Sat 7 April 2018, Barley A cold, wet and at times, misty day greeted 9 hardy Preston Harriers in the Lancashire AA Junior Fell Championships at Barley, Pendle. This also kicked off the first of 5 races in the 2018 Preston Harriers Junior Fell Championship. New to the fell scene was Samuel Adewale who had a brilliant run in the boys under 9 category, finishing 3rd Lancashire runner in 3:39min and earning himself a bronze medal and 22 points towards the Harriers Fell Championship.
The under 11 boys race saw a great team performance from Oliver Adewale, Josh Perry and newcomer to the club Connor Rigby, who all had tremendous runs finishing 5:43min (11th), 6:43min (18th) and 6:54min (20th) respectively. Performance of the day went to Matthew Buttery who was running in his first fell race and was the only Harrier representative in the under 13 boys race. He ran a stunning race to finish in 18:27min (14th), the youngest competitor in his age category.
A keenly fought contest in the under 15 boys race between Vladimir Wiggins and James Hawtin saw the lads battle their way up to the turning point on Pendle. However, Vladimir ran a slightly quicker descent finishing in 24:48min (16th), with James not far behind in 27:27min(18th). Arran Baldwin, running his first season as an under 17, had a great run, finishing a hard race in 33:18min (11th) and thus completing the boys’ participation in the Championship.
The tough senior race saw Emily Wiggins, in the Female under 19 category, go one better than last year and claim 3rd place and a bronze medal in the Lancashire AA Championships in a time of 59:17 min, knocking over 9 minutes off her PB and beating her mum Olga by 2 seconds!!!