Jess Coulson followed on from where she left off from last year by winning the AAA's under-20s 3,000 metres European Trial in emphatic fashion and was well inside the qualifying time by 11 seconds to secure her place in the GB team for the European Championships to be held in Hengelo, Holland between the 17-22nd of July.
Jess who has not been beaten in her six outings on the track will race again this Saturday in the Nike BMC Grand Prix at Watford hoping to improve on her 1,500 metre best of 4-21.
Ross Millington will attempt to run the European qualifying time at Watford this Saturday after finishing 4th in the trial in which the first four athletes all finished within less than a second of each other in 3-51. They will all line up together again at the Watford meet to try and run the 3-47.50 needed to go to the European Championships.
Stockport's men took some long overdue honours in the Northern 5k Road Championships at Horwich. With Steve Vernon 5th, Andy Nixon 14th and Jamie Loxam 22nd Stockport won the team award ahead of Sale and Liverpool.
Further afield Leah Kay finished an impressive 13th running for the England Junior team in Northern Italy last weekend in the Marco Germanetto Memorial Race.
Fell racing round-up
Report: Issac
Young Tom Priestley picked up 2 excellent top-3 placings in recent fell races.
Whilst the rest of the club spectacularly continue to break records left, right and centre with excellent performances on the track, field and road, Stockport Harriers fell runners continue to turn the tide, with traditional hill/fell running clubs often commenting at races on what great turn-outs we now have in these races.
The reason for this is two-fold, we all belong to a great club who like to compete any-time, any place anywhere, any condition and secondly the ever growing popularity of getting out there in the hills (and valleys) where a greater emphasise is put on enjoying yourself and just completing the course with PB's and medals taking second place.
Hayfield May Queen - 3 miles / 750ft
The first of three 'Hayfield' races in three days and a great turn out for Stockport - first home for Stockport was Tom Priestley, finishing second overall and first lady for the Harriers was Amber Whewell finishing 4th lady overall
| Hayfield May Queen | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Tom Priestley | 22:22 |
| 6 | James Corden | 24:17 |
| 11 | Sean Whewell | 25:25 |
| 13 | Nick Bowden | 25:42 |
| 18 | Sam Bowden | 26:33 |
| 19 | Tony Lee | 26:34 |
| 24 | Amber Whewell | 27:44 |
| 30 | Alice Bowden | 28:46 |
| 46 | Ruth Lee | 33:12 |
Mount Famine - 5 miles / 1,700ft
Athletes look in amazement at the 'unusual' start to the Mount Famine Fell Race.
The second and by far more technical of the three races in three days so a reduced Harriers field as some headed North for the Windermere marathon. Tony Lee, fast recovering from recent injury finishing first Harrier (48th overall) with his second race in just over 12 hours with Mrs Lee finishing first lady Harrier and 7th senior lady overall
| Mount Famine | ||
|---|---|---|
| 48 | Tony Lee | 59:26 |
| 95 | Ruth Lee | 1:15:0 |
Lantern Pike Dash - 1.2 mile / 630ft
Tom Priestley finished first Harrier in this fell race sprint, a race for those with a liking for lactic acid - finishing off four races in less than 3 days Tony Lee looked forward to a well earned rest.
| Lantern Pike Dash | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Tom Priestley | 12:42 |
| 95 | Tony Lee | 17:28 |
Rainow 5½miles / 750ft
The customary June sunshine met the start of the Rainow 5 making conditions up to the top of White Nancy hot and dusty - a fine turn out by the Harriers and even a guest appearances by that old 'King of the Hill' himself Bashir Hussain finishing 2nd overall with Leah Kay finishing 2nd lady - big improvements by the rest of the Harriers field in general and great to see a growing turn-out from the Juniors in this 'must do' local race.
| Rainow 5 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Bashir Hussain | 32:08 |
| 8 | Joe Chambers | 34:56 |
| 25 | Len Best | 37:24 |
| 30 | James Corden | 37:50 |
| 39 | Lee Barratt | 39:12 |
| 40 | Sean Whewell | 39:23 |
| 44 | Leah Kay | 39:50 |
| 45 | Pete Nixon | 39:54 |
| 52 | Andy Smith | 40:32 |
| 70 | Brian Netherlands | 42:41 |
| 77 | Sarah Kay | 42:58 |
| 85 | David Hobson | 43:49 |
| 88 | Amber Whewell | 44:14 |
| 93 | Michael Brown | 44:42 |
| 102 | Ken Jackson | 46:33 |
| 130 | Susan Holland | 52:39 |
| 132 | Marie Kay | 53:27 |
| 135 | Janet Booker | 54:10 |
| 145 | Malcolm Booker | 57:03 |
| 153 | Peta Walsh | 71:00 |
The Boar's Head Fell Race
Sean Whewell heads up towards The Cage through the mist in Lyme Park
A 6 mile tour of Lyme Park via The Cage and Bow Stones in challenging very wet and misty conditions were made light work of by Lloyd Taggart and Jackie Lee (the Torvill & Dean of the fell running world - sorry Lloyd/Jackie)
Stockport's Joe Chambers finished first male and Ruth Lee first female home for the Harriers. Pete Rogers making his debut on the fells turned in a fine performance beating training partners by less than 30 seconds (we are not sure if Pete has run since this race!).
| Boar's Head Fell Race | ||
|---|---|---|
| 17 | Joe Chambers | 0:51:44 |
| 29 | Len Best | 0:52:20 |
| 31 | Tim Hargreaves | 0:54: 03 |
| 36 | Peter Rogers | 0:55:26 |
| 38 | Lee Barratt | 0:55:46 |
| 39 | Andy Smith | 0:55:50 |
| 40 | Sean Whewell | 0:55:57 |
| 51 | Ian Mulligan | 0:57:19 |
| 63 | Steve Matkin | 0:59:49 |
| 65 | Andy Titley | 1:00:00 |
| 69 | David Smith | 1:00:42 |
| 80 | Michael Brown | 1:02:49 |
| 88 | Anthony Ward | 1:03:52 |
| 110 | Ken Jackson | 1:07:55 |
| 111 | Jerzy Matuszewski | 1:08:03 |
| 116 | Ruth Lee | 1:10:12 |
| 135 | Robert Taylor | 1:19:03 |
| 136 | Kath Ward | 1:19:11 |
| 137 | Jenny Kinnaird | 1:19:10 |
Alfred Hulme Great Hill Fell Race - 6 miles / 1,100ft
Disappointed at the cancellation due to bad weather of the Inter Counties event Amber Whewell was determined to find a race - a quick visit to the FRA web site and a spot of Goggling left only one real choice, a visit to Brinscall (near Chorley) home of the 6 mile/1,300ft Great Hill Fell Race - put away the track spikes for a day and pull on the Puma Trailfox - having arrived too late to take part on the Junior race Amber's only option was to forget what year she was born and take part in the Seniors' race - finishing 3rd lady and 34th overall out of a starting field of 95.
The Kinder Trog - 16 miles / 3,500ft
The Cup Final of local Fell races - it has absolutely everything - grassy climbs and scrambles, water crossings, fast down hill screes, rock climbs, mist with visibility down to 20-30 metres, peat bogs and best of all a river to cool your feet in at the finish whilst you have a drink and eat the famous Stockport Harriers' lemon drizzle cake.
With 16 miles, 3,500ft of climbs up Lantern Pike, Mill Hill, Kinder, South Head and Peep o' Day (see profile) - a really wet week and a misty morning meant last minute checks of maps, whistles and compasses become a must. First home for Harriers was Tony Lee, with first lady Sally Keigher - several 'virgin' Trogers showed true spirit on what is an extremely difficult course.
Strange prize of the day to Michela Stepto winning a tee-shirt for being the second lady living nearest to Hayfield (secretly though we know its for the mountains of excellent lemon drizzle cake she makes for the fell running team!) Full results and other suggested fell races on
| The Kinder Trog | ||
|---|---|---|
| 54 | Tony Lee | 2:19:02 |
| 61 | Sean Whewell | 2:19:57 |
| 94 | Simon Knighton | 2:26:17 |
| 103 | Brian Holland | 2:29:58 |
| 119 | Andy Titley | 2:35:01 |
| 129 | Sally Keigher | 2:37:16 |
| 130 | Michela Stepto | 2:37:16 |
| 148 | Simon Hayes | 2:43:26 |
| 169 | Lee Barratt | 2:49:11 |
| 174 | Paul Stepto | 2:50:34 |
| 190 | Gerrard Moss | 2:57:10 |
| 201 | Ruth lee | 2:59:15 |
| 210 | Tony Ward | 3:06:43 |
| 230 | Malcolm Booker | 3:46:43 |
| 231 | Janet Booker | 3:46:43 |
Castleton Fell Race
A poem by the Gingerbreadman
6 miles, 1,500ft climb upto Mam Tor - BARMY!!!
3 Harriers entered the race - ARMY!!!
The weather conditions were ideal - BALMY!!!
First home for Stockport was Lee Barratt - SMARMY!!!
Next was Mike Brown, who 'weaved' his way through the field - MACRAME!!!
Followed by Jenny Kinnaird who tore up the record books with a PB - ORIGAMI!!!
Everyone celebrated afterwards with a meat-laden pizza - SALAMI!!-PASTRAMI!!!
Except Jenny, who is one of those 'vegetarians' - BARMY, SMARMY, 'MACRAME AND ORIGAMI LOVING' ARMY!!!