Langdale

Kath Brierley was the toast of Todmorden after the final English Championship Fell Race at Langdale on Saturday, as she secured a bronze medal in the LV45 category. Starting the day laying in equal third position with Clayton le Moors legendary runner Wendy Dodds, and with Clayton’s Anna Kelly just 1 point behind, the 14 mile course was a fittingly tough decider with poor visibility adding to the challenge.
After 3 hours of racing over some the Lake District’s highest peaks, just 8 minutes separated the trio. Wendy Dodds was ahead of Kath on the line, but the championship is decided upon the best four scores out of the six races, and after some mind bending mental arithmetic it became clear that Kath had clinched the medal, with the Clayton pair finishing joint 4th just 2 points adrift.
Lauren Jeska had another fine run finishing 7th lady on the day, to move her up the ladies overall table to 19th. Kath’s performance also took her up to 25th and Sarah May finished the year in 31st. With all three having suffered injuries this year, there will be much to look forward to in next year’s championship.
The first Todmorden man to finish was Andrew Wrench in 35th, with Alistair Rhodes-Dawson having an inspired run to finish just 2 minutes back in 42nd. Ben Crowther and Dave Collins also made it into the top 100.

Todmorden Results: 35 Andrew Wrench 2.26.02; 42 Alastair Rhodes-Dawson 2.28.37; 81 Ben Crowther 2.42.18; 97 Dave Collins 2.46.19; 125 Lauren Jeska 2.50.51; 180 Peter Bowles 3.10.31; 210 Kath Brierley 3.16.42; 211 Phil Hodgson 3.16.45; 243 David Wilson 3.27.19; 244 Christine Preston 3.30.17; 292 Mandy Goth 4.07.00; 294 Sue Roberts 4.08.00.