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Stanley Park 5 Mile Road Race & The Rest of the Weekends Action

Stanley Park 5 Mile Road Race

‘Once again it was good for the juniors to be part of an event with our senior runners. Thank you for all the support and encouragement’

Another early start for those travelling to Blackpool for the Stanley Park 5 Mile Road Race. Marion had body pump music playing in the car to get us ready. We arrived to blue skies but a cold wind. After a good warm up we were ready to go. Twelve Clayton-le-Moors members ran including four juniors. After a fast start the pace settled down as we ran along the paths of the park.

First Clayton-le-Moors Harrier home was junior member Jordan McDonald, followed by Alan Life who was first Clayton senior to finish. The battle for the third Clayton-le-Moors Harrier to finish was close with Andy Bradley finishing just a head of George Pier, followed by John Wilcock. A very good run from Tom Bradley saw him finish as the next Harrier. First lady to finish was Donna Riley, followed by myself, Jackie Kershaw, Carol Life and Marion Wilkinson, with Kevin O’Brien taking the final Clayton-le-Moors Harriers place.

Once again it was good for the juniors to be part of an event with our senior runners. Thank you for all the support and encouragement.

Thank you to Alice Pier for this weeks race report! Full results here.

The Rest of the Weekends Action

This weekend saw two Clayton-le-Moors Harriers compete at the Wilmslow Half Marathon. Anthony and Donna Scott both also had excellent runs, completing the circuit in 01:51:25 and 01:57:14 respectively.

At the Edale Skyline Fell Race, Andrew Armstrong had a storming race finishing in 03:55:52John Rusius managed a very respectable time of 04:16:03 while FV60 Katy Thompson managed to scrape under the 5 hour mark to post an excellent time of 04:59:16. Well done! Full results found here.

Four of the Clayton-le-Moors Harrier Men took to the hills of the Calderdale Way this weekend, covering 20 miles of muddy terrain and quaint village track across leg 1 and 2 of the Calderdale Relays. Expect a full race report on our clubs excursion across Yorkshire on the 11th May. Well done to all who ran this weekend!

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From left to right: Dave Motley, Paul Hesketh, Spencer Riley, Christopher Holdsworth 

JUNIORS; Tuesday Training starts April 1st.

Our Tuesday Fell training session starts on Tuesday April 1st. As before; this is an “invitation only” session and everyone should have received an email about it.

More details HERE

If you haven’t had an email and you think you should have then contact us on claytonjuniors@gmail.com

Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships 2014 & The Rest of the Weekend Action

Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships 2014

‘These rumours had everyone talking and some of the Clayton-le-Moors faithful used this confusion as a smoke screen to raid the Trawden cake and cookie tins undetected’

On arriving at the Trawden tent, where we once again decided to take up the kind offer of a tent share, all the talk was about how poorly marked the course was and how much chocolate cake Spencer had eaten the night before. Despite his full stomach Spencer was soon away on the first leg and returned in a magnificent 28th place. Next away was Richard Briscoe who was clearly in a rush to get to Burnley to watch his beloved Clarets as he managed to post a great time and hand over in 39th position – An excellent run considering the caliber of runners in and around him.

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The youngest member of the team, Jacob Boyle was keen to challenge Spencer’s earlier time as he set off on the 3rd leg. Only to find on his return that the organisers had started to lose control of who and what time was on each leg. However the most important thing was that Jacob had managed to hold onto his position, which was a great performance by the youngster. The confusion began to gather momentum and by the time Adam Shaw, Jonathan Pye and Paul Wale had completed there legs, rumours of a potential mass start were in full swing. These rumours had everyone talking and some of the Clayton-le-Moors faithful used this confusion as a smoke screen to raid the Trawden cake and cookie tins undetected.

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To add to all this confusion runners were now returning to the change over area complaining of being misdirected by marshals (who I add, were not wearing hi-vis jackets) around the course and unfortunately our very own John Wilcock was to fall victim to this on leg 7. This error by the marshals cost John approx 2-3 mins and probably several more in motivation after having to climb the first hill all over again! The small consolation for John was it was also happening to some of the elite teams fighting it out for national qualification which saw some heated discussions at the organisers tent! Matt Law and Lee Passco started the Clayton-le-Moors Harriers fight back by both posting fantastic times and gaining the team a place or two back.

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Next it was myself, my hopes of having a pack of runners to run with and against had not materialised, so off I went with only a few targets in my sights. After only just returning to competing after a hernia operation I was a little unsure as to how fast to go out, but three hills in the first mile soon had me settling for a steady start. With the hills behind me I was able to open it up a bit in the last section and managed to claw back another two positions. Captain Tom Brewster was next up and he showed exactly why he is proving to be a great road captain by leading by example and notching up an amazing gain of four places!!

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The rumours of a mass start had been confirmed and all remaining runners were to go off together once all twenty five qualifying teams had completed the race. This would mean our final leg runner, Dave Motley, would have the advantage of running in a pack to try and gain the team a few more places. Dave managed to post the teams fastest short leg time of the day, which brought the team home in a respectable 48th position

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Yet again another great team day out and despite the lack of organisation and communication of the event everyone seemed to enjoy the day. Thanks to Tom for organising the team and to my entire fellow team members and their families for a fantastic day out representing Clayton-le-Moors Harriers!!

Thanks to Lee Smith for this weekends race report! Full results here.

The Rest of the Weekend Action

As a multitude of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers descended upon Heaton Park’s 12 Stage Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships, fewer races were attended this week. Nonetheless, Harriers made their presence felt at the Haworth Hobble. Thirty Two miles of Moors were covered by a great turn out of 10 Harriers. First around the extensive course was James Baldwin in an excellent time of 04:50:06 and in 25th position. This was followed shortly by Andrew Orr in 28th recording a time of 04:52:30. Martin Terry and Andrew Armstrong came in at 52nd and 70th respectively, whilst running duo Mick Dobson and Ivan Wigham sneaked in under the century mark with a 99th placed finish. Wendy Dodds was the first F60 around the track and the solitary female Harrier to compete, well done! Full results found here.

Elsewhere, at the Trimpel 20, confusion has arisen over the missing finishing time of ‘Marathon’ Captain Dave Motley. Although the results may not state it, he posted a spectacular time of 2:10:09! Snapping at his heels was Paul Hesketh who also posted an impressive result with a time of 02:11:32. Now a former Harrier, Derrick Marsh also had an excellent race 02:41:39. Well done and we wish you all the luck in the future!

Lastly, at the Sweatshop St. Annes 10 Mile Nick Gaskell continued his blistering form by coming in at 9th overall. Stephen Biscomb and Brian Wildman also had excellent races at the 10 mile course.

Once again, well done to all who ran this weekend and be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest Clayton-le-Moors Harriers news and race information.

 

Media Manager

994543_10151623187693742_374114985_n_FotorThe Committee has appointed Christopher Holdsworth as our Media Manager, to fill the vacancy that arose due to the resignation of Wayne McIntosh.

Christopher joined Clayton in June last year, having enjoyed success in athletics at school. Christopher’s natural ability saw him finish a very creditable 18th out of 118 competitors in his first race for the club, the Worsthorne Moor Fell race. Further impressive performances led to Christopher receiving the club’s Most Promising Newcomer award for 2013.

Christopher holds a degree in Fine Art from the Leeds College of Art. He brings his interests in photography and writing to the Media Manager role. I welcome Christopher to the club’s committee and look forward to seeing our club’s many achievements being effectively publicised over the coming months.

Jim Hickie, Club Chair

Haworth Hobble; Sat 15th March

Eight Clayton members made the trip over to Haworth for this classic 32 mile trot around the gritstone moors of North Yorkshire. Originally a pairs only event, this is now a predominantly singles race and part of the RunFurther ultra series (where it’s classed as a short race!)

Conditions were cool and dry at the start but after a small delay the field were soon out on the windy tops of Bronte country. The mostly runnable route brings runners over the Pennine Way and then via the Gorple Road to Hurstwood. It then slowly loops round to visit Todmorden, Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall (via Stoodley Pike) before returning over the moors to Haworth.

First Clayton home was Jamie Baldwin (newly re-invented as an ultra runner) in 4h50m and 25th out of 355 finishers, followed by Martin Terry (5h10m) and Andy Armstrong (5h22m). In the pairs; Mick Dobson and Ivan Whigham completed their first Hobble in 5h42m and Dave Naughton donned his Dr Dre headphones to partner Alex Braysford round in 5h54m. Wendy Dodds was our sole Clayton lady (come on ladies, where are you?), finishing in 6h14m and first V55.

Congratulations to KCAC for running a well organised event with hot dogs, hot cross buns, loads of biscuits (and even whisky tasting at Mankinholes), followed by a hot feed at the finish.

Latest Junior Results

A number of the juniors have been in action in various events in the first weeks of March.

Northern Schools Championship                                                                              Year 7 girl Eleanor Root ran at Longford Park, Stretford (in the shadow of Old Trafford Cricket Ground) in the Northern Schools’ Championship on Saturday 1st March. She finished 12th with a time of 9:34mins in the Year 7/8 race 40 seconds after the leader. Her School Skipton Girls High School won the annual team event.

Burnley Primary Schools XC
On Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th March the annual Burnley Primary Schools XC races were held at Towneley Park. Clayton Juniors took the honours in both the girls and boys races. Millie Stubbs was 1st girl home closely followed by Roanna Holdsworth 2nd, Anna Ashworth 9th and Keira Stevenson 13th. In the boys race Jackson McKay was 1st, with James Ashworth 4th and Adam Stevenson 16th.

ESSA XC Championship 2014                                                                                      16 year old Jordan McDonald was in action at Castle Donnington, Leicestershire representing Lancashire in the ESSA XC Championship. In a very talented field of 326 runners he did everyone proud finishing 249th in a time of 22:16mins, helping Lancashire finish 24th overall.

The Root Girls                                                                                                                 On Sunday 16th March Grace and Eleanor Root travelled to Leigh Sports Village to take part in their first ever Aquathlon. 8 year old Grace competed in the supersprint which consisted of a 50m swim and a 600m run and finished 3rd girl out of 4 in a time of 4:18mins. Older Sister Eleanor competed in the Tri-Stars 3, a 400m swim and a 3k run finishing 10th girl out of 21 in a time of 23:56mins. Both girls did well on a cold and blustery day.

It’s great to see the juniors doing so well in events not associated with the club. It really is pleasing to see you rewarded for all the hard work you put in at training. ALL the coaching staff are really proud of you.                                                                          Well done to ALL of you.

Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round 2014 + The Rest of the Weekends Action

Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round 2014

‘The further we climbed, the more the backdrop of Lancashire began to recede into a thick haze. Immediately we seemed to find ourselves in a sort of runners purgatory..’

Sitting here with bag of frozen onions on my knee, aching thighs and a sense of both achievement and defeat, I contemplate apathetically to the challenge endured. Initially only arriving to spectate and photograph the new Clayton-le-Moors Harriers vest, I took one look at the nebulous fog that nestled over Pendle and yielded, I could not deny myself the lure of the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round.

After a brief photo-shoot, runners from all clubs with an abundance of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers vests gathered on the bridge. A speedy send off sent us on our way towards the first of the hill climb challenges ahead. The ever ominous ascent to the Trig loomed, a staple Pendle fixture but not for the fainthearted. Feeling a lack of energy that would usually propel myself up the early climb was not there that day – I knew I was in for tough race, though I could not envisage how tough it would be until at the summit. Firstly however, the further we climbed, the more the backdrop of Lancashire began to recede into a thick haze. Immediately we seemed to find ourselves in a sort of runners purgatory, lost on a barren, foggy wasteland. Up ahead we began to discover waypoints in the distance, though it was difficult to distinguish whether they were marshals or mirages.

At this point I had begun running with another, with the both of us as the only reassurance that we hadn’t got lost, we decided to run together. However, our pace had considerably dropped as we navigated precariously over the first signs of the boggy mire that was soon to come. Behind us, like a sherpa from the fog, Matt Perry emerged to guide us on the correct paths. Had he not come along, the group of now five would probably still be up there.

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 Courtesy of Woodentops

The track ahead was like no other I had ever experienced. For all the accomplishments I’d achieved so far in my short time at Clayton-le-Moors Harriers, they fell insignificant to the endurance needed to traverse over this unimaginably difficult terrain. The recent highly placed finishes and the ascending of the ranks in the club felt like a falsehood in these moments. I simply could not keep up with these true hardy fell runners, I felt like a flash in the pan – an impostor among the fells. The gales blowing away any air you clutched in your lungs, to the deep sticky bogs pulling you down into the earth and ceasing any pace you had, this was the toughest experience I’ve had so far. I was sure to keep up with this group though through mostly in fear of going astray. Finally, we began to descend out of our ‘runners purgatory’.

With Matt successfully navigating our route, I had to make up on lost ground. Despite the loss of feeling in my legs, I had managed to catch up and re-overtake the group charging down the hilly banks to Churn Clough Reservoir. Here is where the soul sapping significant moments occurred in our 10 mile race. Every time one of our group members found ourselves in front, Matt Perry would be on hand to re-overtake with his advantageous route choices. Clambering up a hill bank? He knew a better way. Left or right side of the fence? He knew the correct way. This theme continued right until the end, where in similar fashion to Windy Hill, I charged down Ogden Dam only to miss the turning back up the hill and onto the finish. With Matt taking this route and cementing his place as the first Clayton-le-Moors Harrier, I was broken.

I slowly made my way back to the correct route having almost give in. That is until I spotted Dave Motley careering down onto the top of Ogden Dam, where my legs soon found a second wind. The final stretch of land underfoot towards the finish was simply to get back home. No energy, no strength, legs gone and all over the place, I finished in a time of 1:16.13. Matt Perry had finished 7th with an impressive time of 1:15.31 and Dave was close behind in an excellent time of 1:17.21 finishing 11th. Matt and I had a great battle taking over one another across this course and his consistency, unlike my erratic run, deserved him the win in the first Clayton-le-Moors Harriers Fell Championship in 2014. Well done Matt!!

Other top performances included newcomer Ryan Belshaw coming in a fantastic 21st place. ‘MV50’ David Bagot arrived back in at 36th place, whilst Jean Brown finished 64th overall. Full results can be found here.

It was an outstanding course, and every Clayton-le-Moors Harrier performed so well. Congratulations to all our runners who took part on one of the toughest races around!

Stand Bradshaw Pendle Round

The Rest of the Weekends Action

It was a difficult weekend for many Clayton-le-Moors Harriers as there were copious amounts of races to choose from. Firstly, at the Roddlesworth Roller Nick Gaskell had a brilliant performance achieving 5th in a time of 34:45. With his impressive performances as of late, he could be the one to beat at Ron Hill’s Accrington 10k. Also finishing 5th and across the finish in a very fast two hours was Jonny McKenna at the East Hull 20. Breton Holdsworth was the sole Harrier at Dentdale Run 2014. Although he didn’t match up to past achievements, he still managed a solid 19th placed finish in a time of 1:29:48.

Our very own Ron Hill competed at Trafford 10k this weekend, completing the race in a time of 53:59 and coming 645th overall. Well done to Spencer Riley for competing in the Lancashire Cross Country team and completing the course in 39:00 and coming in at 166th! Spencer was participating among the best of the country at in the Inter-County Championships at Birmingham this weekend.

The juniors were out in force at the Daffodil Doddle this weekend. Thomas Bradley was the first Clayton-le-Moors Harrier around the track in 8:04. Millie Stubbs, the first female around the course and 18th female overall completed the race in 9:13. Ella Dorrington, and Daniel Bradley also had excellent races for the juniors. Full results found here.

Well done to all who ran at the weekend. The weather promised us better but it didn’t deliver, unlike you and your fabulous efforts. Keep up the good work Clayton-le-Moors Harriers!

 

Mens 12 Stage Road Relays – 15/03/2014 – Team entered

The following runners have been entered as a team for the upcoming Mens 12 Stage Road Relays taking place on 15th March at Heaton Park in Manchester:

Spencer Riley
Tom Brewster
Dave Motley
Jacob Boyle
Paul Wale
Lee Smith
Adam Shaw
Lee Passco
John Wilcock
Matt Law
Richard Briscoe
Jonathan Pye

Please note this isnt a running order, simply a notification of the team entered, further details of the running order will be published before the event.

Further details of the event can be found here:http://www.northernathletics.org.uk/events/northern-athletics-12-6-stage-road-relays-championships/

If anyone has any questions regarding this please contact Road Captain Tom Brewster.

Junior Race Sun. 9th March – Daffodil Doddle

The 26th Annual Daffodil Doddle race take place this Sunday 9th March at Abbey Village School, Bolton Road, Abbey Village, Chorley PR6 8DD please check the postcode before setting off. START 12:30pm PROMPT Arrive as early as possible as parking can be a problem especially with an Adult race on before the junior race.

New Course for 2014  A safe, well marshalled 2.2km course on paths in the Roddlesworth area. It is recommended that under 10’s are accompanied by an adult for the duration of the course.

Pre-entry is now closed. However you can still enter on the day at a cost of £5. The race organiser is Simon Townsend. If you wish to check that the race limit has not been reached then contact Simon via email. sp_townsend@hotmail.com

Remember to wear your club vest. Club jacket, tracksuit bottoms, will be needed and take appropriate footwear for this race.  Make sure you have a drink and something to eat like a banana or cereal bar around 30/40 mins before the race. (Not good racing on an empty stomach)

RACE DETAILS

Good luck to ALL of you.

March Newsletter

Here is the latest edition of the Harrier, including reports on a number of events and races, plus all the usual features. March Newsletter 2014