Sabden 6 Trail, 21 June 2017
Report by Matt Flanagan
Last Wednesday’s Sabden race was the third of six races in this year’s Trail Champs. The hot, close weather conditions made for tough racing, but despite the 800 feet of ascent the route was extremely runnable, if not entirely comfortable. The route is truly multi-terrain, with stretches of rocky trail, steep tarmac, fast grassy fields, and a lung-busting, hands-on-knees climb up the banking to Churn Clough reservoir, an area familiar to fell runners acquainted with the Tour of Pendle and Stan Bradshaw fell races.
Performance of the day was by Rebecca Patrick (pictured, photo by David Belshaw), who finished first F45, and second female overall, only 30 seconds behind first place Rachel Villiers of Barlick Fell Runners, who won in 44:56. Peter Ehrhardt also claimed first V70 prize. The male winner was Julian Hood, also of Barlick, in 37:58.
Best wishes go to Kevin Coughlan, who had to retire hurt with a gash on his shin. Heather bandaged it up with her Tod Harriers vest and Kevin had stitches in hospital. We don’t expect the injury to stop Kevin running for long!
Kate Mansell is looking strong so far in this year’s women’s Trail Champs, while the men’s competition is wide open. Dan Taylor leads currently, but next week’s Trawden 7 race could see further qualifiers snapping at his heels. Full details are available at https://www.todharriers.co.uk/club-championship
Full Tod results:
26 Matt Flanagan M45 00:43:59
29 Paul Brannigan M50 00:44:31
40 Darren Tweed M40 00:45:29
42 Rebecca Patrick F45 00:45:57
65 Stuart Wolstenholme M45 00:49:32
77 Simon Galloway M50 00:50:51
82 Dan Taylor MS 00:51:22
95 Matt Annison MS 00:53:01
101 Kate Mansell F45 00:53:23
119 David Leslie M65 00:57:04
123 Mark Williams M40 00:58:04
159 Heather Rostron FS 01:03:48
182 Peter Ehrhardt M70 01:11:33
195 David O’Neill M55 01:18:28