Suzanne Turns On The Heat At Kentmere

Posted on 20th July 2009 by admin

Most of us packed the waterproofs and bad weather kit when setting off for Kentmere. Luckily Mr Sammon also included suntan lotion which was “spread” around.
After the storms of Saturday night and Sunday morning over 240 runners set off in bright sunshine on what is probably the longest medium in the calendar, just shy of 12 miles with 3300ft of ascent but much good ridge running as well. Won by Kendal’s Craig Roberts in 1:34:30, Ali Murray gained maximum points in this Horwich fell championship counter, finishing 9th in 1:41:04. Next Horwich vest to cross the finish line in 52nd pace was worn by the outright winner of the ladies’ race and consequently also FV40 winner, Suzanne Budgett, winning a close run battle with Albert Sunter (54th in 1:58:03), Ian Hepburn (55th in 1:58:16) and Doug Fleming (64th in 2:00:30) – all of whom were ineligible for Suzanne’s prizes!
Horwich runners were now crossing the finish line regularly with Gary Chadderton (91st in 2:05:23), Colin Wood (119th in 2:10:44), Tony Varley (136th in 2:13:30), Rachel Metcalfe (151st in 2:16:46) and Colin Waterworth (178th in 2:23:01). Towards the back of the field were Mark Sammon (230th in 2:54:39), running his longest fell race to date, often running with Gordon Stone (236th in 3:06:48) who would have won the prize for best pair of matching heel blisters (mudclaws are great once you’ve got through the first few painful races!) ahead of a couple to complete the 238 finishers.
Gordon.