Wasdale Horseshoe | Ian Terry 5k | Todmorden 5k | Widdop Fell Race

The Wasdale Horseshoe Fell Race proved a suitable test as it formed the latest round of the English Fell Championships.  The 35 km route that traverses several high Lakeland Peaks including Scafell Pike and Great Gable, already had a reputation as one of the hardest events in the calendar, and was made all the tougher by the high temperatures that led to around 100 runners dropping out from the 300 that chose to start.

Craig Stansfield revelled in the conditions to complete the route in 4:59:47 for 41^st place, with Dwane Dixon not far behind in 54^th place, in a time of 5:08:30.

Ben Crowther completed the distance in 5:43:31 for 101^st position, followed by Andy McFie in 199^th with a time of 5:56:24 and Peter Bowles in 128^th place in 6:01:51.

Jane Leonard finished in 6:16:26 for 26^th woman, and 3^rd v55, and Clare Harris was 33^rd woman in 6:45:05 and 4^th v50.

On Tuesday evening John Lloyd claimed first place at the Ian Terry Memorial 5k in Littleborough in a time of 17:15, with Myra Wells crossing the line in 30.27 for 82^nd place.

Photo by Keith Parkinson

The following evening John was back in action, but this time as race organiser of the Todmorden 5k, the first in a series of weekly evening races in Centre Vale Park. 

Former Todmorden runner Chris Smale, now running for Bingley Harriers, won in a time of 17:15, with Robin Tuddenham in 3^rd place for the Harriers at 17:40.

Dan Taylor and Martin Stork ran a close race, crossing the line in 7^th and 9^th places respectively, with Dan just 5 seconds ahead in 18:52, as Todmorden won the team prize.

Darren Tweed crossed the line in 14^th position with 19:40, with the same advantage over Paul Alexander 15^th place.   Simon Anderton finished in 20^th place in 21:05, a couple of places and 10 seconds ahead of brother Mark Anderton.

Mel Siddall was the first Todmorden woman to finish in 23:34 collecting the women’s v50 prize in the process.  Andrea Marshall completed the distance in 26:21 with Myra Wells first v55 in 28:29 as the trio also won the women’s team prize.

Ian Stansfield finished in 46^th and Jim Smith in 47^th place. 

On the same evening, there was another sizeable Todmorden entry at the Widdop Fell Race, which followed a 7 mile moorland loop.

Steve Pullan was the first Harrier to finish in 1:00:01 for 21^st place, with Rob Gray in 31^st with a time of 1:01:46 and Dave Collins half a minute behind in 35^th place. Paul Cruthers finished in 94^th position in 1:11:51.

Kirsty Pattern was the first Todmorden woman, and 11^th woman overall, in 1:20:05, with Sarah Hughes and Jackie Holden completing the distance in the same time of 1:22:31 for 15^th and 16^th women.

Peter Ehrhardt was the next to finish in 1:27:47, followed by a trio of Harriers in 1:32:06 as Claire Duffield, Moyra Parfitt and Mel Blackhurst came in together.

In the Widdop junior races, Jack Crummett finished in 2^nd place in the under 16’s race.

Joe Hobbs and Alex Duffield battled it out at the front of the under 8’s race, finishing in 2^nd and 3^rd place, with Ben Hodgkinson in 11^th place.

On Saturday, Robin Tuddenham finished in 104^th position at the Snowdon Mountain Race in a time of 1:34:08 for the 10 mile race up and down Wales’ highest mountain.

A pair of Harriers were in Middleton for the Moonraker 10k on Sunday, in slightly cooler conditions than of late, with Myra Wells finishing in 107^th and Richard Butterwick in 108^th place, just under the hour mark.

Bohuslav Barlow completed the Pudsey 10k in a time of 57:05 for 207^th position.