Valley's junior runners hit the heights at Pendle

Fifteen Valley juniors, plus a handful of seniors, made their way to Barley Village Hall for the Club Junior Championship fixture, and they recorded a great set of results, with the club placing in the top ten of every race as well as claiming top spots in the U18s and U20s categories.

In the U10s race, Valley were represented by Abel McGregor, Arthur and Ailish Wilcock and Isaac McDonald for a short, sharp up-and-back lap of the start field.

Isaac was first back for the club in ninth place while six-year-old Ailish, the youngest junior, celebrated completing her first ever fell race.

Frank Lowe, Jules Ciolino, Rory Bradley, Teddy Haigh and Winston Lalande faced stormy, wet weather in the U12s race.

Each age group from U12s to U18s ran a course that involved a steep up-and-down in the foothills of Pendle, with the older groups heading further out and up towards the brooding hill itself.

The U12s ran 1.2k and Frank clinched fourth overall, just over 30 seconds behind the winner. Jules was hot on his heels, followed around 30 seconds later by Teddy and Winston. Rory, in 27th place, completed the set of five U12 finishers.

By the time Jacob McDonald and Ella Bradley lined up for the U14s race, the rain had stopped and blue skies had returned. A good job too, as they faced double the distance of the U12s, with an extra hill to tackle.

After the whizz, bang, wallop of the U12s, it seemed an age before the U14s came streaming back down the hill. When they finally appeared, Jacob continued the trend set by his younger brother Isaac, finishing ninth overall.

Meanwhile Ella, who has only been racing on the fells for less than a year, showed real tenacity and an impressive upward trajectory to finish as 10th girl.

The U16s and U18s races started together, with Valley represented in the U18s by Clara McKee, Finn McClure and Elliot Radcliffe.

Clara whipped round the 4.4k course, with 245m of ascent, in 23:17, finishing as first girl by a comfortable six-minute margin, and taking fourth place overall.

Finn and Elliot had a battle of their own to settle. After Finn had pipped Elliot on the line at Ilkley a few weeks ago, Elliot got his revenge at Pendle, his 29:53 finish putting him almost 90 seconds ahead of Finn.

The senior race incorporated the U20 category, with Tom McKee representing the club and emulating his sister Clara’s result by taking first prize in his category.

His brilliant finish time of 33 minutes also placed him fourth overall, rounding off the club’s full set of top-ten finishes in every race of the day.

Also running for Valley in the senior race were Alex Whittem, who took second place in the V40 category, and Gillian Wisbey, who finished 19th in the women’s race.