News – Page 27 – Clayton-le-Moors Harriers

Trawden 7 Trail Race & The Rest of the Weekends Action

Trawden 7 Trail Race

‘Pushing hard trying to catch the runner in front I slipped coming down one of the descents and ended upside down at the side of the path. After picking myself up it was nice to hear my fellow runners asking if I was ok as they moved past me taking advantage of my fall…’

Sunday saw the 10^th race of the Pendle & Burnley Grand Prix Series with the Trawden 7 Trail, we arrived earlier as my kids wanted to take part in the junior races which had been scheduled before the main race. The 2 junior races attracted over 50 children with 6 of our very own Clayton-le-Moors Juniors participating. Well done to all 6 with special mention to Finlay Stubbs for a great sprint finish in the U11 race and to Tom Bradley with 1^st place in the Over 11’s.

Courtesy of Deborah Stevenson

With the junior races done and prizes handed out it was time for a quick warm up before the main race. I lined up alongside the other 150+ runners and off we went around the edge of the Trawden recreational ground and onto the road. The runners had already started to spread out and I settled into a steady pace hoping that I hadn’t set off to fast.

Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race

The course left the main road onto a track that dropped steeply down towards Hollin Hall; we rounded the corner to the road where we started the long climb up towards the Pendle Way. It was one of them hills that just when you thought you were near the top, it turned a corner and climbed again.

Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race

As we reached the top the course moved onto an undulating section of tracks which makes for great trail running but this was to prove my downfall, pushing hard trying to catch the runner in front I slipped coming down one of the descents and ended upside down at the side of the path. After picking myself up it was nice to hear my fellow runners asking if I was ok as they moved past me taking advantage of my fall.

It took a minute or two for me to get back into my stride and I was glad to see the water station up in front of me, passing through there the course dropped down and headed for Wycoller village, it was here that I was joined by fellow Harriers Dave Motley and Russell Clarke.

Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race

The 3 of us stayed together through the village and across the stone bridge; from there we started the last climb up the main road heading for the finish. By now I had got my breath back and sensing that some of the runners in front were slowing I pushed on up the hill.

This last section certainly seemed longer than I remember after visiting Wycoller only a few weeks ago with my family. After passing a couple of runners on the climb I reached the recreation ground and could see the finish in the far corner, luckily I had no one chasing me too hard as I didn’t fancy a sprint finish around the field.

Courtesy of Trawden 7 Trail Race

I finished in 23^rd place overall with a time of 45:22, apart from taking a tumble I really enjoyed the race it’s a good trail running course with plenty of climbs and nice scenery.

Well done to all 30 Clayton-le-Moors runners who competed and thanks to Trawden AC for the bottle of Trawden Trail ale, homemade cakes and for organising a great morning of running which the whole family enjoyed.

Courtesy of Rachel Todd

Full results:

Pos Time

10 Thomas Brewster M 43.31

12 Kevin Davies M50 44.14

18 Paul Hesketh M45 44.43

21 Paul Brannon M55 45.06

23 Richard Stevenson M 45.22

25 Dave Motley M 45.26

28 Ruessell Clarke M 45.55

32 alan Life M45 47.08

34 RogerBrewster M55 47.2

47 Nick Roscoe M40 49.05

49 Nicholas Olszewski M50 49.29

55 Stephen Biscomb M60 50.07

59 Sean Clare M45 50.42

61 Andy Bradley M45 50.52

62 Gordon Barrett M50 51.05

68 Stephen White M55 52.23

69 Richard Briscoe M 52.38

81 MartinBrady M50 53.24

88 David Scott M70 54.28

92 DawnTerry F50 55.2

107 MartinGriffin M50 58.44

120 Jean Knightly F55 60.34

122 SarahHelliwell F 61.32

127 Rachel Todd F40 62.41

134 Robert Hirst M60 64.57

135 HelenBurnett F40 65

139 Michelle Butsgot F40 66.36

140 Richard Lawson M70 67.06

141 Adrienne Olszewska F45 67.3

149 Christine Leathley F65 77.51

Thanks to Richard Stevenson for this weeks race report! Full results can be found here.

The Rest of the Weekends Action

It would seem that this weekend, if you wasn’t at the Trawden 7 Trail Race, you were at this years Wasdale Fell Race 2014! A total of 8 Harriers made the trip to the Lake Districts. Spencer Riley (feels good to write that name again) was the first back, finishing 6th in his age category, and 29th overall. The next male through was Martin Terry, who also finished 6th in his age category, shortly behind in 32nd. 3rd Harrier through the finish was Mick Dobson, scraping in under the hour mark in 5:55:40 and in 66th over. One place behind him, and only 8 seconds too was Ivan Whigham in 67th. Lastly, John Russius and Andrew Firth completed the fell race in 06:01:16 and 06:30:43 respectively.

There was only one lady and the race, and she outdid herself once again. Not only was she the the 6th lady to finish, she also finished as the 1st FV60 – finishing in front of four of the men too!!

Our solo runner of the week comes from our top road runner, Johnny McKenna. He raced at the Eccup 10 Road Race, finishing 7th out of 167 runners, in 00:57:47. Well done Johnny!

Unless I have missed a race, it would seem our attentions were split between Trawden and Wasdale! Well done to everyone who ran!

ByAndy Armstrong

Junior Three Seasons Challenge, parkrun

Juniors at Large; Saturday 12th July

We’ve had a busy two weeks, with the full mix of fell, trail, parkrun and road races.

Continuing her attack on the BOFRA junior championship, Briony Holt finished first u14 girl at Kirby Gala. This result puts her in 4th place with races in hand. Big brother Curtis Holt tried his hand at the u17 course, finishing 4th.

Race 8 of the Pendle & Burnley Grand Prix was the Burnley Boys Club 5k, where 6 juniors took part. Jordan McDonald was first junior home in 11th place out of over a hundred runners. Also running were Alex Townrow (30th) and Tom Bradley (46th). For the girls we had Alice Pier finishing 1st (and 4th lady overall), followed by Bethany Quinn 2nd (12th girl overall) and last but not least; Riaghnach Jameson finished 3rd girl in 29:02.

The Witton Park Trail Relay on Thursday 26th June was an excellent chance for some team building. This is a tough course with a long drag to the peak and a fast descent to the finish. Clayton juniors entered three teams and had some excellent results;

First Junior Team; Alex Townrow, Kenan Eti, Tom Bradley.

Second Junior Team; Ryan Clarke, George Pier, Curtis Holt.

First Junior Girls Team (and second ladies overall); Alice Pier, Ellie Root, Briony Holt.

Our Three Seasons Challenge is nearing its climax; second to last race was the Astley Park trail race in Chorley. Ten ran on a warm Wednesday evening with great results. Tom Bradley narrowly missed out on a race win after a sprint finish (he’s learned not to let people sit just behind him in races!) and Briony Holt took first girl. Well done to all and especially to one of our youngest runners Rachel Stevenson who had a great sprint finish. Last race in the series is this coming Wednesday 16th July at Widdop.

Cannonball Events is again running its Todmorden Park 5k races; a fast 5 lap route within the park. Thursday night was race 2 in the series and five juniors went over to compete. George Pier finished first u18, closely followed by Tom Bradley and Alex Townrow, all under 20 minutes. Alice Pier was first u18 girl in 21:03 and Dan Bradley finished in 24:41.

Lastly, Saturday 12th July saw the Orange Crew descend on Pendle Parkrun! We had 15 juniors turn up, most for their first attempt at this course. Despite a brief attempt to get himself lost, Jordan McDonald managed to stick to the plan and shadow the leading runner all the way round the course before winning the event in a parkrun personal best and new course record of 17:53. Ryan Clarke came in 6th in 20:44, followed by Jackson McKay in 7th on 20:50. Full results are on the website; some of you may have recorded new parkrun PBs but it won’t show if it’s your first attempt at this course.

Well done to Alice Pier for first lady overall and a special mention to Kaylon Cotterill who was not impressed with having to do two laps at Reservoir Bogs, It took all mum & dad’s persuasion to get him to come along to another race but he had an excellent run, hopefully he’s feeling more positive about it now!

Commiserations to two runners who had to abandon halfway round due to injury; it’s a very hard decision to make but it’s always the right one; running through an injury is a recipe for not running at all!

Well done to everyone, some superb personal and team performances!

ByChristopher Holdsworth

Heptonstall Festival Race 2014 & The Rest of the Weekend’s Action

‘Le Grand Depart’

‘The opening stages of the race suited me and I seemed to be passing people for fun on the descent, however the hard part was still to come. We then ascended from Hardcastle Crags through field after field up a long runnable climb that seemed to go on forever and then onto the fells above Pecket Well’

The day started with the elite of cycling setting off in ‘Le Grande Depart Yorkshire’ from Leeds, the route taking in the best of the Yorkshire Dales. Looking at the Clayton-le-Moors feeds on both Facebook and Twitter, I think that most of Team Clayton-le-Moors were out in force supporting the cyclists along the way and to the finish at Harrogate.

Team Motley decided to take in Day 1 of Le Tour on the box and we headed to Heptonstall, which I must admit is an absolutely stunning village which is situated 1 mile from Hebden Bridge. Here we set up camp at the local bowling club and got ourselves comfy in front of the TV. In the evening Heptonstall hosted ‘Le Grand Depart Fell Race’ and it would have been rude not to take part. So after an afternoon of R&R with everybody on the site drinking, I put on the Innov 8’s and headed to race HQ where I bumped into fellow team mates Dave Bagot & Paul Thompson.

Photo courtesy of Woodentops

Allez Allez Allez Allez and we’re off. The race started quickly with a run up the cobbles of Heptonstall village before taking a right over 2 fields and then onto a technical descent through the woods into Hardcastle Crags. The opening stages of the race suited me and I seemed to be passing people for fun on the descent, however the hard part was still to come. We then ascended from Hardcastle Crags through field after field up a long runnable climb that seemed to go on forever and then onto the fells above Pecket Well. The climbing finally finished and by this time I was breathing hard and had lost my opening advantage dropping from 6^th or 7^th back to 15^th or so. We turned around the trig and followed the route back the way we came; so a long descent back to Hardcastle Crags followed by a very steep climb back to the finishing field in Heptonstall. However by now I had caught my breath back and was feeling strong overtaking a number of runners finally finishing in 13^thin a time of 00:56:00. This was my first experience of running in the fells around Heptonstall/Hebden Bridge, other than the Calderdale Relay and I will definitely be back for more. This race in my opinion is one of the toughest ‘A’ shorts on the calendar.

Photo courtesy of Woodentops

My fellow team mates finished as follows:

Dave Bagot – 23^rd – 58:38

Paul Thompson – 25^th – 58:47

Full results can be found here.

After the race I sampled a beer or 2, and of course a little something to soak it all up before spending the night in the tent. The next morning and the start of Day 2 of the Tour de France, which saw the cyclists go from York – Sheffield taking in probably all the toughest climbs in Yorkshire. Team Motley managed to watch the race on the ‘Cote de Cragg Vale’ where the memories of the crowd, atmosphere and the event itself will be something that stays with me for a long time. Unfortunately mini motley managed to fall asleep about 5 minutes before the cyclists came through and missed everything.

Thanks to Dave Motley For this weeks race report!

The Rest of the Weekends Action

With our attentions cast over to the Tour de France this weekend, there were few runners out and about. We’ll be back to business next week I’m sure!

However! There were a few who made it out this weekend. The first Harrier I’d like to mention is Nikki Kay, who put in a tremendous effort at this years Southport Half Marathon. Nikki completed the 13 mile race in 02:17:21 – Brilliant effort!

Our next solo Harrier is Alan Clarkson who travelled over to Preston for the Catforth Cantor 5k. Alan finished as the 3rd MV55, finishing the course in 00:20:13. Good stuff Alan!

In North Yorkshire, Martin Brady and Kevin O’Brien competed at the Bentham Beagles Bash 10k. Martin put in a great shift, finishing in 00:48:20 and 23rd overall, whilst Kevin finished as the 2nd V70 in 01:02:47. Well done chaps!

And that’s it for this week! (Unless I’ve missed any of you out, in which case do let me know) Plenty of races going on this weekend, all of which can be found on our new and improved fixtures page.

I hope to be writing about a lot more of you this weekend, now that silly sport has left town! Have a good weekends racing!!

Photos from Woodentops: http://woodentops.org.uk/index.php?topic=home

ByPeter Booth

July Newsletter

The July Harrier is here – sorry for the late arrival; I’ve been a bit busy! The Newsletter includes El P’s report on the Boulder 10K, Tom Brewster’s on Hendon Brook Half Marathon and mine about my Challenge, as well as the usual features, fixtures and a bumper list of results. July Newsletter 2014

ByChristopher Holdsworth

Witton Park Relays & The Rest of the Weekend’s Action

Witton Park Relays 2014

Report to follow, full results here.

The Rest of the Weekend’s Action

The fell running ladies of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers took on their third British Championship race this weekend. The hardy contingent traveled to Scotland to compete at the 2014 Dollar Hill Fell Race. Jean Brown was the 1st Harrier lady around the course in 01:42:35, finishing 8th in her heavily contended age category overall. The next of our ladies through the finish was Wendy Dodds, who once again manages to astound us all by finishing as the 1st in the FV60+ Category. Next up was Barbara Savage, who ran the course in 01:55:45 and achieving an 11th placed finish in her category. Rounding off the day was Katy Thompson, who also put in a great effort and finished 3rd in her age category. Great effort ladies!

This week, instead of solo runners we seem to have packs of fours! as Alan Life, Chris Funnell, Andrew Dugdale and Nicholm Horsfall all made their way over to The Settle Hills Fell Race 2014. In recent weeks Alan Life has certainly been making his presence known, with this weekend being his biggest statement yet. He managed a 4th placed finish in 01:00:43 and the 1st in the MV40 age category. Brilliant stuff! Our second runner through was Chris Funnell, who finished home in 01:10:14 and in 32nd place overall. Next was consistent fell runner Andrew Dugdale who finished the race in 01:20:04. We also had a Nicholm running for the ladies, who squeezed in under the century mark in 99th place, as well as finishing as the 3rd in her age category. Well done all!

Oh, what do we have here? Four more Harriers competing at a race! This time it was for a flat Sotos 10k Road Race in Fleetwood. Mike O’Hara, our first Harrier through the finish, managed a speedy time of 00:47:28. Next was Brian Wildman just 7 seconds behind in 00:47:35. The third Harrier through the finish was Christine Egerton who was the 67th female around the course, as well as the 3rd in the V60 age category. Finishing off the day was Kevin O’Brien managing to complete the race under the sub hour mark in 00:59:34 – a great effort from the V70!!

Lastly, it wasn’t four runners, but almost 10x that number as 39 Harriers took to shortened course at the Burnley Boys 5k 2014. Christopher Holdsworth and Tom Brewster revived their Grand Prix battle and pushed each other further than ever before. After a tough battle, the hungover Holdsworth ran back in 3rd in a time of 00:16:32, with Tom shortly behind in 00:16:41. The ever increasingly impressive Lee Smith ran home as the third Clayton-le-Moors Harrier, scoring a PB time of 00:17:41. For the ladies, junior Alice Pier had a spectacular race by finishing in a time of 00:21:06 – which was of course also the 1st in here age category. Irene Roche was the next lady through in 00:22:14 and also finished as the 2nd F55. The third Lady Harrier through was the 2nd FJ, Bethany Quinn in 24:09. What a great effort from veteran and junior ladies alike!

Courtesy of CSHoldsworth Art & Race Photography

As there are 39 runners overall, I’m sorry I can’t mention you all. Special mention has to go once again to junior Jordan McDonald, who by this point is completely dominating most of the seniors – a fact proven by his 11th placed finish. What a talented set of juniors we have!

Well done to all who ran this week!

ByAndy Armstrong

bofra, Junior Three Seasons Challenge, race for life

Juniors at Large; Friday 27th June

Firstly; apologies to Ellie Root for missing out her results at the Manchester Tri Club Junior Triathlon at Altrincham. She competed in the Tristar 3 category (300m swim/6km bike/2.4km run) and came 7th out of 13 girls, 13th/24 overall. She also recorded the fastest girls run.

Saturday 14th saw the Lancashire schools Track event over at Stanley Park in Blackpool. Three of our juniors took part; Alice Pier finished 3rd in the intermediate girls 1500m final, running in 5:25 (despite being moved up an age group by her school), Curtis Holt came 9th in his Junior Boys 800m heat with 2:22 and Tom Bradley came 15th in the Junior Boys 1500m final with 5:09.

Also over at Blackpool, on Sunday 15th June was the Blue Light 5 mile road race, organised by Wesham Road Runners. Jordan McDonald and Ryan Clarke made the trip over to Blackpool and finished 11th and 21st out of 95 runners. Well done to both of you!

On the same day, three juniors took part in the Burnley Race for Life at Towneley Park. They don’t produce official results for these events but Beth Quinn, and Heidi Kewin took part and the race was won outright by our very own Ella Dorrington. Well done Ella!

Briony Holt is continuing to make excellent progress in the BOFRA fell race series with another u14 win at Hawkswick on Sunday 15th. She’s now 7th in the championship but her three successive wins put her in a strong position to challenge for a win at the end of the year.

Briony also competed in the FRA championship event at Clougha Pike on Saturday 21st June and won the u12 event, she’s now 2nd in the championship, only one race left and the distinct possibility of a tie for first.

Also at Clougha Pike were Tom Bradley and Dan Bradley who finished 19th (u14) and 36 (u12) respectively. Well done lads.

Race 7 of our Three Seasons Challenge was the Reservoir Bogs fell race over at Chiserley, Hebden Bridge on Saturday 21st June.

Eighteen juniors took part, great to see some new faces with Kaylon Cottterill and Kady Thompson taking part in their first race in a Clayton vest. A special mention has to go to our u10 runners; because of a course marking issue they had to do two laps but only found this out at the end of the first lap!

The Three Seasons Challenge results table is now up to date and there are some pictures from the day HERE

Lastly, we had some excellent results over in Blackburn yesterday, at the Witton Country Park Trail Relay. Send me any pictures that you have and I’ll do a full report on this event next week.

Pictures courtesy of Adrienne Olszewska and Woodentops.

ByChristopher Holdsworth

Pennine Lancashire 10k & The Rest Of The Weekend’s Action

Pennine Lancashire 10k

‘Wherever you were on the winding roads though, there was always a group of people cheering you on as the residents of Burnley came out in full force to support the runners’

The sun rose on another morning as runners assembled once again in the heart of Burnley. Not only in the heart but also in the heat as at the start line, many were glancing up nervously, water in hand, correctly guessing that it was going to be a very warm Pennine Lancashire 10k. Clearly a day for running with a fridge attached to your back.

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

The route, which takes in a surprising amount of Burnley, is a tricky one, with plenty of uphill and downhill. The initial burst through the Town Centre gives way to a gradual incline to Queen’s Park before weaving round to Rowley Lake. Journeying up one side the course lands you at the top of Brunshaw with a welcome downhill stretch into the leafy surroundings of Towneley Park with a final 2K back past Turf Moor to finish where you started. Wherever you were on the winding roads though, there was always a group of people cheering you on as the residents of Burnley came out in full force to support the runners.

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

After a quick start the front pack began to spread out, with it being obvious that Matt Lalor and Christopher Holdsworth were vying for first position. With no last-minute arrivals from Salford (for those of us who remember last year) to spoil the party, Matt, who came second last year, ran a superb race, clinching victory with a time of 34 minutes dead. However, for Clayton, all the plaudits must go to Christopher, who came in second with a time of 35:13. Not only did Chris clinch silver, he also knocked 5 minutes off his time last year. It was an excellent run and Chris should be proud of a super performance.

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

Not to be undone, other Harriers were out in full force. Following Chris there were some great performances from Terry O’Leary (39:06), Jordan McDonald (39:44) with myself (Jonathan Pye) not far behind on 40:42, not to mention Steve Bicsomb who just snuck into the top 50.

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

Richard Briscoe, Kenan Eti and Alan Clarkson also put in strong performances to round off a good day for the club with the orange stripe flashing regularly in the morning sunshine. Four Ladies also had a good showing with Jackie Kershaw leading home the ladies in 54:24. Amanda Duffy followed next in 56:51, with Marion Wilkinson and Sophie McIntosh following in 59:24 and 1:04:22

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

The event itself is gaining popularity; the hushed whispers that over 2500 people might be turning out was a bit of an exaggeration but the overall attendance 1660 people shows that The Pennine 10k is very much here to stay.

Courtesy of Christopher Holdsworth

The future’s bright…

Thanks to Jonathan Pye for this weeks race report! Full results here.

The Rest Of The Weekends Action

Lots of results this week.. Only seven days after taking on the 2014 Hendon Brook, Johnny McKenna raced at another half marathon – this time Freckleton. Carrying on his excellent result from last week, he finished the race in 01:17:11 and achieved 6th place. Roger Brewster also competed, finishing in a brilliant time of 01:29:36.

There was three soloists this week. Of course, there is the one man band Breton Holdsworth, this time taking on the 3 Lakes Classic Race. The next runner was Stephen Breckell, racing at The Great Hill Fell Race in Brinscall. Lastly, Richard Stevenson ventured over the border to compete at the Wales Trail Marathon 2014. It was well worth the travel as Richard finished 63rd out of over 300 runners, in a time of 04:13:03. At The Great Hill Fell Race, Stephen finished as the 3rd VM60 with a time of 00:51:23, whilst Breton increased on last weeks rankings by one place, finishing 6th in the multi-terrain 15 mile race.

David Bagot had a storming race over at Buckden Pike Fell Race, finishing as the 1st Clayton-le-Moors Harrier in 00:47:34. Ian Robinson also had a brilliant race finishing as the 2nd MV60 and in 00:48:48. Nigel Weaver and Mark Taylor were next across the finish line, in 00:48:57 and 00:52:12. Andrew and Peter Dugdale brought in the men in 00:52:31 and 00:57:41. For the ladies, Linda Bostock completed the race as the 2nd LV50 in 00:56:05, whilst Nichola Horsfall was the 3rd LV50 in 01:02:23.

The short and sharp Brown Wardle Fell Race took place this weekend. Rick Moore finished in 7th and as 2nd V50 in 00:22:55. The second Harrier across the finish was Stephen Fish, who also finished 2nd in his age category, with a time of 00:24:14. As the only lady entrant, Yvonne Wickham fought for her gender’s corner, finishing in under the 30 minute mark at 00:29:29.

Three Clayton-le-Moors Harriers competed at the Timothy Taylor’s Tom Tittiman Fell Race. Alan Life continued his strong run of form, finishing 20th overall. Geoff Smith was next to complete the route in 00:42:54, and Geoff Laycock finished in 00:46:15. The three Harriers also managed to finish at the 5th mens team. Well done!

There were some terrific performances from the ladies over at Reservoir Bogs this weekend. Not only did Vicky Heys finish as the 1st Clayton-le-Moors Lady, she finished 1st in her age category as well as the 1st Harrier overall! She was followed by Angela Shian, following through the finish just 2 seconds behind in 01:32:08. Adrienne Olszewska also had a cracking run, scraping in under the 2 hour mark at 01:59:52. This time, Geoff Smith fights alone in his genders corner, completing the race in 45th position and 01:33:26.

There was also a Junior Reservior Bogs Race, where there were some fantastic performances! 18 juniors turned up in total, which once again is an outstanding turnout.

Some stand out performances were:

– Finlay Stubbs setting a new course record and finishing in 1st in the U8 race

– Jackson McKay finishing in 4th for the U10’s race

– Millie Stubbs finishing as the 1st girl and 2nd overall for the U12’s race

– Ryan Clarke was the 1st boy, whilst Alice Pier was the 1st girl in the u14’s category

– Beth Quinn finished the course in 39:26 in the U16’s category

– George Pier finished in 33:03 in the U18’s category

Sorry I can’t mention you all! All your times were spectacularly fast. Keep up the good work!

Lastly, congratulations to Katy Thompson on completing her Joss Naylor challenge in 16:13:00, well inside her allowed time of 18 hours. Well done Katy!

Well done again to everyone who ran this weekend. Next weeks race report will be from Candice Heys, detailing our exploits at the Witton Park Relays. See you all there!!

———————————

RIP Ken Heaton

Ken Heaton (right)

Clayton-le-Moors Harriers are sad to learn of the passing of former member and 24h Lakeland Record holder Ken Heaton. Service will be held at Burnley Crematorium this Wednesday on the 25th, 11.20am

Ken Heaton (left)

ByChristopher Holdsworth

Hendon Brook 2014 & The Rest Of The Weekends Action

Hendon Brook 2014

‘The thought that 26 years prior my Dad will have already finished the race and claimed his long standing record passed through my mind but as I glanced ahead, I thought that I was making progress on Buttery and dug deep to find the resolve needed to overcome the mammoth hill…’

The Hendon Brook Half Marathon; some say it’s the toughest half in the country… Those people are probably telling the truth! Having not run a half marathon before I was unsure what to expect. With my usual distance being 5k/10k, I started the morning with my standard fast-paced warmup (and having learnt a painful lesson from the Calderdale relay, substantial Vaseline application to my torso!) before Coach Roche threw some valuable advice my way and told me to take it steady as I’d need all my energy for the slog to come!

Everyone had said to watch the fast start, to even take it easy until after the climb at Thursden Valley, as were were set off I elected to start slow and see where it took me…Running well off the leading pace set by Marc Hartley and Jimmy Craig as we made it round the school I felt to be almost dawdling so notched the speed up to more familiar territory… Although no sooner had I increased my speed doubt started to set in… everyone had said to start slow but my impatience got the better of me – had I compromised the rest of my race? Would I find myself dropping a chunk of places to the more experienced and seasoned long distance runners in the latter half of the race? I’d have to deal with that later as running up the first major hill to the Shooters pub I closed on ‘cannonball’ John Lloyd, keeping pace till I managed to pass him on the pull out of Catlow Bottom.

10270297_10203218789703820_7756108351145490844_n

Photo Courtesy of Andy Holden

Heeding the advice of my fellow captains and spurred on by the encouraging words of former record holder Roger Brewster I started to put some work in after the Thursden climb while still trying to stay at sensible pace! Andy Buttery of Blackburn slowly came into view infront and gave me a target to work towards as we tackled what seemed an endless number of fiercely steep climbs, each followed by a similarly unforgiving descent.

The climb up Carry lane hurt then running through Colne I steeled myself for the last climb; The Legendary Lenches. Truly it is a killer of a climb, doubt once again settled in as I began the climb; how close behind were the chasing pack? Did I have enough left in the tank to keep plugging away? The thought that 26 years prior my Dad will have already finished the race and claimed his long standing record passed through my mind but as I glanced ahead, I thought that I was making progress on Buttery and dug deep to find the resolve needed to overcome the mammoth hill.

10482844_10203218772783397_2713961504362925765_n

Photo Courtesy of Andy Holden

Reaching the top, Garry Wilkinson assured me I had no one behind within sight and with that worry taken off my mind I set about seeing what I could do to catch 5th place Andy Buttery – the last mile was tough running to the finish but the superb encouragement from marshals and spectators helped me onto the welcome sight of the finish line, crossing it in 1 hour 30 mins and claiming 6th place.

I don’t know why I’ve never done a half marathon before now, I certainly can’t explain why I chose the legendary Hendon Brook for my first but I it was certainly a baptism of fire (as well as a relief to finish with both nipples fully intact!). I have to say a massive thanks to the organisers, marshals, water station attendants and spectators for their cheers of encouragement as they definitely make all the difference when attempting a challenge like Hendon Brook – for my first effort I’m happy with my time and position and look forward to taking the challenge again next year!

10383649_10203222228909798_3110397962084659151_n

Photo Courtesy of Andy Holden

Thanks to Tom Brewster for this weeks race report! Full results can be found here.

Full Clayton-le-Moors Harriers Results:

3 McKenna Jonny 01:25:05 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

6 Brewster Thomas 01:30:24 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

16 Motley Dave 01:36:43 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

19 Bagot David 01:37:21 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

21 Hesketh Paul 01:37:30 M45 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

22 Hartley John 01:37:56 M55 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

27 Davies Kevin 01:38:30 M50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

30 O’donnell Michael 01:40:53 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

40 Duckworth Avril 01:44:04 F50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

41 Biscomb Stephen 01:44:36 M60 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

51 Clarkson Alan 01:48:51 M55 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

55 Bradley Andy 01:50:43 M45 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

71 Roche Irene 01:56:12 F55 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

77 Heys Vicky 01:59:21 F40 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

78 Shian Angela 01:59:23 F35 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

88 Smith Geoffrey 02:03:13 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

90 Pickup Jeffrey 02:03:45 M60 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

91 Brady Martin 02:04:02 M50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

96 Rushton Julia 02:07:41 F50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

98 Griffin Martin 02:08:22 M50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

105 Proctor Stuart 02:12:45 M Clayton Le Moors Harriers

107 Orrell Ted 02:14:23 M75 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

117 Egerton Christine 02:23:16 F60 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

123 Allan Sue 02:50:33 F50 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

124 Leathley Christine 02:51:40 F65 Clayton Le Moors Harriers

The Rest Of The Weekends Action

On Saturday, two Harriers made the trip to the lengthy Howtown Fell Race 2014. ‘Iuan’ Whigham was the first of our members across the finish, with a time of 02:48:26 and 18th overall. Not far behind was another fell regular Mick Dobson, who crossed the line in 02:50:25. Well done men!

‘Billy No Mates’ Breton Holdsworth took on another fast paced trail race outside of Lancashire and yonder. He attended his annual Fathers Day race at Castle Howard 10k, getting back on form with a 7th placed finish and scraping under the 40 minute mark in 00:38:58.

Jacob Boyle’s star continues to grow, as he represented Clayton-le-Moors Harriers at the European Championships (Up & Down) in Whinlatter Forest, Cumbria. He finished his race in 00:39:33 and 8th place overall. Keep up the good work!

We had five Clayton-le-Moors Harriers race at the Blue Light 5 Miles Race 2014. Once again, Jordan McDonald continues to impress by having another excellent race – finishing 11th (joint 10th) overall. He also finished as the 2nd U20 and achieved a speedy time of 00:31:11. Another junior to impress was Ryan Clarke! Finishing as the 1st U20 and in 21st place. Lee Moore also had a great race finishing in a time of 00:39:08, as did Keith O’Brien for finishing as the 2nd V70. However, my performance of the weekend goes to Jackie Kershaw for not only breaking her PB, but also posting a brilliant time of 00:40:45. Well done Jackie!

Well done to all who tackled this years Hendon Brook, as well as everyone else who ran this weekend. On Thursday is the next Clayton-le-Moors Harriers Fell Championship Race Aggies Staircase starting at 7:15pm.

Photo’s courtesy of Andy Holden: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wharfee/

ByAndy Armstrong

Junior Three Seasons Challenge

Juniors At Large; Sat 14th June

Our juniors have been busy over the last couple of weeks in a wide range of events.

Amelia and Lola Dugdale competed in the Bolton Tri Club Aquathlon, held at West Houghton on June 8th, coming 1st and 2nd place! Well done girls (Lola is only 6 by the way!)

Gracie Root competed in the Supersprint category at the Manchester Tri Club Junior Triathlon at Altrincham today, coming 1st girl and 2nd overall.

Curtis and Briony Holt have been busy in the FRA and BOFRA Championship events this year;

Curtis is 13th in the FRA championship with 2 races to go, after recent strong runs at West Nab & Duddon Valley.

Briony came 1st u12 girl at the FRA West Nab race on May 31st, following it with a 1st u14 girl at the BOFRA Coniston gullies event the following day!

…and if that weren’t enough…..

…she finished 2nd u12 girl at the FRA Turner uphill-only event in the Duddon valley on 7th June, again following it with another win at the BOFRA event in Kettlewell on 8th June!

Briony is now 2nd in the FRA championship (with 2 races left) and her two first place finishes have put her in 5th place in the BOFRA championship with 12 races left (best 8 results count).

Our latest Three Seasons Race was Burnley parkrun on Sat 7th June. Coinciding with the 100th event celebrations (hence all the fancy dress) we had 21 juniors running, several new PBs were recorded and everyone got very wet!
I’m sorry I haven’t the space to put all your names in this report but full results are HERE.

That’s it for this week; this is the first of a (approximately!) fortnightly round up of our junior races. More to come next time, including details of the Lancashire schools T&F event at Blackpool today.

Don’t forget to email me all your race results, apologies if you’ve emailed me already and I’ve not included it, just prod me again!

Photos courtesy of Tom Root & Woodentops

ByChristopher Holdsworth

Holcombe 2 Towers Fell Race 2014 – Midweek Race Results

Holcombe 2 Towers Fell Race Results – 11th June 2014

Six Claton-le-Moors Harriers made the midweek trip to the Holcombe 2 Towers Fell Race. Russell Clarke finished the race just outside the 40 minute mark, leading the Harriers home in 22nd place. Ivan Whigham finished as the 2nd Clayton-le-Moors Harrier and was also the 3rd MV50 around the course.

Senior Results:

1 Russell Clarke M 00:40:17

2 Ivan Whigham MV50 00:41:51

3 Mark Nutter MV50 00:42:55

4 Mark Taylor M 00:46:08

5 Andrew Dugdale MV50 00:47:48

6 Peter Dugdale MV55 00:51:31

*Clayton-le-Moors Harriers are going to begin writing up short reports on midweek races from henceforth. We will try to feature every race that doesn’t make it to the weekend report. Should you notice a race be missed off the website, please contact the media manager to notify him of his ignorance immediately. If you also have any photography of our runners at any races, he’d be very happy if you could send them into him too. Thank you!*