Hosted by Baildon runners the season opener saw an impressive field of 565 runners tackling the well established 5 mile / 8 kilometre course over Baildon moor. The course is ideally suited to the Toddy being more like a mini fell race with 650ft/200m of ascent and descent and though the weather was dry and cold on the day the route held plenty of moisture after storm Claudia.

A congested start with a few bottlenecks opened up onto a muddy and slippery trail giving an advantage to those wearing the correct footwear. Mud Talons essential! After reaching the top of the moor there followed a fast technical descent. Beyond that the course became more undulating with a fast, hard packed sprint to the finish allowing a few of the more road orientated club runners to claw back a place or two! Exhilarating stuff! Bring on round two at Dewsbury

Full results at : https://racebest.com/results/tcxgt

The post West Yorkshire Winter League 2025/6 is go! first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

This unique event in the GP calendar brings an absolute freshness to the champs. Following the junior 5k races, there were 5 senior races graded by estimated time. With 4.75 laps per race, it was a great opportunity to follow the progress of fellow Toddies and cheer them on.

Top of their classes were Richard Blakeley & Lisa Peatfield. Lisa won the F50 category by a slender but decisive four seconds, whereas Richard took the M80 category by a comfortable couple of minutes. Both runners demonstrated the perfect pacing required on a course where it is too easy to go too fast too early and pay the price.

Finishing second in their categories were Katie Samuelson and Paul Brannigan. Also attaining podium places were Simon Anderton (M65) and Richard Butterwick (M55) with 3^rd places.

Our other runners fully deserve a mention for tackling the intensity, and the heat, of this recognised fast course, where in 2021 Beth Potter broke the women’s world record for a road 5k. So hats off to Ian MacLachlan, Darren Gilman, Zoe Dijkman, Dave Weedon, Dan Taylor, Duncan Ritchie and Helen Hodgkinson. The class of runners at the top end was demonstrated by Dom Leckie whose 17.34 placed him 40^th, which is like going back to the 80s.

The first 3 men were sub-15 minutes and Patricia Jackman, travelling up from Newark, was first lady in 16.25.

https://www.ukresults.net/2025/barr5k.html

by Paul Brannigan

Header photo by Buddy

The post Double Top at Barrowford first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

On the day, I decided on free entry and a no prize format as per my old days organising the Flower Scar FR. Instead, entrants were encouraged to support a local community group (St James’s Church) either by cash donations or purchasing cakes and beverages, raising over £500 for much needed funds, thank you all for this generosity.

As a result of very dry conditions on rock hard ground after this long dry spell runners resembled pinballs as they descended the two technical descents repeatedly bumping off dried out tussock heads which acted as flippers, bouncing the unprepared athlete into further tussock heads on the playing field on a free fall into the infamous bog / Gobble Hole at the foot of the descent! As a result, we had one poor participant twisting his ankle badly in the bog, but in the spirit of Fellrunning, kudos goes out to his fellow club mate Andy Sandercock- North Leeds Fell Running Club. He sacrificed his good position to assist his friend off the fell with the aide of Tod Harrier Marshalls, thank you all.

Host club Todmorden Harriers were delighted to see their very own runners, Dom Leckie and Janine McGregor taking 1^st place in their respective categories, Janine also taking the FV40 category, well done you two. In other categories, great runs had by FU18 Sophie Smith (new rec.), MU23 Alfie Bundy, FU23 Sarah Christin Ransome, M40 Mark Smith finishing 3^rd overall, M50 Ivan Gee, F50 Jennie Ransome, M60 Stephen Booth, F60 Jackie Scarf and M70 Jim Maxfield.

Thanks goes out to all runners, Tod Harriers Marshalls, Kev Shand, Jan and Steve Shepherd (farmer) and St James Church group for their support.

See you in 2026 for another FREE running and Cake bonanza.

by Jon Wright

Photo by Fearne Hanson

The post Tussock Pinball at Blackstone Edge first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

In typical fell running fashion, with sunny days beforehand and nothing but blue skies forecast for the following week, race day saw the Peak District and Edale covered in a blanket of thick fog for the entire race day. It meant with visibility limited to just a few metres, the usually stunning views were nothing but just a few metres of clag and a potentially tricky navigation day awaited for anyone who hadn’t reccied the course (cough cough). 

The route is a test, with the 350 or so runners going a sharp first climb from Edale up to Grindslow Knoll, before the circular skyline route takes in Lord’s Seat, the edge of Mam Tor, a brutal climb up Win Hill before a gradual climb and quick descent to the finish. The conditions caught more than a few out, with well over a dozen missing the turning for the first checkpoint and having to hurtle in the opposite direction to the race route to regain it.

Doni Clarke, as ever, led the way for Tod. Involved at the sharp end with the front 

runners for the majority of the race before being hit by cramp with around five miles to go, he still came in a superb 16th overall in 2:47 and claimed first Vets 40. 

There was more Tod success, with Debbie Gowans winning first FV60, Mel Blackhurst first FV55 and Rebecca Patrick second FV55 in some great runs.

Another Tod battle saw myself and Dom bemused at finding him behind me at the out-and-back, when he had dibbed into the first checkpoint ahead and we hadn’t seen each other in the 12 or more miles since. After some post-race analysis (kudos to Strava Fly-by) it transpired the group he was with had inadvertently in the clag taken an unexpected trip to Kinder Low – very much not on the race route. Thankfully for me, the people I was following in the mist didn’t fancy an extra climb.

All in all a successful first outing of the champs season, with the second race happening in just a couple of weeks time at Newlands.

Tod Results

by Ben Blosse

The post Edale Skyline – English Champs 2025 first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

It started big with the Haweswater half marathon. Starting and finishing in the village of Bampton, the course is run along quiet country roads along the remote and dramatic shores of Haweswater reservoir in the lake district. If running along the banks of a reservoir sounds easy, then beware! There’s a surprising amount of climbing, roughly 280meters!

There were 15 Toddies on the start line and some plenty of impressive performances – notably Darren Shackleton in 10th place amongst the field of 416 and Janine McGregor-Stead, 2nd FV40.

Full results at : https://www.ukresults.net/2025/hawes.html

The second round of the road grand prix was just two weeks later at the medium distance (just) Garstang Gallop. This undulating 7 miler tempted 21 Toddies out on a crisp late winter morning. 1st home for the club was (again) Darren Shackleton who narrowly missed out on a podium place in 4th overall. An excellent run from Emma Kerwin saw her first back for the Tod ladies earning 21st place in a field of 127.

Full results at : https://www.ukresults.net/2025/garstgall.html

by Stu Wolstenholme

The post Road Race Championship first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

There was individual success too with 1st FV40 going to Janine McGregor-Stead, 1st FV60 to Kath Brierley and 2nd MV55 Robin Tuddenham.

Keep your eye on facebook and the forum later in the year for details of how to enter this increasingly popular series of races. 2025/26 is going be even better!

The post West Yorkshire Winter League 2024-25 first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

The Hobble, a mainstay in the local running calendar, was celebrating its 44th edition and once again saw a big Tod turnout, with no doubt any thoughts about whether to pull out at the last minute discouraged by the 16C, sunny spells and the prospect of wearing just a vest for the first time in 2025.

The 31.7mile route with around 5,000ft of climbing takes runners up to Top Withins, across to Widdop Reservoir and onto Long Causeway before descending into Todmorden.

Depending on whether you are feeling fresh-faced or have gone out way too hard and are blowing up (speaking from direct experience here), runners then enjoyed a trot/slog up to Stoodley Pike, down into Hebden Bridge and back up to Heptonstall, before the long push from Hardcastle Crags over the moors and into Haworth, all fuelled by the chip butties, beer and whisky on offer at the various checkpoints throughout.

In total, 16 Toddies managed to get to the finish line in relatively one piece despite a couple of DNFs, with the race won by Andy Worster of Calder Valley (but also a Toddie) in 4:05. As the results show there were a couple of close inter-Tod Harriers battles throughout, the highlight of which saw Stu Hyslop beat Tom Saunders to the line by 12 seconds after over 6 hours of running – showing no mercy to pass him when Tom started to cramp on the final mile into Penistone Country Park. Huge kudos to Tom and Becca for completing their first ultra-marathons, cheered on by the support of Toddies who were out in force and stationed throughout the route.

Finishers

Report by Ben Blosse

The post Haworth Hobble 2025 first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

With 14.3 miles and 2431ft of ascent the race attracted a field of 127 runners, of which 23 were Tod Harriers. Weather conditions on the day were ideal being cool but dry and bright.

A blast along a wide track for a kilometre or so warms the legs and wakes the lungs before the work starts properly with a 5 mile undulating climb to the first checkpoint. An eyeballs-out descent to Howden reservoir swiftly follows then another smooth wide track calms thing back down for a while. The next checkpoint steers you left and the climbing starts again.

The track varies from easy runnable to bog, then open moor with tussocks, heather and more bog before picking up a trod back to the path up to the first checkpoint. Then it’s a simple 5 mile run back the way you came …only it isn’t. On the way out the loose rocks weren’t really an issue but now it’s a descent the treacherously loose rocks demand your full attention and batter your feet.

First back for the Harriers once again was Ben Blosse in an impressive 1:52:35 and leading woman, picking up the fv40 in the process was Janine McGregor-Stead. The combined might of Janine, Mel B and Rebecca Patrick scooped the Women’s team prize. Further back in the field Dan Taylor described the race as “horrible” while Joe McWilliams declared it was his “favourite race ever!”

The post Mickleden Straddle Fell Race first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

Organised by Tod’s own Dan Taylor this local classic BM fell race covers 12.9 km with 425 m of ascent. The race is a navigational challenge which takes you to the highest point around Todmorden – Hoofstones Heights Trig Point. The weather forecast promised a cold but dry day with 0% chance of rain. This however was a lie and it snowed at the start, then after around an hour there was sideways hail to blast those unfortunates still on the course. In between it was calm and clear making for unusually easy navigation from Hoofstones.

A whopping 28 toddies lined up at the start eager for GP points. Setting the bar for tod was Ben Blosse (4th) and Zoe Dijkman (49th) for the women. 

Full results on the website. https://www.todharriers.co.uk/grandprix/2025/champtable01.pdf

The post 2025 Grand Prix Finally Gets Underway first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.

An impressive line up of 22 red white and blue athletes lined up at the start determined to hold their position of top tem in division two of the league and move into division one next year. An uphill start saw the field of 467 runners bursting lungs and burning legs before descending rapidly into the woods along the 4×4 trails. There were plenty of ups and downs and a bizzare moment where a marshal was holding back a herd of curious Alpacas! A final drag back up through the start field heralded a fast descent back into to woods and the finish line at 8k.

There were some great performances from Tod, the top trio consisted of Will Tyson in a mightily impressive 18th place, followed by Darren Tweed (36th) and Sam Lund (76th). Janine McGregor-Stead was 1st Tod lady and 3rd lady overall. Peter Kerridge ran a strong race beating declaring himself “racing again” after a long run of injury.

Some new Toddies ran well with Jordan Barker, Sarah Alderson and Emma Elmerhebi all finishing well. Meanwhile Stu “Woolly” Wolstenholme overtook Zoe Dijkman who painted a virtual target on his back resolving to beat him before the end of the season in a potential repeat of the 2021-22 season. Full results at Race Best.

The post West Yorkshire Winter League Round 2 first appeared on Todmorden Harriers.