Harriers hard at it in full set of fixtures
LAST weekend saw a full set of racing fixtures for the Harriers with several events taking place on the road and fell, including the English National Road Running 12 stage relays, the Pendle fell race and Lad’s Leap, the English fell running championship race.
Closer to home the historic Pendle fell race enticed 187 hardy and competitive runners to take on its steep sided and technical course. The race first took place in 1956 and in recent years it has incorporated the Lancashire Fell championships. The 4.5 mile race to the summit of Pendle hill takes in over 1,200 feet of elevation and several runners represented the club this year.
The Rossendale juniors were out in force and took on courses varying between one and three miles with some excellent results. Samuel Fenn won the under 9 race in a blistering time of 3mins 51secs, Elsie Duffy won the female under 11 race in 5mins 28secs and was joined in the same race by Alexander Ball, Archie Pilling, Elliot Sanderson and Otis Barret, all completing the course in under 6 minutes.
Harry Walker, Isabelle Fenn, Ivy Pilkington, Henry Wright and Carys Sanderson all took part in the under 13 race whilst Alice Carr, Lyla Duffy and Holly Nicholls finished second, fourth and seventh in the under 15 race. In the under 17 race Francis Vidler was runner up and Eliena Lusty and Tilly Duffy finished fifth and sixth respectively.
In the senior race Joe Hopley, who is enjoying a fine start to his fell running season was crowned Lancashire champion with an impressive second place finish in a superb time of 33mins 10secs, whilst the race winner Alex Poulston of Wirral AC and outside Lancashire finished just 13 seconds in front of him. Hopley was 40 seconds behind the Poulston at the summit of Pendle Hill but showed exceptional descending skills to greatly reduce the time deficit.
Hopley’s team mate Joe Ormrod came fourth in 34mins dead and won the title of Under 20 Lancashire champion. The two were joined by Dave Haygarth who finished 46th overall and eighth male vet 50, and Hena Corbishley, 31st female and 10th female vet 40, completing the race under the hour mark. A very respectable time.
Hena’s husband Michael was part of the 12 man team which travelled to Birmingham for the
National Road relays at Sutton Park. Seen by many as one of the most important fixtures in the road running calendar, the relay event is invitation only with qualifying teams selected from the top 25 teams in the North, Midland and South area relays. The 12 stage relay event comprises of 6 long legs of 5 miles and 6 short legs of 3 miles run over an undulating and traffic free course. On the day Leeds City AC won fairly easily to match their Northern victory and to underline their dominance on the roads.
Kicking the Harriers off was junior coach Jon Cleaver who completed leg 1 with the fastest Harriers time of the day in 28mins 54secs. Joe Johnston took over from Jon and ran the shorter course in 17mins 07secs. Other long leg runners were Matty Harris (28mins 59secs), Stephen Corbishley (30mins 39secs), Rob Webb (29mins 58secs), Will Curry (29mins 21secs) and Andy Mellor (29mins 04secs).
Making their debuts in the “A” team were Stephen Grenfell and James Bowater
who completed their short legs in 20mins 15secs and 19mins 58secs respectively. Michael Corbishley (18mins 43secs), Ben Kirkman ( 17mins 52secs), Joe Waller (18mins 05secs) all contributed to a hard earned 38th place out of 56 full teams.
Back on the fells in Crowden, Derbyshire, Lads Leap is part of the English fell running championships, a series of races across the country taking place during the spring and summer. Lads Leap is a testing course of
5.9 miles and takes in 1699 feet of elevation.
In the ladies race ladies club captain Jo Wells led the Harriers women by finishing 28th in 1hr 6mins 4secs. Lisa Parker also had a brilliant run and finished 2nd vet 45. Carolyn Tregaskis and Catherine Wilson finished 75th and 76th and Sissel Lundberg-Bury also completed the race. In the men’s race John Bramwell and Mervyn Keys finished 143th and 178th respectively with Mervyn winning the male vet 65 category.