Hardmoors 60 2018 – updated 19 September

Posted on September 17, 2018 by admin

The race

I hope everyone had a good time at the seaside. There were 189 finishers in the race, with 17 DNFs. Ken Sutor made sure of his 2018 Runfurther win by winning the race in 9:20:12, with Rory Harris second in 9:33:40, and Robert Barnes third in 9:50:51. First woman home was Claire Howard in 11:29:52, second was Daisy Jackson in 12:11:30, and Rachel Ross Russell was third in 12:20:27. The full race results are up on the Hardmoors website.

Ken Sutor has written a short race report, and you can read that at the end of this post.

Sport Sunday were there taking photos, and you can find them here and here.

Here’s a link to Mick Browne’s Youtube video of his race. And here’s a link to the video Karsten Spaans took of the runners climbing Highcliffe Nab. We’ve no photos from Nick Ham this time, as he wasn’t fit for running this time. Other than these two videos I’ve no more information about the race other than Ken’s report and the results. If you’ve got photos or the time to write a race report then please email them to me, or a link if they’re already up on the web.

Runfurther results

The Runfurther leaderboard has been updated as well. With just the Round Rotherham 50 remaining, this year’s winners are now becoming clearer. Ken Sutor’s won the men’s championship with 3997 points, though if he wins at Rotherham as well, he’ll have the maximum of 4000 points. He’s won three of his four counters (Haworth, Pennine 39, Hardmoors 60), and was only a minute behind the winner at Calderdale. That winner at Calderdale was Rory Harris, and by finishing second in the Hardmoors 60, he’s ensured second place in the Runfurther men’s championship too. David Chetta was 8th in the race, and that was enough to secure him 3rd place in Runfurther – again he can’t be caught.

Karen Nash had already won the women’s championship. Debbie Cooper is currently second but Carol Morgan, Fiona Lynch and Sarah Challans would probably all overtake her if they were to run at Rotherham. None of them have entered Rotherham yet though (as of 18 September). Janet Hill is currently the third woman to have run four counters.

Kevin Smith is currently first MV50 but Martin Terry is bound to overtake him assuming he finishes at Rotherham – he has entered. Albert Sunter and Mike Burke could also overtake Kevin, although neither has entered Rotherham as yet. If neither of them run, third MV50 will probably be either Nick Ham, Steve Jones or Matt Hutchinson. Alwyn Nixon is first MV60, and Stephen Hall looks set to be second, as he’s entered Rotherham. John Vernon or Tim Brockington will probably be third. They both need a fourth counter: Tim’s currently ahead of John on points, but he hasn’t entered Rotherham yet, whereas John has. Dick Scroop’s the only MV70 with four counters, but a decent run from Bob Nash at Rotherham should see Bob overtake him.

Karen’s first FV50 of course, and Janet Hill first FV60. As yet they’re the only two women over 50 with four counters. Jenny Wyles has entered Rotherham though, and assuming she finishes she’ll be second FV50. Nobody else is in the frame this year.

David Chetta is currently the man with the most points overall, having run six races in pretty good times. Ken Sutor is second at the moment, and as he’s entered Rotherham, he’s probably going to win this unless David decides to run too. Mind you, Ken doesn’t always turn up to races, and if neither he nor David run then Rory Harris, Nick Ham or Steven Jones could end up winning. Of the three, Nick’s currently got the most points, but Steve’s entered Rotherham and the others haven’t as yet.

Karen’s got the most points overall on the women’s side, and she can’t be caught now.

Working out which teams are still in with a chance is usually a minefield, so I wont commit myself. Team Krypton are current leaders by quite a way, so they’ll probably end up winning. Mercia, Horwich and Dark Peak are the next three, but others aren’t that far behind them.

Prizegiving and AGM

This will be on Sunday 4th November at The Shady Oak on the A5004 at Fernilee, SK23 7HD at 2pm

We have the pub booked from 1.30pm so please come for chat, a drink and to show us that you value the Runfurther series. After the short formal AGM we will have the prize giving and provide sandwiches, crisps and chips. The beer is good I am told plus tea and coffee is available. There is a large car park. This is where we will announce the races for 2019.

This is after the Peak Raid mini MM- this is a 3 hour score event. You basically have 3 hours to navigate between a choice of up to about 15 checkpoints of different values. Penalties if you are late back. Most points wins. You can run as solo or pair. Pre Enter to guarantee a place and it is cheaper. Starts are between 9 and 9.30 so we should all finish running by 12.30 and have time to get our breath, change etc and move to the pub which is close by. Check out explorerevents.co.uk or their facebook page for more details. The events centre is White Hall Outdoor Centre just off the A5004 between Whalley Bridge and Buxton and the running is mainly Goyt Valley.

We hope that you can come and that the choice of event makes the travel worthwhile and that by being a score event we will all finish close together and therefore the fast runners will not have to hang around.

Ken Sutor’s race report

This was my first Hardmoors race, and it turned out to be a pleasure. Spectacular coastal scenery, helped by fine weather and great organisation/marshalling. Conditions were almost perfect – warm but not too hot, with hard-packed ground after the extra-dry summer. We set off a little later than scheduled, in keeping with the generally relaxed approach to this event. The initial pace was hot, but by the time we reached Runswick things had settled down and Rory Harris and I were clear leaders from thereon in. I had a couple of weak spells and Rory was never far behind, so it felt like I was being pushed the whole way. I’d been fortunate to be able to do some recce runs during the week before the race so, although I didn’t know the early parts and tried to go wrong a few times, by the time we hit Whitby I knew exactly what was coming.

The course is characterised by lots of steps, so the climbs are sharp but not long-lasting. Much of the route is remarkably quiet considering that it follows the Cleveland Way. The main exceptions were Whitby, where it was necessary to navigate a couple of streets tightly packed with tourists (entertaining!) and Scarborough (where there is a long section of paved promenade to negotiate, and [before the busiest section] the route passes the impressive, thought-provoking sculpture of Freddie Gilroy). The latter part of the route contains less ascent but it remains dramatic: the section out to Filey Brigg feels like you’re running to the end of the world. It must feel particularly adventurous there in darkness. At the finish (Church Hall in Filey) we were treated to a sit-down, tea, cake and other refreshments. All was well with the world. There were some stories of injuries and a competitor almost needing rescue from the incoming tide, but in the end everyone survived. And we were all very impressed when the first woman home said it was her first ultra. Claire Howard might be a name to watch out for in the future. I now see the attraction of the Hardmoors series, strongly suspect I’ll be among those heading back for more.

Hardmoors 60 & 2017 Prizegiving/AGM – updated 20 Oct (link to Nick’s photos)

Posted on September 18, 2017 by admin

Runfurther 2017 Prizegiving & AGM

This year’s prizegiving venue has been organised – thanks Karen! It will be on Saturday 4 November starting at 4:30 pm, at The New Inn, Manchester Rd, Marsden, HD7 6EZ. Sandwiches and chips have been booked too. This is the same day as the last Runfurther race of the year – the White Rose Ultra. Anyone planning to run the Shepherd’s Skyline fell race the same day instead ought to be able to make it to Marsden in time as well. Please come along if you possibly can – we always have a good time, and the more the merrier.

Hardmoors 60

The results of the Hardmoors 60 are on the race website here. I’ve updated the Runfurther leaderboard, and you can find that here. Karen has written up her account (she was supporting Bob, not running), and you can find that on her blog here. Ed Williams won overall in 10:06:20, Nick Green was 2nd in 10:14:01, and then there was a long wait for Richard Buckle, 3rd in 11:07:26. First woman was Zoe Verrill, 13th overall in 12:06:12, 2nd woman was Heather Mochrie, 22nd in 12:56:03, and 3rd woman was Christine Waller in 12:59:00. Martin Terry was 1st MV50, and Alwyn Nixon 1st MV60. Bob Nash and Nick Ham are still on track for their Runfurther Grand Slams. The photos here are from Karen’s blog: you can find Nick Ham’s photos on Flickr here.

Barney Nikolich (left). I’m not sure who the other runner is.

Bob Nash

Bob Nash again!

Hardmoors 60 2015

Posted on September 21, 2015 by admin

A beautiful sunny September day made the Hardmoors 60 a delightful experience. Until some of us ran out of steam, that is. There are a lot of ups and downs running along that coast, and I for one wasn’t up to the task and pulled out half way through. Plenty of others were fitter than me though, and the first three home came in within a few minutes of each other, having battled it out the whole way. First in was Martin Murray, last year’s winner, in 10:03:50, second was Ian Symington, the record holder from 2012, in 10:10:05, and third was Steven Lord, a couple of minutes behind Ian. Great running, but the first home was nearly 40 minutes outside the record, which wasn’t surprising given it was such a hot day. What was the running performance of the day, though, was Kim England’s 4th place overall in an amazing time of 10:35:50. This broke the women’s record by over half an hour and was an astonishing run given the conditions. Shelli Gordon and Heather Mochrie, both first women home in previous races, were joint second this year, nearly an hour behind Kim.

First MV50 was Martin Terry in 11:09:14, and first FV50 Karen Nash once again, in 14:06:55. The full race results are here. Karen’s blog with photos is here – I borrowed some of her photos for this post. Sport Sunday were taking photos too, and you can find them here.

The runner of the day award has to go to Dennis Potton, however, rather than any of the above. Alerted to a child in trouble in the sea at Sandsend, just north of Whitby, he jumped in, rescued the child from drowning in the undertow, bought new running clothes in Whitby to replace those wrecked in the rescue, then finished the race. Hats off!

Runfurther standings

The updated Runfurther leaderboard is here.

Ken Sutor had entered the Hardmoors 60, but didn’t show up. Ian Symington did though, and his 990 points from his 2nd place has put him in a very strong position. Ken can only beat him if he wins both at the Isle of Man and at Jedburgh, or comes very close to winning. He’s entered Jedburgh, but I’ve no idea whether he’s going to the Isle of Man. Stewart Bellamy looks safe for either 2nd or 3rd, depending on whether Ken runs the last two races. Martin Terry looks safe as first MV50, provided he runs at Jedburgh at his usual high standard.

Karen Nash can’t be caught now, and will be first woman, and first FV50. Mary Gillie looks safe as second woman. The MV60 anbd FV60 titles are settled too: Chris Davies and Janet Hill won’t be caught now. Ian Symington’s performance has put Calder Valley Fell Runners at the top of the team competition, and there’s every chance they’ll stay there now.

Both this year’s Grand Slam contenders were struggling with injuries for the whole 60 miles, so congratulations to both of them for finishing. David Wilson had his shin splints bandaged up, and Karen Nash has a list of injuries as long as your arm. Only two more races to go! Here’s a photo of the two of them at the race, courtesy of Karen: