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.

Fiendsdale | Lytham 10

Lauren Jeska had an inspired run to sensationally finish first lady, and 8th overall, at the Fiendsdale Fell Race on Saturday. An amended route meant the 6.5 mile Lakeland race featured 2200 feet of ascent over boggy ground and was run in rainy conditions.

After an early battle with Emma Clayton, Lauren left the English Championship bronze medallist trailing in her wake as she extended her lead throughout the race to eventually finish 10 minutes ahead of her nearest rival.

Dave Collins was next Todmorden runner to finish in 15th, taking the 3rd vet50 prize. Richard Leonard finished 51st and Jane Leonard, continuing her return from injury in 58th, and 2nd lady vet50.


On Sunday eleven Harriers travelled to the Lytham sea front for the 10 mile out and back road race organised by the local Fire Service. Steve Littler of Wesham won the race in a time of 53:40. Nick Barber was having an inspired run for the Todmorden club lying in 7th place out of over 350 runners, before being forced to retire just a mile short of the end.

Martin Stork was therefore the first Todmorden man over the finish line in a time of 1:06:24 to take 56th place, holding off a late challenge from Richard Butterwick, having a 3 second advantage for the second successive Road Championship race.
Mel Blackhurst was first Todmorden lady home ahead of Elise Milnes.

Todmorden Results: 58 Martin Stork 1:06:24; 59 Richard Butterwick 1:06:27; 133 Mel Blackhurst 1:14:15; 211 Elise Milnes 1:23:03; 217 Peter Ehrhardt 1:23:29; 219 Nigel Hanson 1:23:36; 237 Mel Robertson 1:24:39; 306 Barry Chapman 1:35:48; 321 Graham Milnes 1:38:24; 328 Myra Wells 1:39:34.

Ian Roberts Fell Race, Windmills Whizz, Haworth Hobble

Sean Carey had an excellent run at the Ian Roberts Fell Race at Marsden on Sunday to take the win by over a minute. The Todmorden Harrier took control from the start to run a near perfect race over the tussocky 6 mile course to finish in a time of 48:07, well ahead of Salford’s Ryan Gould who finished in a time of 49:35. Andrew Bibby was Harriers other representative, finishing in 38th in a time of 62:47 out of the 100 strong field.

Jon Wright continued the Todmorden club’s fine record at the 7 mile Windmill’s Whizz Fell Race at Ogden Water on Saturday with 4th place and first vet 40. Ilkley’s Tom Adams took the win, missing out on the course record by just 2 seconds.

Also on Saturday, many Harriers tackled the 33 mile Haworth Hobble on the moors above Haworth, Hebden and Todmorden. The race that started and finished in Haworth, can be entered either as a pair or solo, and attracted a quality field of over 250 entrants as it formed the first round in the Vasque Ultra Running Series. Phil Hodgson was Todmorden’s first finisher in 41st place in a time of just over 5 hours, with Colin Duffield in 80th. Chris Preston finished 7th lady, and 91st overall. Sue Roberts and Louise Abdy were 4th ladies pair.

Half Tour of Pendle

Jon Wright and Andrew Wrench led the way for Todmorden Harriers at the weekend with both achieving a top ten finish at the Half Tour of Pendle Fell Race.

The 9 mile race started with a quick dash from the start at Barley, before the first climb up to, and over, the summit of Pendle Hill to the first checkpoint. A long icy descent followed down to the second checkpoint at the Nick o’ Pendle, with runners having to negotiate several melting patches of snow. The course then turned and headed towards Churn Reservoir, where a sharp climb took runners onto Spence Moor.

The highlight of the day was the precipitous descent down into Ogden Clough, which gave the downhill specialists an opportunity to gain several places. With numerous spectators looking on, runners hurled themselves down the seemingly near vertical grassy slope, with many slipping and sliding their way down to the stream crossing at the bottom. The final small climb of the day ensued, before the run in to the finish across boggy fields.

Bingley’s veteran Ian Holmes repeated his win from 12 months earlier, comfortably crossing the line in 1:03:50 ahead of Richard Pattison of Pudsey and Bramley.

First Harrier to finish was Jon Wright in 3rd place, with Andrew Wrench in 7th. Andrew Horsfall was the next Todmorden man to finish in 35th with Dave Collins in 44th.

First Todmorden lady was Jane Leonard ahead of Helen Hodgkinson.

Todmorden Results: 3 Jon Wright 1:09:11; 7 Andrew Wrench 1:11:22; 35 Andrew Horsfall 1:17:20; 44 Dave Collins 1:19:04; 58 Paul Hobbs 1:20:55; 62 Ben Crowther 1:21:20; 70 Steve Brandwood 1:23:01; 92 Clive Greatorex 1:26:20; 103 Dave Baldaro 1:27:29; 133 Richard Butterwick 1:32:20; 204 Jane Leonard 1:46:39; 210 Peter Ehrhardt 1:48:16; 215 Helen Hodgkinson 1:51:22.

Huddersfield 10k

On Sunday the focus switched to the roads, for the next instalment of Todmorden Harriers Club Road Championship at the hilly Huddersfield 10k.

Paul Brannigan set the pace for the 17 Harriers competing, finishing in 21st place in a time of 40:11 on the testing course, winning 2nd prize in the vet45 category in the process. Martin Stork triumphed in a sprint to the line over a fast finishing Richard Butterwick, with David Baldaro following them across the line.

2009 Ladies Road Champion Lucy Hobbs completed the course, despite suffering an injury, to be Todmorden’s first lady finisher and 2nd vet40 overall, ahead of Elise Milnes and Bev Wright.

Todmorden Results: 20 Paul Brannigan 40:11; 36 Martin Stork 42:27; 37 Richard Butterwick 42:30; 45 David Baldaro 42:58; 115 Richard O'Sullivan 47:29; 147 Lucy Hobbs 49:15; 169 Elise Milnes 50:02; 235 Peter Ehrhardt 52:53; 240 Beverley Wright 53:20; 280 Nigel Hanson 55:36; 323 Melanie Robertson 55:36; 334 Rachel Henthorne 58:07; 362 David Henthorne 59:41; 371 David O'Neill 1:00:12; 392 Graham Milnes 1:02:10; 399 Barry Chapman 1:02:52; 421 Myra Wells 1:05:37.

Noon Stone Fell Race - English Championships 2010

The Noon Stone Fell Race proved a worthy opener to the 2010 English Fell Championships on Saturday as Todmorden Harriers’ organisation of the classic fell race received much acclaim. Conditions for the 9 mile race were the most challenging for several years with the combination of soft boggy ground and drifts of snow making for hard going. The middle unmarked navigational section was completely shrouded in mist, and that ultimately determined the winner as nearly 500 runners struggled to find the quickest lines across the boggy moors.

Starting from Mankinholes, the race quickly rose up the first steep climb of the day to Coldwell Hill, before plunging back down to London Road losing much of the 600 feet height just gained. The route then had runners climbing back up past Stoodley Pike and then down again to Withens Clough. The third rise of the day took the field out onto pathless open moorland and bog to the highest point of the race at the Little Holder Stones.

It was here that Dark Peak’s orienteering specialist Mathew Speake took control of the race, a lead which he retained to the end, as it returned via Warland Drain and over Langfield Edge before a precipitous descent into Black Clough and the final climb of the day, past the Noon Stone itself, back to Coldwell Hill and then down to the finish at Mankinholes. Speake finished 3 seconds ahead of club mate Lloyd Taggart, in a time of 1:08:16. 2009 Champion Rob Hope of Pudsey and Bramley finished in 3rd place.

First Harrier home was Jon Wright in 31st place, with Andrew Wrench in 51st. Alistair Rhodes-Dawson and Nick Barber both managed a creditable top 100 finish, in 75th and 99th respectively.

Altringham’s Olivia Walwyn staked an early claim for this year’s women’s title finishing in 1:18:56. Todmorden’s Lauren Jeska put in an outstanding performance to finish 5th lady overall just 36 seconds behind 2nd placed Emma Clayton in a highly competitive battle. Despite a painful fall, Todmorden’s Moyra Parfitt took the vet65 prize.

Todmorden Results: 31 Jonathan Wright 74.53; 51 Andrew Wrench 77.11; 75 Alastair Rhodes-Dawson 79.16; 99 Nick Barber 81.28; 116 Andrew Horsfall 82.24; 127 Dave Collins 83.32; 134 Lauren Jeska 84.01; 169 Stephen Brandwood 87.23; 178 Ben Crowther 88.17; 180 Shaun Pickard 88.45; 221 Phil Hodgson 92.23; 232 Simon Anderton 93.29; 234 Martin Roberts 93.47; 281 Ozzie Kershaw 99.10; 292 Mick Craven 99.59; 302 Sarah Warburton 101.28; 307 Rachel Skinner 102.1; 308 Andrew Bibby 102.15; 312 Karen Gray 102.37; 332 Melanie Blackhurst 104.47; 357 Richard Leonard 107.57; 400 Louise Abdy 119.16; 413 Moyra Parfitt 133.21; 414 Claire Duffield 133.22.