In only her fourth road race of the year and her first since the London Marathon, Rachel Wood is showing good form at the moment and demonstrated that by winning the Shakespeare Half-Marathon on Saturday 14th November in a good time of 86.54.

Full Results HERE

rach stratford upon avon

Leeds Abbey Dash

632x305_LAD_2014Full Results HERE

Congratulations to Joe Monk who had been targeting the Abbey Dash 10k for quite a while to try and improve his 10k PB. In difficult conditions Joe delivered placing 137th in a new PB time of 33.16. Joe commented on his Blog after the Race that “The race got underway and I got into a good tempo  and just sat at the back of a big group. I thought `brilliant`, I don’t have to worry about the pace and I made sure that I got into a sub 33 minute group. We got to 5k in 16:33, just what I wanted, as I was confident of maintaining a good pace given the last half is slightly quicker. The wind was behind us at that point, so the hard work was done really, and I managed to put in some good splits at miles 4 and 5 (5:20 and 5:19) which pretty much ensured that I was going to run a pb. I went through 5 miles in 26:33 and I was sure I wasn’t going to run over 5:30 for the last mile. I seem to be holding my pace now with the recent track sessions and I managed to run 5:26 coming in at 33:16”.

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The final race in this years Club Championships with less than helpful conditions and featuring four hundred and sixteen runners, took place at Preston over 10 miles which saw seven Blackburn Harriers competing with the Race being won by Dave Rigby in 55.53.

 Full Results HERE

First home for Blackburn was Chris Davies in 12th place (59.23) who was slower than last year, but given the conditions, quite understandable. V45 Dave Almond was next in and is good nick after setting a good time in the 10k last week, but again the conditions played a part which saw Dave come home in 24th (62.11). V60 Evan Cook came in 108th in 70.20 (3rd V60 on the day) and when you consider he is 65 in December this year, he has been a credit to himself with the way he is still performing. V40 John Cookson was making his debut over the 10 mile distance and finished with a solid run to place 140th in 72.46 as did Jan Buckingham (V50) in 287th in 87.04 which was her second only attempt at the distance. Michael Sharp really struggled with an hip injury and finished   in a time of 1:22:38 telling us that he “had to slow down just past the halfway mark, literally a pain in the butt. Struggled with the hip and glutes again”. Another Harrier Bryan Searbyunfortunately had to pull out of the Race due to illness.

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 Tour of Pendle – Saturday November 14th

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Full Results HERE

An amazing number of runners turned up in appalling conditions for this years Full Tour of Pendle – four hundred and nine in total – to find that the course had to be cut short due to the weather. Six Blackburn Harriers were among the starters, all producing pretty good performances on the day in the race which was won by Rob Hope in a time of 1.46.30, just a minute in front of 2nd placed Chris Holdsworth (1.47.31).

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Shaun Livesey was the first Blackburn Harrier home taking the 3rd V40 spot and was 21st overall in a time of 2.00.40. Sharing his experiences of the Race Shaun told us that he “Arrived in Barley to receive my race number only to be told that the race had been shortened and would miss out the the last two climbs. This news was a disappointment as I had based a lot of my training and race strategy on these climbs. I had an initial goal to run under 2:40 and place in the top 20 in a very good field on the long course. This had to be revised due to the change. The race started and I soon established a good pace and position. Once I started the long descent to cp2 I lost a few places due to my inability to descend. I passed Churn Clough res and started the climb up to Spencer moor, as I neared the top I took a different line and managed to gain a few places as I started the drop of Geronimo to cp4. The run across to cp5 I lost a place but I gained it back as I neared the top of the memorial cairn. I reached cp6 (this is where the course changed) then it was a 3 mile run back in back to what was cp4 and back to the finish, I lost another place again on the descent. It was a good race in tough conditions I placed 21st and ran 2hr 00m.40 sec, reasonably pleased with my effort”.

12238271_1008020179265496_5687257348718404489_oNext in for the Harriers came Mick Toms who was the 2nd V50 and 37th overall in 2.05.55. Gary Pearse wasn’t far behind and took the 3rd V50 spot and 46th overall in a time of 2.08.27 followed by Andy Heys in 182nd (2.31.37) and Craig Greenhough 214th in 2.36.00. Danny Teare was tackling the Tour for the first ever time and ran well placing 298th in a time of 2.48.21.

12239418_1008020942598753_4191249163306113923_o-112247726_1008012715932909_2210763383565073936_o12248104_1008015472599300_638972393060756461_oDanny Teare who was a first timer on the Tour of Pendle told the Club about his experiences on the day saying that “The tail end of Hurricane Abigail thankfully deferred its wrath until the Tour was well and truly complete. What was looking to shape up as a ‘bad weather tour’ route (9m instead of 17m) ended up being more of a ‘moderately inclement weather tour’ route (14m). This removed the last 2 climbs & 1500ft of ascent. Cagoules, decent gloves and hats seemed to be the chosen attire from the start. Once the starters gun went (actually just a shout of ‘Right, off you go then!), we began the congested trot up the tarmac road for 1 mile before starting the ascent of Big End into the mist. Keen to capitalise on my extensive reccying, I was looking forward to forging my own path through the fog and leaving the hoards to battle with their map and compass. However, soon after checkpoint 1 on the gradual descent to the Nick o P, we dropped into the clear and that was the last we saw of the grey stuff. The previous weeks rain had definitely taken their toll on the moor sections which were very heavy going. Whilst most were disappointed not to be taking on the full tour (me as a first timer included), there was mild relief being expressed on the start line, and plenty more after the finish in the car park! BBH were well supported on the hill by Ian Clarkson, John Orrel and Tom Cubbon. Gels and drinks were dispensed to order. Tyrolean cow bells guided us in to the refuel stops, courtesy of John Orrel. As a first timer, I was very happy with my efforts and will definitely be entering early for 2016, hoping that the weather allows for the full tour experience.”

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(Harriers Star Support Team – John Orrell and Ian Clarkson)

Joe Howe has settled into University Cross Country running well and was up with Manchester University’s team at the Edinburgh Hill Race at the weekend over a 10k distance.

Full Results HERE

11230865_1643762529230946_6167008139181815201_oJoe came in 39th out of the 253 athletes competing and said I ran the Braids xc 10k hill race on Saturday for the uni. which was a really great race with stunning views over Edinburgh”.

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(Joe ‘shivering’ in the black jacket at the front!)

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  Witton Park 5k Results

Pretty horrible conditions for the 114 runners who turned up for the latest Witton 5k Park Run and among them eleven Blackburn Harriers with the ‘unknown’ Neil Tattersall coming out the winner with a time of 19.56. Danny Maynard set a new PB of 20.13 finishing 4th with Mark Almond just two places back in 6th spot (21.07). U15 Hannah Cookson banged in a new PB of 21.44 in 10th and first female home, followed by Carly Edwards making her way back from injury in 19th (23,16).

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Next came U15 Chloe Bleeks who just missed a PB by two seconds when she came in 25th in 24.26 and followed by another new PB for 9yr old Saul Sharp. 8yr old Oliver Gill also did well coming in 37th with a time of 26.20 followed by new PB’s for 7yr old Hannah Davies (41st) in 26.38 and her mum Lindsay Davies in 48th (27.28). Another 6yr old – Lulu Sharp had a go for the first time and ran with her dad Michael. Lulu finished in 83rd with a time of 33.17 which was a great effort.

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