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English Uphill Championships
On Sunday 27th June, four brave Lancaster and Morecambe Athletes travelled to Patterdale, on the Southern tip of Ullswater in the Lake District, to take part in the English Junior Uphill Running Championships, up Arnison Crag. The race also incorporated the penultimate fixture in the English Junior Fell Series.
Despite playing a part in the series, the race was rather unconventional for a fell race, in that (as the name suggests) the race finished when the runners reached the peak of Arnison, as opposed to the traditional up then down system that fell racing normally follows.
Nevertheless, the turnout for the race was strong, and over 40 runners toed the start line for the U16 and U18 combined race at 1PM, including three Lancaster athletes: Adam Bateson (U18), Callum Mason and Sarah Hodgson (both U16).
Adam laid down his intentions right from the start, and stayed in the lead group for the entirety of the one thousand feet climb, before being agonizingly pipped to the win by Skipton AC’s Billy Pinder. Callum, in only his second English Series Race, also looked to be in the hunt for a medal in the under 16s category, but faded badly in the latter stages, and had to resort to almost a crawl in the last 30m, to finish 4th. Sarah, who gained a bronze medal in the U14 race last year, also finished 4th, in a highly competitive U16 Girls field.
At 1.30, the U14 Girl’s race set off, and Lancaster’s sole representative, Mary Hodgson, fought hard on the final stretch to secure 8th position, a brilliant improvement on her 12th place at her last English series fixture.
The curtain will be drawn on the fell racing season next month, in the final championship meeting at Darwen Gala, where the athletes will surely be out, in a last gasp attempt to earn medals in their respective categories.
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