your feelings on the matter please come the AGM and have your say (and vote). If you’re not there and the decision does not go your way, you’re in no position to complain.

The Annual General Meeting is at 8.00pm on Thursday 29^th August at Nelson CC, Surrey Road, Nelson, BB9 7TY. If Thursday is normally a training night for you, come and take part in the club’s 5000m track race at 7.00pm.

Category Archive Seniors Road