Report by Paul Hobbs
Hobbling Harriers!
As the sun shone and the temperatures awoke from their Winter slumber, a significant posse of Harriers revelled in superb conditions at the Haworth Hobble on Saturday. The Hobble is quite an accomplishment, taking in 32 miles of South Pennine tracks, trails and footpaths with a total of 4400 feet of ascent. The Hobble starts in Haworth and snakes its way across some stunning moorland, taking via Widdop, Cliviger, Stoodley Pike, Hepstonstall and then, last of all, along the Haworth old road back to the start in Haworth Village. This year the Hobble is the first race in Tod Harriers’ inaugural Ultra championship.
Lucy Hobbs and Mel Blackhurst produced an outstanding performance, coming in first ladies’ pair in an excellent time of 5 hours 46 minutes. John Allan also had a superb run, coming in 12th overall, in an excellent time of 4 hours 52 minutes. Allan was followed closely behind by a trio of Harriers in Dwane Dixon, Andy Worster and Steve Pullan, all of whom were under the 5 hour mark.
Other Harriers’ results:
Dave Garner 27th 5:11
Jonothan Wright 29th 5:12
Ben Beckwith 124th 6:09
Rob Tyson 129th 6:12
Ben Holmes 138th 6:14
Louise Stunnell 188th 6:40
Michelle Fuller 216th 6:58
Kim Ashworth 224th 7:05
Elise Milnes 228th 7:07
Jilly Davidson 273rd 8:17
Hannah Godden and Jordan Yates 284th 8:51
Reg Czudek 287th 8:53
Black Combe – A lesson in the need for navigation!
In complete contrast to glorious weather in the South Pennines, runners competing in the opening English Championship fell race of the season were greeted with low cloud and very poor visibility. An early season race, Black Combe is a very challenging Category Medium fell race, and gives runners a chance to test their early season fitness. There was an additional challenge this year though, to add into the mix; that was visibility that was down to no more than 15 metres. Ben Mounsey’s superb form and hard work continued to pay off with his first English championship win. Whilst Mounsey claimed his win, the field behind was in complete disarray with many top runners missing checkpoints and loosing time. Some lost as many as 200 places!
Black Combe was yet another Championship counter; this time for the club’s fell championship. It was certainly not a high points scoring race!
Jon Wright was the first Harrier, in 64th position, in a time of 1hour 22 minutes. Nick Barber came in a further 4 minutes behind. Kath Brierley used her experience of Lakes races to secure the first Tod Harriers’ Lady position. After a substantial time out with injury, Gemma Ford ran strongly too.
Other Harriers’ results:
147 Ivan Gee Todmorden Harriers AC MV45 1:31:41
220 Ben Crowther Todmorden Harriers AC MV40 1:36:58
249 James Riley Todmorden Harriers AC MV40 1:40:35
306 Martin Roberts Todmorden Harriers AC MV55 1:47:41
338 Robert Halstead Todmorden Harriers AC MV55 1:54:15
358 Stuart Wolstenholme Todmorden Harriers AC MV45 1:55:41
408 Dave Collins Todmorden Harriers AC MV60 2:04:56
470 Peter Ehrhardt Todmorden Harriers AC MV70 2:30:54
471 Claire Duffield Todmorden Harriers AC FV40 2:30:58
472 Moyra Parfitt Todmorden Harriers AC FV70 2:30:59
480 Sue Roberts Todmorden Harriers AC FV50 3:04:28