Alistair Morris along with his For Goodness Shakes! team mate, Si Enderby, took the winter Open 5 series crown at the final event of the season in the Peak District this weekend. They finished 2nd in Sunday’s event. Local Phil Scarf took the event victory in the Male Solo class too.

Sunday’s race was the final race out of six of the Open 5 series which is staged across the country from the North Pennines down to the Quantocks. The pair had won three races and took one second place to become overall champions of this popular event. The event comprises of 5 hours of both mountain running and biking with navigation being an important aspect. The pair have endured tough winter conditions in their campaign to win the series. The first race in the Southern Lake District was warm but with heavy rain. The second close by in Bacup threw hail, snow, rain, wind and thunder at the competitors with many dropping out early. Alistair and Si won but with Alistair suffering frost nip in his fingers. The third event was up on the Warcup Firing Range in snow and sunshine. With the army performing manouveurs and checkpoints on tanks there was a military theme to this event.

Sunday’s race was in glorious sunshine in the Peak District centred around Dovedale. The routes took in the steep sided Dovedale - running across rather than up or down to pick up the checkpoints high on the sides. Dropping one checkpoint on the run the pair headed out on the bike with confidence. With many cycleways the riding was fast and a crash an hour in left Si with an injury to his thigh slowing the pair down resulting in them dropping a further two checkpoints to give them second place. Despite this they still beat the only two other contenders for the Series prize ensuring an outright win.

Phil Scarf took on a strong male solo field an won after a fast and well navigated route. The For Goodness Shakes! team also took the Female Pairs Series title and Alistair and Si will be teaming up with one of the pair, Fi McBryde, to take on Britain’s top teams, including the 2009 Adventure Racing World Champions, later this year in both 48 hours and 5 day races as part of the UK Championships.

The result moves Alistair to 4th place in the UK Adventure Racing Rankings based on the last 2 years results.

We had a glorious day for our 25th Anniversary Run – 25 miles on the 25th of March. Rising early after the clocks went forward, 21 runners set off in mist from Mytholmroyd at 8am, soon climbing out into brilliant sunshine on Crow Hill at Sowerby. Original Club members Richard Kellett and John (Bod) Riley started with us, still running, though a little slower than in 1986. After descending to Cragg Vale the group climbed to Stoodley Pike where we were greeted by magnificent views of cloud below us in the Calder Valley towards Todmorden. Returning to Mytholmroyd some members finished their run whilst others joined and more than 30 members jogged, walked and talked our way up to Old Town and then up the moor to High Brown Knoll in warm, summer-like conditions. A return in the afternoon sun around Midgley Moor via Midgley’s Crow Hill took us back eventually to Mytholmroyd again after six hours for much anticipated pies and peas and a beer in the Shoulder of Mutton. Bod was with us all the way round. Almost fifty members of the club ran part or all of the challenging but beautiful route around the hills of the Calder Valley (thanks to Big Al, the route master). The weather certainly helped, and Maria’s catering service at the road crossings was superb, but it was everybody who turned out that made the day a wonderful experience. Several people have suggested that we should do something like this more often, so let’s do it! We have had one plea for kilometers please at our next anniversary! Rod

Graham Lloyds Photos
Bods Photos

Helen Fines, Sally Newman and Jo Waites with their team prizes

With injuries behind them Calder Valley ladies had a great start to their English Championships with a team win in the Lads Leap fell race at Crowden. The ladies race was won by Emma Clayton of Bingley Harriers in a time of 52 mins 35 secs. Captain Helen Fines led the team with a 6th place finish followed by Jo Waites in 8th and with 3 to count for the team Sally Newman sealed it with 13th position. Waites also took second lady vet 40 only narrowly missing top spot by 12 seconds. Newman not to be outdone was the 1st lady vet 50 and both girls look to be among strong contenders for individual medals in their categories. The ladies also took top spot for the over 40s team with an informe Carole Fryer being the 3rd counter.

The Calder Valley men had one of their best starts to any English championship by taking a fantastic 3rd team spot. The competition was fierce at the front end with the winner being Simon Bailey of Mercia in a time of 44 mins 16 secs. Karl Gray led the team home with a fantastic 9th position and also 2nd Vet 40 overall. Team Captain Ben Mounsey was 15th and with Shaun Godsman (17th), Gav Mulholland (26th) and James Logue (27th) all packing in close together the team position was secured. The vets team also had a great day with a second team placing with Gray, Mulholland, Logue and Goldie being their 4 team counters.

Photo courtesy of Stephen Ellis

Competitors from Calder Valley Fell Runners took to the hills this weekend in a couple of events where the conditions made for even more challenges than might have been expected. Teams competing in the High Peak Mountain Marathon – an event which starts at 11pm at night and sends competitors off on a 42 mile tour of pathless moors – found themselves able to see only a couple of metres in front of them due to thick mist. Doug Gurr of the ‘Calder Somnambulists’ team reported being pleased to have completed the route in 10h49min, his fastest time ever, and reckoned that the sound route knowledge gained by having completed the race half a dozen times previously helped him and his team overcome the poor visibility. In the same event, Barbara Lonsdale and Alistair Morris finished with team ‘For Goodness Shakes’ in 12h14min. Despite the relentless bogs, made wetter and boggier by recent rains and which were less than helpfully broken up by ‘groughs’ – large ditches full of water and more bog – seasoned adventure racer Lonsdale stoically completed her longest single day of racing to date.

Further north, competitors heading to the Lake District for the Black Combe fell race may have been prepared for the 8 mile course taking in 3400ft of climb, including a vicious second ascent, but were perhaps not expecting the ravages of the hail storm which stung like buckshot on any exposed flesh. Having selected the category A race as his first race back after 9 months out with injury, Chris Standish was clearly not going for the soft option, however he perhaps wished he had compromised on his tough guy appearance in shorts and t-shirt when the hail left him looking like he had a dose of measles. With some big names fighting it out for the top places, the first Calder Valley runner home was Tim Ellis who finished 25th in 1:19:59. Other Calder Valley finishers were: Andy Fleet 1:22:07, Graham Hill 1:28:23, Chris Godridge 1:36:45, Robert Paradise 1:38:30, Chris Standish 1:41:47, and Ryan Colbeck 2:18:08.

Sunday 25th March

To celebrate our 25th year, a 25 mile club run, starting and ending at the MCC. Either do it all, or join in on sections as you like. Hopefully everyone will join in the final section, and then into the Shoulder for pie and peas.

Route: CVFR 25 year run (note: the route map is on two pages!)

Click here for schedule: CVFR 25 year run schedule

The Ilkley Moor fell race is a short fast race over 5 miles with 1250 feet of climbing and on a mild day with the ground drying the course records were there for the taking at the 23rd running of this classic race. It starts on a good track just off Wells Road, rising steadily to pass The Tarn and it then crosses Backstone Beck then up between the famous Cow and Calf Rocks. A steep climb up to the Pancake Stone then all that precious height is lost as you plunge downhill on a rough narrow path. It’s a haul back up the hill on the other side of the beck, before swooping down the Rocky Valley on a stony path.
A stiff climb up the side of the Valley to a large cairn is followed by a long stretch along the skyline above Ilkley on rough terrain.
 Some more rough terrain then leads to an easy climb on a path through the bracken followed by a fast traverse, before the final giddy plunge down to the finish!

Local runner Tom Adams of Ilkley Harriers was race winner in a blisteringly fast time but just outside the record. Tom was well clear of second placed Graham Pearce of Pudsey and Bramley Athletic Club who had a similar advantage over third placed Ben Abdelnoor of Ambleside Athletic Club.

Ladies race winner was Emma Clayton of Bingley Harriers smashing the long standing 1996 record in a time of 43.12. In second place was Jo Waites of Calder Valley Fell Runners less than 3 minutes behind. Jo is still making progress after a season of frustrating injuries and if fully fit would have given Emma a much closer race. She was still happy with her run and walked away with the first veteran prize. Third place went to Sally Morley of Ilkely Harriers.

Stile photo - Tom Rattray, Wadsworth Local Photography Group

Last week’s frozen rain threatened Saturday’s 20 mile Wadsworth Trog fell race with cancellation, but a slight rerouting of the start to avoid a farm track better suited to luging than running allowed the race to go ahead. Competitors were warned that conditions were treacherous, with every rock, stile and blade of grass on the moor coated in a thick layer of ice, however 135 starters saw the conditions as nothing more than an additional challenge on an already challenging race.

Most runners leaving Old Town proceeded to slip, slide and shuffle their way round the course, however in an incredible show of grit Calder Valley’s James Logue once again romped home in first place, seemingly unaffected by the icy conditions and a full ten minutes ahead of the second place finisher, Todmorden Harriers’ Jon Wright. Wright seemed similarly unphased by his arctic challenge, and rushed off home to start work, unlike Logue who made himself comfortable with a pint of ale while the rest of the competitors completed the race, the final finisher crossing the line more than two and a half hours after Logue.

Among the women there was hot competition, with some star runners on the starting line. Calder Valley’s Anne Johnson was beaten into third place by Bingley’s Aly Raw in second and Dark Peak’s Nicky Spinks in first. In the women’s team competition, retirements left only two teams in the race. In the event Abbey Runners were especially deserving of their first place prize with one of their runners finishing the race despite a fall which left her leggings in tatters. Unperturbed, and with a coat round her waist for modesty, Leanne Hague completed the race and helped her team to victory over local Todmorden Harriers by just one point.

In the men’s team event, Dark Peak narrowly beat Todmorden Harriers into second place, while Calder Valley’s James Logue, Steve Smithies and Simon Bourne took the Vet’s Team prize.

Sunday brought the aptly named Winter Hill fell race, the second club championship race for Calder Valley. Perhaps put off having seen conditions on the Trog the day before, only nine Calder Valley runners turned up for the race, where the course proved to be almost as icy, but with the additional discomforts of low cloud and melt water. Calder Valley’s Karl Gray came in third place overall to secure maximum points in the championship., with Bill Johnson and Graham Hill claiming second and third place championship points. Helen Fines finished only hundredths of a second behind Hill, taking the prize for first woman, with team mate Jo Buckley finishing second woman.

Night Score – 31^st  January

The Northern Lights didn’t appear but 46 runners did!  Wow, this is a fantastic turnout for what could be quite a niche event. The furthest control was only 2km from the community centre. But, enough climb ( this is the ‘international capital of gravity’ after all) and a complex path network on a clear map meant plenty of choice for all exploring the nooks and crannies of the Cragg valley.

Thanks to you all for a really upbeat evening.

Keep navigating everyone. Jon Emberton

Night Score Results 2012