The challenge relied more upon good navigation and route planning than pure speed and was open to club members and invited guests. It provided an opportunity to sharpen up navigation skills for the coming fell racing season, which could prove vital when Todmorden have the honour of hosting this year’s opening English Championship Fell Race next month, with the Noonstone Fell Race.
Starting off at two minute intervals from event HQ at the Mason’s Arms on Bacup Road, the first task for competitors upon receiving their marked map was to quickly determine which, and the order, of the 12 possible checkpoints they would attempt to reach within the three hour time limit. Depending on their location on the hills above Todmorden, checkpoints were worth 10, 15 or 20 points, with the furthest checkpoint on Soyland Moor worth 35.
Runners competed either solo or in pairs and quickly vanished in all directions.
Whilst the recent thaw made for quicker progress lower down, across the moorland tops there were still considerable areas of snow to contend with, mixed with impossibly icy tracks, and the occasional muddy bog that slowed progress.
James Logue and Calder Valley’s Bill Johnson both managed to reach 9 of the 12 checkpoints, but with Bill finishing 5 minutes outside the allowance he lost 10 points and dropped to 4th place handing overall victory to James, who returned with just 3 minutes to spare, with 130 points. The battle for first Todmorden Harrier was a close contest with Andrew Horsfall and Roger Haworth both visiting 8 checkpoints to score 120 points, but whilst Roger finished 1 minute within the time limit, Andrew completed 15 minutes faster to capture the trophy and 2nd place overall.
Ultra distance specialists Ossie Kershaw and Tim finished 5th overall and first pair with 115 points. Despite arriving back 3 minutes late, Phil Hodgson had done enough to finish first veteran with 104 points. Helen Hodgkinson judged the time perfectly to finish exactly on the three hour mark and take the prize for highest scoring female Harrier with 100.
Calder Valley’s Tim Brooks was the only one brave enough to attempt the long slog to the furthest checkpoint but the slower than normal conditions meant a significant time penalty was incurred that wiped most of them out.
The legendary ‘Golden Pigeon’ award for the lowest Todmorden score went to Kath Brierley and son Jack, after an unfortunate fall led to a late return that cancelled out what would have been a very respectable score to leave them with a negative total.
The prize giving ceremony was finished off with considerable thanks going to organiser Simon Anderton and his team of helpers.
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