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.