More Top Performances on the Fells

There have been more strong performances from Bury fell and distance runners over the last week.

On 12th June Ben Coop picked up 2nd place in the Knowl Hill race, recording a time of 45.48. Further down the field, suffering with the effects of a strained Achilles tendon came Benn Heywood taking 31st place in 57.19. Four days later Ben took 3rd place in the Aggie’s Staircase race, in a time of 30.09. He was disappointed not to be able to retain the title that he won 12 months ago.

On 18th June Sophie Whittaker and Ben Forrest travelled up to the Lake District to compete in the Clougha Pike race. Sophie took 5th in the tough under 18s race (53.51) whilst Ben ran well in a very strong under 16s field  to take 11th (19.09).

Colin Smith was Bury’s only contender in the Tour of Tameside, a series of races over four consecutive days that see’s athletes taking on the Cross Trail 10k, the Copley Fell Race, the High Peak Half-Marathon before finishing with the Hyde 7 road race. Colin coped well with the demands of the surfaces and finished 3rd in his age group with a combined time of 4:21.36.

Colin Smith proudly wearing his hard-earned medals

On Sunday 19th June 6 Bury AC members participated in the 11.3 mile Race the Train event. Setting off from the East Lancs Railway platform, runners follow the route of the railway up to Rawtenstall over an undulating and mixed terrain course. Dave Carroll was first Bury finisher in 108th place in a time of 1:36.14. Next came Edward Hitchin in 129th overall, but taking 2nd in the V65 category (1:39.16). Pam Moriarty was the 4th F40 finisher in 157th overall with a time of 1:45.11, followed by husband Simon taking 165th in 1:47.05. Hot on Simon’s heals came Pam Hitchin in 169th, her 1:47.25 giving her 6th F35 place. Harvey Wiseglass recorded a time of 2:01.57 – finishing as 4th V65 runner and taking 216th out of the field of 262 finishers.

Bury athletes line up at the start of the Race the Train event