England call for Harriers’ race ace Ormrod
Joe in line for automatic call-up to national Under 18s squad for Italy event in June
IT was another significant week for Rossendale Harriers as the juniors took on the Todd Crag fell race in Ambleside and Joe Ormrod’s second place in the trial race in the lakes should be enough to earn him automatic selection to represent England in the U18 Mountain Running championships in Italy at the end of June.
For the seniors the venue was Earby for the Pinhaw trail race in Earby where Joe Hopley had an excellent win.
All the races at Todd Crag were run from Rothay Park heading out towards Loughrigg and over various distances.
It was the second fixture in the Fell Runner’s Association junior championship and after Saturday the U13 Girls are on top of the points table and the club is lying in third place overall.
Elsie Duffy was the only Harrier in the U9 race and she finished in fifth position overall and second girl, a great result.
Harry Hopkinson was next off in the U11 race and he also enjoyed similar success with a second place overall.
The U13s faced 167 metres of ascent over their 2.85K course and in a field of 50 runners Charlie Dobson came home in fourth place overall. Alice Carr, on form as usual, was second girl and 13th overall, Ruby Cleaver was 6th girl and 22nd overall and Lyla Duffy and Holly Nicholls also ran.
In the U15 race Tilly Duffy was 39th overall in a field of 50 runners.
The U17/U19 race was run over 6.5K and
included 360 metres of ascent as the runners climbed to just short of the summit of Loughrigg Fell. After the start the route included a short but very steep tarmac section before climbing onto the fell where it levelled off, descended and then climbed again to the highest point of the course.
At this point Will Curry and Joe Ormrod were both in the top half dozen of the 42 starters but Joe knew that he had to finish at least in the top three of the eligible runners in
order to qualify to make the England team and, after two tricky and rocky descents, plus some very runnable grassy sections he came into Rothay Park and the finish just seven seconds behind Ambleside AC’s Charlie Almond and 26 seconds clear of third placed Will Walker from Clayton.
It was an inspired run from Joe and undoubtedly his best performance on the fells. Will Curry had a little difficulty with the more technical rocky descents but still finished in a very respectable tenth place.
On Friday, Joe Hopley won the Pinhaw Trail Race, the second fixture in the Pendle and Burnley Grand Prix, with almost 40 seconds to spare over second placed Jimmy Craig from Barlick.
It was an excellent performance from the 18 year old in a field of 179 runners which included over 20 Rossendale Harriers.
Matthew Clawson had a good run for 14th place and Ashley Holt finished just inside the top thirty.