This is the real tough challenge in the Grand Prix Series and there was some quality competition at the front of the field. Credit therefore is due to our two athletes with a top ten finish, Jon Cleaver and Andy Collins. Jon has written an interesting account of the day from the perspective of battling it out in the tough environment at the front of the field.
"The Jewel in the the GP crown. 2000ft half(ish) marathon taking in the stunning countryside of Pendle. I set of with the intention of hitting it hard and going for broke to try and make the immortal Hall of Fame list of runners who had made it round in under 83 minutes. From the start I knew a Podium was going to be tough with the 3 times champ David Rigby, Ben Fish & Ben Coop toeing the line. I was leading the race until the climb to the Shooters where the Ben(s) took over which was fairly inevitable at some point. I stuck with Rigby until just after Thursden where I started to put a gap into him. For the rest of the race I was on my own versus the clock as I knew that third would happen as long as I kept on pushing and Coop had too big a gap for me to claw back. In the end I came in 01:22:18 which I was delighted with. On the day fortune favoured the brave!
Some other cracking runs from the club with Andy Collins & Andy Berry in the men’s seniors putting in solid times.
On to the next one!
PS - Shout out to Luke Turner who is on his way back in the BFR vest. One to watch in a few months!"
3 Jonathan Cleaver 1:22:18
8 Andrew Collins 1:28:40
14 Andy Berry 1:35:07
18 Luke Turner 1:36:26
32 Carl Dawson 1:40:31
37 Jacqueline Collins 1:43:50
45 Carl Nevison 1:45:31
59 Shane Muller 1:50:16
124 Cloey Mason 2:09:00
154 Nicola Muller 2:17:28
181 Helen Harrison 2:25:07
182 Emma Pease 2:25:07
184 Maie Eden 2:25:13