Orchan Rocks

Tim Ellis 1st at Orchan Rocks setting a new CR

Calder Valley’s club championship series continued with the short Orchan Rocks Fell Race from the Staff of Life in Cornholme last Tuesday.  Organised by Dan Taylor of Todmorden Harriers, Orchan Rocks is one of three races that Dan has put on the northern side of the Cornholme valley.  A short midweek 3.4mile race on woodland trails and moorland paths, the route circles the distinctive outcrop of Orchan Rocks.

Tim Ellis started fast and ended up beating Shaun Godsman’s course record set last year as first runner back in 21 minutes and 32 seconds. Alex was third behind Joshua Boyle of Barlick Fell Runners who set a new under 16s record.  With Mark O’Connor in 6^th place Calder easily took the men’s team prize.

Nicola Jackson of Preston Harriers was first woman back in a new record time of 26:09 and 16^th place.  Carolyn Shimwell was first woman back for Calder Valley scoring the full 100 points in the women’s championship.

Carolyn Shimwell Orchan Rocks

There was fierce competition for every point, Gavin Roper overtook Jake Ackroyd in the final run in but Jake was having none of it, putting a finish line burst on to beat Jake by one second.  Simon Fisher and James Cooke also had great runs and scored well in the championship.

Simon Fisher Orchan Rocks – Mind your head

Photos courtesy of Dave Hammond

Photos courtesy of Woodentops

Three Peaks

For most people walking the Yorkshire Three Peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Whenside and Ingleborough in under 12 hours is a great achievement. For fell runners a time under six hours is good, under four hours excellent, and under three hours 15 minutes is elite. The last weekend of April sees the running of the Three Peaks Fell Race.

Karl Gray, 3Peaks – Whernside

The 23 mile course had been made extra challenging this year by four days of snow and ice. Conditions on the descents were treacherous as melting snow covered rocks and boulders resulting in slippery foot placements.

Karl Gray lost the V40 record last year to Rob Jebb of Bingley who set a new record of 2 hours 59 minutes and 32 seconds. Karl was determined to take it back this year and worked hard to smash the veterans records by over two minutes to come in fourth place in 2 hours 57 minutes and 13 seconds. As this race was also this year’s Yorkshire championship race, he took this prize too, additionally securing a GREAT BRITAIN vest in 6 weeks time for the mountain race in Slovinia.

Gale Sugden’s storming 3 Peaks run.

In the women’s race, won by the in form Victoria Wilkinson of Bingley, Calder’s Gayle Sudgen was 8th in 3 hours 46.50. Not to be outdone in the V50 category, Calder’s Richard Pattinson won his class in 3 hours 18 minutes and 55 second and was a well earned 20th overall.

It was Marc Lauenstein’s first visit to the Three Peaks Race, and the Swiss dentist won the event in a near record time. Lauenstein finished in 2hrs 48mins 58secs, only nine seconds ahead of his Salomon team-mate, Ricky Lightfoot the winner in 2014 and 2015. Ricky must have been gutted to have missed winning for thrre years in a row byu such a fine margin. Lauenstein’s time was only 2mins 55secs slower than the record over the current course set by Andy Peace, of Bingley Harriers, in 1996. The icy conditions make Karl’s record even more of a notable achievement

Richard Pattinson, 3 Peaks V50 Winner

Coiners

Holly Page 5th Position and 1st Lady

The Coiners Fell Race ran from Mytholmroyd on Bank Holiday Monday. Despite a heavy downpour at lunchtime it turned out to be a lovely afternoon and the race went really well. There were some good results from the host club, Calder Valley Fell Runners.

Congratulations to Holly Page on a superb performance, 5th place overall and 1st lady. Another top ten finisher was Gareth Clarke. Holly, Rachael Crossland & Lindsay Oldfield took the ladies team prize, Jackie Scarf and Dick Spendlove also claimed prizes in the vets categories.

Rachael Crossland flying high

5 Holly Page 54:55
9 Gareth Clarke 57:15
22 Lindsay Oldfield 1:01:18
23 Andrew Wright 1:02:33
25 Paul Gilbert 1:03:02
27 Paul Haigh1:03:02
32 Andy Davies 1:04:44
40 Toby Sydes 1:06:23
43 Rachael Crossland 1:07:14
44 Dick Spendlove 1:07:18
45 Jackie Scarf 1:07:43
56 James Cooke 1:12:52
67 Gill Dickson 1:17:59
71 Amanda Allman 1:19:17
73 Gail Tombs 1:19:32
75 Jocasta Fletcher 1:19:57

The Coiners Photos courtesy of Richard Sunderland

A very happy Simon. Courtesy of sportssunday.co.uk

Calder Valley’s Simon Bourne finished a superb second in the race billed as Yorkshire’s toughest, the 61 mile Fellsman.

It was the 54th running of a contest which starts in Grassington and takes in 12,000 feet of climbing, including six 2000ft-high mountains. Conditions were tough with boggy ground and snow on the tops. The weather was a mixture of snow showers and sunshine.

Bourne had been confident of a good run, having already had five top 10 finishes at the event and a previous best of fourth.

He said: “I went off steadily because the first 20 miles are incredibly tough – climbing Ingleborough, Whernside and Great Coum. “I let the leaders go as I was confident that most of them had gone off too fast.” Bourne was ninth at the Dent checkpoint after 20 miles.

“ I felt really good over next stretch and overtook a big group that included Ian Symington,” said Bourne. Symington had a bad day and retired shortly after.

“By the halfway point I had pulled up to third place and had my sights on Andy Davies from Mercia in second. “I caught him at Dodd Fell after 37 miles, then left him behind by taking a better route choice on the next section.”Bourne ran the last 20 miles by himself, pushing hard all the way to make sure he kept hold of second place.

Last year’s third Konrad Rawlik from the Carnethy club in Edinburgh led all the way to win in 11 hours 31 minutes.  Bourne clocked 12 hours 13 minutes, finishing 30 minutes ahead of the next runner. Bourne added: “I am really pleased at my best ever finish, having come fourth in 2007.

“The next big race for me is the Lakeland 100 at the end of July, which is over 105 miles.”

A large group of Calder Valley Fell Runners headed off to the Lake District for the Teenager With Altitude race in the Newlands Valley near Keswick. This has a massive 7600 feet of ascent over 15.4 miles of superb lakeland landscape, including some remote and exposed areas, requiring navigational skills.

Lee Shimwell and Iain Glendining into the first few miles on the Teenager with Altitude

The race starts below Causey Pike  and the route heads for Grasmoor, the highest point in the race. It then visits Whiteless Pike and after a steep plunge to Sail Beck it reaches Newlands Hause, before heading over to High Snockrigg, with a good vantage point overlooking Buttermere. The route then crosses Buttermere Moss and after a steep climb reaches Robinson.

Rod Sutcliffe finishing the Teenager with Altitude

From Robinson the race Joins the “Anniversary Waltz” races and then visits Hindscarth, Dale Head, High Spy and Cat Bells and finishes at a field near Newlands village hall.

There was an excellent performance from Jon Smith, who demonstrated why he is club champion, closely followed by Mark O’Connor.  A tough race took its toll with a lot of ashen faces at the finish, sporting thousand yard stares and knife like cramps.

There were good runs too from Steve Smithies, who just pipped Iain Powell on the last descent.  Ben Frechette, Richard Ingram and Jake Ackroyd also shone, with Helen Buchan and Simon Fisher also carding good times.  Club stalwart Manhar Patel can take great credit for ‘getting round’ and chalking off another Lakeland Classic.