This is a tough old race which basically involves running round the top of Pendle and then repeatedly dropping over the sides and running back up again, which each climb tougher than the previous one.  Barlick as a club did well in this race with two finishers in the top ten which went a long way towards making Barlick the team winners of this race. 

5 David Mirfield 2:31:50 (2nd M40)
8 Julian Hood 2:35:27 (1st M45)
26 Stephen Shorrock 2:47:23 (2nd M45)
31 David Poole 2:49:38
46 Andy Berry 2:56:03
70 Sam Horrocks 3:06:42
73 Mark Horrocks 3:07:52 (1st M60
91 Carl Nevison 3:11:21
149 John Mason 3:26:25
155 Andrew Smith 3:27:03
210 Hayley Whitehead 3:39:03
260 John Boothman 3:51:57
223 Lucy Brown 3:56:58
304 Robert Cranham 4:07:32
370 Anthony Brown 4:54:56
380 Raymond Banks M70 5:32:00 (3rd M70)

Teams
1 Barlick Fell Runners
2 Rossendale

Full Results

Craig Shearer has gone through hell recently with complete lower back pain and loss of physical ability to train or race.  But he was born to to run and he finally got back to training and had his first run back after injury in this race.  With a show of grit and determination, he hammered out a third place against a good field.  Not a bad result after weeks of injury.

3 Craig Shearer 37:43

112 Stephen Jackson 28:23
140 Richard Starkie 30:29

49 Joanne Sadowsky 37:44

After making his inaugural come back on 20 October, it didn't take Andy Collins long to clock up a race win, coming home ahead of team mate Ben Whitehead in this Barlick one-two.  For most of the race, the two ran together and it was only in the later stages that Ben dropped away.

It was a good day for the Collins family with wife Jacqueline coming home 2nd in the ladies race.

1 Andrew Collins 1:09:54
2 Ben Whitehead 1:11:23
9 Andrew Smith 1:22:39
31 Anthony Brown 1:43:30

Ladies Race
2 Jacqueline Collins 1:25:25
4 Lucy Brown 1:32:16

The conditions for this race are rarely good and this year was no exception.  There were the usual boggy conditions underfoot and the clag was also down which made navigating difficult.  Andy Berry had a good race to finish in 8th place, but the clag hindered him and he reckons that had he been a bit more familiar with the route, a top five finish could have been a possibility.

8 Andy Berry 1:27:25
32 Pete Jackson 1:44:21

101 starters

9 Lucas Payne 20:29

9 Robert Cranham 23:31

100 Sarah Bell 24:55
287 Sharon Newbold 32:41

This year, the race became the world's largest marathon with 55,646 finishers.  John Boothman went over with friends and family to take part and here is his account of race day.

A change to tarmac this weekend for Sam who entered this race to join a few workmates who were doing this race.  It is a ten mile race through lovely countryside with a few hills in it like the Birstwith Brute which is a never ending climb out of Birstwith.  This may be the last time that this race takes place as it starts and finishes at Ripley Castle and although they have lived there since 1309, the Ingleby family have now sold it and it is not clear whether the new owners want to continue with the race.  That would be a shame as it is a lovely race (for tarmac) on roads which see little traffic.

104 Sam Wadsworth 1:13:39

Another good performance from Smirf to take 3rd place.

3 David Mirfield 45:33 (2nd M40)
19 Andy Berry 52:20 (2nd M45)
46 Andrew Smith 58:39 (3rd M60)

144 Stephen Jackson 28:36

314 Sharon Newbold 33:07

It was almost perfect conditions for this race and right from the start the first six runners made a scorching start up to the first res, led by Wharfedale's Matthew Athersmith  The group included David Mirifield who was in 2nd place and Ben Whitehead who stuck with them despite running in the cross country the day before.  In his second race since making his comeback, Andy Collins decided to let them go and not try to keep up with them, but still looked like the climb had taken a lot of him when he reached the res..  As the race progressed, Matthew Athersmith continued to set a fast pace and the following runners, led by David Mirfield began to drop off him. This was the position at Ponden.  At this point, Andy Collins seemed to have found his second wind and was running well.

The race continued in this way with Matthew Athersmith gradually stretching out his lead,and on the approach to Haworth, Smirf was still in second place.  However, on the run in, he was pipped by Matthew's brother Lee and got pushed down into third.  It was however, brilliant racing between all three contenders.  Ben Whitehead was still going well in 6th place and was followed by Andy Collins who looked set to take a comfortable 7th place.  However on the run in, he was challenged by Calder Valley runner Andy Ford and he had to give his all in an exciting dash to the finish to maintain his place. 

The ladies race was won by local girl Helen Smith, now running for Salford.  The Barlickers were led home by Emma Law, with everyone then following in quick succession to leave Barlick with 3 top ten finishers.  It was nice to see Cloey Mason & Anne-Marie Beech out in their first race for quite some time.

3 David Mirfield 56:39 (2nd M40)
6 Ben Whitehead 59:39
7 Andy Collins 62:53 (2nd Senior)
14 Robert Cranham 69:22
16 Andy Berry 69:33
24 Andrew Smith 72:08 (2nd M60)
35 John Mason 75:09
54 John Boothman 80:25
67 Pete Jackson 85:17
103 Carl Pawson 101:31

Ladies Race
7 Emma Taylor 77:23
8 Emma Law 78:17
9 Jacqueline Collins 79:02
11 Hayley Whitehead 79:22
13 Paula Cullen 83:10
19 Lucy Brown 87:22
38 Cloey Mason 106:45
39 Anne-Marie Beech 107:41

We had a full team of men out in this race, but sadly, we were one lady short, so no women's team out.

Senior Men
11 Gary Shaw 32:45
27 Ben Whitehead 34:26
47 Andy Berry 36:14
66 Carl Nevison 38:11
95 John Mason 40:55
102 Andrew Smith 41:37

Vet 70 Men
1 Raymond Banks 26:43

Senior Women
11 Victoria Peel 21:31
44 Paula Cullen 24:51

Team Positions
Senior Men
8th Barlick Fell Runner

Vet Men
3rd Barlick Fell Runners

78 Robert Cranham 38:31

He's back! 

After quite some time of not racing, Andy Collins made his comeback solo race this weekend and found himself competing against Ted Mason who was running on his own midden.  Despite his age, Ted, unsurprisingly, took the honours,  Before the finish, all runners have to sink a pint of ale and both Ted and Andy are adept at that.  He finished third, which is a brilliant run for someone not yet race fit.  Watch out for future races.

3 Andy Collins 44:45

103 finished.