Snowden | Turnslack | Oxenhope | Lakeland 50

Todmorden runner, Lauren Jeska represented England at the Snowdon International Mountain Race on Saturday and achieved an excellent 3rd place on her first call up to the national team. Scotland’s Catriona Buchanan won the ladies race in wet and windy conditions but, along with Pippa Maddams in 2nd and Emma Clayton in 7th, Lauren’s performance meant that England Ladies narrowly took the team prize.


Closer to home, Todmorden Harriers comfortably took the men’s team prize at the Turnslack Fell Race. Starting from Calderbrook the 8 mile race followed a circular route over Freehold’s Top, and included two tough climbs on the return. Andrew Wrench finished in 3rd place, shadowed 3 seconds behind by Sean Carey in 4th, with Alistair Rhodes Dawson 7th and Dwane Dixon in 8th.

Not to be outdone Todmorden Ladies, Chris Preston, Sue Roberts and Kathy Bridger also won the team prize at the Oxenhope Fell Race.

Elise Milnes and Julie Wyant took on the Lakeland 50 mile ultra race at the weekend along with over 300 other competitors. They traversed their way along the off road route from Penrith to Coniston that included over 10,000 feet of ascent. Starting at midday on Saturday they successfully completed the challenge shortly after dawn on Sunday morning having travelled throughout the night in a time of 17 hours and 59 minutes.

Holme Moss Fell Race

Lauren Jeska recorded her first English Fell Championship Race win at the Holme Moss Fell Race to enhance her chances of a medal this season. With just one race remaining, Lauren lies in 2nd place in the championship table, 4 points behind Altringham’s Olivia Walwyn and 1 point ahead of Eryri’s Jackie Lee, with Calder Valley’s Helen Fines still in medal contention.
Wet and windy conditions made tackling the 18 mile course, with over 4000ft of ascent all the harder and a record field of 310 were whittled down to 292 by the finish when the sun finally came out. They made Calder Valley’s Karl Grey’s win all the more remarkable as he set a new course record in 2:24:18
Alistair Rhodes-Dawson was the first Harrier to finish in 30th place, just ahead of Lauren with Dave Collins and Andrew Horsfall following them in.
Todmorden Ladies also took the ladies team prize on the day, with Sarah May, 10th lady, and Kath Brierley, 22nd lady, contributing to a hard won effort that not only cements their 4th place in the team standings but moved them closer to the top three to keep alive an outside chance of a team medal.

Todmorden Results: 30 Alastair Rhodes-Dawson 2.47.17; 33 Lauren Jeska 2.49.31; 57 Dave Collins 2.56.55; 66 Andrew Horsfall 3.02.59; 78 Paul Brannigan 3.06.37; 89 Paul Hobbs 3.08.47; 102 Ozzie Kershaw 3.13.26; 112 Sarah May 3.16.35; 149 Kath Brierley 3.29.29; 186 Mick Craven 3.40.29; 195 Phil Hodgson 3.42.33; 197 Andrew Bibby 3.43.07; 212 Ben Crowther 3.49.30; 226 Melanie Blackhurst 3.54.40; 244 Elise Milnes 4.04.41; 266 Louise Abdy 4.18.40.

Stoodley Pike Fell Race | Eccup 10

Todmorden’s Lauren Jeska smashed the ladies course record by over a minute at the Stoodley Pike Fell Race last week.

The race starts with a sharp climb on the causeway stones up from Lumbutts, and then travels along the ridge to the Pike. A steep descent to London Road tests the nerves of the runners and the final run in takes them back to the finish field at the Top Brink Inn.

Todmorden postman, and Calder Valley runner, Alex Whittem won the race for the second consecutive year, having quickly stamped his authority from the off, crossing the line in 19:05. Another Todmorden resident, and Calder Valley runner, James Logue finished second managing to hold off Harriers Andrew Wrench and Sean Carey as they battled for third place, with Wrench eventually edging it by just 5 seconds.

Lauren Jeska had an equally comfortable win in the ladies race, and her time of 21:24 beat the former record, held by Calder’s Jo Waites, by over a minute. Todmorden’s Sarah May finished second lady in 23:26, and with Jane Leonard eighth lady, Todmorden narrowly took the ladies team prize ahead of a strong showing by Wharfedale Harriers in third, fourth and fifth. The men’s team prize went to Calder Valley Fell Runners ahead of Todmorden.

Todmorden Results: 3 Andrew Wrench 19:58; 4 Sean Carey 20:03; 16 Lauren Jeska 21:24; 18 Dwane Dixon 21:36; 19 Paul Hobbs 21:38; 29 Ben Crowther 22:29; 46 Sarah May 23:26; 48 Dave Collins 23:29; 54 Darren Tweed 23:42; 57 Martin Stork 23:56; 98 Richard Butterwick 26:41; 102 Jane Leonard 26:52; 142 Helen Hodgkinson 29:56; 156 Dave O'Neill 32:57; 157 Sue Roberts 33:17; 159 Melanie Robertson 33:31; 161 Barry Chapman 33:48; 166 Andrea Marshall 34:27; 172 Myra Wells 37:22; 175 Alison Mills 38:25; 176 Richard Leonard 38:26.





On Sunday, the club’s Road Championship continued with the Eccup 10 mile race near Leeds. Starting and finishing in Adel, the route looped around Eccup Reservoir with Longwood Harrier Andrew Pearson recording a winning time of 52:15.

Nick Barber led the way for the Harriers in an excellent 14th place out of 536 finishers, with Paul Brannigan 45th and Martin Stork 61st.

Lucy Hobbs was the first Todmorden lady to finish in 199th place.


Todmorden Results: 14 Nick Barber 59:57; 45 Paul Brannigan 1:05:57; 61 Martin Stork 1:07:12; 199 Lucy Hobbs 1:19:08; 224 Bohuslav Barlow 1:20:43; 302 Peter Ehrhardt 1:25:58; 304 Melanie Robertson 1:26:15; 521 Ian Stansfield 1:52:38; 528 Rachel Allen 1:56:08.

Cragg Vale Fell Race | Todmorden Triathlon

Todmorden Harriers arrived en masse for the Cragg Vale Fell Race last week with 24 Harriers tackling the four mile course. Starting from Cragg Vale Church the race took a woodland path along the river before a long climb up to Bell House Moor. The climbing continued up Dicks Lane before the runners turned and descended via Sunderland Pasture and Swan Bank.


Sean Carey was the first Harrier to finish taking 3rd place, with Nick Barber in 6th and Alistair Rhodes Dawson in 9th. However, with Karl Grey taking the win in 27:08 ahead of Gavin Mulholland the team honours went to Calder Valley Fell Runners.

The ladies mirrored the men’s performance with Claire Duffield 3rd lady, Jane Leonard 6th lady and Chris Preston 9th lady, again finishing 2nd team behind Calder Valley.

Todmorden Results: 3 Sean Carey 28.31; 6 Nick Barber 28.45; 9 Alastair Rhodes-Dawson 30.09; 12 Paul Hobbs 30.36; 13 Dwane Dixon 30:52; 16 Andy McFie 31.09; 18 Peter Bowles 31.22; 26 Ben Crowther 32.08; 27 Paul Brannigan 32.12; 32 Dave Collins 32.52; 33 Shaun Pickard 32.54; 38 Martin Stork 34.02; 54 Andrew Bibby 36.13; 58 Claire Duffield 36.29; 60 Jack Crummett 37.09; 63 Richard Butterwick 37.17; 69 Jane Leonard 37.58; 85 Christine Preston 40.10; 91 Elise Milnes 42.40; 95 Peter Ehrhardt 43.35; 96 Graham Milnes 43.47; 97 Louise Abdy 44.11; 99 Sue Roberts 45.41; 100 Melanie Robertson 45.44; 105 Myra Wells 52.30.

Four Harriers tackled the Todmorden Triathlon on Sunday. After a 400m swim in Todmorden Pool, a 20km cycle ride was followed by a 5km run around Centre Vale Park.

Mark Anderton led the way with 18th place, with Shaun Pickard finishing 3rd V50 as he completed his first triathlon. Ben Crowther was the next Harrier to finish with Karen Gray finishing 3rd female V40.

Sedbergh 3 Peaks Fell Race

Moyra Parfitt finished first V65 and Lauren Jeska recorded 5th place in the Sedbergh ladies race at the English Fell Championships on Saturday. The race also formed a round of the British Championships so the competition was as tough as it could be over the 4.1 mile course that featured 1663 feet of ascent.


Ladies Results: 5 Lauren Jeska 39:51; 32 Kath Brierley 46:34; 47 Jane Leonard 48:21; 58 Claire Duffield 49:48; 72 Melanie Blackhurst 52:30; 86 Louise Abdy 56:14; 88 Moyra Parfitt 57:43; 91 Sue Roberts 1:00:53.


Jon Wright led the way for the Harriers in the men’s’ race, with Nick Barber having an excellent run in the hot and sunny conditions to finish 64th ahead of Alistair Rhodes Dawson in 103rd.

48 Jonathon Wright 37:02; 64 Nick Barber 38:12; 103 Alistair Rhodes-Dawson 40:54; 115 Dave Collins 41:18; 117 Andrew Horsfall 41:33; 166 Martin Roberts 45:25; 181 Phil Hodgson 47:01; 190 Peter Clarke 48:10; 192 James Riley 48:23; 207 Richard Blakeley 52:31; 208 Richard Leonard 52:36; 224 Lee McCluskey 56:32; 231 Barry Chapman 1:03:38; 234 Dave O'Neill 1:07:34.


Todmorden Harriers popular Stoodley Pike Fell Race takes place on Tuesday 6th July at 7:30pm. Entry on the night is £3.50 at race HQ in the Top Brink Inn and is open to runners aged 14 and above. The 3.5 mile race starts with a stiff climb up the Calderdale Way past Lea Dam and follows the flat ridge along to Stoodley Pike. A steep descent down to London Road takes the runners back to the finish field via Broad Carr.