STEVE DUXBURY
ATOTAL of 149 hardy souls, many of them in fancy dress, turned up on Boxing Day to blow away the cobwebs in Rossendale Harriers’ festive Whinberry Naze Dash.
For the home club, it proved very successful as they filled the first four places and had a winner in seventeen year old Joe Hopley who crossed the finish line in first place after 26mins 13secs.
Sean Greenwood battled with Hopley on the steep 229 metre climb up to Cowpe Lowe but had to settle for second place just over 30seconds later at the end of the 6.4K course.
Will Curry, another talented teenager, finished in third place almost a minute later and veteran Jon Cleaver completed the top four for the Harriers in 28mins 23secs.
Some of the runners in more adventurous costumes, which included a very topical giant Pfizer syringe, a pairing of Barbie and Ken complete who ran in outsized boxes, Cruella and just one Dalmation, an inflatable Santa Claus and a very convincing Amy Winehouse, struggled to negotiate the stiles and climb the steep side of Cowpe Lowe but all finished in good time and Rossendale & Pendle Mountain Rescue were in attendance to ensure that the race went ahead safely.
On Monday eleven Harriers opted for the North of England 10K championship at the Ribble Valley road race starting and finishing in Clitheroe.
Over 1100 runners toed the line for this popular race and Liverpool Harrier’s Jonny Mellor was first to the finish in a very good time of 28mins 59secs.
Jonathan English was first back for Rossendale in 180th place after 36mins 40secs for the undulating course followed by veteran Chris Snell in 37mins 05secs, just a few seconds slower than his personal best.
However there were personal bests for James Eastwood, Robert English and Joanne Cleaver with times of 37mins 27secs, 38mins 17secs and 47mins 02secs respectively.
Anne Marie Hindle missed out on a personal best by over 30 seconds but her time of 41mins 37secs earned her 318th place and the second quickest female veteran over 50 years of age, an excellent performance.
The Harriers’ focus will now be on the Lancashire Country Cross Country Championships on January 8th when they will be hoping to win team and individual county medals as well as qualifying to run for the county in the Inter Counties Championships in March.