Andrew Wrench was victorious at the Trawden 7 mile multi terrain race on Sunday. The race, which was the latest counter towards Todmorden Harriers Road Championship, attracted a good turnout of 14 Harriers in the hot humid cloudy conditions.
Starting from Trawden recreation ground the route took runners down to Laneshawbridge before a long climb up the old herders’ road in the direction of Haworth. After 4 miles on the road, they turned off onto a stony farm track descending into Wycoller. A brief riverside section then led to final climb on the road, before the dash across the recreation ground field to the finish.
Andrew Wrench had a well controlled run from the front and crossed the line comfortably ahead of the next runner. Second Harrier to finish was Phil Cook, with Andrew Bibby hot on his heels.
Keighley & Craven’s Amy Green was first female, with Sarah Glyde first Todmorden lady to finish as 5th female overall. Mel Blackhurst and Elise Milnes were next to finish as Todmorden tussled with Clayton le Moors for first ladies team.
In similarly hot conditions, three Harriers were in Nice for the Ironman France Triathlon on Sunday. A 3800m sea swim was followed by a 180km cycle, and finished off with a full marathon on a 4 lap promenade course.
Phil Hodgson exited the swim first of the closely matched trio in a time of 1:24:54, over 3 minutes ahead of Emma Osenton, with John Preston a further 90 seconds back. Emma demonstrated the value of a perfect transition as she overhauled Phil and started the cycle ride a few seconds ahead of him.
Emma used her strength in the middle event to open up the gap and another fast transition saw her start the marathon run 31 minutes ahead of Phil, with John Preston trailing 7 minutes behind.
At the end of the first lap of the run John had started to close the gap on those ahead, and managed to overtake Phil by the end of the 2nd lap. The tough 3rd lap saw John and Emma slowing as Phil revived slightly.
Going into the last lap of the run Emma’s lead over John had been cut to just 11 minutes, with Phil 5 minutes behind John. Despite a tremendous effort from John, Emma managed to find the strength to pick her pace back up and crossed the line in a total time of 13:13:08 followed by John in 13:14:50. Phil continued to speed up right to the end, and recorded his fastest run lap to cross the line in 13:16:22.
Whilst the three will be looking forward to a well earned rest, particularly Emma for whom it was her 2nd Ironman event within the past month, several Harriers are now looking ahead to next Sunday’s, thankfully shorter, Todmorden Triathlon organised by Calderdale Tri Club - www.calderdaletriclub.co.uk
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