The week before Pendle Fell race assistant coach, Roy Parkinson, introduced the juniors to fell running with a run on Pendle Hill. It’s always good to know what sort of terrain to expect at a fell race, so Roy was on hand to give out his valuable experience, including this one – always look for a handy stream to clean your shoes after a fell run. No doubt appreciated by the parents when the youngsters got home.
Roy’s race report: The Pendle Junior Fell Race on Saturday 1st April was the first of five races in the Preston Harriers Junior Fell Championship and also incorporated the Lancashire AA Fell Championship. The weather conditions by midday had deteriorated, however 11 Juniors had registered and the first away was new member Olivia Coupe in the under 11 race. She got the club off to a great start, finishing her course in 8:41 and earning her 22 points towards the Harriers Fell Championship.
This performance was followed by a fiercely contested battle in the under 13 boys race with an excellent run by Vladimir Wiggins finishing 6th overall and 1st Harrier home in 17:30, 2nd place Cory-lee Gill in 18:38, closely followed by Jacob Rushton in 3rd with a time of 19:10. The 4th placed harrier was James Hawtin in 22:14, earning him 17 valuable championship points.
The under 13 girls race was represented by newcomers Megan Ind and Grace Horne in times of 22:52 and 23:05 respectively, finishing 1st and 2nd Harriers home. The under 15 boys race saw a brilliant team performance from Luke Suffolk in 23:52, 11th position overall, Arran Baldwin 13th in 28:50 and Aaron Halliday 16th in 30:18. The run of the day however was from Emily Wiggins, sister of Vladimir, who at 16 years old, had to run in the tough Senior Fell race finishing 4th in her age category in a time of 1:08:24 and just behind her mum Olga.
These were tremendous performances all round considering the poor weather conditions and the fact that all the athletes had never run a fell race before. Well done to all!!! The next race in the Preston Harriers Fell Championship series is on Saturday 15th April at Rivington.
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