Another great Haworth Hobble!  383 finished, in good conditions.  I had to be there by 6:30 to deliver the free Clif Bars for the start of registration, so it was a 4:20 alarm for me – not something I want to repeat too often.  It was a bit cold at the start, but I took my jacket off after 15 minutes, and ran the rest with just a thermal top on, & that was all I needed.  I wore tights as well though, just to make sure I didn’t worry the farmers.  The predicted rain mid-morning never happened.  I ran out of steam about 12 miles in, and from then I was struggling, with people passing me for the next 20 miles – it doesn’t feel good, does it?

The Hobble attracts a lot of very fast runners, which means Runfurther points have to be worked hard for.  First to finish was Chris Singleton of Trawden AC, in 4:09:10, with Tom Gomersall of Bingley Harriers 9 minutes behind him.  First Runfurther runner was Kevin Hoult, 4 minutes behind Tom.  First woman home was Bonnie van Wilgenburg in 5:06:36, with Nicky Spinks (Dark Peak FR) just seconds behind her.

There are always a lot of Runfurther runners at the Hobble, and 4 of the top 10 men finishers are Runfurther members: Kevin Hoult (3rd), Ian Symington (4th), Jez Bragg (7th) and Simon Bourne (10th).  The top Runfurther women’s placings were:  Nicky Spinks (2nd), Carol Morgan (4th), Helen Price (5th) and Karen Nash (6th).  Good running all of you – now we need to get the rest of the top 10 to join too!  I wish I could run that fast.

Martin Terry has put a marker down to show he’s a good bet for MV50 winner this year.  Karen Nash was first FV50 – no surprise there.  Chris Davies is still running as if he were 20 years younger, and the only things that could stop him winning MV60 this year would be politics or injury.  I hope neither get in the way of his running – let’s face it that’s what’s most important 🙂  I’m certainly going to get nowhere near him this year – the best I can hope for is 2nd MV60, or 3rd if Tony Wimbush keeps running like he did on Saturday.

We reinstated giving away spot prizes to Runfurther members, and so the prizegiving included a pair of Injinji socks each for Steve Spence and Adnan Khan, just for joining Runfurther, finishing the Hobble, and being around at the prizegiving.  James Harris, Richard Adcock and Dave Cumins only fulfilled the first 2 of those conditions, so got nothing (we think they were in the pub).  Jonathan Daniels was still out on the course when we awarded the spot prizes, so I’ve still got that one, and we’ll give it to him when we catch up with him.  It’s an Ultimate Direction bumbag/bottle in case you’re wondering Jonathan!

Many thanks to Brett and his team for putting on such a great event.  It’s such a good course, just when you need a race like that early in the year – fast and uncomplicated, in such a good area for running.  So well organised, and such good value for money as well – they should be proud of themselves.

There are plenty of photos of the event to check out.  Dave Woodhead’s photos are here, and as always are well worth looking through.  I’ve borrowed one for the image for this post.  He’s also posted a video on YouTube of all the runners going past on the initial climb up to Top Withens, and you can find that here.  SportSunday were also there, and their pics are here.  Nick Ham took photos on his way round, and Nigel Aston’s race report is here.  Karen Nash’s race report and some photos are on her blog here.

The Hobble results are here.  It’s too early for a proper Runfurther leaderboard, but I’ve posted one here with just the top 50 from the Hobble in terms of Runfurther points.  Remember that the fastest man gets 1000 points, and the fastest woman gets 1000 points.  The rest of us get points based on how fast we are compared with them (see the competition rules for the full story).  That means the list I posted isn’t the same as the first 50 finishers in the race – our list has far more women in it.  After the Calderdale Hike, the leaderboard will feature everyone who’s run 2 or more of the races, as it did last year.

There’ll be more spot prizes at the Calderdale Hike, so make sure you’re at the prizegiving if you’ve finished by then.  Anyone who leaves early will lose their chance to win one, but if you’re still out running we’ll make sure you don’t miss out.  And of course most of the prizes we bring will be for the Race Organisers to give out as they see fit, as always.  Top prizes at the Hobble were £35 vouchers for the UltraMarathon Running Store for the male and female winners – many thanks to all our sponsors f0r making all this possible.

We’ll see you all at the Calderdale Hike in Sowerby on 11 April – don’t forget it’s a new course this year, with some interesting navigational challenges, particularly if the clag’s down.  Perfect training for the Fellsman in fact!