Penny Lane Striders
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: March Results & Reports

Moorhouse's Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round, Barley, Lancashire
Saturday 7th March 2020
16.7km/590m
10.4 miles / 1936 ft

This has been on my radar for a while, but perhaps because it's advertised as a BM (medium challenge) I never seriously considered it.
The reality is that the amount of climbing of "only" 500mt, according to my gps watch, it's all so packed together and steep, and with the wind always battering the top of the hill, that the whole race feels more like an A race (the highest difficulty grade).
On the day, I volunteered to lead Kate to a potential podium finish but mainly in order to not get lost, although she has more nav skills that I will ever have.
This was in case the last minute change of route imposed by the local council for erosion issues and therefore the absence of updated maps would have been too risky.
It turned out we didn't have anything to worry about, the paths are very worn out by ramblers all year around, hence the erosion issues, that we could see a trail of people running on sheep's trods from a mile away.
Interestingly, by listening conversations afterwards, I discovered that the most experienced fellrunners were the ones who overdid it by picking almost impossible lines.
It also turned out, Kate gave it a cracking shot and finished a stunning 5th overall, behind the calibre of Victoria Wilkinson, who is arguably the fastest british fellrunner.

All in all, it feels to me as a good addition to the ORC in future, if I can remember it in 11 months time :grin:
Also it's part of a "treble" of races which includes Pendle race and tour of Pendle, both on the ORC already, so it makes sense.

Results:
88 Simone Capponi M40 (032/056) Penny Lane Striders 01:28:05
90 Kate MacFarlane FS (003/015) Penny Lane Striders 01:28:20
Laura MacFarlane, Kate's sister, of Glossopdale Harriers, also ran in 01:43:47

200 ran in total, an impressive crowd for a seemingly low key event, but I guess £6 to pre-enter, the vicinity to Yorkshire, free parking, a bottle of local ale and a buff in the race pack are pretty good incentives :wink:

Pics#1
Pics#2