Hawkswick Dash Fell Race Results
Sunday 14 June 2015
Race Report
75 Senior runners and 104 juniors gathered in a freshly cleared sheep field in the Yorkshire Dales for this year’s BOFRA Hawkswick Dash Fell Race. The weather on the day could only fairly be described as mixed but this did not spoil the enthusiasm of those gathered to run the various races. Recent dry weather had made all the courses firm, if not dry and powdery underfoot, ensuring some speedy descents. The senior course leaves the field and heads off up what seems like an endless track of just the wrong incline for a fast run. It’s then a hand over fist scramble up to the cairn before a “Yorkshire bumps� style run through the heather along the skyline and down an equally steep descent to the track and finish in the field.
Wharfedale Harriers’ Ted Mason repeated his win of last year in a time of 11.44 mins, followed by fellow Wharfedale Harrier, Jack Smith in 12.02. Third man home was Joe Washington (Calder Valley) in 12.47. First lady home was Wharfedale’s Lucy Needham (15.03), with Hannah Russell (Helm Hill) in 2nd place (15.26) and Wharfedale’s Jean Powell in 3rd (17.23).
The U17 race is no different to the senior course and this year Wharfedale’s Thomas Nelson romped home in first place in 12.41 mins, a mere 51 secs longer than it took the senior winner to run the same course. Thomas repeated his win of last year and was faster. 2nd place went to James Turland in 13.19 and 3rd boy across the finish line was Helm Hill’s Jacob Aubrey (13.33). 1st and 2nd girls were Ilkley Harriers’ club mates Jemima Elgood (14.24) and Lucy Haines (15.12) with Bingley Harrier’s Eliza Findlay in 3rd place (15.56).
The U14 course followed the seniors as far as the first cairn before turning and returning the way it had come. The finish funnel was a family affair as brothers Joe and Louis Hudson (Keighley and Craven) finished 1st (11.24) and 2nd (11.36) respectively. 3rd boy was Broughton Runners Ben Edmondson in 11.45. Clayton-le-Moors Briony Holt repeated her win of 2014, returning in 13.05. 2nd and 3rd places went to Helm Hill club mates Katie Thurlow (13.32) and Mia Walsh, hot on her heels, in 13.35.
The first 3 places in the U12 race were a battle to the bitter end with Wharfedale’s Sam Smith 1st in 8.22, Ambleside’s James Bowen 2nd (8.26) and Wharfedale’s Alex Thompson 3rd in 8.27. Wharfedale’s girls also did well with Alice jones 1st, (9.14) and Charlotte Barrett 3rd (9.42). Sandwiched in the middle, in 2nd place, was Ilkley’s Poppy Anderson (9.28).
The U9 race followed a completely different course, being one large lap of the hilly field. Today was a good day for the U9 girls as all top 3 finishers were through the funnel before the 2nd boy. 1st boy home was Keighley and Craven’s James Sadler-Townsend (3.10). 2nd boy, 5th overall, was Sergio Yiasoumi (3.24) and 3rd place went to Ilkley’s Dylan Carr (3.38). The first girl, 2nd overall, to complete the challenging circuit was Wharfedale’s Helena Roberts (3.14). 2nd girl, 3rd overall, home was Broughton’s Jessica Edmondson (3.20) and 3rd, 4th overall, past the post was Wharfedale’s Hattie Bishop (3.22)