RHAC Road Champ’s 2025 get off to a Flying Start at the Hale 10K

The weekend of 8 – 9th February 2025 could, in journalistic terms, be described as a quiet news week, as most Harriers were enjoying doing their own thing. It’s the relative quiet period between the end of the Cross Country season and the beginning of the Road Race Championships and Fell Grand Prix Race Series. Not for one Harrier though who did himself and the Club proud both on and off the track. Ben Hadfield ran in the Tatton 5K coming 7^th overall in a time of 18m, 34s. He was also 1^st in his category of under 15’s, so a superb result, especially as he was up against adult runners. He ran with the knowledge that he had been chosen to represent Greater Manchester in the Inter Counties XC Championship, in Nottingham on Saturday 8 March, in the U15’s category. This is a massive for Ben, particularly as this is his first season in Cross Country. So a big round of applause for Ben and his fantastic achievement.

The weekend of 15 – 16th February 2025 was a complete turnaround. Harriers were involved in at least three races, one of which was the first race of the RHAC Road Race Championship 2025. More about that later.

One Harrier made the short journey over the border to Halifax, to run in the Midgley Moor Fell Race. A 5 mile (8.04km), AS (short distance with a lot of ascent per mile) category fell race, with 1250ft (381m) of climb around Midgley Moor. An increasingly in-form Jonny Lawlor was the lucky Harrier running in a biting cold wind to complete the race in a time of 57m, 39s, finishing in 26^th place.

Meanwhile three Harriers went for a day trip to Blackpool on Sunday 16th, to run in the Great North West Half Marathon, with a biting cold wind along the sea front. First back in 96^th position was Abdul Shahid in 1hr, 35m, followed by Abdul Wadud, 332rd, in 1hr, 58m, 36s. Finally the third Harrier back was Tahir Ali, 368^th, in 2hrs, 3m, 16s, out of a total of 604 runners.

Now onto the main event, the first race in the RHAC Road Race Championships 2025. A total of 22 Rochdale Harriers made their way down to Hale in Cheshire, to run in the Hale 10K Road Race. The race started in the centre of Hale, proceeding along picturesque country lanes, before finishing in front of the magnificent Ashley Hall on some uncomfortably rough cobbles. Of the 22 Harriers, 10 were men and 12 were ladies, with four ladies running for the first time for Rochdale Harriers. So congratulations to first timers Claire Holloway, Sam Fretwell, Shirley Seddon and Ruth Fern and the ladies in general for an excellent turnout.

The results at Hale were as follows: first Harrier back was Luke Burley (V35), finishing 41^st overall in 35m, 28s, swiftly followed by Danny Bennett (V55), 47^th, 35m, 48s, Danny being 2^nd  in his age category. Next was Phil Lockett (V40), 116^th, 38m, 48s who was delighted to finish ahead of his Club mate, Andy Whitehouse, who crossed the line 22 seconds later.

Mention must be made of Michael Jackson who achieved a personal best for the distance, running in a time of 44m 0s, beating his previous best by 4s. Another Harrier achieving a PB was Peter Levers, knocking 1m, 14s off his time for the 10K distance.

Juliet Smith (V45) was the first Rochdale lady Harrier, achieving a time of 41m, 32s as 14^th lady and 3^rd place in her age category. Next lady Harrier was Louise Mayall (FV35) in 45m, 58s. Corina Haynes (FV60) was the third Rochdale lady Harrier home, 49m, 08s, doing very well in her age category coming 2^nd.

First newbie Harrier was Claire Holloway (FV45), 687^th, 52m, 25s, followed by another Harrier newbie Ruth Fearn (V60), 690^th, 52m, 28s. Mention must also be made of Anna Blomfield (V60) who came third in her age category, so a good showing by the Harriers Ladies. Two ladies running for the Harriers achieved PB’s for the distance, Sam Fretwell, 4m and Ruth Fern, 2m. So well done ladies, very impressive improvements in race times.

The good news does not stop there. The Club was awarded 1^st and 3^rd in the team competition. The maths for these awards doesn’t stand-up to close scrutiny but we will take it. So congratulations again the Harriers, both for their individual achievements and as teams.

Finally last but not least a mention of Corina Hayes who ran in a time of under 50m, something she hasn’t achieved since 2019, having had a knee operation and then not running for years. Corina only started running again last year, so an excellent result for her.

The official results contained Club names only sporadically and so we had to extract times manually. these are shown below: