He's back and still the best.  Jimmy Craig takes the honours in this race, beating Tom Cornthwaite into second place.  

1 Jimmy Craig 33:12

Every year, we start this race with a lot of optimism as to what we can achieve, but we knew that we were up against a strong Calder Valley team and it would have been a big ask for a small club such as ours to realistically take on the might of Calder Valley who are stuffed with good runners.  Having said that, on the day, anything can happen.

On the first leg, as expected, Calder Valley went out in front, followed by Rossendale and we were in third place,  But Rossendale went wrong and initially Matt Watson followed them, but he then realised that they were going the wrong way and called them back, before turning himself to pick up the correct route.  Tom had been trailing at this point and luckily the two met up just where Matt had gone astray.  However, the error by Rossendale put us into second place which we held to the end of the leg. Jimmy Craig and Craig Shearer went off determined to catch the leading team and put in a good time and some say it was a club record for the second leg.  It was Robert Cranham & Andy Berry who had to make the climb up to Black Shaw Edge and whilst Andy looked strong at the finish, Robert was obviously feeling effects of his recent marathon.  Ben Whitehead and Andy Collins then took up the baton and worked well together pushing each other on before handing over to Luke Butler and Nathan Smedley.  We were now settling into third place and this pair were running in the middle of nowhere, in that they could not see the team they were chasing nor the team who were following.  They pushed on to keep the chasing team well behind them, so as to give the last leg runners a chance to keep third place and a podium finish.  As it happened, they handed over to to Gary Shaw and David Mirfield with over a 7 minute lead over chasing club Wharfedale.  By that stage, we, in turn, were over 7 minutes behind Rossendale, so they were impossible to catch, so it was just a case of maintaining a good pace and ensuring a podium position.

It was heartening to take a podium finish. It was a great reward for all the effort put in by everyone who took part today and to Ben Whitehead for his team and pairing selection.  

3 Men 6:25:11

7 Ladies 9:16:19

216 Richard Shilton 28:50

Sometimes, you go to a race and see an exceptionally good performance and sometimes you see a Barlicker coming home in first place.  At this race, we saw both.  Matt Watson ran a brilliant race.  He set a sensible pace on the first ascent from the start and took the race lead on the level section before the next climb.  At the top of that climb, he had already built up a good lead and was running easily and smoothly, but very quickly.  The chasing runner looked laboured by comparison.  Matt already looked to have the race sewn up.  The only question remaining was how big would his winning lead be.  When he came back into view, on the descent before the run around the reservoir, no chasing runners were within sight.  He was still going well and the question then arose of whether he would set a new course record.  He finished in a remarkable time of 29:56.  John Roche was a little reticent about whether it was a course record, saying that over the years, there had been minor adjustments to the course, which is true.  But since the Covid outbreak, the course has remained the same and during that time, no one has finished under 31 minutes.  So it looks very much like a course record and it will be interesting to see how long it is before anyone beats that time.  Craig Shearer had entered for this race, but sadly did not turn up on the night.  It is a pity, because he is quick and if those two had been out in front, pushing each other along, what would the winning time have been?

Further down the field, but not that much further, Karl Nevison was giving another display of his amazing running prowess and he powered home in 7th place, comfortably taking the first M55 position.

In the ladies race, the Barlickers were led home by the every improving Lisa Gee.

Men's Race
1 Matt Watson 29:56 (1st M45)
7 Carl Nevison 35:41 (1st M55)
57 James Austin 43:55
85 Raymond Banks 48:36 (3rd M70)

Women's Race
14 Lisa Gee 48:53
30 Lucy Mirifield 53:28
35 Lydia Hirst 54:17