REPORT BY: JILL EZARD

IT was a crucial weekend in the fell running calendar with the final race in the 2024 English Fell Running Championships taking place on Saturday.

The Championships are organised by the Fell Runners Association and require runners to participate in at least four of six races of varying lengths and elevations from March to July.

For the men’s races, the winner of a Championship race receives 52 points (50 plus two bonus points), the second placed runner 49, then 48, 47 and so on down to the 50th male runner who scores one point.

At the end of the season, a runner's top four results (which must include one short, one medium and one long race) are added together and the final results are ranked.

Women's, Under-23, and Veteran categories are calculated similarly, but with fewer runners scoring points (commensurate with the usual participation levels in each category).

The decider for the Championships was the Blisco Dash, a classic up and down route to the top of the Pike of Blisco from the Langdale valley and back.

At only five miles it may seem short but with over 2100ft of climb it is tough. The race route begins on the road which starts flat and fast, then slowly rises towards Blea Tarn. A series of steep switchbacks take onto a rough track the up the side of Redacre Gill, getting steeper as the runners climb.

The final part of the route is technical and requires scrambling and some route choice. The summit is exposed and rocky, and then the technical descent starts. With this being the last race in the Championships the competition was stiff.

Four Harriers took on the challenge; Ben Rothery had a fantastic race and took second place in 37:13 gaining two crucial places on the descent.

Continuing his good run of form, Oli Murphy, was third Harrier home, taking 12th place overall in a time of 40:58. Jane McCarthy was the first female Harrier over the line in a time of 57:41, taking fourth place in her age category, and Alison Weston also took fourth place in her age category, completing the race in 1:05:15.

And with two outright wins at the Pendle Cloughs and Wasdale races and two other second places at the Lad’s Leap and Buttermere Sailbeck Championship races, Ben Rothery was crowned English Fell Champion on Saturday.

A fantastic achievement for Rothery and an inspiration for all other members of the club. The Harriers’ winning streak in the Championships did not end there, however.

Jane McCarthy took third place in her age category in the Championships after a superb win at the Flower Scar event and fantastic placings at Pendle Cloughs, Buttermere Sailbeck and the Blisco Dash.

And as if success at the English Championships wasn’t’ enough, the Blisco Dash was also hosting the British Short Course Championships.

As a result, Rothery took the silver medal in the men’s open category with his second place finish and Jane McCarthy and Alison Weston both took the bronze medal in their age categories. The collective Harriers’ trophy room is positively bulging after this weekend.

Elsewhere, Tim Ashelford was the sole Harrier taking part in the July Leeds 5k series at the Brownlee Centre on Wednesday.

The sixth race in the series, which runs once a month from February through November, Ashelford had a great run completing the race in 19:47, taking second place in his age category and achieving an 80.1% age rating.

It was clearly a great warm up for Ashelford as he was one of our 25 parkrunners who joined events across the country on Saturday.

He was one of the six Harriers on the day hitting top ten placings, finishing tenth in the Chevin Forest event.

Elsewhere, Mark Hall was fourth in Lister Park, achieving an age rating of 88.62%; Nick Kealey was third at Cliffe Castle, achieving a PB on the course in the process; Jacqui Foster continued her great parkrun performance with sixth position in the Myrtle event; James Horrex was fourth with a PB at the Penistone event; Adam Gerrish was sixth at the Doddington parkrun; and finally, Nigel Illingworth continued his return to form from injury with a PB at the Roberts Park event! Well done to all that took part.