Monthly Archives: March 2022

National Cross Country success

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Calder Valley Fell Runners – 28 March 2022

A golden double for Clara

Calder Valley juniors had three runners that made it through three rounds of qualifications –  schools, district and county – to represent Team West Yorkshire at the 2022 English National Schools Cross Country Championships. The event was held at the Market Harborough show ground in Leicestershire on a surprisingly warm Saturday afternoon. The course was flat and dry and made for a very fast and competitive race against some of the best runners in the country and with a very strong line up in each race.

Clara, Harry and Joseph. Team medal winners

First to run (2.7km) was Year 6 Boy, Harry Cliff, who ran faster than at his local park run and averaged 6 minute miles, representing Riverside School and team West Yorkshire. He finished a strong 65th out of 138 with an excellent time of 10min 5secs. As the 8th placed ‘counter’, Harry helped West Yorkshire pick up the boys’ team gold.

Clara just checking that’s she’s well in the lead

Second to run (3km) was Clara McKee, Year 7 Girl representing Calder High School and Team West Yorkshire. Clara finished very comfortably in first place to win gold with an amazing time of 10min 40sec. She also added to her individual gold medal by picking up girls’ team gold for West Yorkshire. Earlier in the week it was doubtful that Clara would be running at all as a sore knee nearly kept her out of the competition.

Last but not least to run (3km) was Joseph Stone, Year 7 Boy representing Ryburn Valley High School and Team West Yorkshire, finishing a strong 28th out of 115 with an excellent time of 10mins 49secs. Joseph was 3rd counter in his race for the West Yorkshire Team who later, after some confusion with the results, had secured Team Silver.

It was a privilege and an emotional time for all the parents watching their children run so well for their county. They are still on a high by all accounts and one of the parents said it was one of the best days racing they’d watched.

Euan and Thomas enjoying the experience

The weekend before had been the turn of the secondary schools with two of CVFR juniors representing West Yorkshire. It was a lovely sunny day with not a cloud in the sky nor a hill in sight. The race was held way down south in Kent on a very flat fast course. Euan Logue, Year 10/11, ran well representing Todmorden High School. He covered the 5.75km in a time of 23mins 29secs. Thomas McKee, representing Calder High in year 8/9, showed amazing determination as he unfortunately had the back of his fell shoe clipped by spikes at the start and had to run with his shoe half off for the whole race which resulted in them falling off twice. Despite the challenge it was a great experience, with Thomas finishing midfield covering the 4.34km in 15mins 16secs. Both lads really enjoyed representing their county.

– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: MARC COLLETT

Fun at Ilkley Moor

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Calder Valley Fell Runners – 7 March 2022

Clara on her way to another outright win

On ‘Ilkla Moor baht ‘at’ was where it was at on Sunday with our juniors joining loads of others to race on the beautiful local moor. A lovely sunny but chilly day greeted the runners which made for a very pleasant change although the paths were as boggy as ever following all the recent rain.

Ishbel enjoying the mud

With none of our juniors in the under 9s race it was Ishbel Symington in the under 11s who took to the fells in her 1 mile race to placing 19th overall. The under 13s showed their strength in this category with 3 of our juniors being in the first 5. Clara McKee again took first place overall where she pushed all the way by Bethan Buckley from Keighley and Craven who placed second. Competing hard against each Joseph Stone (4th) and Harry Cliff (5th) had a great with very little time dividing the lads at the finish. Placing in the top half of the race Ted Parker took a great 19th place.

Thomas tacking the famous Ilkley bogs

In the 2mile under 15s race Thomas McKee is showing great form in taking 2nd place. His good friend Wynn Standish finished in 19th but ran most of the race with only one shoe. The bogs are famous for eating fell shoes at Ilkley.  Tom Owen got his season off to a good start taking 9th place in the under 17s. A great day out was had by all.  

– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: thirza hyde

 

Juniors “hoppit” into their championships

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Calder Valley Fell Runners – 28 February 2022

After a lay off of a couple of seasons due to the pandemic our juniors hopped into action in the first of their 2022 club champion races. Also as a counter for the Junior Yorkshire Championships and medals to be won the Hoppits Hill Fell Race, near Mirfield, was hotly contested with challenging race routes.

A very determined Clara on her way to the finish line

Certainly looking strong to defend her Fell Running Association in the under 13s Clara McKee was the outright winner in a time of 15mins 21secs. She is now the proud winner of the Yorkshire u13s title, trophy and gold medal.

Joe with his well earned Bronze

Just a few paces behind in 4th place, and showing how much he’s improved was Joseph Stone in a time of 17mins 8secs. His run secured a Yorkshire Bronze medal as 3rd boy on the day. New recruits and best mates Ewan Edwards, in 8th and Archie Cole 9th, raced hard against each other with only 4 seconds separating them on the finish line. A great gritty competitor as always Ted Parker ran hard to place 34th.

Thomas on the final run in to clinch a great 4th place

In the under 15s race,, against really strong opposition, Thomas McKee placed a fantastic 4th in 21mins 53secs and only just missed out clinching a Yorkshire bronze medal by 12 seconds. A similar situation ensued in the under 17s race with Charlie Pickens running hard to place 4th in a time 21mins 37secs and only 9 seconds off that bronze medal. Showing good strength after his cross country season Euan Logue took 9th place in a time of 23mins 6secs.

Great teammates Charlie, Elijah and Euan

In the under 19s with a good winters training behind him Elijah Peers Webb placed 10th in a time of  22mins 22secs. Very well done to all our juniors who competed.

– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: THIRZA HYDE

Flower Scar fun

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Hosted again by Todmorden Harriers after a three-year break, Flower Scar proved a popular race despite the atrocious weather that had gripped the entire country for the past two weeks. Coming on the back of Storms Dudley and Eunice, the organisers braved the wind and rain on Friday to fully flag the course, a welcome blessing for the runners in what proved to be really challenging conditions.

Flower Scar is one of those great mini running festivals where there is a take-over of Centre Vale Park as Junior races are run throughout the morning followed by a soggy start to the Senior race as the Juniors were finishing up.

The Winning U13s team

Perhaps because of the weather or because this year’s race coincided with half term, there was a smaller contingent of juniors than in previous years but still plenty to create some real competition across a number of age ranges. With course distances increasing through the age bands from U9s up to an U17/U19 category, Calder Valley Juniors were well represented from U13s up to U17s. The clubs U13s Boys secured all top three places with a winning performance by Joseph Stone in 11m 46s followed by Archie Cole in 2nd, Mani Kaler in 3rd and Ted Parker in 5th. In the smaller U15s group, Wynn Standish put in a great performance to come in second against a very strong run by Chorley’s Henry Ward and at U17 level, Charlie Pickens took a fantastic first place, in a very fast time given the conditions.

A great performance by all the juniors who braved the rain, sleet and mud on the day.

– CALDER VALLEY NEWS REPORTER: MARC COLLETT