Callum enjoys a clean sweep
THE 23rd Rochdale Harriers Three-Day event saw runners travelling from as far as field as Hampshire to take on three tough races on the road, trail and fell around Norden.
Friday evening saw 96 runners, including large numbers from both Rochdale Harriers and Middleton Harriers race out of the village on the long climb up Edenfield Road before returning via Ashworth Road and Clay Lane.
Junior England international mountain runner, Callum Davison of Rossendale Harriers, was first to complete the six mile course (33:08) followed by Bury AC’s Ben Coop (33:47) and Andy Simpson of Stubbington Green Runners (35:24). Rochdale Harrier, Kay Welsby, was the first lady in 41:50, followed by Middleton’s Jennifer Dixon (43:19) and Rebecca Gray of Hyde Park Harriers (43:37).
Saturday morning saw 65 runners, many of them nursing tired legs from the previous night’s racing, line up for six miles of energy sapping trails, including three laps of challenging loop through Naden Valley.
Callum Davison was a comfortable winner in 37:50, again followed by Ben Coop (39:51) and Andy Simpson (40:47). Kay Welsby was again victorious in the ladies completion in 46:59, followed by Rebecca Gray (47:49) and unattached runner Emma Sharples (49:42).
On Sunday morning the three day event competitors were joined by fresh legged fell runners for the Knowl Hill Fell Race, the queues in registration at the Brown Cow indicated that the race would have a bumper entry, and so it proved with a field of 205.
Callum Davison was again victorious (45:23) in a much closer race with Ben Coop (45:38) and Rossendale Harriers team mate Rhys Cope (45:50).
The ladies race was won by Bury AC junior Sophie Whittaker in 54:29, with Chorley’s Lynne Clough second (54:42) and Kay Welsby third in 56:49.
Having won all three events, Callum Davison was crowned Three Day Event Champion for the second time and the third year in a row that the competition has been won by a Rossendale Harrier, with Ben Coop comfortably in second place.
Hampshire proved to be poor training ground for fell running and as a consequence, Andy Simpson fell from third to fifth in the overall competition on the final day, allowing Rochdale’s Danny Bennett to take the final podium place.
Kay Welsby was Ladies Champion, improving on her third place in 2015, running almost ten minutes faster over the three days. Rebecca Gray secured second place with a solid performance in the fell race.
The weekend saw the Rochdale Harriers Ladies captain Jill Butterworth, continue her remarkable season, running substantial personal bests in each race, improving by over 13 minutes across the three races, to secure third.
In total, 30 men and 18 women completed the Three Day Event.
The men’s team prize was won by Rossendale Harriers and the ladies team prize by Rochdale Harriers.