Young Harriers shine in Nab race
SEVERAL Harriers were in action in the second round of the Fell Runners Association junior championship at Glossop.
The “Up The Nab” race was also the Inter Counties fell championships so a number of Harriers raced under the colours of the Lancashire Athletic Association and Joe Ormrod, who made his debut for his county for the in the U17s category, made a positive step in his development.
Complete results of every age category aren’t yet available but U11 year old Charlie Dobson, who finished in third place in his first race in the series, went one better to claim a well deserved second.
In the U13 race Alfie Walker was first home for Rossendale in 20th place followed by Ruby Cleaver who just missed out on a top ten finish in the girl’s race in a good quality field.
Ormrod won his county vest in the West Nab race a week earlier and on Sunday, in a field of 78 runners his 20th place earned his team, also comprising Jacob Deacon and Willian Walker, team silver.
The final race of the day was the U19s Inter Counties and an open Seniors race, although the U19s started ten minutes earlier than the seniors.
The humid conditions made for a tough race over 6.4 kilometres and with 365 metres of ascent but Joe Hopley, running for Lancashire, had a strong run for 12th spot after 30mins 22secs of running. Will Curry, also on his debut for the county was handling the climbs well and had come through the field to just outside the top ten but a bad stitch on the downhill run to the finish resulted in a disappointing 24th place. Ellie Richardson had suffered with heatstroke in the West Nab race a week earlier but she ran well on Sunday, finishing in 67th place from 115 runners, and was the second counter in the Lancs team.
The ten minute delay before the seniors started meant that for all intents and purposes it was a separate race so although Lawrence Fairclough finished almost two minutes ahead of his nearest rival after 27mins 33secs of running he was sixth on the timed results. It was another exceptional performance for
Lawrence in only his third race on the fells and it was also the case for U21 year old Ben Kirkman’s 16th place, the second of the Harriers home. Club Captain Stephen Corbishley had a great final descent to gain time on Ben and at the end he was just 21seconds shy of Ben’s time in 31mins 10secs for 19th spot. Sean Greenwood finished in 23rd place, Kurtis Mitton 49th and veteran Ashley Holt not far behind in 53rd place.
As the club emerges from the Covid restrictions the main junior training evening is as popular as ever but the facilities continue to be a stumbling block for future development.
Club spokesman Steve Duxbury said: “The main issue is our cinder track which was put down in 1967 and is in a bad state and outmoded in any case.
“It makes training very difficult and is almost unusable in the winter so Rossendale Harriers, together with Rossendale Rays, Rossendale Triathlon Club and Rossendale Leisure Trust and with backing from Rossendale Borough Council, are raising money towards replacing the surface with an all weather version, which would make possible community use all year round. Having had a very competitive quote we are hoping to raise the funds needed through our JustGiving page, “Rossendale Community Athletics Track Redevelopment Fundraising Group”.
“We have already raised 44% of the total thanks to donations by the groups themselves, the generosity of our members and the local community. We are also contacting local business to ask for their help and we have already received a substantial and very generous contribution from Solomon Commercials.”