Butterwick first home for Todmorden Harriers in Through the Village outing

TODMORDEN HARRIERS’ road Grand Prix continued last Sunday at the Through the Villages race.

Starting and finishing at the Dressers Arms, Wheelton, the 8.5-mile route follows roads through Wheelton, Brinscall, Abbey Village and Withnell, accumulating nearly 900 feet of climbing.

Salford Harriers’ Gary Priestley was the winner in 45:06 and Chorley Tri Club’s Finty Royle was first woman.

Richard Butterwick was the first Harrier back in a time of 55:47 to give him 21st place overall. Pauline May was third female overall with a time of 1:00:35 to put her in 64th place.

With the Grand Prix coming to a close this month and with one more road race left, Chris Goddard heads the Road Table and Mel Blackhurst leads overall in the Grand Prix. The final race is Whesham on Saturday, 30 November.

Harriers results: 21 Richard Butterwick 55:47, 29 Chris Goddard 57:21, 62 Matt Flanagan 1:00:26, 64 Pauline May 1:00:35, 75 Dan Taylor 1:01:20, 91 Duncan Ritchie 1:02:40, 101 Paul Brannigan 1:04:00, 115 Mel Blackhurst 1:05:10, 132 Stuart Wolstenholme

1:06:40, 142 Claire Duffield 1:07:40, 144 Simon Anderton 1:07:58, 338 Peter Ehrardt 1:33:37, 373 Myra Wells 1:43:00.

There was a home victory to celebrate when Todmorden Harriers hosted the popular Shepherds Skyline race on Saturday.

A field of 192 runners braved the conditions for the 10k route up to Stoodley Pike and back and leading the women home was Harriers’ Annie Roberts who finished in 22nd place overall with a time of 52:43.

Mercia’s Simon Bailey was the overall winner in 43:40. The first Todmorden male to cross the line was Dom Leckie in 12th place overall while Jane Leonard was first in the female V60 category.

Harriers results: 12 Dom Leckie 49:59, 17 Darren Tweed 52:08, 22 Annie Roberts 52:43, 29 Ben Holmes 55:29, 40 Peter Rolls 57:05, 66 Chris Dewhurst 61:16, 68 Antony DeHeveningham 61:45, 73 Stuart Wolstenholme 62:25, 77 Ian Maclachlan 62:58, 92 Zoe Dijkman 65:37, 93 Rosa Blackwell 65:46, 105 Sam Swindells 68:45, 111 Robin Gray 70:26, 121 Matthew Fairless 71:56, 128 Darren Gillman 73:13, 131 Jane Leonard 73:44, 156 Sarah Dunnakey 78:42.

The final fixture of the Ultra Grand Prix was Punk Panther’s Short Circuit Ultra race on Saturday.

The 33-mile circular route on trails around Otley has climbing of more than 4,000 feet and Andrew Worster and Kim Ashworth were the only Harriers taking part.

Worster finished third with a time of 4 hours 45 minutes, just three minutes behind the winner after suffering cramp towards the end, while Ashworth clocked 7 hours 28 minutes to claim 78th place.

Harriers’ ladies V40 team were among the prize winners at the English and British Championship Awards in Grange-over-Sands on Saturday.

They finished second in the British Championships and third in the English Championships.

The women’s open team finished fifth in both championships while the men’s open and V40 teams both took fourth in the British standings.

In the English Championships, the men’s open team were ninth and the V40 team claimed eighth.