Lancashire Fell Championships at Pendle Fell Races
A cracking warm day at the Pendle Fell Races on Saturday April 4th saw large numbers of athletes from the U8 age group right through to Senior level competing, many of whom, were entered for the 2015 Lancashire Fell Championships.
The Harriers did really well with a number of wins in male and female Races. Helen Leigh, running with a strapped calf in the Senior Race which had 291 male and female runners in the field, had a great day finishing 2nd woman (41.51) in 52nd position overall and took the Lancashire title. Beckie Taylor (148th) overall in 48.30 was also among the medals taking the Silver in the U23 Women’s Race. With a number of Senior athletes competing at Rivington and other Races over the holiday weekend, John Orrell was the sole male senior runner and finished 225th in 54.10.
Senior Results HERE
↓
Liz Greenwood took her second victory in this years English Fell Championships and also the Lancashire Title when she won the U18 Race by a margin of three quarters of a minute (33.59) from second placed Sophie Whittaker from Bury and was only two seconds off catching the U18 Men.
U18 Results HERE
↓
Grace Handley kept the wins going and the number of titles won on the day by the girls when, although battling a big stitch in the latter part of the Race, she took the U16 title in a time of 25.47 some 50 seconds in front of second placed Shauna Williamson from Rossendale.
U16 Results HERE
Josh Boyle had an emphatic win in the U16 Boys Race winning the Race from the front and the title by twenty three seconds in a time of 19.41. He looked full of running from the off and kept up a relentless pace right through to the finish.
↓
In the U14 Boys Race Jamie Teare took another medal for the Harriers when he finished 15th overall (20.52) in the mixed field of 67 runners and 2nd in the Lancashire Championship Race to take the Silver. Anna Lonsdale ran out of her comfort zone, never having done a race of this distance before. Finishing 53rd and 19th out of the 29 Girls runners and with a time of 25.48, she enjoyed the day and the experience.
U14 Results HERE
↓
Amy Davies completed a haul of five individual Lancashire titles when she won the U12 Girls Race which had another big mixed field of eighty nine Boys and Girls. Amy took 49th place overall and was first Lancashire girl home to take the title. George Whittaker in his first ever outing on the Fells finished in 71st place (20.33) and really enjoyed the day, so much so, that he is going to be doing some training around Pendle with his uncle who is a Fell runner.
U12 Results HERE
↓
Rory Teare had a really good run in the U10’s placing 13th overall in the seventy four strong field with a time of 5.16 and was 10th boy out of 46 in the Race.. Isabelle Hartley in her first ever go at this kind of a race also ran well for 57th place in 6.31.
U10 Results HERE
♦♦♦♦♦
Rivington Pike Race – Saturday April 4th
Another great event at Rivington in really good weather and attracting 257 runners on the same day as nearly 300 contested the Pendle Fell Races.
Full Results HERE
The Harriers had a good day taking the 2nd Team prize with the Harriers first four counters taking 3rd, 8th, 11th and 20th places and agonising two points behind the Team winners Horwich.
Peter Matthews led the Harriers home in 3rd place with a time of 18.07 and Jack Hindle took 8th spot and the 2nd U20 prize in 19.27 commenting “Really enjoyed the race and happy with a top 10 finish in a high standard senior field! Hope your well!” In 11th place came Zac Howe (19.59) and 4th U20 followed by brother Joseph in 20th (21.04). Just a couple of places behind in 22nd came Chris Barnes in 21.04 and never say die Stuart Furness (V65) came 168th in 28.31 and was 8th V65. It is fantastic that so many runners like Stuart are still turning out to run and compete. V45 Matt Nuttall suffered from an injury and came in 222nd (32.31).
♦♦♦♦♦
Good Friday saw the annual fast course Salford 10k featuring 545 runners won comfortably by Gareth Raven with half a minute to spare over second place.
Full Results HERE
First home for the Harriers was V45 David Almond having just returned to training from an injury to finish 120th in 38.01 and said afterwards that “Originally I was hoping for a PB today but after missing 3 weeks of training with an injury I’m really pleased to be only 40 odd seconds outside it, and the knee came through fine. A really fast course so will definitely return next year”.
Rachel Wood who has been training very hard for the London Marathon was the next Harrier home in 160th place with a time of 39.39 with Laura Hesketh not far behind in 167th (40.09) who told the Club that she “Was hoping to post a decent time at Salford but the legs felt heavy from after the first mile. Knew from then on it was going to be tough and was happy to finish just over 40 minutes.”
V40 John Cookson ran 41.49 (2013rd) and commented that “As I’d heard Salford was a flat course, I had PB in my mind before the race, so to finish 20 seconds outside my best was disappointing. I took positives from my even pace with a 20:45 for the first 5k and 21:01 for the second 5k. It was great to get so much support during the race from Barnsey, Lou, Matt, Evan and Tony. Thanks guys.”
♦♦♦♦♦
