Nobody thinks of a marathon as a sprint, yet this race is called a sprint despite encompassing almost two back to back marathons. It is the first part of the Spine Race Series and covers the 46 miles from Edale in Derbyshire to Hebden Bridge.
This year Ian Cocks entered and set off at a blistering pace and was amongst the first three who were running together as a group. The initial reaction was that he had gone off too fast, but that was without knowing the training that Ian had put in. In fact he had carried out the largest block of training ever over 14 weeks, in which he reccied the whole course and carried his full kit weighing 10.5 kg up and down Pendle. As Ian said, “Descending with that kind of weight is very challenging on your legs”.
This what Ian said of the race:
The race was going well until I got to Wassenden and then the cramps started. This was a surprise being a cold day . I held 2nd place from the start of the race till the finish with 3rd place just kept behind me until we got to Snake Pass which is 10 miles in , then I didn’t see him again.
Ian is being a little modest. He ran a brilliant race. He trained and prepared well and it was perfect execution on the day. It was only that he came up against that superb athlete, Rupert Allison that he did not take first place.
2 Ian Cocks 8:53:13
4 Robert Cranham 19:37
6 Lucas Payne 20:09
55 Dave Halliday 25:53
2 Robert Cranham 20:26
103 Stephen Jackson 26:29
60 Dave Halliday 26:29
2 Robert Cranham 19:43
329 Sharon Newbold 35:17
7 Lucas Payne 20:30
74 Dave Halliday 27:16
Although he was the youngest runner in the race, Harry Roberts finished in 13th place out of 80 starters. What a great start to the New Year.
13 Harry Roberts 23:25
2 David Pease 21:18 (1st M45)
10 Sean Fitzpatrick 22:56 (2nd M40)
11 Helen Harrison 23:02 (3rd Woman, 1st F40)
13 Harry Roberts 23:25 (1st BU13)
43 Emma Pease 28:24 (3rd F45)
30 Sean Fitzpatrick 21:36
34 Sean Fitzpatrick 22:50
6 Robert Cranham 19:54
There is a tendency to think of Craig Shearer as a road runner, but he is a pretty good all round runner and he showed his prowess today on the fells with a top ten finish against some good opposition.
7 Craig Shearer 46:51
16 Ben Whitehead 50:25
26 Robert Cranham
83 Andrew Smith
139 Des Walkden
153 Hannah Newbold
191 Luy Brown
The times will follow for all runners when available.
The main aims of the club are to increase the participation of running in Barnoldswick and to keep organised running as accessible as possible.