You can now access the Feb ‘Harrier’ here. This month we feature Richard ‘Bomber’ Bellaries’ exploits on Pendle, a report on the Barrow XC fixture and details of this year’s club championship races, as well as all the usual Run of the Month competitions, fixtures, training and results.
Northern XC Report
Saturday 25th of January saw the running of the 2014 North of England Cross Country Championships, held for the second year in succession over Lord Derby`s estate at Knowsley Safari Park. Once again the conditions were extremely testing, and even though we didn’t have several inches of snow on the ground this year, the mud was just as thick and sapping as last time. No Clayton juniors were seen by your correspondent, but five senior ladies and five senior men represented the club. I arrived at about 1pm, right in the middle of a squall and hailstorm of biblical proportions, and felt really sorry for those youngsters who were struggling round at the time. The poor kids were absolutely frozen at the finish!
The five senior girls thought seriously about diving in the sea lion pool, on the basis that they would stay drier in there than doing the race, but fortunately by the time they came to start their 8km event, the rain had stopped. Katie Walshaw of Holmfirth led the 262 strong field home in a time of 30-22 and also led her club to the gold medal. The first Clayton girl to finish in 151st was cross country captain Irene Roche in 42-17, followed by Rebecca Rawcliffe with a time of 44-42 for 183rd position. Georgina Slater with 48-11 took 220th, and the ever reliable Christine Leathley and Sue Allen completed the Clayton finishers in 249th and 255th respectively. Overall, 31st team on the day.
In the men’s race, contested by 614 athletes and run over 12km, Dan Garbutt of Durham City AC, improved on his third place last year to take the title in a time of 41-17. Our first man home was Spencer Riley in a superb 72nd place and a time of 46-43. Richard Briscoe used his impressive road speed to take 338th place in 56-15, and Ryan Wilkinson and Mark Wightman battled hard all the way round with just one second between them at the finish. Mark achieved 380th in a time of 58-28, Ryan just one place in front. As for me, I was pleased to record 65-05, six seconds faster than last year even though my 500th position was eight places worse. Still, I did beat 114 others this year compared to 91 last time. 11 runners lapped me, though one who did not was Olympian Jonny Brownlee who finished 21st overall. With six runners required to finish a team we were one man short, but never mind.
When you take away the roads, fells, trails and running around in the dark with a torch on your head, the XC chromosomes are still at the heart of Clayton`s DNA.
Peter Browning. Full results are here.
Award Winners 2013
The Club’s Annual Presentation of Awards will be held on Saturday 1st February in the 1882 Lounge at Burnley FC. These are the Award Winners for the following Club Competitions in 2013:
- Cross Country Championship
- Fell Championship
- Road Championship
- Cross Country Palladium
- Fell Palladium
- Road Palladium
- Pendle Aggregate Trophy
- John North Trophy
The winners for the following awards will be announced at the Awards Evening, but here are the Nominations:
- Outstanding Ladies’ Performance
- Outstanding Men’s Performance
- Outstanding Men’s V50 Performance
- Most Promising Newcomer
- Most Improved Runner
Get your tickets now so you can congratulate our Award Winners on their successes in 2013. Please order your tickets no later than Friday 24th January. Let’s make this a really good night out for Team Clayton!
January Newsletter
A little belatedly, the January Newsletter can be found here. It has details of the Club Celebration and Awards’ Evening on 1st February, 2014 Club Championship races, English and British Fell Championship counters, and a New Year’s message from the President, plus all the usual features, recent results and fixtures for January and February.
Lancs XC Champs Report
Well what a good turnout it was last weekend at Witton Park for Team Clayton. It was nice to see so many orange and white vests at as always a very well organized event by Blackburn Harriers.
Let’s start by mentioning some of the performances at the weekend from the Juniors up …..
Isaac Wilkinson took 14th place in the Under 11 boys. Millie Stubbs 11th place, Roanna Holdsworth 26th place, and Grace Root 41st place in the Under 11 Girls.
The Under 13 boys: Thomas Bradley, Adam Quinn, Daniel Bradley, Zac Jordan. Claiming 4th team overall.
Briony Holt, Eleanor Root, Karina Rycktnsca, and Alice Gane for 6th team in the under 13 girls. Kenan Eti, Alexander Townrow, Ryan Clarke, Curtis Holt… for 4th overall under 15 boys.
In the under 15 girls, Alice Pier was 21st. In the under 17 men George Pier was 23rd, and Jordan McDonald was 24th. In the Under 17 Women, Bethany Quinn was 13th.
Jean Brown, Angela Shian and Vicky Heys for bronze in the Ladies vets .
Spencer Riley, Stuart Fogg, Nick Gaskell, Garry Wilkinson, Colin Shuttleworth and Brian Horrocks for 4th overall men’s team.
Garry Wilkinson, Nick Gaskell, Colin Shuttleworth…for bronze overall in the men’s vets team. Colin Shuttleworth and our President Dave Scott took top podium position for 1st V55 and 1st V70 respectively. Team Clayton also won the Senior Men’s Plate.
And that’s Read More
December Newsletter
Welcome to the latest edition of the Harrier – a few days later than planned – my apologies. Download it now to get reports on the UK Fell & Hill running Relays in N Wales, the Tour of Pendle and the FRA Presentation, hosted by the club at Mytton Fold Hotel, plus all the usual features, results and fixtures. Please take special note of the article on p3 by Mike Eddleston regarding annual subscriptions, which are due at the end of the month. December Newsletter 2013
#TeamClayton Ladies at Liverpool XC
(L to R – Irene Roche, Rebecca Rawcliffe, Georgina Slater, Christine Leathley, Sarah Whittaker and Jean Kightley)
Weekend roundup 9/10 Nov
Another busy weekend for Team Clayton!
Captain Tom Brewster started his weekend in style with a race win at Burnley ParkRun, where fourteen members competed. ParkRun results. Thirteen members were out on the fells at Dunnerdale, with Ivan Whigham and Captain Jean Brown leading our members home. Dunnerdale results. Six men braved a wet Bolton with our Juniors to compete in the Red Rose Cross Country League, with Spencer Riley finishing a tremendous 11th. XC Bolton results. And that was just Saturday!!
On Sunday, Ivan Whigham was out racing again, leading eight of our members at the Wadsworth Half Trog. Half Trog Results. Six members were out on the Fylde, where newcomer Nick Gaskell finished a fantastic 2nd at the Windmill 10K in a time of 35:50. Windmill 10K results.
A tremendous, busy weekend! Well done Team Clayton!
Red Rose Cross Country – Bolton
The next Red Rose Cross Country fixture is on Saturday 9th November at Leverhulme Park, Bolton. The course is made up of playing fields and woodland paths which in recent year’s have tended to be quite wet at this time of year. Car parking at the venue fills up very quickly but there’s parking available around the park. Postcode for the park is BL2 6EB. Please double check before setting off. For those of you who have NOT yet run in this seasons Red Rose League you may already be registered so come and see me before you go to registration. For those of you who HAVE raced this season at Leigh or Chorley REMEMBER to bring your RED ROSE race number with you. Meeting point will be next to the start / finish line. Look out for the ORANGE glow.
Juniors please make sure you bring along to EVERY race the following items:
Club Vest, waterproof / windproof jacket, tracksuit bottoms, hat/buff, gloves, trail / fell shoes or cross country running spikes.
Also remember to bring a drink (not fizzy), a banana or cereal bar with you. It’s important that you are fully prepared before you race.
Please arrive at least 45 minutes before your race starts.
Mid Lancs Cross Country Results – Burnley
Saturday 26th October saw the Juniors out in force at the first Mid Lancs XC fixture of the season at Towneley Park, Burnley. In the younger age categories we saw some fine performances and results especially from Millie Stubbs in the U11 girls race. The U13 girls race saw new girl Alice Gane make her Clayton debut at cross country. In the U15 boys the competition is hotting up with Ryan Clarke now getting his rewards for the hard work he’s been putting in at training (watch out Kenan and Curtis) With no team positions awarded to the U11’s it was left to the U13 girls and U15 boys to race their way to 4th place. Special mention to little Finley Stubbs who after losing a shoe continued to work hard through the mud and water in the U11 boys.
U11 Girls: Millie Stubbs 5th, Ella Dorrington 25th, Roanna Holdsworth 26th, Anna Ashworth 36th, Keira Stevenson 37th and Grace Root 42nd.
U11 Boys: Jackson McKay 17th, James Ashworth 20th, Adam Stevenson 36th and Finley Stubbs 47th.
U13 Girls: Briony Holt 10th, Eleanor Root 18th, Alice Gane 39th, Lucy Stevenson 57th. Team Result 4th.
U13 Boys: Tom Bradley 12th and Daniel Bradley 42nd.
U15 Girls: Alice Pier 15th.
U15 Boys: Kenan Eti 26th, Ryan Clarke 28th, Curtis Holt 29th, Alexander Townrow 43rd, Simon Wilshaw 47th. Team Result 4th.
U17 Girls: Beth Quinn 11th.
U17 Boys: Jordan McDonald 13th and George Pier 22nd.
Well done to ALL of you.