Stretton Hills

Todmorden Harriers’ were faced with a change of terrain as the English Fell Championships made a rare foray south to the West Midlands for the second round in the six race series. Church Stretton was the base for the Stretton Hills Fell Race, a 5.75mile short circular course. Whilst he surface underfoot was somewhat smoother and quicker than the tussock moorland more usually encountered in Calderdale, there were still plenty of familiar misty hills to conquer with the race taking in 2500 feet of ascent and descent.

With separate races for the men and women, the ladies were first up and Todmorden put in a strong performance with Sarah May finishing in 13th place. Philippa Jackson of Keswick won the race in a time of 54:12 to add to her win at the Half Tour of Pendle. Lauren Jeska and Kath Brierley had a close battle finishing in 26th and 27th places respectively, only three seconds apart, which lifted the Todmorden ladies to an excellent 3rd place team overall on the day, and into 4th place in the Championship Table after the first two rounds. Sarah May is now the highest placed Todmorden lady in the individual standings and lies in 21st place.
Todmorden Ladies Results: 13 Sarah May 1:01:55; 26 Lauren Jeska 1:05:48; 27 Kath Brierley 1:05:51; 49 Melanie Blackhurst 1:12:39

The heavy rain that had affected the ladies race eased only slightly for the men’s race an hour later, where Pudsey and Bramley dominated the first three places with Rob Hope’s time of 44:37 setting him clear of John Heneghan and Danny Hope.
Andrew Wrench and Jon Wright ran a close race, with Wrench edging ahead at the end to finish first Harrier in 24rd place overall and 4th vet40. Jon Wright is highest placed Todmorden runner in the overall standings after two rounds and now lies in 14th overall in the English Championship. Dave Collins was the next Harrier home in 68th and 7th vet50, which moved him up 10th place in the vet50 championship standings.

Todmorden Mens Results: 23 Andrew Wrench 50:52; 24 Jon Wright 50:57; 68 Dave Collins 57:07; 72 Andrew Horsfall 57:36; 115 Kevin Booth 1:03:03; 122 Daniel Taylor 1:04:05; 141 James Riley 1:06:35; 182 Peter Marshall 1:17:23; 186 Peter Ehrhardt 1:20:23.