Young Harriers fly club flag in style
LAST weekend saw another packed programme of races for all ages of Rossendale Harriers on the fells, roads and trails starting on Friday Evening at the Stephen Burke cycle hub in Barrowford for the latest rounds of the Burnley & Pendle Grand Prix.
There were races for both juniors and seniors and in the U11s and U13s Harry Hopkinson was fourth and first U11 boy.
Alice Carr and Ruby Cleaver had a battle for second placed U13 girl and overall seventh with Alice just edging out her teammate by two seconds and Holly Nicholls wasn’t far behind in tenth place overall and fifth girl.
Arthur Grenfell and Harry Walker, both just nine years old, were 26th and 28th and in the U15 and U17 race Francis Vidler and Alfie Walker were ninth and tenth respectively.
There were three graded races for the seniors and in the hotly contested A race, which was won by Halifax Harriers’ Thomas Hodgson in 14min 58secs, Stephen Corbishley was the first Harrier over the finish line in sixth place in a time of 15mins 49secs, just five seconds shy of his four year old personal best time.
Will Curry, who improves with every race finished in ninth place after 15mins 52secs of running, a huge improvement on his previous personal best of 17mins 20secs which he achieved on the same course in August last year.
Andrew Grenfell was looking to dip under 16 minutes for the first time on Friday but in the end he was 15 seconds adrift after a valiant effort.
In the B race Michael Corbishley clocked 17mins 05secs and enjoyed his victory with 15 seconds to spare over Barlick’s Ben Whitehead, Roy Flanagan was first MV65 with 19mins 29secs for 31st place, Paul Young was 33rd, Alex Frost 38th, Jo Wells 46th and Ellie Richardson 52nd.
Over 100 runners lined up for the C race and Joanne Cleaver was the first Harrier in 32nd place followed by Madeline Hopkinson in 41st, Michelle Young 51st, Davina Raidy 67th, Hena Chaudry 72nd, Christine Smith 80th and Eileen Wadsworth 83rd.
On Sunday Joe Hopley took part in the unusual and very popular Race the Train event, an 11 mile race that starts at Bury station on the East Lancs Railway.
Runners are challenged to beat the train back to Rawtenstall and Joe did exactly that and finished in third place in a field of 246 runners behind Blackburn’s Josh Birmingham and Wallasey’s Oliver Chadwick.
It was an impressive performance by the 18 year old and it augers well for him as he moves into the senior ranks.
Also on Sunday three Harriers contested the Freckleton Half Marathon, one of the oldest half marathons in the calendar and it was a pretty successful outing for Jon Cleaver as he finished in fourth place after 75mins 50secs of running.
Blackburn’s Ben Fish claimed first place and first veteran with 71mins 29secs on a course which isn’t a particularly quick one and the strong winds, undulating terrain and high temperatures made it quite a challenge for the runners.
Ruth Stunnel and Christine Smith also ran and were 210th and 217th respectively in a field of 275 runners.
Ruby Cleaver was first girl and second overall in the 3K fun run, beating many older runners including her mum Joanne in the process, and Jacob Stacey wasn’t far behind.
The big event of the weekend on the fells was the Buckden Pike race, an A category race of 6K with 486 metres of ascent and for this year a counter for both the British and English Fell Runners Association championships so it attracted a bumper field of 251 for the men’s race.
It’s a tough race with an extremely steep climb and first over the finish line was Lochaber’s Finlay Wild, a multiple Ben Nevis winner, in a time of 30mins 39secs which broke the course record set by Colin Donnelly in 1988 by 12 seconds.
Rossendale’s fell captain, Sean Greenwood was a creditable 60th place in 37mins 54secs and veteran Mervyn Keys was 153rd with a time of 45mins 32secs.
One of the performances of the week was Sophie Howard’s achievement in completing the Tour of Tameside which includes four races in four days, an event that was founded by Ron Hill in 1981 and involves a 10K trail race on Thursday evening, a six-mile fell race on Friday, a half marathon on Saturday and finally on Sunday a 7 mile road race.
Full results aren’t available yet but Sophie is to be congratulated by taking part in the gruelling event.