Vera Hirst 5k | Midgeley Moor Fell race

Sean Carey faced stiff competition at the first of Andy O’Sullivan’s 5k road races at Littleborough last Wednesday evening as a quality field turned out undeterred by the weather for the Vera Hirst 5k. With heavy skies giving a light rain, the race started in near darkness and travelled up Rochdale road before a short downhill and then a climb through Smithy Bridge to Hollingworth Lake. After skirting the lake bank a fast downhill slope led the runners back to the finish at Littleborough.

Ian Grime, of Newham and Essex Beagles, recorded another victory over the popular course in a time of 15:41 well ahead of second placed and first junior Halifax’s Sam Kerfoot-Roberts in 16:10.

Sean Carey was the first Todmorden runner to finish in a time of 16:55 being 2nd junior and 8th overall. After a brief mid-race tussle Richard Butterwick outpaced James Riley on the final downhill, finishing 53rd and 65th respectively. Keith Parkinson made a rare return to racing in 87th with a time of 21:38 and Todmorden’s sole female entrant Myra Wells finished in 28:42 to be 148th out of the 200+ field.

On Saturday, Calder Valley’s Midgley Moor Fell Race attracted a record field of 119 runners to the heather moorland above Luddenfoot. Starting from Booth Cricket Club the 5 mile race requires good navigation skills as much of the route between checkpoints is unmarked and pathless.

With Calder Valley Fell Runners dominating the entry list it was no surprise that they took the wins in both the men’s and women’s race, with Ben Mounsey edging out team-mate Alex Whittem in a time of 39:27 and Jo Waites finishing first lady in 45:41.

First of four Harriers was Paul Hobbs in 25th stopping the clock at 46:50, ahead of Dave Collins in 30th, who showed tremendous consistency by beating his time of the previous year by 3 seconds. Clive Greatorex finished 37th and Mick Craven 47th to complete the quartet.