What a perfect day for a fell race. There was a shower of rain in the morning but by the start of the race, it was a bright cloudy day, with a slight breeze – ideal running conditions. The race starts with a long climb. Coming up the hill out of Worsthorne, there was nothing to chose between Jimmy Craig, Gary Shaw and Stephen Hall. After the first initial climb, there is a slight downhill section before anther climb to the race summit. As the runners disappeared from view, the race opened up and it rapidly became a two horse race between Jimmy Craig and Gary Shaw. The race has a sting in its tail in that after passing the second reservoir, there is another climb before the final descent back to Worsthorne. As the two leading runners approached this last ascent, Gary Shaw made a challenge on Jimmy. To those watching, it was fascinating. There was a vet runner was taking the lead from a “young Turk”. The fact that he was able to do so says a lot about the fitness of Gary Shaw. One assumes that at this point, he was trying to break Jimmy and build up an unassailable lead. But Jimmy did not allow this to happen and settled in behind him and kept up with him. As they approached the top of this climb Gary was leading, but Jimmy Craig was on his tail and it left everyone wondering who would come out tops on the run in. As it turned out, Jimmy just had the edge and he passed Gary on the downhill run and with a bit of a sprint at the finish, he made it home with an eleven second gap. However this was a race and a half and it says much that Gary could push Jimmy so close. This was racing at its best.

Further down the field, Barlick had two runners in the top ten, with Ian Beresford finishing 5^th and Andy Berry finishing 9^th. Afterwards Ian admitted that he owed his position very much to being pushed by Andy during race.

In the ladies’ race, Jackie Collins led the Barlickers home in 5^th place with Molly Ralphson close on her tail. Laura Craig has an excellent run to finish 8^th overall and third Barlick lady.

After such a long break, it is good to see Park Runs starting again in this Country.  Just one Barlicker out this weekend in the Skipton.

11 Lucas Payne 20:31

Wow - what a run from Lorraine Slater.  She has certainly not spent the past 12 months of lockdowns sitting by the fire.  This is a tough ultra race over forty five miles.  Lorraine finished 6th overall, not just 6th in the ladies race, out of a total of 93 runners.  Not only that, but she was just 3 seconds from coming home in 5th place. With a performance like that she naturally set a new course record.  Over the years, we have got used to seeing some great performances from Lorraine and this has been another one to add to that long list.

Further down the field, John Boothman and Mark Storey both had a top twenty finish. Cloey Mason finished 4th lady. 

In the shorter 30 mile race, Tim Pigott took the honours coming home in first place. 

A good day out for the Barlickers, taking first and third places in addition to first women's team and first mixed team.  That is before we get to mentioning first solo team. which was team Alex. 

1    Barlick Mens 1    Barlick Fell Runners    Mens    2:02:19
    Matt Watson, Luke Maude, Nick Treitl, David Mirfield            

3    Barlick Mens 2    Barlick Fell Runners    Mens    2:12:34
    Stephen Shorrock, David Poole, Ian Beresford, Andy Berry            
        
6    Team Alex Mason    Barlick Fell Runners    Mens    2:20:43
    Alex Mason, Alex Mason, Alex Mason, Alex Mason    
        
7    THE BADS    Barlick Fell Runners    Mens    2:24:37
    David Pease, Andrew Smith, Sean Fitzpatrick, Ben Whitehead            
    
11 (1)  Barlick Ladies Getting Back At It  Barlick Fell Runners  Ladies  2:33:56
    Jacqueline Gissing Collins, Emma Taylor, Lorraine Slater, Molly Ralphson
            
12    Barlick Mens 3    Barlick Fell Runners    Mens    2:37:34
    Andy Collins, Dave Halliday, Zac Kaye, James Austin            
    
15 (1)    Barlick Mixed 1    Barlick Fell Runners    Mixed    2:45:43
    Hayley Whitehead, Cloey Mason, John Mason, Johnathan Boothman            
    
19 (4)    Leggin’ It    Barlick Fell Runners    Mixed    3:02:56
    Michael Uttley, Helen Harrison, Amanda Haines, Carl Pawson            
   

This was the first Ultra for Ian Cox and he was more than happy with the result, as he came home in second place, not all that far behind the winner.  Again credit must go to the organisers for putting on this event despite all the restrictions. 

The race organiser wrote a report of the event and this illustrates some of the headaches involved in putting on events at this time.

Race Report

2 Ian Cox 5hrs 25 mins.

You have to hand it to Trawden AC, during this epidemic, they have done their utmost to put on some racing.  This race is another fine example of the great job that they are doing.  Many will not be surprised to find that John Boothman turned out for this race, despite the fact that he took part in the 62 mile Hardmoors 60 last week.  His legs felt tired and he found it hard work, but he is pretty consistent in this race and he finished 36 seconds quicker than the time he recorded last year. 

On the road up to the windmills, he passed the only other Barlicker in this race, Mark Storey.  He had his arm in his back pack straps, having taken a tumble, but he braved it out and competed the race.

24 John Boothman 5:15:21
34 Mark Storey 5:37:49