Aggies Staircase – 3.8m/1150ft. Thurs 25th June.
An excellent turnout of sixteen Harriers for this local fell race, with Karl Ward (31.28) again leading the field for us in 11th place. Graham Schofield (31.36) in 13th place continues to enjoy his new found freedom as a retiree racing on home ground, and I am sure disappointed to miss out on first 0/50 by just 6 seconds! Great to see Alex McVey back on the race scene for us, finishing 21st in 32.28. Denis Mason was our next counter in 26th, not sure if he would be happy with his time of 33.15, considering he ran 30.47 last year. Albert Sunter 37th next in, for time of 34.39, and first of the Sunter’s (it must be costing you a fortune in entry fee’s!) Suzanne Budgett (35.45) was our first lady home, and like Graham must have had a tough race losing out on first lady, and first vet by an even smaller margin of just 3 seconds. Nicole Kirkham (37.37) collected the first 0/50 prize in 69th place, but did admit that her race time seemed a little faster than on her watch! Barry Chapman clocked 37.49 for 74th place, just in front of Colin Waterworth (38.19) by four places. Tony Varley (40.20) in 97th slot also had a close race with fellow 0/60 John Taylor from Bowland, who finished just 4 seconds in front of him. Nice to see Paul Murray out and about racing the fells again, finishing in 109th place in 41.36. Ian Smith (42.50) had plenty of opposition for the 0/50’s in this race, with seemingly half the runners 0/50! Gordon Stone 139th and Mark Sammon 140th had their little race, with Gordon coming out on top on this occasion. This just left Abigail (157th) and Michele Sunter (158th) who seem to be taking to the fells like ‘Ducks to Water’, long may it continue.