Tom Mason was our sole representative in this race and he finished in 189th position with a time of 41:56.
The junior races saw the debut run of Cerri Starkie on a muddy course with one large hill. She was happy to complete the run and even happier that she did not finish last.
Whilst one group of Barlickers were taking part in the Gathering Winter Fools Relay, another were at Hyndburn for the next race in this series and it was nice to see Fiona Raby sporting a Barlick vest as our first lady representative in this series. It was probably the hardest race of the series so far and she finished in 50th position out of a field of 121, with a time of 32:13. The positions and times of our men were as follows:
37 Nick Treitl 41:21
69 Rob Weir 43:45
110 Andy Carson 46:31
119 Stuart Bryan 47:18
125 Dan Taylor 47:30
147 Des Walkden 49:15
162 Scott Basistow 51:04
174 Michael Thistlethwaite 52:05
181 James Fent 52:37
John Boothman enjoyed this race so much last year that he returned to give it another go. Last year's snow gave way to high winds which made the ascent very tough, but propelled everyone back down again at a high speed.
Some confusion with the route saw first past the post Rhys Findlay-Robinson of Dark Peak forfeit the win, which was awarded to Danny Hope. John finished in 75th position in a time of 56:55.
There were two great team performances today. For the men, Gary Shaw and Matt Lalor set off well and on their leg trailed just behind the Bingley A team, a position they maintained until the end, finishing in front of the Wharfedale team, who were third. They then handed over to Julian Hood and Stephen Chew who had closed down the gap with Bingley by the time they got to the 'Murder Mile'. At that stage, there was no sign of Wharfedale and Bingley B team had moved into 3rd place. The runners disappeared out of sight as they went across the moors, but when they reappeared, approaching the Keighley Gate Road, they had opened up a huge gap on Bingley and they handed over a three minute lead to third leg team, Andy Berry and Lucas Payne. They set off with much determination and maintained this lead to give a two minute lead to the final runners Shaun Chew & Sam Wadsworth. In the course of this leg, Bingley regained the lead and went on to win the race with a 2 minute lead, which, after the excitement of our strong lead in the middle of the race, was a little disappointing, but on reflection, it was a tremendous achievement for the club, that after only one year in existence, it could push a top club like Bingley so closely.
At the start of the race, there was also much excitement that we were able to field a ladies team and with so many of the team new to running, we were hoping that they would get round and finish in a reasonable position. Well the ladies did the club proud. Rachel Lowther and Linda Bostock took the first leg and handed over to Sarah Tipler and Helen Glover. They ran a tremendous leg, pushing the ladies team into third place. They handed over to Sarah Jarvis and Lucy Beresford who had a good run to hold on to this lead to hand over to final leg runners Emma Bailey and Helen Stead. They ran their hearts out and Helen was absolutely exhausted at the end, but they had done it - they had held on to 3rd place. This was an amazing performance from our girls and augurs well for development for our ladies group in the future.
The top places were:
Men
1 Bingley 'A' 3:23:11
2 Barlick 3:25:17
3 Bingley 'B' 3:37:28
Women
10 Wharfedale 4:18:14
11 Bingley 4:20:55
16 Barlick 5:00:27
If you are wanting a club vest, these are available from the Club Chairman, Shaun Chew. The cost is £20 for adults and £16.70 for juniors. Please do not leave ordering your vest until the last minute, as they sometimes need to be ordered.
There were lots of Barlickers out around the town helping to marshal this race, but a few did actually take part. The race attracted 300 entrants of all types, from out and out runners, to joggers and walkers. Young children took part as did those whose youth was more than a few years ago and they all came together to support this cause.
Out in front, it looked serious. Barlick member Andy Carson took an early lead, but a young runner, George Graham-Roe, stuck with him. Coming back up the hill into the town from Salterforth, Andrew was still going at a fair pace, but this young runner went past him, leaving Andrew thinking that he had a real challenge on his hands. However, the fast start and the fast climb up the hill seemed to take it out of this plucky young runner and Andrew regained the lead, never to relinquish it again. In the meantime, Luke Wallwork was lying in 3rd place watching this battle taking place before him. As this young runner started to flag, he closed in on him, moving into 2nd place which he retained until the end, resulting in a Barlick one-two.
In the ladies group Linda Bostock was going well and she finished first lady.
Once the serious runners were out of the way, it was the turn of the fun runners and the walkers and there was a party atmosphere about the event. It was good to see young Barlickers, Tabitha Berry and Jenna Boothman in this group.
The race finished in the town square where there was live music and everyone was milling around recounting their experiences of the day.
The event was extremely well organised and hopefully has raised some money for this excellent charity.
Des Walkden and Stuart Bryan entered this 7k Trail Run / 20k Mountain Bike Ride / 6k Trail Run that is the Kielder Duathonlon. This was the first duathlon for Stuart Bryan. The conditions were much more favourable than the sleet and snow that greeted competitors last year.
Des Walkden finished 36th in 2.31.20, managing to knock 19 mins off last year's time.
Stuart Bryan finished 78th in 2.49.20. Stuart was flying and breaking various strava hill climb records, but unfortunately was set back by a puncture. It was Stuart's first off-road duathlon and apart from the puncture, he thoroughly enjoyed the event. On the other hand, he also learnt what it is like to get "jelly legs".
Both are looking forward to the next race in the series at Grizedale.
Total 148 solo finishers.
Monday 2 December was the first AGM of the club and it was good to review the progress of the club and look at future plans going forward.
Since the club came into being 12 months ago, it has grown beyond all expectations and now has 97 members, made up of seniors, juniors and none running members. As the year progressed, we have attracted more women members and is a trend we would like to see continue.
In the course of the year, we have acquired a lot of essential equipment, flags for races, a marquee, a gazebo, a print out timer and countless other bits and bobs that are the essential paraphernalia of a running club.
We have done this on the back of a membership fee of £5.00 and, as the treasurer Glenn Whittaker reported, we still have a bank balance of over £1,700.
In the course of the year, we hosted an FRA championship race and next year, we will be hosting a total of five races.
Although we were formed as a fell running club, we have attracted runners from all disciplines and we have a team in the Mid-Lancs Cross Country League. We have also attracted road runners.
Runners participating in Cross Country or Road Races have to be registered with English Athletics and in the current year, such runners have paid the registration fee of £10 themselves. We wish to retain the membership fee at a level of £5, as we do not want the level of fees to be a deterrent to someone joining a club. However, in the coming year, for members who need to be registered with E.A., they can either continue to pay the fee themselves or the club will pay it for them, PROVIDED that they help out in one of the club races. In this way, we hope that it will encourage members to become involved with the running of the club.
To reflect the differing interests in the club and also the differing abilities of members, next year the club championship will not just be restricted to fell races, but will include road races, cross country races and park runs.
The existing committee and officers were re-elected unopposed.
The full minutes of the meeting will be posted on the membership page once Stephen Chew has had a chance to get them together.
This race takes place in the scenic area of Bilsborough near Preston.
We had one runner in the race and he finished as follows:
69 John Boothman MV50 1:09:29
345 finishers
In the autumnal conditions, getting a PB gets harder, but despite that, there were two new PBs this week.
4 Lucas PAYNE 19:48
14 John BOOTHMAN 22:00
58 James STEAD 30:16 New PB
59 Helen STEAD 30:20 New PB
Barlick Fell Runners hosted their first ever Owl event. This is not a race as it is run off road in the dark, but is effectively a timed training event. For a bit of fun, participants can guess their time for a bottle of wine.
Steve Chew was not going to run this event, but decided to enter on the nigh and finished a remarkable five and a half minutes in front of Steve Brock Craig who was second home.
Lloyd Davies might be a junior runner, but he is not frightened of mixing it with the seniors and he finished seventh overall.
First lady home was the FRA female V50 champion, Gill Myers.
Instead of the usual pub run, there will be instead an off road pre-Christmas social run from Higher Stone Gappe, the home of Graham & Pat Wadsworth. The run will be led out by Sam Wadsworth and afterwards, there will be meat & potato pie, chile, a few bowls of chips and draft ale courtesy of the Bridgehouse Brewery. To mitigate the cost, there will be a charge of £3 per head and £1 for juniors.
To get some idea of numbers, it would be helpful if you could email Graham Wadsworth (details on contacts page) or ring or text 07976 794749.
The start time for the run is 7:00 pm and will last about an hour.
Detailed directions are below.
There was a good turnout from the club for this challenging race. It was good to see Sarah Tipler sporting her new Barlick vest for the first time in a competitive race and to see that Andy Hirst, despite his advancing years and a restricted training regime, is still a force to be reckoned with. The times and places of the Barlickers were as follows:
57 Andy Berry 2:46:47
91 Rob Weir 2:52:25
148 Sarah Tipler 3:04:17
156 Andrew Hirst 3:06:46
161 Scott Baistow 3:07:52
185 John Boothman 3:11:48
209 Pete Jackson 3:16:57
216 Derek Walden 3:17:55
275 Tom Beebe 3:31:12
354 Dave Halliday 3:56:37
361 Rachel Lowther 3:56:37
406 Mark Browne 4:27:18
A report of the night be Stephen Chew
For the first annual Barlick fell runners presentation, the club decided to do a sit down meal at the Stone Trough in Kelbrook. 58 people came to the presentation and were treated to a meal and music by Tom Richardson.
The club has come a fair way since it started last December and now has 95 members. We, as a committee, never envisaged such a number after 12 months. The committee have worked very hard to get it all up and running. Training sessions, memberships, England athletics and of course the bread butter of racing. There has been a real improvement in people's times this year right across the board and that needs to complimented. Also when we have put races on everyone has contributed and really pulled together, especially at Buckden Pike, which was an English Championship race. There are obviously a lot of unsung heroes that contribute to the club and runners indirectly, for example the runner's partners, as ell as Graham and Pat Wadsworth. Graham does a fantastic job of putting the club out into the big wide world via the club website.
All the awards handed out on the night were as follows.
Young runner of the year- Lloyd Davies
Performance of the year- Steve Chew
Most improved male- Andy Berry
Most improved lady- Lucy Beresford
Clubman of the year- Steve Chew
1st Vet 40- Des Walkden
2nd vet 40- Dave Halliday
1st vet 50- Glenn Whittaker
2nd vet 50- Bob Jackson
Ladies club champ- Rachel Lowther
3rd male club champ- Sam Wadsworth
2nd male club champ- Andy Berry
Club champion- Shaun Chew
Harvey Grace was given honorary membership. Graham and Pat's contribution to the club was also rewarded on the night for their tireless effort organising races. A great night was had by all and we look forward to the next year with more expectation rather than hope.
The main aims of the club are to increase the participation of running in Barnoldswick and to keep organised running as accessible as possible.