Races feel a bit like buses this month … after nothing much for nearly a year, in just a few short weeks May has so far seen a bumper crop of results for local runners.
A very happy Jason taking 1st place
This week, it was CVFR’s ‘away’ contingent who led the charge, with Leicester-based Jason Williams flying the red & white-striped flag for the club at Windmill Hill fell race on Sunday 16th May. One of only two fell races in the not-so-hilly Leicestershire, despite its location, this course really packs a punch. Thanks to repeated lung-busting & leg-testing ascents of Windmill Hill over its five-mile route, the race counts as a category B fell race (at least 70% off-road & a minimum of 25m of climb for every 1km in distance).
This was Williams’ first race in a couple of years, but it didn’t show. With COVID safety measures in force, runners set off in waves of 25 based on predicted speed, which made it hard to gauge exactly how your performance squared up to other racers, but Williams know he had run well. He led the pack right from the initial multiple ascents & kept that lead over the fields & into the second lap of the course.
Williams was delighted to claim his first racing victory of 2021, although this ‘great little race’ had proven ‘a lot harder’ than he remembered. He was also quick to give credit to organisers – West End runners – for making the event possible in the current climate. Williams now can’t wait to get back to regular fell racing with his CVFR ‘family’.
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Another member of Calder Valley’s ‘away’ team, Math Roberts, was in action this weekend, in the Lake District, along with Valley-based Darren Kay. The two were over the moon to get racing again, & to take part in Kong’s Brian Clough Head and Ken Dodd Race on Saturday 15th May.
Held just a few miles outside of Keswick, this nine-mile route includes an eye-watering 3,000 feet of climb. It starts with a flagged section through Threlkeld Quarry, & thereafter leaves racers free to choose their own route, or ‘lines’, first up to a checkpoint on Clough Head summit, & then across to a second checkpoint on Great Dodd summit, before heading down across Matterdale Common to the third & final checkpoint. The race culminates with a frantic dash back along the coach road to the finish line.
The 166-runner line-up featured some of the strongest fell runners in the country, but the Calder Valley duo held their own. Kay ran strongly, finishing the race in just under 77 minutes, a respectable time, not least as he ‘lost three minutes’ & ‘broke’ his legs, thanks to choosing what turned out to the ‘the hardest way up the first climb, across tussocks & scree’. He fought his way back to 19th place overall & second in his category (MV50) & is now looking forward to ‘hopefully plenty more races soon’.
Teammate Math Roberts described how ‘incredible’ it is to be out racing again – ‘proper goose-bump raising stuff’. He ran a storming race, finishing the race 4 and a half minutes ahead of Kay as first male vet runner & a credible 7th overall – only seconds behind the 5th, 6th placed runners, which included running legend Rob Jebb.
– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: CATHERINE JONES
