January 2026 – 3 storms & plenty of weather!
First up, in the aftermath of Storm Goretti, and in a change to recent years, the seniors headed over to Chinley (between Glossop and Chapel-en-le-Frith) for the incredibly low-key AS Lamb’s Longer Leg on Sunday 11th January. The choice of race caused much merriment on the fell-running group chat, where, amongst other things, people struggled with the old-school concept of posting paper entry forms to Brian (the Race Organiser). Mind you, at least he’s accepting bank transfers these days & we didn’t have to dig out our cheque-books! The snow & ice (& Brian’s pre-race email instructions, “slippy, very slippy”) put off quite a few on the day, but we still had 9 Harriers (plus Matt as sweeper & Jim as official photographer) picking up our numbers from the back of Brian’s car in the pub car-park, before heading ½ mile down the main road to the start, where we huddled together, trying to keep warm & dry and failing miserably! The track up from the start was very icy, as were several parts of the course, which when coupled with deep snow & a strong wind, made for a challenging race over the 3 mile, 1000ft course. Adam Sunderland was relishing the couple of steep climbs & although beaten by his nemesis, Calder Valley’s Steve Smithies, still had a superb run to come back 4th overall & 1st MV50 in 38.31. Not too far behind, there was a good battle between Gav Baxter & Mark Wilson, with Gav just sneaking it, 7th overall in 41.01, with Mark 9th in 41.29. Fran Whitworth was next back, claiming maximum championship points & a bottle of wine, finishing 4th lady & 1st FV55 in 46.57, whilst hot on her heels, we had another close contest, with Hannah Austin (27th overall in 50.11) edging out Sophie Cromwell (28th in 50.35). Kath Farquhar should have been next back, but missed the finish funnel & instead headed down to the pub, allowing Phil Hobbs to sneak in ahead, 33rd in 54.01, with Kath eventually climbing back up the finishing field to clock 55.00 & 35th place! Diane Lee had a relatively fallow year for racing in 2025, but professed herself raring to go in 2026 and was certainly the best prepared of us all for this race, as she’d broken out the lightweight crampons to counter the ice, which worked a treat, as she stayed upright to come back 38th in 57.05. Bizarrely (or perhaps not, given the nature of the race), the pub itself wasn’t open, so the prize-giving was outside, under the cover of the smoking shelter. And even that proved difficult, as the results sheet was sodden & barely legible, but we made sure Adam & Fran picked up their bottles of wine. An entertaining end to the day!
A couple of weeks later on the weekend of 23rd-24th January, we had 3 Harriers taking on the Arc of Attrition, 100 miles of the Cornish coastal path (with over 5000m of climb) from Coverack to Porthtowan, via The Lizard, Lands End and St.Ives. And if that doesn’t sound hard enough, there was also the wind & rain of Storm Ingrid to contend with, which made conditions very challenging. Tim Brook had unfinished business after last year’s DNF and although the constant mud made things difficult, he was much happier with his race strategy & choice of footwear this time around, finishing 95th overall in an amazing time of 29.45.28! Ben Kellett has also taken part in a few ultras over the last couple of years, so was quietly confident about his first attempt at the Arc. He was tracking Tim pretty closely for much of the race, but started to struggle with about 20 miles to go, so slowed down to make sure he could finish, which he duly did, 117th in 31.10.05. Jordan Millar was also taking on the Arc for the first time and was definitely taking a leap into the unknown, in terms of distance and elevation. Happily, he also ran a solid race to finish 155th in 32.47.41. To give you an idea of how bad the conditions were, out of 630 starters, some 370 runners DNF’d (nearly 60% of the field)! And to give you an idea of just how good the elite runners are, the race was won by Hugh Tibbs in an incredible time of 19.10.09, with the fastest lady (Norway’s Anne-Sofie Pollestad) finishing a superb 9th overall in 22.28.24 – inspirational stuff!
The juniors were in action at the Stanbury Splash Rat Runs on Sunday 18th and they all performed admirably on a wet & muddy morning in the quarry! In the U10’s, Jasmine Clarke & Hetty Whipp were taking part in their first fell race & seemed to enjoy themselves, with Jasmine 8th overall and Hetty 18th overall. In the U12’s, Bonnie Whipp was 29th overall, whilst in the U14’s, Arthur Gibbs was 5th overall & 3rd BU14 and Dolcie Biggs (also taking part in her first ever fell race) was 30th overall, so well done to them all.
Elsewhere, great to see a few out enjoying themselves, including Keith Baird (& Maggie) at Giant’s Tooth, Jim Durrans at Nine Standards, Patrick Needham & Keith Baird defying the elements at The Trigger (where Paddy was 21st overall, Keith was 72nd & there were 77 DNF’s from the 181 starters), Adam Sunderland, Bob Dickinson, Matt Crompton, Mark Henderson & Bill Hunter at Stanbury Splash (where Adam was 3rd V50 & Bill was 1st V75), Annie Garside at Kong BOS (Barrow-Outerside-Stile End) and Dave Milton at the new AL Tour De Yr Wyddfa race.
All the necessary permits have been requested from National Trust and Yorkshire Water for the Ian Roberts race on Sunday 15th March, so just waiting to hear back. The email will be going out very shortly with my request for volunteers, so please let me know if you can help, even if you’re planning on running, as we can find a job before the start!
Next month, the seniors will be in action at Mickleden Straddle on Sunday 1st February, whilst the juniors will be heading over to Mirfield for the Hoppits Hill race on Sunday 15th February.
Finally, some local(ish) races to have a dabble at over the next few weeks:
Wadsworth Trog (BL) – Old Town, nr. Hebden Bridge – Saturday 7th
Windy Hill (BM) – Denshaw – Sunday 8th
Hoppits Hill (BS) – Lower Hopton, nr. Mirfield – Sunday 15th
Midgley Moor (BS) – Booth, nr. Luddendenfoot – Sunday 15th
Flower Scar (AM) – Todmorden – Saturday 21st
Ilkley Moor (AS) – White Wells, Ilkley – Sunday 1st March
See you on a hill sometime.
Cheers,
Phil
