12 mar 09

The opening race of the English Fell Running Championships on Saturday saw three Todmorden Harriers finish in the first forty, as they looked to build on previous years’ achievements.
Despite several absences due to illness and injury the club still provided 30 of the 400 entrants who lined up for the Half Tour of Pendle. After a fast dash from the start at Barley, the nine mile race quickly climbed up to, and over, the summit of Pendle Hill to the first checkpoint. With the forecast rain holding off until most had finished, visibility was good, allowing for spectacular views for those that had time to glance at them. A long steady descent followed with alternative routes being taken down to the second checkpoint at the Nick o’ Pendle. 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 to 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.
Most of the elite contenders for this year’s overall crown were in attendance, with a close battle resulting in the first seven runners finishing within two minutes of each other. Bingley’s veteran Ian Holmes eventually triumphed ahead of Pudsey and Bramley’s John Heneghan and Rob Hope.
First Harrier to finish was Jon Wright in 28th place, with Sean Willis and Chris Smale coming in together about 30 seconds behind. In the veteran categories Sean placed 10th V40 and Chris 2nd in the V45. First V50 Todmorden finisher was Dave Collins.
First Todmorden lady was Lauren Jeska in 25th, followed by Clare Duffield in 28th. Lucy Hobbs continued her progress finishing in 38th to propel the ladies team into 5th place.

Full Todmorden Results: 28 Jon Wright 1:09:57; 36 Sean Willis 1:10:25; 37 Chris Smale 1:10:27; 93 Alistair Rhodes-Dawson 1:17:17; 105 Andrew Horsfall 1:18:19; 119 Dave Collins 1:19:09; 146 Nick Barber 1:22:12; 147 Scott Lapish 1:22:17; 157 Martin Roberts 1:23:20; 187 Ben Crowther 1:25:47; 214 Joe Stansfield 1:28:23; 219 Simon Galloway 1:28:47; 221 Phil Hodgson 1:29:00; 224 Lauren Jeska 1:29:26; 230 Claire Duffield 1:30:00; 250 Richard Gilbert 1:32:14; 254 James Riley 1:32:25; 256 Lucy Hobbs 1:32:31; 266 Jeremy Godden 1:33:06; 270 Phil Cook 1:33:34; 285 Christine Preston 1:36:02; 297 Melanie Blackhurst 1:37:16; 307 Richard O'Sullivan 1:38:45; 314 Richard Butterwick 1:39:05; 316 Kevin Coughlan 1:39:13; 340 Peter Marshall 1:43:16; 361 Dan Taylor 1:49:13; 365 Sue Roberts 1:50:32; 366 Peter Ehrhardt 1:51:02; 382 Derek Clutterbuck 2:11:58.