This is a hard and challenging race run over a testing route, albeit with beautiful scenery, if the weather is favourable.
Each year that we have completed this race, we have managed to improve our time and this year was no exception, finishing it for the first time under 4 hours. You would think that this would lead to an improved position, but this was not to be the case. This year, there were some very competitive teams out and Barlick finished 12th out of 70 teams in a time of 3:59:06.
Gary Shaw and Marc Hartley ran the first leg, handing over to Chris Smale and Tom Corrigan in 16th place. They took just a few seconds longer for this first leg than last year, but this leg is slightly longer than previously as it now starts on the field.
Tom set off on the second leg, with a scorching pace up the hill, with Chris trailing in his wake. Chris eventually caught him up and passed him, but on the descent to the Kirstone Inn, Tom once more took the lead and they handed over in 16th position.
Shaun Chew & Luke Maude then took over the baton with Luke immediately showing his intent by leaving Shaun trailing behind up the very steep ascent and getting amongst the two teams in front of them. Once on the top, Shaun caught up his team mate, although at one stage, they ended up running on opposite sides of the beck. They handed over to the last leg runners of Jimmy Craig and Nick Treitl in 13th place.
The last pair gained another place, but couldn't quite catch Rossendale and Carnethy.
A great performance from everyone and it is a tribute to the quality of the teams out on the day that this performance was only good enough to secure 12th place.
There was tough competition at the front of the field with Borrowdale winning the race for the 19th time finishing just ahead of Keswick and Dark Peak.
2 Andrew Carson 37:41
95 Peter Wilkinson 49:41
Our resident ultra man, Mike Sellors completed this race and come home 7th in a time of 5:57:05.
There were 73 finishers.
Pete Beresford completed this marathon in 4:52. All we know about it is that it is a marathon which includes 5,700 ft of climbing.
There were some cracking performances at the weekend with six Barlickers making the trip to Chester for the Marathon. Ian Livesey is really putting the mileage in at the minute and came home in 8th place with a new pb of 2.34.59. Julian Hood has been running really well this year and came home 12th, again in a new pb of 2.37.13. Completing the trio in the top 20 was club record holder Chris Singleton, who had another solid performance, but by his own high standards, was left a tad disappointed on the day. Newest club member Ian Cock was next home in 3.10 with his good mate James Tingle not far behind in 3.16.
Scott Boardman was also running for his chosen charity and finished in a time of 4.06. All in all a successful day for the Marathon boys who are starting to push each other on. We now have 4 runners who have been under 2.40. Matt Lalor and Russell Parrington will be looking to hit that landmark in Dublin at the end of the month. We are still awaiting confirmation but Barlick may have won the team prize which is yet another first for the club in a Marathon.
8 Ian Livesey 2:34:59
12 Julian Hood 2:37:13
19 Chris Singleton 2:45:22
164 Ian Cock 3:10:46
238 James Tingle 3:16:50
1186 Scott Boardman 4:06:23
6 Nicolas KENDALL 19:52 New PB
14 John BOOTHMAN 21:21
21 Emma BAILEY 21:39 New PB
39 Aaron SLATER 23:38 New PB
116 Hazel O'HARA 29:56
122 Gary BAILEY 30:14
134 Graham WADSWORTH 31:26
158 Clover EDWARDS 33:59
159 Susan HIRD 34:02
169 Patricia WADSWORTH 36:69
The pub run was down on numbers this week but not quality of participants with Jack Ingham making a much anticipated return. Still no massive(work), Glenn (holiday) and John Boothman (tired!!!!). I don't believe race machine Boothman has ever been tired. Sellors trapped on his hair dryer and was playing with the chain on his bike. A quick emergency phone call and Shaun 'AA' Chew came and sorted it. Once Sellors had sorted himself and got changed we were off on a shortish run. The usual pace setters were off and whipped man Collins was soon pushing Sellors at the usualfrantic pace. We soon made it to the bottom of the steep end of Weets and half bull half man Lee 'swell head' Edwards was off in pursuit of the hares. We made it back to forty steps in one piece, although Sellors tried to hang himself on a stile on the way down much to our amusement (still needs to get a decent headtorch). Ingham was suffering a tad and decided enough was enough and dropped in his house on the way past. It was at the end of 40 steps where Jock caught us by surprise and darted off saying "see you next week", without us even being able to give him the whip phone app. The best excuse for not having a beer though was presented by the Minotaur himself. Jen asked Lee if they were going for a beer, Lee made it look like it was his decision and said no. This was clearly a well rehearsed act to get him out of the pub.
Once we got sat down John Boothman joined us and did look a tad jaded. Although the 3 peaks cyclocross and two training sessions would've rendered lesser men useless.
Andy Collins looked a happy man as he was off the hook for most whipped pub run member this week due to Jock's demise. No Screw either this week, probably due to the rumours of Jack Inghams Wednesday night house calls.
Next week we'll be at the Red Lion and hopefully, we'll be back to full strength.
Chewy
Lee Parrington was holidaying in the Lakes this weekend when he stumbled across this race. Carrying on his great form at the minute, he won it.
Further details follow.
Dea Walkden has been trying to get below 40 minutes for a 10K race. He finished this one in 40:02, still a PB, but a tantalizing 3 seconds adrift from his target, which he still hopes to achieve before he is 50.
We had two members out in this race riding as Barlick Fell Runners. David Poole had a brilliant race to finish in 89th position and John Boothman did better than he expected finishing 335th. John describes it as a bike race with three hard fell races thrown in, carrying your bike up and then riding back down on bone shaking descents.
Sam Gibbs and Shaun Chew entered under the Hope Factory Team and finished 53rd and 113th respectively.
89 David Poole 3:45:12
335 John Boothman 4:39:33
536 finished and a lot didn't.
73 Craig Child 46:53
92 Jean Rawlinson 51:36 Ist F60
Scott Boardman was disappointed with his race performance yesterday, but he had a run out in this race and finished with a PB of 43:45. This is despite stopping twice, once to sort out his laces and the other to sort out his timing tag. This is Scott's last run before the Chester Marathon next week.
The Men's Team Smashed It.
The men's team are in division two, but on the day yesterday, they beat the men's teams from all divisions and not only did they do this, but they did it by a huge margin. It would be quite unfair to pick out any one individual from the men's team as this was done by a good team effort. All our runners finished in the top twenty three which demonstrates that we have strength in depth.
Not only that, but our B team also had a cracking performance, finishing 8th overall. Again, a good all round team performance. This puts the A team firmly at the top of division two and the B team at the top of division four.
Quite unbelievably, the V40 team also did well, finishing 5th out of all three divisions. However, they were beaten by Preston, who are also in Division Two, but this still leaves them, albeit after only one race, in a promotion place.
The ladies team also put in a cracking team performance, finishing 3rd overall. They were however, narrowly edged out by the Trawden ladies, who are also in division three, but again, this still leaves them in a promotion position. Like their male counterparts, the ladies B team also put in a good team performance, finishing 8th out of all divisions. Do not be fooled by Heather Driver's finishing time, as due to a mix up, she was one of those who had to form an orderly queue to finish, to allow the men's race to start. This probably added 2 minutes to her time.
The day also saw a new phase in the development of the club. For the first time, we had junior runners out in this competition and they not only put on a good show, but many stopped around and cheered on our senior runners which helped to create a great atmosphere. For many of them, this was there first taste of racing and they will have learned a lot from their experience. Pictures of some our youngsters are above.
All in all, this was a good opening day for the new cross country season.
At the presentation evening last night, Barlick Fell Runners were awarded second place in the team of the year category and reflects much of what has been achieved in the club during its short life.
The main aims of the club are to increase the participation of running in Barnoldswick and to keep organised running as accessible as possible.