Harriers out in force for event double

OVER sixty Harriers turned out for two events on Sunday. Four teams of seniors tackled the Calderdale Way Relay and for the juniors the venue was Kettlewell in Upper Wharfedale for the latest round in the Fell Runners Association Championships, which also incorporated the Junior Inter Counties Championships.

The Calderdale Way Relay probably doesn’t have the kudos it used to have when it was a winter fixture and attracted the very best road and fell clubs in the north of England but it still remains one of the biggest off road team events on the calendar.

Organised by Halifax Harriers, teams of twelve run in pairs over six legs around the 50 mile long route which passes through Ripponden, Mankinholes,

Todmorden, Heptonstall, Shelf and Brighouse and includes paths, road sections and moorland.

This year the Harriers managed to fill four complete teams and, although there were no winners, there were some creditable performances.

The senior men’s team was hoping to get on the podium but couldn’t put out their very best team due to fixture clashes and one late withdrawal, which meant that Matthew Clawson was called up and ran after he had completed the Rossendale Triathlon earlier that day, quite an achievemnent.

Calder Valley Fell Runners were the easy winners after just over six hours of running and the men finished in seventh place almost 40 minutes later although, after the first leg from Greetland to Cragg Vale, they were in 11th place.

However, great performances from Joe Waller and Ben Kirkman on leg two, finishing in Centre Vale Park, Todmorden, on which they recorded the fastest time of the day saw them move into fifth place followed by Sean Greenwood and Rick Solman’s second fastest time for leg three to

Blackshaw Head that moved them up to fourth.

A last minute change through illness saw Stephen Corbishley paired with Andy Mellor for the testing leg over to Wainstalls and they also recorded a fine time which was the third quickest on that section.

Phillip Greenwood and Chris Snell couldn’t quite maintain the momentum on leg five but Jon Cleaver and late replacement Matthew Clawson brought the team home in Halifax in seventh place.

The ladies team, who were also hit with late withdrawals, had a good result in their section with a fourth place and 58th overall after Anne-Marie Hindle and Millie Hindle came in second on leg one, the male vets finished in third place in their section and 21st overall and the veteran ladies were 81st from a total of 88 teams.

Fourteen juniors ran over several courses on Great Whernside and for those running for Lancashire in the Inter Counties Championships it was quite a successful day.

The U19 Men’s team tied with Yorkshire in their race but the title was awarded to their rivals on countback after their last runner finished before Lancashire’s.

Clayton’s Will Walker finished in second place, Rossendale’s Will Curry finished sixth and Joe Hopley was ninth but the U17 Men, led by Joe Ormrod in third place, fared one better and took team Gold over Cumbria, a major achievement.

Ellie Richardson also ran for the county, which came seventh in the U19 Ladies race.

In the FRA races Elsie Duffy had a great race in the U9s when she came tenth overall and second girl.

The consistent Charlie Dobson was fourth in the U13s race, Alice Carr was 14th overall and third girl, Ruby Cleaver and Holly Nicholls were 42nd and 43rd overall and Lyla

Duffy 50th.

Iona Bell, Harriett Claxton and Grace Adlington also ran. In the U15s Tilly Duffy was 52nd from a total of 91 finishers.