Colne 10k | Broughton Heights Hill Race | Cader Idris Fell Race | Saddleworth Fell Race

Todmorden Harriers Road Championship was back on the agenda on Friday evening with the Burnley Lions Colne 10k.

A sizeable turnout from the club were led in by John Lloyd in 6th place and Robin Tuddenham in 9th.

Martin Stork and Paul Brannigan ran a close race around the two lap course with Martin finishing just 5 seconds ahead in 15th place.

Maria Prescott ran a strong race to take 5th lady overall and Sarah Glyde was 7th lady.

With Mel Siddall finishing 11th lady, they narrowly won the ladies team prize from Trawden.

Todmorden Results: 6 John Lloyd 36.34; 9 Robin Tuddenham 37.10; 15 Martin Stork 38.56; 16 Paul Brannigan 39.01; 40 Darren Graham 41.14; 47 Kevin Booth 41.46; 74 Andrew Bibby 44.09; 77 Lee McCluskey 44.23; 97 Maria Prescott 46.20; 103 Sarah Glyde 47.12; 105 Richard O'Sullivan 47.18; 107 Richard Blakeley 47.24; 117 Kevin Coughlan 48.19; 119 Mel Siddall 48.35; 134 Helen Hodgkinson 50.42; 138 Peter Ehrhardt 51.46; 140 Nigel Hanson 52.06.



Lauren Jeska travelled to Scotland for the Inter-Counties Fell Championship, at the Broughton Heights Hill Race near Moffat. In a highly competitive race, Lauren finished in 3rd place, leading the Lancashire Ladies to 2nd place behind Central Scotland.

Chris Upson's Broughton Heights photos...


At the Cader Idris Fell Race in Wales, Paul Hobbs finished 32rd in 1:45:28 and James Riley was 92nd in 2:01:36. The 10.5 mile course started and finished in Dolgellau, climbing the windy peak of Cader Idris at just under 3000 feet.


Sean Carey recorded a hard fought for win at the Saddleworth Fell Race on Saturday, completing the course in 22:04 to finish 18 seconds ahead of Rossendale's Anthony Dalton.

Blackstone Edge Fell Race | Edinburgh Marathon | Arco di Trento WMRA GP | Lanzarote Ironman

Todmorden Harriers sent a strong contingent to the Blackstone Edge Fell Race winning two team prizes. They not only finished first men’s team but also took home the 3rd place team prize.
Sean Carey finished in 4th place over the steep 3.5 mile course from Lydgate hamlet, with Nick Barber edging 9th place just one second ahead of Alistair Rhodes-Dawson. Dwane Dixon completed the winning line up in 12th place, beating local rivals Calder Valley into second place.

The Todmorden club’s second quartet of John Lloyd, Paul Hobbs, Ben Crowther and Peter Bowles then followed up with 3rd place in the men’s team competition.

Gemma Kendall continued her excellent start at the club with 3rd placed lady and Paul Cruthers completed the Todmorden entry in 83rd overall.


Whilst Todmorden’s men enjoyed success with a short trip, a trio of Harriers’ ladies travelled much further afield.

Julie Wyant travelled to Scotland to complete the Edinburgh Marathon in 4:15:32.


Lauren Jeska made the trip to Arco di Trento in Italy for the opening round of the 2011 World Mountain Running Grand Prix.

Lauren finished 6th in the race, behind race winner Lucija Krkoc of Slovenia who set a new course record, with England’s Emma Clayton in 2nd place.


Emma Osenton was in the Canary Islands for the Lanzarote Ironman Triathlon, made up of a 3800m swim, a 122km mountainous cycle ride and followed by a full marathon run.

After a 1:18:45 swim Emma lay in 17th place out of her age category. A strong cycle section time of 6:18:38 pushed her up into 5th place.

She completed the marathon run in 5:09:16, to give a total time including transitions, of just over 13 hours, and 9th place in her category.

Mearley Clough Fell Race [English Champs] | The Fellsman | Great Manchester Run

Lauren Jeska stormed to victory in the ladies race at the Mearley Clough Fell Race, which formed the second round of this year's English Fell Championships.   The 3.5 mile race featured over 1200 feet of steep ascent as it climbed from Worston up the north side of Pendle Hill, near Clitheroe.

Lauren quickly established herself at the front and held an unassaible lead as she began the descent, eventually crossing the line with a winning margin of over a minute.

The win was sufficient to take her to the top of the Ladies standings for 2011 after two of the six races, with Calder Valley's Helen Fines and Holmfirth's Helen Berry close behind.

Sarah May finished in 12th and Kath Brierley completed the course in 34th place to help the ladies team into second place on the day, allowing them to retain their lead at the top of the Team Championships.

In the separate men's race that followed, the first Todmorden runner was Jon Wright who finished in 33rd place.
 
Nick Barber and Alistair Rhodes-Dawson had a close battle throughout, to finish 64th and 66th respectively. 

Todmorden Results (Ladies) 1 Lauren Jeska 34:29; 12 Sarah May 38:14; 34 Kath Brierley 41:44; 48 Sarah Warburton 43:08; 55 Jane Leonard 44:06; 65 Maria Prescott 45:30; 76 Helen Hodgkinson 47:02; 92 Sue Roberts 49:28; 95 Andrea Marshall 50:10.

(Men): 33 Jon Wright 30:52; 63 Nick Barber 32:39; 65 Alistair Rhodes-Dawson 32:47; 86 John Lloyd 34:28; 105 Paul Hobbs 35:49; 110 Dave Collins 36:20; 111 Robin Tuddenham 36:23; 113 Martin Roberts 36:36; 143 Andrew Bibby 40:16; 159 Keith Parkinson 42:39; 170 Richard Blakeley 45:34; 177 Peter Ehrhardt 48:38; 182 Dave O’Neill 54:44.


Andy Holden's Mearley Clough photographs...

Men's race video...



Darren Graham was the lone Todmorden entrant in The Fellsman – a 62 mile ultra event over rugged moorland from Ingleton to Threshfield in the Yorkshire Dales.


Starting on Saturday morning, Darren completed the course in 16 hours and 23 minutes in the early hours of Sunday.

Sports Sunday's Fellsman photos...



On Sunday, two Harriers joined nearly 40,000 runners at the Great Manchester Run with Joanne Scholfield finishing the 10k route in 50:55 and Helen Wilson in 52:44.

Flower Scar Fell Race | Pendle Cloughs | Calderdale Way Relay

Photo by Keith Parkinson



Sean Carey led the way for the Harriers at Todmorden’s Flower Scar Fell Race last Wednesday evening, finishing in 3rd place just a few seconds behind Calder Valley’s Karl Gray and Alex Whittem.

The 4 mile race, which is free to enter, climbs 1400 feet from the start at Todmorden High School up to the top of Flower Scar Hill and loops back to the start via Robinwood.

The Harriers added a further three finishers in the top ten, with Andrew Wrench in sixth, John Lloyd in eighth and Alistair Rhodes-Dawson in ninth.



Todmorden runners made up almost a quarter of the ninety strong entry, so hopes were high of some good performances and the ladies did not disappoint, with Gemma Kendall putting in an excellent run to finish first lady.

Kath Brierley was second lady, and Bev Holmes marked her first race for the club with fourth lady.

Helen Hodgkinson was fifth and Maria Prescott sixth lady, as the home club dominated the ladies results.


On Saturday, three Harriers took on the 14 mile Pendle Cloughs Fell Race, which requires good navigation to find the nine checkpoints around Pendle Hill.

Helen Hodgkinson finished second lady, Mandy Goth first lady vet50 and Phil Hodgson second men’s vet50.


The rescheduled Calderdale Way Relay took place on Sunday, which had been postponed last December due to snow and ice.

Todmorden fielded three teams who all put in strong performances around the 50 mile route which includes over 12,000 feet of climbing. The distance is split into six legs, each run by a pair of runners.

The mens ‘A’ team finished in ninth place, with Sean Carey and John Lloyd laying down the 3rd fastest time of the day on leg 3.

The ‘B’ team also improved on their previous year's position to finish in 35th place, and 5th ‘B’ team.

The ladies team were boosted by club record performances on leg 3 by Maria Prescott and Sarah Glyde, and on leg 4 by Lauren Jeska and Sarah May.

This took them into fourth place after a close battle with Bingley Harriers, who eventually took third place with an advantage of just 2 minutes, after nearly 8 hours of racing. Holmfirth were the ladies team winners by a comfortable margin.

Three Peaks Fell Race | Bluebell Trail 10 | Coiners Fell Race

Jon Wright led the way for Todmorden Harriers at the Three Peaks Fell Race on Saturday, which attracted almost 700 competitors. The 23.3 mile course featured over 5000 feet of climbing as it passed over the summits Pen Y Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough.

Jon finished in 12th place overall in a time of 3:13:39, also finishing 2nd vet40. Nick Barber had a strong run to finish in 39th, with Alistair Rhodes Dawson in 74th.

Todmorden Results: 12 Jonathan Wright 3:13:39; 39 Nick Barber 3:29:51; 74 Alastair Rhodes-Dawson 3:40:40; 195 Robin Tuddenham 4:04:23; 259 Paul Hobbs 4:14:03; 266 Andy McFie 4:15:02; 418 Paul Cotton 4:36:37; 618 Elise Milnes 5:09:33.


On Sunday over 20 Harriers took on the Bluebell Trail 10.3 mile race, including Elise Milnes who had completed the Three Peaks race the previous day.

Four hundred runners took on the undulating route along trails and tracks to the south of Halifax, with a shallower than usual river crossing at the finish.

Dwane Dixon was the first Todmorden finisher in 7th, just ahead of John Lloyd in 8th, with Martin Stork completing the course in 39th.

Sarah May was the 3rd lady overall, and together with Mel Blackhurst, first vet45, and Maria Prescott they narrowly missed out on the ladies team prize to Burnden. Moyra Parfitt finished first vet65 to add to the club’s successful day.

Todmorden Results: 7 Dwane Dixon 1:10:53; 8 John Lloyd 1:11:25; 29 Martin Stork 1:16:51; 46 Sarah May 1:21:27; 47 Mark Anderton 1:21:31; 53 Clive Greatorex 1:22:19; 59 Richard Butterwick 1:23:56; 90 Keith Parkinson 1:28:36; 112 Simon Galloway 1:31:02; 115 Melanie Blackhurst 1:31:18; 142 Paul Cruthers 1:34:54; 157 Maria Prescott 1:37:05; 197 Kevin Coughlan 1:41:14; 226 Elise Milnes 1:46:07; 233 Peter Ehrhardt 1:46:51; 241 David Leslie 1:48:32; 254 Moyra Parfitt 1:50:34; 281 Graham Milnes 1:53:28; 283 Rachel Henthorne 1:53:42; 310 David Henthorne 1:58:36; 318 Barry Chapman 1:59:29; 374 Katy Moore 2:10:28.

On Monday, three Harriers tackled the 7 mile Coiners Fell Race from Mytholmroyd, organised by Calder Valley Fell Runners.

The circular route travels through Coiners country as it ascends to Stoodley Pike and back down.

Dave Collins was the first Todmorden man, followed by Martin Roberts and Mick Craven.

In the earlier junior races, which formed part of the Junior English Championships, Sean Carey finished 4th in the U18 race.

Jack Crummett was 19th U14 boy, with Bill Furminger 37th U10. In the U8 race, Ewan Logue was 23rd boy and Thea Crowther 12th girl.