Darwen Gala Fell Race – 22nd Aug 2009
Well done to James Kevan not only for winning the race but for setting a new course record of 22.56 – 22 seconds inside the old record. James is on a mission at the moment to be in top form for the next English Championship race at Dentdale next weekend, as a good performance there may convince the selectors that he should be part of the U/23 development team to race in Slovenia in Oct. There was also one of those OMG moments when James collected the winner’s trophy and saw that club mate Graham Schofield had been a previous winner of the trophy before James was born! – (and still going strong Graham!)
Closest to James on the day – clubwise – was junior Zach Howe (28.13) in 33rd place, Zach was running in the English Junior Championship which was incorporated in the race. Suzanne Budgett was hot on his heels in 37th – 28.32 and collected first 0/45 but had to settle for 4th lady on the day having three of the junior whipper snappers in front. Barry Chapman ran 29.28 for 46th place, with Tony Varley (32.56) in 80th taking home the 1st 0/60 prize. Towards the tail of the race there was the now frequent battle between Mark Sammon, Gordon Stone and Nicole Kirkham with them swapping positions throughout the climbs with Mark finally getting the better on the descent to finish 99th in 36:08, Gordon 102nd in 37:20 and Nicole 105th in 38:31. Gordon, Suzanne and Nicole completed the Darwen Summer Series, with Suzanne winning the Ladies and Nicole 3rd, with Gordon 8th of 11.