Harriers Take Part in Bolton Ironman 70.3

The Leo Pollard Fell Race, formerly known as the Henderson’s End race, is a popular event on the local fell-running calendar covering 8.5km and 1,100 feet of ascent around Rivington Hall Barn’s grounds. Local knowledge helped here as the Harriers took the first four places. Luke Foley blasted home in 36:50, over a minute-and-a-half ahead of Sam Fairhurst who ran 38:26. Julian Goudge rounded off the podium in 39:48 whilst Matt Fawthrop took fourth in 40:32. Adam MacDonald was two seconds over 45 minutes in 13th whilst finishing as second V40, whilst Kevin Newall, Gary Chadderton (second V60) and Doug Fleming all went just over the 50, 51 and 54-minute marks respectively. Helen MacDonald was fourth lady home in 56:50 and Mary White was first F70 home in 1:04:53.

Further afield, and over a far longer distance, James Scott-Farrington took on the arduous Ennerdale Horseshoe over nearly 37 kilometres and 7,500 feet of climb, coming home in 5:17:30 in a race where nearly 10% of the starters didn’t finish.

Over an even longer distance, the Ironman 70.3 made its annual appearance in Bolton and several Harriers were present. As the name hints, this is half the Ironman triathlon distance, consisting of a 1.2-mile swim in Pennington Flash, a 56-mile bike ride including most of Rivington’s more demanding roads, finished off with a half-marathon finishing in front of Bolton’s iconic Town Hall. Ryan Snee was the first Harrier home in 8th overall with a splendid time of 4:14:09. Daniel McParland was one position behind Ryan in 4:15:28 whilst Matt Smith wasn’t too far behind both of them as he hit Victoria Square in 13th in 4:24:18 and Alice Tucker got to the Town Hall clock in 6:29:34. Other Harriers clocked up impressive age-group results as Martyn Pollitt was second V65 in 5:37:07 and Isaline Kneale was third F60 in 6:47:01.

Meanwhile, the Haigh Hall 4 also saw Horwich runners competing over a course that is just over 4 miles, downhill going out and uphill coming back! James Kevan took second place in 21:58, three-quarters of a minute behind the winner. Alex Lowe was fifth in 23:04 and Joe Horrocks also hit the top ten in 23:35. Marcus Taylor made the top twenty, finishing in 25:08 and took first V55 in the process whilst fellow roving reporter Richard O’Reilly did 27:52. Katherine Newall was first Horwich lady home in 33:05, Linda Webb was close behind in 33:36, Tony Hesketh kept on going and clocked 38:45 and Julie Williamson finished in 40:21.

There were quite a few at parkrun where international honours went to Isaac Parker who ran Maaraue parkrun in Wiesbaden, Germany and came second in 18:31. Paul Kaye was also some way away from home, taking on Rushcliffe parkrun on the outskirts of Nottingham, handing over the barcode in 22:35 whilst Brendan Bolland finished Keswick in 28:29 and Julie Williamson sped around Lytham Hall’s course in just under 30 minutes, in 29:47.

After that, runners were more local as Chris Essex-Crosby, Gordon Stone and Tony Hesketh tackled Worden in 21:04, 29:07 and 29:33 respectively whilst Paul Murray tackled Witton in 42:13. Julian Goudge, Richard O’Reilly, Sophie Orrell and Gillian Smith ran Haigh Woodland in 17:58, 21:14, 27:24 and 37:43 respectively. The Middletons, Jason and Janet, whizzed around Wythenshawe in 24:14 and 32:05, Mary White and Steve Jackson had a close battle at Peel in 27:24 and 28:23, Rob Jackson came second at Sale in 19:34, whilst Marcus Taylor ran Heaton in 19:15.