On Sunday two Chester Tri teams contested the Pennine Bridleway Relay fell race, on the Mary Towneley Loop in Todmordon, Lancashire. This year’s race saw 92 teams of runners navigate around the hilly, exposed circuit in pairs, with some aiming for record times whilst others were happy just to finish. With none of this year’s teams able to compete with the prowess of the local fell runners, Chester Tri’s competitors were racing more against each other and the clock than the rest of the field, with the goal of avoiding the mass starts for legs 4 and 5 which ensure that all teams finish the 47-mile course in daylight.  

The event was won by Horwich RMI Harriers whose total time of 4.53:47 knocked nearly a minute off the record for leg 1, despite having to open and close more than 40 gates along the way. The high point of the day also came early on for Chester Tri, with Peter Cobb and Kenny Begley finishing in a highly creditable 37^th place on leg 1 for Chester Tri A, just ahead of Matt Gibbs and Dave Taylor in 57th. The rest of the A team (Chris Morgan, Phil Townsend, Tom Eagle, Kerry Rough, Lorain McCann, Neil Thomas and Becky Holland) troubled by illness, injury and some unecessary ‘exploring’, slipped back back throughout the day to finish in 84^th place, still half an hour ahead of last place. Chester Tri B’s Chris Loney and Richard Webster also lost some ground on the ultra-tough leg 2, but Barrie Cavanagh, Terry Walsh, Claire Sutcliffe and Sally Kilpatrick kept the pace up in the middle of the race, handing over ahead of the mass start to Jan Rogers and Alison Hughes, who made up six places to finishing in the pack of mixed teams in 60^th place (7:15.22).

For one member of the team, though ‘just’ running the race wasn’t enough. Richard Webster handed over the baton on the 13-mile leg 2 and then ran back to the start, bringing his total to 26 miles for the day: training which will stand him in good stead for a uniquely challenging and cold long-distance event planned for the coming months. The rest of the club looks forward to shorter, more local events, with the junior section competing in next week’s Wirral Aquathlon, whilst the seniors will contest the Liverpool and District Cross Country Championships on the same day.