Pennine Bridleway Relay

Todmorden Harriers fielded five teams in the Pennine Bridleway Relay, last Sunday. Over 100 teams of ten runners took part in the event, which was organised by Rossendale Harriers, and followed a full circuit of the 47 mile Mary Townley Loop.

The distance is split into 5 legs, of varying lengths from 5.5 to 12.5 miles, each run by a pair of different runners. A light frost overnight meant the course was firm underfoot with occasional icy patches to negotiate, but the day remained dry and windless to provide for near perfect conditions.

Salford Harriers and Calder Valley set the pace at the front, with Salford holding a narrow 3 second lead at the start of the final leg back to Waterfoot, which they managed to slightly extend to win the event overall in a time of 4:49:10, less than a minute outside of the course record.

Todmorden Men’s A team put in a strong performance, with Sean Carey and Andrew Wrench recording the 3rd best time of the day on leg 4 to move them up from 15th to 12th. Team captain Nick Barber and Robin Tuddenham set the 6th best time on the final leg to gain a further two places as the team finished in 10th place with a total time of 5:17:21, improving on last year’s efforts by 12 minutes.

The ladies A team were in contention throughout but had to settle for second place at the finish, in a highly competitive battle for the ladies title. Lisa Parsons and Kath Brierley put in a solid performance to handover in 4th place, a few seconds behind 3rd placed Calder Valley, with Rossendale leading Clayton at the front.

English Fell Champion Lauren Jeska and Team Captain Sarah May then turned things on their head with Todmorden leading Calder Valley by over four minutes at the end of the 2nd leg.

Ali Richards and Sarah Warburton then put in a blistering run to set a new ladies course record on leg 3, to hand over an eight minute lead to Jayne Williams and Sarah Glyde. Calder Valley managed to claw a few seconds back on leg 4, before a strong final pairing of Jo Waites and Gayle Sugden put in a stunning run to overhaul Todmorden’s Mel Blackhurst and Lucy Hobbs to steal the win in 6:03:02.

The Todmorden ladies were left to console themselves that they had at least improved by 13 minutes on the previous year, to finish in a highly respectable time of 6:09:38, which would have been good enough to win the competition in many years.

For the first time the club also fielded a Ladies B team, who put in a fine effort to finish second placed ladies B team behind Clayton le Moors B, in a time of 7:21:11 and 89th overall.

The Men’s B team finished in 32nd place in a time of 5:55:24, also 13 minutes faster than 12 months ago, with club B records being set on leg 2 by Andy McFie and Peter Bowles and on leg 3 by Marcel Ellison and David Baldaro.

Pictures by Myra Wells

The Todmorden Allstars team also enjoyed a strong performance to improve on their time from 2010 by just short of an hour. They crossed the line in a total time of 6:40:05 and 64th place.


2011 Pennine Bridleway Relay Full Results...

Myra's Photos (leg 3 and leg 4)...

Sports Sunday Pics...   leg 1 | leg 2 | leg 3 |  leg 5 

Stanbury Splash Fell Race

Todmorden Harriers turned out in force for the first race in the club’s 2011 Grand Prix.

Penistone Hill Country Park was the venue for the 7 mile Stanbury Splash Fell Race.

The race featured three stream crossings and several climbs adding up to 1200 feet of ascent.

Pictures by Myra Wells

After a muddy scramble out of the quarry the course followed road and track to a grassy descent to the first stream crossing. Despite the relatively mild conditions the water was icy cold.

A steep climb, followed by a further track section led onto a loop of the moors with several climbs and descents before a return via the route out.

Bingley’s Ian Holmes had his incredible 14 year winning run ended as he finished in 3rd place behind winner Chris Steele of Borrowdale and Stuart Pond of Dark Peak.

Sean Carey led in the thirty Todmorden runners in 10th place, with Nick Barber in 17th and Dwane Dixon in 32nd.

Sarah May finished 5th lady in 102nd overall, with Hatty Nylan in 271st and Emma Osenton crossing the line in 290th.


Todmorden Results: 10 Sean Carey 47:14; 17 Nick Barber 48:01; 32 Dwane Dixon 49:37; 53 Paul Hobbs 51:54; 69 Martin Stork 53:12; 73 Dave Collins 53:23; 85 Martin Roberts 54:32; 86 Ben Crowther 54:50; 90 Shaun Pickard 55:07; 102 Sarah May 56:25; 131 Marcel Ellison 59:02; 142 Simon Galloway 59:36; 181 Andrew Bibby 1:02:12; 185 Richard Butterwick 1:02:58; 198 Andy Glyde 1:03:46; 206 Derek Donohue 1:04:13; 223 Keith Parkinson 1:05:10; 241 Phil Hodgson 1:06:37; 271 Hatty Nylan 1:08:48; 277 Phil Cook 1:09:03; 290 Emma Osenton 1:09:40; 305 Peter Ehrhardt 1:11:04; 316 Mick Howard 1:11:58; 340 Louise Abdy 1:15:16; 360 Mandy Goth 1:17:16; 362 Ray Poulter 1:17:22; 376 Barry Chapman 1:21:31; 383 Dave O'Neill 1:24:40; 399 Kathy Bridger 1:33:09.

White Holme Circular Fell Race

Todmorden Harriers battled strong winds and heavy rain at the White Holme Circular Fell Race on Sunday. The weather did nothing to deter a record field of 112 entrants.

The 12 mile route featured 1200 feet of ascent, much of it in the initial climb from the Summit Inn past Chelburn Reservoirs as the runners headed up towards the Whitehouse.

Here, they joined the Pennine Way and passed by Light Hazzles and Warland Reservoirs with a strong side wind blasting the rain across.

After leaving the Pennine Way they continued around the drains on boggier ground, with poor visibility making it difficult to see far ahead.

As they turned towards White Holme Reservoir, they now also had to contend with a powerful headwind blasting the relentless rain into their faces.

Calmer conditions slowly returned as they descended back to the finish.

James Logue, of Calder Valley, seemed unaffected by the conditions as he completed the distance in 1:18:18, close to the course record and over 5 minutes ahead of 2nd placed Jon Morgan of Dark Peak.

Photo by Myra Wells

Paul Hobbs was the first of the Todmorden runners, finishing in 19th place in a time of 1:33:50.

Darren Graham finished in 1:44:43 for 51st, with Mick Craven three minutes back in 57th and Richard Butterwick a further minute behind in 62nd place.

Kath Brierley finished 4th lady, and 67th overall, in a time of 1:49:46. Mandy Goth finished 109th, just ahead of Jane Leonard who suffered an injury part way through but still completed the course. That unfortunately meant that the ladies team prize was lost by a narrow margin to Calder Valley, who also won the men’s team prize.

Full Results



Myra's Pics...
SportsSunday's Photos...

Steve Bateson's Photos... to come

Todmorden Harriers' Mini Mountain Marathon

Todmorden Harriers’ annual Mini Mountain Marathon took place at the weekend, with a new base of Sowerby Bridge.

It is a 3 hour orienteering score event with the aim being to visit as many controls as possible within the time limit, with heavy penalties for those who go over.

Start times were staggered and competitors were only given the map revealing the locations of the controls at the start of their 3 hours.

Being on unfamiliar ground this year meant that good navigation and route planning skills were more important than ever.

Twenty controls were placed around Norland Moor, North Dean Woods and the Ryburn Valley areas.

The event was open to club members and invited guests, with many Calder Valley Fell Runners taking part and going on to take the top 4 places.

James Logue won the overall event once again, having visited 18 of the 20 controls to score 200 points with Jon Emberton just 10points back in 2nd.

Phil Hodgson was the highest scoring Todmorden Harrier in 5th place overall with 160 points.

Mandy Goth scored 120 points to finish first Todmorden lady, with Chris Preston and Helen Hodgkinson just 10 points behind having visited one control less.

Sarah Warburton and Lucy Hobbs finished first ladies pairing also with 120 points.

Rachel Skinner and Jeff Walker finished first mixed pair with 110 points, again narrowly taking the prize by visiting one more control than Jon and Bev Wright, and Richard and Jane Leonard.

Skye Wilson was the first junior to finish, paired with father Dave on 70 points, which was the same score achieved by Jim Smith who was first vet70.

Emma Osenton and Ali Mills were the unfortunate recipients of the ‘Golden Pigeon’ award after going over the time limit, more than wiping out all their earned points to finish with a negative score.

The prize giving ceremony, at the Jubilee Refreshments Rooms, was closed with much gratitude to Dave Collins, and his helpers, organisation of the event.

Auld Lang Syne Fell Race | Joe Salt New Year Awakener

Todmorden Harriers race action for 2010 came to a close with the traditional end of year fell race on New Year’s Eve. The Auld Lang Syne Fell Race followed a 6 mile route around the Haworth Moors with a top class field being headed by Commonwealth athlete Andi Jones, taking his third win over the course, and World U23 Triathlon Champion Jonny Brownlee.

Sean Carey ended an excellent year with 17th place for Todmorden, with Paul Hobbs and Shaun Pickard in 62nd and 65th respectively.

First Todmorden lady was Mel Blackhurst in 198th, followed by Helen Hodgkinson in 326th and Kathy Bridger in 382th.

Clive Greatorex ensured he stayed warm on the windy moors, as he completed the course in a gorilla costume to win the fancy dress prize.

Todmorden Results: 17 Sean Carey 45.30; 62 Paul Hobbs 50.26; 65 Shaun Pickard 50.36; 92 Dave Collins 52.22; 163 Simon Galloway 57.55; 172 Peter Clarke 58.46; 198 Melanie Blackhurst 60.17; 277 John Medcalf 65.45; 283 Clive Greatorex 66.14; 285 Peter Ehrhardt 66.39; 326 Helen Hodgkinson 70.51; 363 Barry Chapman 78.05; 382 Kathy Bridger 85.42.

Steve Bateson's Auld Lang Syne Photos...

David Brett's Auld Lang Syne Photos...

Lots more photo links on the Woodentops site...


A handful of Harriers then made an early start to the New Year as they tackled a 4.2 mile trail race at Cowm Reservoir.

Robin Tuddenham was the first Harrier to finish in 8th place with a time of 26:32, with James Riley in 29:11 for 25th and Richard Butterwick finishing a couple of minutes later in 31:08 for 50th place.

Maria Prescott recorded a time of 33:44 as she took the 2nd fv45 prize, in 74th overall, and Myra Wells crossed the line in 43:33 for 114th to complete the Todmorden entry.

Steve Bateson's Joe Salt Awakener Photographs...