Calder Valley Fell Runner – 14 February 2022
Jonathan with fellow runner Alison Corbett from Staff Moorlands club
Foreign climbs: Two of CVFR’s veteran runners took to the trails in Spain on 13th February, competing in two different iconic mountain races. Jonathan Emberton took on the Pedregeur Mountain Trail Race – Mitja Marato Muntanya in Ocaive (near Alicante). Emberton finished a very respectable 59th overall and 10th in his age category, finishing the eye-watering 3,500ft plus of ascent in only 2hrs 47min. Jon said ‘it was a brutal race with marble like pebbles underfoot and tricky limestone pavements’. He was well rewarded with great beer and pizza at the post race get together.
Grey skies didn’t dampen Ben’s enthusiasm
This weekend also saw CVFR’s Ben Mounsey was running for the Sportsshoes Trail Team UK at the 2022 Montserrat Skyrace in Catalan’s Parc Natural Mutanya de Montserrat for the 10th annual Skyrace on 13th Feb 2022. Runners have five hours maximum to complete the 25km (15.5-mile) course, complete with its lung-busting 1500m (4421ft) of climb.
Mounsey described it as a ‘tough day on the trail’ but was happy to be ‘back out racing, after such a long delay’. He was delighted to finish in 9th place in this ‘amazing skyrace in a magical mountain which never disappoints’. He was quick to praise the organisation & welcome of Klassmark Trail and to apologise for having brought the English weather with him! Needless to say, Mounsey is looking forward to being ‘back for more of the same next year, but hopefully with some sun!’
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A great wet day out: In the Valley this week, the main event was Todmorden Harrier’s Mini-Mountain Marathon – a yomp around our local moors, navigating through pretty atrocious conditions, to find a variety of expertly placed check points. Runners can race individually or in pairs – and have to work out the optimum order and number of ‘controls’ they attempt to find/reach in the time allotted. Controls carry different numbers of points, so this is a race where strategy often wins out over speed. Racers want the maximum number of points, and so need to avoid navigating a route that returns to base too early (wasting precious time for more points), or too late –– where heavy time penalties come into effect.
Expertly organised by Bob Halstead, Chris Goddard (Tod Harriers) once again got his hands on the coveted trophy, finishing one minute before the cut off time and scoring a superb 395 points. Second place went to James Williams, who incurred a 3-point penalty (returning one minute late) – with an impressive final score of 332. CVFR’s Bill Johnson took third place, finishing four minutes before cut off with 305 points. Johnson reports how although the race was ‘very wet’, he really appreciated both how the race organiser took them to many ‘hidden corners of Heptonstall & Worsthorne Moors and how well they were hosted afterwards by the New Delight Pub.
Rachel looking pleased with her Golden Pidgeon award
There was also strong running from CVFR’s Tamsin Cooke, who took first female, finishing ten minutes before cut off and scoring 190 points. Jonathan Moon and Tristan Watson finished second pair behind Andy Forbes and Rob Gray (Tod Harries). Rachel Johnson took second placed female and also won the golden pigeon award.
Math Roberts on his way to a one second win. Photo courtesy of Stewart MacKellar | Photography
www.stewartmackellar.co.uk
When every second counts: CVFR’s Welsh contingent were in fine form on Saturday, 12th February at the Conwy Mountain Race, with Math and Gav Roberts battling it out for first place around the five check points. Math took what he jokingly called ‘a resounding win’ – pipping Gav to the post by just one second. The two runners ran the 4.8-mile route, with its punishing 2000+ ft of climb, in 41:30 & 41:31 respectively. By taking the win, Math also won the MV40 age group, leaving second-placed, local runner Gav first amongst the non-veteran runners.
A half marathon in full winter weather: Away from the fells, but closer to home Calder Valley’s Andy Greenwood took on the Liversedge Half Marathon in Kirklees. Greenwood pushed as hard as he could in the finishing straight to try to dip under 1:30 for the race, but it wasn’t to be – he finished 1h 30min. Regardless of this slight disappointment, Greenwood remains delighted with this result, which saw him shave six minutes off his previous PB in October 2019. Moreover, the course was a challenging one, with a lot more climb than many half marathons (over 1,000ft of ascent over the 13 miles). He also had to contend with some serious headwinds in exposed sections and last weekend’s constant deluge of rain. He sees it as great practice for a very different type of race in Keswick next weekend for the Kong winter series.
– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: catherine jones
