by Dan Taylor
Sunday saw the penultimate round of the
Todmorden Harriers Road Championship with 6 Harriers taking the trip to
Capesthorne Hall for the Cheshire Half Marathon. The weather was bad but
cleared just before the start, although rain came towards the end of the race.
Todmorden’s Nick Barber surged to the front
straight from the start followed by the Road Champs leader Paul Brannigan.
These 2 managed to pull out a bit of a lead and soon realised it was between
the 2 of them for the win. Brannigan (who has been in brilliant form in the
last few months) made his move after 10 miles slowly catching and overtaking
Barber, who couldn’t quite hang on to him. They finished in first and second
with very impressive times just under 1 hr 17.
Behind there was a trio of Harriers who
used the occasion to re write their Personal Bests. Dan Taylor, in a rare appearance
on the roads, continued his recent improvement finishing in 35th place. He
knocked over 2 minutes off his best and was the 3rd counter as Todmorden also
took the mens team prize.
Paul Alexander sprinted over the line for a
sub 1hr 30 minutes time and Sarah Glyde continued a season of great improvement
to finish a minute later, knocking over 3 minutes off her best and taking the
V35 Ladies prize.
Andrea Marshall was the last harrier to finish
just over her target time of 2 hours. This result means Paul and Sarah are now
assured of the Road Championships prior to the final race at Preston 10.
Todmorden Results: 1 Paul Brannigan 1:16:41;
2 Nick Barber 1:16:57; 35 Dan Taylor 1:27:43; 49 Paul Alexander 1:29:54; 55 Sarah
Glyde 1:30:57; 524 Andrea Marshall 2:04:40.
Saturday saw the 28th running of the famous
Shepherd Skyline Fell Race. Expertly organised as always by the husband &
wife team of Phil Hodgson and Mandy Goth, ably assisted by the Todmorden
Harriers Crew. The main race for the adults was well attended despite the bad
weather, with over 280 people braving the rain.
Tom Adams from Ilkley led the way from the
start and was never challenged winning in a little over 41 minutes. There was a
close battle for second with Chris Farrell from Horwich narrowly beating Tim
Ellis, Shaun Godsman and Alex Whittam of local club Calder Valley.
First Todmorden man was Jon Wright in 8th
position (incidentally Jon came 9th as long ago as 1995 so good consistency
there).
First lady home was Helen Fines of Calder
Valley with first Todmorden lady Rebecca Patrick in 8th.
Junior races were also held with good
participation from a number of local clubs. Tod Harriers had some good
performances, including Jack Crummett who won the Under 16’s and Jack Willis
who was 2nd in the under 8s, as the junior team continues to grow. Junior
sessions for 6 – 12 year olds are held on Tuesdays at the Todmorden High School
Gym from 5 – 6.30pm.
Tod Results: 8 Jon Wright 46.07; 46 Craig
Stansfield 52.42; 48 Steve Pullan 53.06; 77 Martin Roberts 56.27; 115 Simon
Galloway 60.24; 116 Rebecca Patrick 60.37; 172 Jackie Holden 66.33; 199 Kirsty
Patten 70.01; 203 Chris Preston 70.29; 207 Laura Sutcliffe 71.03.
Tod Juniors U8’s: 2 Joseph Willis 4.30; 5
Euan Logue 5.25; 8 Ben Hodgkinson 5.55;
11 Jack Suthers 6.37; 12 Erin McGrath 6.38
U10’s: 6 Joseph Hobbs 8.34; 17 Maebe Logue
9.32; 18 Jack Willis 10.03; 19 Oonagh Brooks 10.50; 22 Noah Lane 11.13; 23 Thea
Crowther 11.49
U12’s: 7 Jacob Brady 8.40; 13 Jake
Blackhurst 12.52
U16’s:
1 Jack Crummett 9.39
Todmorden Harriers next race is the Hot Toddy road race which will be held on Sunday 29th December. Perfect for getting
rid of the extra inches put on over the Christmas period.
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