To weekend of 28th / 29th October, 2023

British Fell Relays

Keswick AC laid on an excellent FRA Relays and were lucky to miss the worst of last week’s extreme weather.

Starting with our men’s teams, Dark Peak Alport (Cynog Williams, Edward Corden/Nathan Lawson, Jonathan Crickmore/Tom Saville, Finlay Grant), were 1^st finishing less than a minute ahead of host club Keswick with Ambleside not far away in 3^rd.

Dark Peak Bleaklow (Chet Gillespie, Will Gratton/Oli Williams, The Rhys Findlay-Robinson/Henry Webb, Rupert Allison) were 14^th .

Both Dark Peak V40s (James Halse, Tom Brunt/Oli Johnson, Will Boothman/Neil Northrop, Ralph Skrimshire) and Dark Peak V50s (Mike Nolan, Dave Taylor/Stephen Pyke, John Hunt/Simon Patton, Mike Robinson) were 3^rd.

Dark Peak V60s (Dicky Wilkinson, Ashley Kay/Greg Rimmer, Andy Barnett/John Webber, Jon Batt) finished 3rd following the disqualification of Dronfield Running Club.

Dark Peak Mixed (Alice Gamble, Catrin Smith/Heather Tait, Alex Mason/Joe Woodley, Tom Perry) were 1^st in a category contested by another 25 teams.

Dark Peak Ladies A (Holly Clifford, Despina Berdeni/Fran Collett, Laura Robertson/Anna Watkinson-Powell, Phillipa Williams) were 5^th with Dark Peak Ladies B (Jaime Gray, Ellie Crownshaw/Lauren Wilson, Jenny Hall/Sarah Harmon, Sarah Hornby) 32^nd.

Dark Peak V40 Ladies (Laura Howarth, Sally Fawcett/Rachel Rose, Kim Baxter/Martha Hart, Clare Oliffe) were 2^nd and last, but by no means least, Dark Peak V50 Ladies (Pippa Wilkie, Helen Elmore/Nicky Spinks, Kirsty Bryan-Jones/Julian Nolan, Liz Batt) were 1^st.

There were of course many outstanding individual performances to produce this degree of success. Two that stand out were by Phillipa Williams, who was the fastest woman on Leg 4 and the brilliant run by Jonny Crickmore and Tom Saville, who were the fastest on Leg 3 by well over 4 minutes. It is also worth noting that the Dark Peak V50 Ladies’ finishing time of 5:18:22 was quicker than any of the WV40 teams.  Carshare offers his congratulations to all 9 of our teams. Results. 

Dicky Wilkinson filling his lungs on the climb to Barrow on Leg 1. Dicky and his M60 teammates finished 3rd.

Lakeland Classics

Langdale earlier this month marked the conclusion of the Lakeland Classics Trophy. https://www.lakelandclassicstrophy.org.uk John Hunt 14^th and 1^st M50, Joe Blackett 19^th and 4^th M50, Alison Wainwright 46^th and 2^nd W50 and Keith Holmes 48^th and 4^th M60 all completed the series by completing three of the six races, two of which have to be ‘Super Longs’. Our open team were 5^th and, although our female team were second close behind Ambleside, the women’s team prize will not be awarded this year as no club had two super long finishes. As John Hunt correctly observed in his rant on the FB group page, Dark Peak have won the team trophy seven times over the years. We need some of our young guns to set their sights on these, the finest of races! Results: Individuals and teams.

Past races

Castle Carr – Harriet Wingfield 1^st woman, Joanne Warboys-Hodgson 1st W50 and Keith Holmes 3^rd M60. Results

Windgather.

Peak Raid  Castleton – Glen Borrell 1^st, Jennie Stevens 1^st F40, Lucy Wiegand 1^st F50, Jane Crowson 1^st F60. Results

Upcoming races

Saturday 28^th October – Bole Hill Badboy / Eric Mitchell Trophy.

Sunday 5^th November – Peak Raid MM. Pre-entry via SiEntries.

Sunday 12^th November – Roaches, one of the better autumn races.

Sunday 12^th November – Leg it Round Lathkil.

Saturday 18^th November – Tour of Pendle, the year’s last AL and a highly recommended outing which, if it’s not already there, you need on your cv.

Saturday 25^th November – Club champs and dinner.

Saturday 25^th November – Baslow Bolt. (I’ll wager that the Club champs race will be both better and cheaper!)

Sunday 14^th January – Trigger. Approximately 24 miles of Type 2 fun. Entries open on SiEntries.

JimP

Sunday 22^nd October, 2023