Harriers Go Long on Trail and Fell

16th February 2023

John Bramwell at the Long Mynd Valley Fell Race

Leon Aston at the Harrogate Hustle Trail Race

BY PURE COINCIDENCE a number of Harriers competed in long-distance off-road races during the weekend of 11-12th February 2023.

John Bramwell (first picture above) represented Rochdale Harriers in the Long Mynd Valley Fell Race on Saturday 11th February.

The 18.5km / 11.5 mile course in Church Stretton was the first race of the 2023 English Fell Running Championships and pushed runners up and down 1372m / 4500 ft of elevation around the Shropshire hills.

As expected with a Championship race, a bumper field of 307 runners lined up for the 11 am starting gun.

The undulating route begins with a relatively runnable opening 8km / 5 miles with two main climbs before the fun really starts and the race profile resembles a roller coaster, as a further five leg sapping climbs and leg busting descents return the racers back to the start/finish line.

John finished 264th in a time of 2:36:00.

On Sunday 12th February Dave Parton (second picture above) wore the black, yellow and red vest of Rochdale Harriers in more local hills in the revamped Windy Hill Race.

Returning for the first time since 2020, the race has a new start / finish point and has extended to approximately 19 km /12 miles with a punchy 640m / 2100 ft of climbing.

Now setting off from the Rams Head pub in Denshaw the runners enjoy a fast opening mile as the race descends to Piethorne Reservoir before snaking back up and down to Littleborough Rugby Club. The route then crosses the M62 towards Lydgate before the long drag of Blackstone Edge’s climb gets the runners on to the Pennine Way and back over the motorway to the Windy Hill transmitter.

An undulating route back to Piethorne follows before the racers have the stuffing knocked out of them with an uphill finish back up the hill they happily skipped down at the start of the race.

Dave finished 13th in a time of 1:33:25.

Two Harriers also laced up their trainers and took on the 32 km / 20 mile challenge of the Harrogate Hustle Trail Race.

Described as a ‘scenic mudfest’ the route begins from the Great Yorkshire Showground and encircles the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough passing through Nidd Gorge.

Leon Aston (third picture above) completed the route in 4:17:30 with Joanne Aston crossing the line after 4:43:02.