2015 FRA Fell Relays

Saturday saw the annual FRA Fell Relays take place. Beautiful autumnal weather and a prolonged dry spell meant that Pendle was seen at its very best. After a couple of years off from doing the relays the Harriers managed to field two teams: a mens open and a female open.

We aimed to field our strongest teams possible and selection is always difficult, especially when last minute injuries have to be dealt with, non-the-less we got there. Clayton Harriers where the club behind the running and organisation of the relays and a brilliant job they did too, some 900 runners in total descending on the small village of Barley! Plenty of witches hats around the place as well.

The relay comprised of 4 legs; one and four being shorter and run as solo, here we had Josh and Jill on leg one and Matt and Angie on leg 4. Leg two was longer and done in pairs, so here we had Mike and Mark and Carol and Judy; while leg 3 was a navigation leg of similar length (14km) with Alex and Brian and Julia and Helen.
Position wise the men were 40th and the ladies 129th from 148, not sure of representative positions in class. Winners on the day were the super strong Calderdale, also interesting to see Bingley down in 8th place, no-longer the unstoppable team they used to be and like-wise for Borrowdale – an ageing team it seems, fielding only a male vet team, to their credit they won this! Full details appear on Sportident.
We’ll have to start plans for next year in good time as they’re north of the border…

Big thanks to Roger and Andy for getting us all sorted pre-race and on the day.