March 2026 – when you could have all four seasons in one race!
But it was just the rain that made an appearance at the Ian Roberts Memorial Race on Sunday 15th March & with a cool breeze out on Marsden Moor, we plumped for pretty much full kit to be carried for the 10.3km/260m course, which I’m sure the slower runners were glad of, as it chucked it down later in the race! Ben Jarvis has had a great start to 2026 and ran another strong race, battling it out with the current course record-holder Rob James, before pulling away to take the win in 50.41, with Rob 2nd in 51.24 and Tim Street 3rd in 51.54. It was another close race for the ladies, with Katie Walshaw managing to stay ahead of Helen Haigh, to finish 6th overall in 58.31, with Helen close behind, 9th overall in 59.26. Completing a ladies 1-2-3 for Holmfirth, Helena Croft came back 16th overall in 62.04. Numbers were similar to last year, with 82 starters, and Holmfirth had a great turnout, with 29 runners taking part, picking up a few prizes, including new recruit Steve McCarron (4th overall & 1st MV50), Paul Sammonds (17th overall & 1st MV40), Julian Rank (19th overall & 1st MV60), Helen Ilsley (1st FV40), Kath Farquhar (2nd FV50), Ian Goulding (2nd MV60) & Rachael Mellor (1st FV60). It was also a clean sweep for the team prizes, with Ben, Tim & Steve choosing the beer for the Men and Katie, Helen & Helena plumping for wine (or chocolates) for the Ladies. Big thanks again to everyone who helped over the weekend – these races can’t go ahead without you! And thanks also to National Trust, Yorkshire Water, Marsden Cricket Club and Up & Running Sheffield for their continued support.
For the juniors, it was a double-bubble month and first up, they headed to Wharfedale for a very muddy set of Ilkley Moor races on Sunday 1st March. Jasmine Clarke has certainly launched herself into fell running this year and had another great run, finishing 8th GU10 in a very competitive field. Arthur Gibbs is an old hand at Ilkley & ran strongly once again, coming back 10th BU14 (from 25 starters), whilst older sister Florence had her first outing of 2026 and should be very satisfied with her 10th GU16 position.
Roll on 4 weeks and it was time for their second fixture, a trip over to the Darkside and the Pendle Hill races on Saturday 28th March, which were also serving as the Lancashire Championships, so a quality field was guaranteed. We had a decent turnout across all the age-groups, on what was a wild day weather-wise! First up was the U10’s race, where we had Jasmine Clarke (12th overall & 5th GU10) and Hetty Whipp (21st overall & 7th GU10) – strong running! They were followed by the U12’s, where Marcus Clarke & Noah Sutton were, I think, running their first ever fell race & had great runs, coming back 16th & 23rd respectively, so well done to them. For the girls, Bonnie Whipp had a storming run to finish 20th overall & 2nd GU12, so hopefully picked up some chocolate for her troubles! Finally, it was the U14’s taking on the longer distance to the edge of the moor & both Arthur Gibbs & Dolcie Biggs ran well, with Arthur finishing 10th overall, whilst Dolcie was 27th overall & 8th GU14.
Early days in the Fell Championship, but Adam Sunderland is setting the early pace, with 63 points after 3 races, ahead of Phil Hinchcliffe (44 points) & Patrick Needham (42 points), whilst it’s very tight at the top for the Ladies, with Sophie Cromwell & Fran Whitworth both on 63 points and Helen Haigh close behind on 48 points.
In terms of champs races in April, the seniors just have the next English Championship race, the short, sharp Blackstone Edge on Saturday 18th, whilst the juniors have Rivington Pike on Saturday 4th. We’ve also got a couple of teams entered in the Three Peaks Relay on Saturday 25th, which should be good fun – a pairs relay, split over 3 legs, with each leg taking in one of the Peaks, running alongside the main race and adding to the drama of the day! There’ll certainly be plenty of Amber vests on show, as we also have 12 entered in the race itself.
Finally, it’s the Calderdale Way Relay on Sunday 17th May, where we have 4 teams entered once again. Now that the Ian Roberts race is out of the way, I’ll be chasing willing volunteers to get their names down. I know I say it every year, but if we can get everyone out, then we’ll have some cracking teams across all the categories………..!
Elsewhere in the month, we had Ben Jarvis & Sophie Clarson at the Saddleworth 5 Res’s (where Ben was the race winner), Tim Street, Thomas Heap, James Spencer & Jo Robinson at the Saddleworth 10 Res’s (where Tim was 3rd overall), Curtis Firth at the Saddleworth 15 Res’s (where he finished 4th overall), Jordan Millar at Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round, Adam Sunderland, Annie Garside & Phil Hobbs at the second of this year’s English Championship races at Black Combe, Richard Anderson, Jordan Millar, Neil Robins, Matthew Rose, Ellie Rose, Joe Brereton, John Field, Abi MacDonald & Stef Dickinson at Haworth Hobble, Mark Henderson at Chicken Run, Andy Swift at the Endurorun (where he completed 12x5k laps in 6 hours to win the event), Annie Garside at the Welcome Way 50 mile Ultra (where she was 11th overall & 1st lady), Katie Walshaw & Mark Henderson at Beater Clough (where Katie was 6th overall & 1st lady), Annie Garside at Edale Skyline, Tommy Holroyd, Patrick Needham & Bob Dickinson at Heptonstall (where Tommy was 7th overall in his comeback race), Keith Baird at Coledale Horseshoe, Mark Henderson at Pendle, Katie Walshaw (& Phil Hobbs Super-Sweeper) at Lad’s Leap, where Katie was 6th overall & 1st lady and finally, at the keenly anticipated Trunce No.1, Laurie Smith Bodle, Chris Beadle, Juliette Le Mare (in her first ever fell race), Jordan Millar, Andy Shortt, Debbie Hall & Diane Lee.
Finally, some local(ish) races to check out over the next few weeks:
Rivington Pike (BS) – Rivington, nr. Bolton – Saturday 4th
Wardle Skyline (BM) – Wardle, nr. Rochdale – Saturday 11th
Herod Farm (AS) – Glossop – Wednesday 15th
Trunce 2 (BS) – Oxspring, nr. Penistone – Monday 20th
Kinder Downfall (BM) – Hayfield, nr. Glossop – Sunday 26th
Hartcliff Hill (BS) – Penistone – Tuesday 28th
The Cake Race (BM) – Diggle – Saturday 2nd May
See you on a hill sometime.
Cheers,
Phil
