June 2025 – a couple of heatwaves, with some welcome rain in-between! Plenty for the seniors to get their teeth into, with Edale on Sunday 8th, Harden Moss on Saturday 21st & Kinder Trog on Sunday 22nd, whilst the juniors had the latest 2 English Champs races, Edale on the 8th & Clougha Pike on the 22nd.
We had another great turnout for the Edale (AS) race on Sunday 8th, with 13 Harriers amongst the 192 starters on a blustery, showery day in the Peak District. Patrick Needham is certainly enjoying racing on the fells at the moment and after a close battle with Tim Brook, took the honours of being first back for club, 14th overall in 40.56, with Tim close behind, 19th & 3rd MV40 in 41.25. Katie Walshaw is currently in fine form, as evidenced by her recent Yorkshire call-up, and stormed round the 4.75 mile, 1300ft course in 42.55 to finish 28th overall, scooping the Ladies prize by nearly 3 minutes from Dark Peak’s Zanthe Wray! After missing out on the Calderdale Way Relay, Curtis Firth was keen to get back on the hills & had a decent race, finishing 45th in 45.47, ahead of Adam Sunderland, (52nd in 46.59). We reckon Bob Dickinson must have been following a Dark Peak vest at some point, as we watched him take a steeper, shorter line off Grindslow Knoll, although he wasn’t convinced it saved him any time, as he couldn’t catch Adam and finished 58th in 47.35! Keith Baird was next back, 90th in 51.44, and kept well ahead of Fran Whitworth (108th in 54.48), Nick Helm (126th in 58.31) & Jon Burdon (134th in 58.59). It was then a welcome return to the fells for Karen Sinkinson, who came back with a smile on her face, 157th overall & 2nd FV60 in 1.03.26, followed by Mark Henderson (165th in 1.07.29) and finally, the evergreen Bill Hunter (184th & 2nd MV75 in 1.16.46). Once it was all over, we were forced to seek shelter in the beer tent at one point whilst waiting for the prize-giving, which took an age, so every cloud and all that!
It was also a good day up at the Harden Moss Sheepdog Trials for the low-key James Blakely race on Saturday 21st. We had to contend with the occasional shower, but it was still very warm for the runners as they negotiated the 5k/180m course. We had 10 Harriers amongst the 29 starters, with Phil Hinchcliffe 3rd overall, Helen Haigh 7th overall & 1st lady, Sophie Cromwell 2nd lady & Kath Farquhar 3rd lady. We also picked up both team prizes, with Phil joined by Mark Wilson & Steve Asquith for the Men & Helen, Sophie & Kath unstoppable for the Ladies. Many thanks to everyone who helped on the day – didn’t seem to be any complaints, other than the doubling of the entry fee from £5 to £10!
Finally, it was the Kinder Trog on Sunday 22nd, the latest long race in the senior champs. This had been brought forward a week, which probably threw a few people off, and so it was left to Jon Burdon to fly the amber flag in glorious isolation! Mind you, he’s not complaining, as he bagged the maximum 25 points for his tilt at the championship, finishing 61st in 3.27.21, a solid time for the 16 mile/2900ft course.
In terms of the Fell Champs, with 8 of the 15 races completed, we’ve got 9 Harriers who have completed 5 races or more, and 75 who have raced at least once (including the Calderdale Way Relay), which is great to see. As far as the current standings are concerned, Patrick Needham leads the way for the Men on 157 points from 6 races, ahead of Adam Sunderland (142 points) & Curtis Firth (126 points), also from 6 races. For the Ladies, it’s another close affair, with Katie Walshaw on 140 points from 5 races, just ahead of Fran Whitworth (128 points from 5 races) & Sophie Cromwell (125 points from 5 races), so all to play for! As everyone needs to complete 7 races in total, including 2 from each category (Long, Medium & Short), the positions are bound to change over the next couple of months, so watch this space!
Many congratulations to Katie Walshaw, who ran for Yorkshire at the UK Inter-Counties race at Pen Y Ghent on Saturday 14th. She had an excellent race, finishing 10th overall & 1st FV40, as well as being the 3rd Yorkshire counter, thereby helping the team win Gold by one point from pre-event favourites Cumbria!
For the juniors, it was a very select trio that made it to Edale, so well done to Bonnie Whipp (7th FU11), Arthur Gibbs (23rd BU13) & Florence Gibbs (27th FU15), who took on the best in the country & acquitted themselves very well in some incredibly competitive fields. I haven’t seen any results for Clougha Pike, but I don’t think anyone made it up there.
Elsewhere in a busy month, there were plenty of other Harriers racing, including Annie Garside at Blencathra, Jordan Millar, David Milton & James Spencer at the Stanza Stones 50 Mile Ultra (where Jordan finished an excellent 5th overall), Tim Street at the Maverick 55km Ultra, where he finished 2nd overall, Elspeth Taylor at the Maverick 28km, Jim Durrans at the Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon, James Washington, Helena Croft, Tom Heap, Paul Fearns, Annie Garside & Jo Robinson at the Marsden 10, Annie Garside at Bridestone (where she was 4th lady), Bob Dickinson, Keith Baird & Annie Garside at Buttermere Sailbeck (where Annie was 5th lady & Bob banished some demons), Curtis Firth at the Kettlewell Trail Half (where he finished 2nd overall), Tom Heap at the Tour of Tameside 3-day event (a mixture of 4 road & fell races), Tim Brook at the Great Longstone Peak Raid Nav. event (where he was 3rd overall), Stef Dickinson at the Spine Summer Challenger South, Tim Brook & Michael Sanderson at the Summer Orienteering Trilogy event, Tim Brook at the Ultra Wales 50 Miler (where he finished 4th overall), Anne Garside at Settle Hills (where she was 4th lady), Adam Sunderland at Kettlewell Anniversary English Champs race, Ben Jarvis & Katie Walshaw at Whaley Waltz (where Ben finished 2nd overall & Katie finished 5th overall & 1st lady), Annie Garside (she can’t stop racing) at Buttermere Horseshoe – Short (where she was 17th overall & 2nd lady) and finally there were 2 editions of the Trunce, which saw Phil Hinchcliffe, Barbara Hinchliffe, Kevin Yewlett & Janet Foreman taking on the masses!
Coming up in July, the juniors have the final 2 English Champs races – Clwydian (North Wales) on Sunday 6th and Tebay on Saturday 12th, whilst the seniors also have Tebay (a senior English Champs race) on the 12th & then the small matter of Holme Moss on Sunday 27th.
On the admin side, entries for Hodgson Brothers Relay opened on 1st July, so I have already pre-entered our 2 teams once again – let’s hope they keep both of our places! And entries for the British Fell Relays, which this year will be in Powys, southern Snowdonia, on Saturday 18th October, opened on 1st July to clubs on the ‘Reserved Team List’. This is based on last year’s results & even includes teams that were disqualified due to ‘checkpoint issues’ last time around. Once again, there is a tight limit on entries (around 200 teams), so it’s down to the luck of the ballot as to how many teams we might get in. I have to say I’m not impressed with this, particularly as this general exclusion will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with the same ‘reserved’ teams being selected every year, made doubly unfair by the fact that the reserved list includes A & B teams from the same club, whilst other clubs might not be represented at all. Mind you, it’s £200 per team, so that could put off a few clubs from entering! We shall see – entries for the ballot open on 1st August.
Finally, some local(ish) races to look out for in July:
Thurlstone Chase (BS): Thurlstone, nr. Penistone – Thursday 3rd
Alderman’s Ascent (AS): Greenfield – Friday 4th
Heptonstall Festival (AS): Heptonstall, nr. Hebden Bridge – Saturday 5th
Warslow (AS): Warslow, nr.Buxton – Saturday 5th
Trunce 6 (BS): Oxspring, nr. Penistone – Monday 14th
Bamford Carnival (BS): Bamford – Wednesday 16th
Up The Nab (AS): Charlesworth, nr. Glossop – Wednesday 30th
See you on a hill sometime.
Cheers,
Phil
