3 juniors took up an invitation from Horwich RMI to compete in their Jubilee Junior Street Race over a fast 1 mile course.
41 runners took part and we put in a great performance to finish with 2 juniors in the first 9 places.
First home for Clayton was Tom Bradley 6th boy followed by Alice Pier in 9th (2nd girl overall) with Beth Quinn in 16th place (6th girl overall).
Buckden Pike FR Saturday 15th June
27 Clayton Harriers – 6 ladies; 21 men – made the short trip to the English Fell Championship counter at Buckden Park on Saturday. Jean Brown was our first lady home in 27th place (11th LV40), followed by Wendy Dodds (49th;1st LV60) and Alison Dugdale (56th). Linda Lord also won the LV65 category, while Katy Thompson and Nichola Horsfall completed the sextet. Jean, Wendy and Alison were 5th LV40 team.
Star male performer was again Mike Wallis who finished 64th in a high quality field, pipped for 1st place in the MV55 category by Dave Neild. Captain Dave Motley ran well to claim 84th place, with Chris Balderson our third counter in 105th. Kieran Carr’s go-faster haircut helped him to third place in the MV65 category. The MV50 team: Mike, Dave Naughton and Pete Booth were 4th. After the race, 15 men enjoyed a few beers and a meal in the Buck Inn before taking a leisurely route home via Skipton, which included rather more pub stops than was good for us! A good night was had by all. Thanks to Gary Balmer for organising the trip.
Hendon Brook Half Marathon Sunday 16th June
There was strong Clayton presence at the Hendon Brook, organised superbly by John Roche and team: 33 runners, plus marshals, helpers and spectators. An amazing solo run By Tom Cornthwaite (Salford) saw him complete the challenging course in 1:15:29 breaking Roger Brewster’s long-standing record. Matt Lalor was again our best place runner in third (1:25:09). There were category wins for John Hartley (M55), Irene Roche (F55), Mevyn Thistlethwaite (F60), Vicky Heys (F40) and Yvonne Wickham (F50). Special mention must be made of the 4 runners who survived the rigours of Buckden Pike and its aftermath to take part: Dave Motley, Richard Briscoe Dave Naughton, Gary Balmer. Chapeau.
The club Palladium Points fell results are now on the site (here). Captains Dave Motley and Jean Brown are currently leading. The format is similar to the old message boards – the ladies results, the results for the men, and a list of all the races included. Please email me (fellrunners@gmail.com) if there are races you have done but have not been included – this will also ensure that the results appear in the newsletter. Updates to the tables will be sporadic!
Alice Pier took part in the annual Race for Life charity race over a 5k course around Towneley Park along with over 1,000 ladies and ran very well against a very determined lady runner to finish in 1st place with a time of 19:31 mins.
Congratulations to Briony Holt and Eleanor Root for their excellent performance in the Pendle Schools Athletics meeting; finishing first and second in the 800m track event
Who said we’re just a fell club?!
On a beautiful summer evening 25 Clayton members made the short trip over to Chipping for the fourth counter in the 2013 club fell championship. What a pleasure it was to register outdoors and mingle with friends and rivals without having to run about to keep warm.
The traditional route starts with the lung-bursting steep tarmac before depositing runners on the even steeper open fell – but at least here you can walk! At this point the field fanned out across the fell with some Clayton members choosing to follow the wrong leaders! After the steep climb, there is a steady, runnable climb to Fiendsdale Head and Paddy’s Pole, which is reversed on the other side of the wall, before the climb up Parlick (a problem if you’ve run too hard early on) and the superb, grassy descent to the finish.
First across the line was Danny Hope who stopped the clock at 28:40. Mike Wallis was first Clayton home (7th place, 2nd M50 in 30:27), closely followed by Dave Nuttall (30:53). Remaining Clayton placings:
13 Matt Perry 31:37
20 Dave Motley 32:41
22 Paul Hesketh 33:02
27 Chris Balderson 33:23
31 Ivan Whigham 34:02
32 Pete Booth 34:04 (1st M60)
33 Richard Briscoe 34:06
41 Nigel Weaver 35:47
43 Neil Worswick 35:59
45 Mark Nutter 36:14
47 Mark Taylor 36:19
49 Dave Naylor 36:41
54 Gary Balmer 36:53
55 Jean Brown 37:00 (4th F; 3rd F40)
59 Dug McCallum 37:16 (2nd M60)
61 Andrew Dugdale 37:50
64 Jeff Pickup 38:26
67 Richard Bellaries 39:23
69 Robin Nicholson 40:22
71 Andrew Howarth 40:40
73 Peter Dugdale 40:58
77 Linda Lord 41:18 (1st F60)
84 Jean Rawlinson 45:03 (2nd F60)
Following the race there were drinks and a lively presentation in the Sun Inn, which included free spicy potato hash. Congratulations to the 2 Jeans and Linda – Ladies’ Team winners. Full results here. Cap’n Motley will update the club championship standings asap.
Brother and sister Curtis and Briony Holt took part in the tough Sedbergh uphill challenge which is part of the English Junior Fell Championship.
Briony finished 4th U12 girl with Curtis taking 16th place in the U14 boys. Well done to both of you.
4 of our juniors were chosen to represent their town in the Lancashire Schools Athletics Championships. Alice Pier (Burnley) and Lucy Horrocks (Pendle) were competing in the junior girls 1500m with Alice finishing 5th and Lucy 6th.
In the senior boys 3000m race we had George Pier (Burnley) and Jordan McDonald (Burnley) running, with Jordan in 7th and George 9th.
Well done to ALL of you and congratulations on being chosen to represent your town.
We had a great turnout for Race 8; seventeen juniors made the trip to Chorley on Friday 5th June for a fast 1 mile course within Astley Park. George Pier was the outright winner by 15 seconds and Briony Holt came home first girl in 8th overall. Well done to all of you.
Members of Clayton-le-Moors Harriers were in action across many disciplines and in a range of events over the weekend.
New recruit, Anthony Gotts, a wheelchair athlete, took part in a number of events from 100m -5000m over two days at the England Athletics Open UK/IPC Meeting at Bedford Stadium. On Saturday, Anthony enjoyed a clear victory in his 800m race, just 0.1sec outside his personal best and finished fourth in the 5000m in a time of 13:11. On Sunday, Anthony set PBs in the 200m, 400m and, most notably in the 1500m when he improved by a massive 26 seconds.
Meanwhile, closer to home, Club President Dave Scott set a PB at the Burnley Parkrun on Saturday morning, before winning his age group at the Kelbrook Fell Race in the afternoon – at the tender age of 70! Other notable Clayton men’s performances at Kelbrook came from Dave Walker (7th), Matt Perry (12th), Tom Brewster (15th ), Dave Motley (17th), and Paul Hesketh (19th/2nd M45), while John Wilcock was first M50 and Steve Breckell first M60 in his first race for some time. Not to be outdone, the ladies also shone: Vicky Heys (1st F40), Irene Roche (1st F55), Yvonne Wickham (1st F50) and Karin Goss (1st F60).
Over at the Wharfedale Off Road Marathon, Martin Terry finished in 15th place to take the M50 prize and there were good performances from Ivan Whigham (33rd), Bev and Peter Thompson (80th & 81st), while in the Half Marathon Jeff Pickup took first prize in the M60 category, with Dawn Richards and Lorna Balmer finishing in the top half of the field.
Also on Saturday, seven men made the journey north to compete in the first Lakeland Classic Long Race of the year: Duddon Valley Fell Race. First Clayton home, in 26th place (2nd M50) was Mike Wallis, followed by Dave Naughton (35th) and Andy Orr (38th). Chasing Andy hard all the way were Andy Robinson (39th) – first in the over 60 category – and Pete Booth (42nd;2nd M60). Richard Bellaries completed the set in 77th place while Alex Braysford was unfortunately forced to retire.
7 members were at the Pen-y-Ghent FR on Saturday and a contingent of ladies made the long journey to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders to contest the British Championship FR.
On Sunday morning about 1600 runners lined up in Burnley town centre to take part in the Jane Tomlinson Pennine 10K Road Race. In-form Matt Lalor had another superb run to take second place, while Laura Hesketh was first female to cross the line, in 39th place overall. Despite his exertions at Kelbrook on Saturday Tom Brewster was 5th, followed by John Roche (17th; 1st M45), Alex Cran 18th, Richard Briscoe (20th) and Andrew Foster (30th). Many other Harriers took part in the event, helping to raise money for the Pendleside Hospice and other deserving charities.