In the world of fell running it really doesn’t get much better than the adrenalin inducing Langdale Horseshoe.

Taking in a high level circuit of this sublime Lakeland valley the race is a true classic in the fell running calendar. A healthy contingent of Calder Valley thrill seekers were among the 400 runners lined up at the foot of the fells with legendary organiser, Roger Bell, starting the race for the last time, to a warm round of applause from his grateful customers. It was then onwards and upwards to the mouth-watering beauty of Landgdale’s summits and tarns. With a cumulative ascent of around 4,700ft, the race starts from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel, taking in Stickle Tarn, Pavey Ark, Thunacar Knott, before a glorious descent over the deeply squelchy Martcrag Moor (the closest the race gets to the terrain in Calder Valley’s home terrain) ahead of a steep ascent to Esk Hause.

Mark Wharton, Langdale

A truly horrific traverse under Esk Pike follows, leading to Ore Gap and the climb up to the Bowfell summit, the highest point on the course at around 2,959ft. Things get distinctly tricky on the rocky descent to Crinkle Crags and the infamous “Bad Step”. Runners briefly become climbers as they cling to a sheer rock face that bars the exit from the rocky summit. There follows a break-neck descent to the foot of Pike o’ Blisco and the last ascent to Blisco’s shattered, boulder-field, peak. The grand finale is a 2000 feet, helter-skelter grassy descent, all the way to the finish in Langdale. Cruising to well-earned pint, Valley’s Mark Wharton was forced to turn the throttle up as he noticed his team mate Tim Brooks looming in his rear view mirror. Throwing caution to the wind Wharton ran head long into the deepest bog on the 13 mile route, losing his footing he slid face-forward through the quagmire, emerging to complete the race just ahead of Brooks, in a mud-splattered scene reminiscent of a zombie B movie. Meanwhile Valley’s Charlotte Whetton was so captivated by the staggering beauty of the Langdales that she decided to take in the neighboring valleys, veering off the race route from Pike of Blisco she dropped into Little Langdale and Blea Tarn, before eventually making it back to the pub well before nightfall, to the relief of her worried team mates. At the front of the field Valley were noticeably absent, with the A team runners saving themselves for other races. First home was Sam Tosh of Rossendale in 2 hours 11 minutes followed within 14 secs by Morgan Donnelly of Borrowdale, and Andy Fallas of Carnethy. Jasmin Paris from Carnethy was first lady in 2 hours 26mins in 24th place only 3 mins outside the ladies record.

Anne Johnson, Jake Ackroyd and John Minta at Withens Skyline 2015

Anne Johnson was Calder Valley FR’s star performer in the Withins Skyline Fell Race. She was one of six runners to break senior records in Sunday’s 24th running of the seven mile event, winning the female veteran 50s in a time of 53.03.

The race reflected all the hard work of David and Eileen Woodhead, organisers of the hugely popular fell races from Penistone Hill in Haworth, who have just received their well-deserved MBEs. Junior and senior runners revelled in the fine conditions and Johnson came 84th in a field of 315 senior runners, clocking 53.06. She was closely followed by Lindsey Oldfield who was only 6 seconds adrift. Not bad considering she had a weekend of celebrations following her birthday. Making a comeback from injury Gillian Wisbey had a good run to finish strongly in just over 62 minutes. Calder’s new club champion Jon Smith led the way in 12th (45.17)

John Smith on form at Withens

clubmate Tristan Sheard 34th (48.04) and Jake Ackroyd 78th (52.56). John Minta had a very busy weekend doing the double with Langdale on the Saturday and Withins on Sunday finishing in just over 55 minutes.

In the junior races, Calder’s future stars were all up there with the best with Eilo Beesley fourth and Farrell Brown 11th in the under 12s; Joe Hobbs was fifth, Alex Duffield sixth, Patrick Casey eighth and Tom Owens 23rd in the under 10s; Daisy Holmes eighth in the under 12s and Lucas Greenwood ninth in the under 14s;

Jason and Alex Kick off the IH Relay

“You lot are bloody useless. You can get 8 runners in the top 10 of the English Champs and we usually have 1. You’ve been beaten by a bunch of old men”. 

Scoffer (4th October 2015)

After a season of such collective and individual highs, the sporting Gods brought Calder Valley back down to earth at Sunday’s Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay (IHMR) in the Lake District. The toughest relay in the country is reserved for elite runners only and has famously been won by local club Borrowdale every year for about as long as anyone can remember.

After an agonising second place last year, Calder’s elite man were determined, and not lacking in confidence, that this was the year to topple the mighty Borrowdale in their own back yard. However, it was not to be, and even worse, with a large dollop of hubris, they were beaten into third place by Keswick AC, another set of Lakeland aces.

To win the IHMR you need to be consistently good over all 4 legs. You can’t afford to make mistakes, you can’t afford to be ill and you can’t afford to get lost in the mist. Everything needs to go well, your runners have to be well matched and you need to have the right pairs on the right legs. Borrowdale are rarely the fastest team on paper but they’re by far the smartest club and they know how to win. They don’t make mistakes. You have to admire and respect them, it’s as simple as that. More importantly you have to respect the race. It’s the toughest relay in the country for a very good reason taking in the bulk of Lakeland’s famous peaks.

Darren and Gavin pairing up at the IH relay

Calder’s GB international Ben Mounsey picks up the story. “In truth we were always going to be chasing the race after leg 1. Jason Williams paid the price for racing the road relays the day before and we then had nearly a minute to make up on the first pair. Tim Ellis had also been struggling with a cold for the last couple of weeks and unfortunately he and Math Roberts finished leg 2 a few minutes down on the top 3 teams, Dark Peak, Borrowdale and Keswick. In stepped fashion icon Daz Kay to save the day with Gav Mulholland on leg 3 and they managed to claw back some time on the front lads to set up a titanic battle on leg 4.”

The excellent Davies brothers set off 1^st for Borrowdale knowing that they would have to run an excellent leg to protect the 3 minute or so lead they had after the changeover. Next went Dark Peak with Neil Northrop and Dave Taylor, before Calder set off in tandem with Carl Bell and Steve Hebblethwaite for Keswick. Ben led out the chase to the first checkpoint and set a very quick pace. It was clear from the start it was going to be a ‘sufferfest’ as Ben and newly crowned World V45 Mountain Running Champ Karl Gray raced hard and attacked the climb, looking to claw back some time on the other teams. Interestingly all four of the top teams took a different route to Hart Crag and when Calder reached the summit Keswick had appeared to run the better line, or just ran faster, Karl worked his socks off on the ascent but was visibly spent and by this point Calder had already lost too much time to Keswick and realistically were running for third place.

Much to learn then for Calder’s star studded team, and a hugely satisfying win for the invincible purple of Borrowdale, who struggled to contain their smugness.

IH Relay and Lucy and Jo team up

And to the ladies who made history for Calder Valley by being the first female team from the club to do this prestigious relay. Lindsey Oldfield and Anne Johnson had a blistering 1^st leg to place 2^nd ladies team at the change over at Hartsop. They handed the baton to Jo Buckley and Lucy Collins and they were still in the mix sitting in 3^rd ladies team as the passed onto club Captain Helen Buchan and new signing Molly Heitz. These 2 ran a good solid leg in the mist and as Gayle Sugden and Sally Newman took the reigns it was a hard task to try and claw back enough time to get on the podium. They had a fantastic run and only missed out 3^rd place by a couple of minutes. Given that the winner Ambleside and 3^rd place team Keswick who Calder were chasing down live in the Lakes and know these hills like the back of their hands the girls can be very proud of a great result and it was so so close …. Perhaps not wearing number 13 will help next year!!!

Saddleworth Edges 2015, from the Left, John Killerby, Jake Ackroyd, Mark O & Richard Sunderland.

It was thick clag on the edges at saddleworth which didn’t discourage the 16 calder valley runners including the flying Dan Biggs AKA The Biggenaught  who is continuing to play havoc with Bills ratings each race.  There was plenty of good individual performances notably Richard Sunderland, Jake Ackroyd and John Killerby who raced there way into the Ale prize giving and took the CVFR men’s team prize.

Fantastic Performances at Thieveley Pike.

Gayle Sugden Descending Thieveley Pike 2015

Gayle Sugden led the women back to win the Thieveley Pike Fell Race last Saturday.

Thieveley Pike is a long established race, run out of Cliviger (the other side of Todmorden for the Lancashirephobic).  It was the second to last short race in the Calder Valley Fell Runners Championship.  So there were loads of red and white striped competitors.

Some may doubt the dubious logic of holding a fell race and sheep dog trials in the same field, but the Shepherds Meet has always been held at the same time as the fell race.  Never mind that three sheep were herded up the finishing funnel by runners rather than the dog.

After a mile of undulating track the race takes a ridiculously steep turn towards the Pike, which is reached after another mile.  There then follows a runnable descent followed by a more technical steep descent before retuning on the track.

There were some great performances from many of the Calder runners, not least Gayle who won the women’s race with Lindsey Oldfield in third.  Along with Carolyn Shimwell, the Calder women took the first team prize.  Putting weeks of Tuesday night animal rescue training into practice, Lindsay also expertly directed a misguided horse safely off the race route as part of her race warm up.

For the men, Martin Howard was fourth and first under 23.  He overtook Mark O’Conner on the final descent, flying downhill then continuing to pick off 6th and 5th at a blistering pace.  Richard Sunderland was 1^st V40 and along with Iain Powell (3^rd V40) these four took the Men’s Team Prize.

Ben Frechette, Thieveley Pike 2015

Further down the field, Andy Wright made a good comeback from his (personally) disappointing result at the Yorkshireman Marathon, with a sprint finish to come in 36^th place.  Toby Sydes continued his good form to finish less than 30 seconds in front of Nathan Kennaugh.  There was some serious battling between Jake Ackroyd, Ben Frechette, Richard Ingram, Stephen Grimley, and Tim Brooks who all swapped places at various points in the race.  Only 80 seconds separated these five.

Calder Valley Juniors had some good results too.  The under 14s start off with the seniors but then take their own course after the first hands and feet climb.  Erik Powell was 3^rd for Calder and Molly Blacker was first girl back.  Even better results came in the under 12s, under 10s and under 8s with Joseph Hobbs, James Duffy and Wynn Standish all winning their respective races.

Full CVFR Senior Results:-

Flawless Navigation in Snowdonia

The RAB Mountain Marathon was held in Snowdonia this year.  A two day event where competitors have to carry all their equipment for an overnight camp while independently navigating around a course of up to 17 miles a day.  These events are a true test of mountain craft.

More top results from Calder’s compass champions, Jackie and Phil Scarf were first mixed vets in the short score and 4^th overall.  Bill Johnson and John Minta were first vet men on the long score.  John said “Bill did all work, I just followed on slowly behind”.  Perhaps next time Bill will find he’s carrying more of the kit.