Todmorden Harriers' Mini Moorland Marathon 2012

Crisp blue skies made for perfect conditions for Todmorden Harriers’ Mini Moorland Marathon on Sunday, attracting 64 competitors to the 3 hour orienteering score event.

This year the base was the Roebuck Inn, Portsmouth, and there were twenty three controls placed around the hillsides of the Cliviger Valley area.

Competitors were given a map showing their location only at the start and quickly had to plan an efficient route to visit as many as possible in their allotted time, with severe penalties for those who returned late.

Calder Valley Fell Runner James Logue defended his title with remarkable speed and navigational skill, visiting 18 out of the 23 checkpoints in just over 3 hours to score 251 points, well ahead of his nearest rival and club mate Phil Scarf on 195 points, with Rob Rawlinson third on 175 points.

Jackie Scarf was the highest scoring solo lady, and fourth overall with 160 points. In fifth place, also scoring 160 points, were the first trio of Ben Crowther, Dwane Dixon and Paul Weinreich.

First pair were Barbara Lonsdale and Sarah Rowell also scoring 160 for sixth place overall, with Jeff Walker and Rachel Skinner the first Todmorden pair on 145 points.

The first Todmorden solo runner was Kevin Booth on 145 points with Mandy Goth scoring 135 to be the first Todmorden lady.

Despite having over 150 years of experience between them, Todmorden’s Derek Clutterbuck and Preston Harriers George Arnold saw most of their points eroded away by a late return and they took home the coveted golden pigeon award.

The prize giving ceremony was held in the Roebuck Inn, and many thanks went to Phil Hodgson and his team of helpers for the organisation of the event.

Full Results...

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.

Mini Moorland Marathon 2010

Todmorden Harriers’ annual Mini Mountain Marathon attracted a strong turnout of over 50 runners despite difficult conditions underfoot on Sunday. The orienteering score event gave competitors three hours to visit as many controls as possible within the time limit, with heavy penalties for those who were late back.
The challenge relied more upon good navigation and route planning than pure speed and was open to club members and invited guests. It provided an opportunity to sharpen up navigation skills for the coming fell racing season, which could prove vital when Todmorden have the honour of hosting this year’s opening English Championship Fell Race next month, with the Noonstone Fell Race.
Starting off at two minute intervals from event HQ at the Mason’s Arms on Bacup Road, the first task for competitors upon receiving their marked map was to quickly determine which, and the order, of the 12 possible checkpoints they would attempt to reach within the three hour time limit. Depending on their location on the hills above Todmorden, checkpoints were worth 10, 15 or 20 points, with the furthest checkpoint on Soyland Moor worth 35.
Runners competed either solo or in pairs and quickly vanished in all directions.
Whilst the recent thaw made for quicker progress lower down, across the moorland tops there were still considerable areas of snow to contend with, mixed with impossibly icy tracks, and the occasional muddy bog that slowed progress.
James Logue and Calder Valley’s Bill Johnson both managed to reach 9 of the 12 checkpoints, but with Bill finishing 5 minutes outside the allowance he lost 10 points and dropped to 4th place handing overall victory to James, who returned with just 3 minutes to spare, with 130 points. The battle for first Todmorden Harrier was a close contest with Andrew Horsfall and Roger Haworth both visiting 8 checkpoints to score 120 points, but whilst Roger finished 1 minute within the time limit, Andrew completed 15 minutes faster to capture the trophy and 2nd place overall.
Ultra distance specialists Ossie Kershaw and Tim finished 5th overall and first pair with 115 points. Despite arriving back 3 minutes late, Phil Hodgson had done enough to finish first veteran with 104 points. Helen Hodgkinson judged the time perfectly to finish exactly on the three hour mark and take the prize for highest scoring female Harrier with 100.
Calder Valley’s Tim Brooks was the only one brave enough to attempt the long slog to the furthest checkpoint but the slower than normal conditions meant a significant time penalty was incurred that wiped most of them out.
The legendary ‘Golden Pigeon’ award for the lowest Todmorden score went to Kath Brierley and son Jack, after an unfortunate fall led to a late return that cancelled out what would have been a very respectable score to leave them with a negative total.

The prize giving ceremony was finished off with considerable thanks going to organiser Simon Anderton and his team of helpers.