It was good to see so many Barlickers out in a race and it was just like the good old days.
The conditions for this race were not good. There was snow on the top of Pendle Hill, all the recent rain made for heavy going and the rain was persistent throughout the whole of the race. Going out, on the way up to Buttock, Doni Clarke and Luke Foley were way out in front and were having a little battle between themselves. After a short gap came Tom Corrigan and Rob Hope, who were again having a little battle between themselves. After another short gap, the rest of the pack followed on. Eventually a queue built up at the fell gate, but by that stage, everyone seemed relieved to have a breather. From there, the runners disappeared into the mist which shrouded Pendle throughout the race.
On the return, Doni Clarke had extended his lead over the chasing Luke Foley and when he crossed the res before taking the track back the the finish, he looked like he was in a sprint not a ten mile race.
The next two runners to appear were Tom Corrigan and Rob Hope, who were neck and neck. When they reached the final stile, Rob was just in front, but as wait for him to climb the stile, Tom decided to slip under the fence. As a result of that quick thinking, he moved into third place with Rob just behind him. Shortly afterwards, Rob took a tumble on what were treacherous conditions and from that moment on, there was no way that he was going to prevent Tom from taking third place. A great start to the 2024 season for Tom.
Shortly after, a line of runners came into view and amongst them was David Mirfield and Julian Hood who both finished in the top ten. Barlick were the only club to have three runners in the top ten and it is a pity that there was not a team prize.
The ladies race was dominated by Lizzy Allison from Settle and Emma Hopkinson from Wharfedale. Lizzy led the way up to Pendle summit, but on the return, Emma had taken the lead. However, Lizzy never gave up and managed to once again take the lead on the run in to the finish. It was a great race between those two girls. Just like the men's race, we had three finishers in the top ten with Helen Harrison leading them home, followed by Laura Craig and Hayley Whitehead. Again, we were the only club with three finishers in the top ten. Emma Law finished just outside the top ten in 11th place.
Overall, it was a great day start to the new season by the club, with some good performances from both our men and our women.
The Barlickers finished as follows:
3 Thomas Corrigan 1:08:41 (2nd M40)
8 David Mirfield 1:11:41
10 Julian Hood 1:14:40
25 David Poole 1:18:02
29 Jethro Whitfield 1:18:32
37 Ian Cocks 1:20:37
39 David Pease 1:20:45
51 Sam Horrocks 1:22:52
78 John Mason 1:27:12
97 Andrew Smith 1:30:04
104 Shane Muller 1:30:44
107 Helen Harrison 1:31:06 (3rd F40)
117 Laura Craig 1:33:42
127 John Boothman 1:36:12
129 Hayley Whitehead 1:36:41
130 Emma Law 1:36:51
138 Hannah Newbold 1:37:48
147 Jacqueline Collins 1:39:22
152 Glenn Whittaker 1:40:52
161 Peter Jackson 1:42:59
181 Lucy Brown 1:48:11
194 Nicola Muller 1:53:08