Victoria Wilkinson hobbles over the line with a suspected broken leg to win the ladies race
When Victoria Wilkinson of Bingley Harriers crossed the line to take first place in this English Championship race, she was limping badly and obviously in a great deal of pain. She was attended to by the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue, who suspected that she might have a broken leg. However, an x-ray later revealed that no bones were in fact broken, but her leg is very swollen and she cannot walk without the aid of crutches. Victoria ran a sterling race and was obviously going all out for victory on the descent where she was enjoying a good lead. On the final steep descent towards the beck, she adopted a cautious approach and descended very steadily, but she went over on her ankle and despite the pain, she ran on with grim determination that she was not going to let victory escape from her grasp.
Helen Finnes looked to be going well in the race, but on the day, she could not match the pace of Victoria Wilkinson and had to settle for second place. Judith Jepson of Dark Peak took third place and was first FV40.
A great performance by Emma Gould of West Bromwich Harriers, saw her finish fifth and first U23 and a quite amazing performance by the in form Gill Myers of Wharfedale saw her finish 10th overall and first Vet 50.
In the men's race, Morgan Donnelly and Rob Jebb attacked the steep first field and were neck and neck at the stile halfway up the climb. The race then becomes more runnable and with Simon Bailey only 20 yards behind, it was turning into a classic battle at the front. Of the locals, Sam Watson of Wharfedale was leading the way with Mark McgGldrick in close contention. As the first runners came into view after the summit, Morgan Donnelly and Simon Bailey were neck and neck with Donnelly holding a slender advantage back at the stile. Bailey attacked as soon as the descent became more severe and took the honours. Rob Hope and Lloyd Taggert caught Bingley's Rob Jebb on the descent. Donnelly took first V40. Sam Tosh, last year's winner was first under 23 with a time that was nearly two minutes quicker, showing the class of this year's field. A youngster who did stand out was Max Wharton, who is only 16 years old and yet he finished in 12th position overall. A very bright prospect for the future. Ian Holmes was first V45 and 13th overall. First vet 50 went to Mark Roberts of Borrowdale. All in all, it was as you'd expect for an English Championship race - very competitive.
A few runners complained about the heat in the five and a half mile Weets Race. Imagine running 23 miles in the same conditions. That is what Andy Hirst did and it took him five and three quarter hours. He finished 84th out of 140 runners and felt that he did not have a particularly good run, being 20 minutes down on his last year's time and 39 minutes slower than his pb. He was 100th on Kirk Fell, so he made up 16 places over Pillar and Haycocks.
His split times were:
3 Ian LIVESEY 00:17:19
27 Derek WALKDEN 00:21:15
Tom Cornthwaite wins the race and sets new record.
Good conditions underfoot saw a faster race than usual with Tom Cornthwaite cruising to an easy win and a new course record, but with the first three finishers beating the previous record. The other two in the first three were previous winners Mark McGoldrick and Sam Watson. The race and conditions also suited Paul Stevenson of Pudsey & Bramley who, as a V50 finished first overall Vet and 5th overall in the race. An amazing performance.
In the ladies race, last year's Pendle & Burnley Grand Prix Champion, Amy Green, had an easy win with the second fastest ladies time on this course. She was followed home by Claire Cooper of Keighley & Craven & Fiona Hall of Trawden AC.
Of the Barlickers, it was nice to see six of them in the top twenty. Shaun Chew led them home in 6th place, Rob Weir was 10th and showing that he is returning to form, Lucas Payne finished 11th and 3rd overall V40.
This was a British Championship race and attracted most of the top fell runners. Morgan Donnelly ran out the winner ahead of Joe Symonds and Robb Jebb. Our one representative in the race finished as follows:
145 Scott Baistow 1:31:54
Ian Livesey was out again this weekend, this time finishing this 10 mile race from Preston in 6th place with a time of 59:38.
2 Ian LIVESEY 17:34
59 Michael ALEXANDER 23:38
It seems like the Barlick Fell Runners name is cropping up everywhere and this time it is in a swimming event. Mark Sandamas cannot run at the moment, but he can swim and he entered this event as a Barlicker. Did pretty well too - 34th out of 148. Full results and times are in the results section
Andrew Carson had a good run out yesterday in the Kelbrook race, but this did not impact on his performance today, in fact it was quite the reverse, as he finished 10th out of 1,142 finishers, setting himself a pb with a time of 38:56, this being the first time that he has recorded a sub 40 minute time.
The race was won by Tim Ellis of Calder Valley in a time of 21:22. He was followed home by Vet 40 Martyn Bell of Horwich and 3rd man home was Under 20 James Hall of Wharfedale. Of the Barlickers, Lloyd Davies had a particularly good run and is now on the tail of some of his older contemporaries. There was a good turnout of Barlickers who finished as follows:
6 Shaun Chew 22:48
13 Nick Treitl 23:43
16 Dan Taylor 24:01
21 Rob Weir 24:11
24 Lloyd Davies 24:46
27 Andy Berry 25:00
28 Andrew Carson 25:02
33 Luke Wallwork 25:43
54 Michael Thistlethwaite 28:40
62 Glenn Whittaker 29:22
65 Dave Halliday 29:24
78 James Fent 30:30
85 Mark Browne 30:56
88 Michael Alexander 32:18
90 Rachel Lowther 32:28
92 Richard Treitl 33:09
Rob Jebb won this race ahead of Mark Addison. Richard Treitl finished in 215th place with a time of 1:22:29. There were 256 finishers.
Three Barlick vests were on display for this race and all three appeared to be going well. They finished as follows:
13 Dan Taylor 38:54
26 Andrew Carson 40:08
40 Derek Walkden 42:25
Des Walkden achieved a new pb of 20:45, which he is quite pleased about, having run in the Burnley Lions 10K the previous evening.
The final results are now out and it turns out that Barlick Fell Runners finished in 13th place, ahead of many of the established clubs.
Well done to all concerned, especially to Gary Bradley who stepped in at the very last minute to cover an illness.
The main aims of the club are to increase the participation of running in Barnoldswick and to keep organised running as accessible as possible.