Buxton Athletic Club had a spectacular day at the British Fell Relay Championships, the biggest event in the fell running calendar. Over 1000 runners raced over the Howgill Fells, Cumbria on Saturday in a very well organised event hosted by Helm Hill Runners.
Buxton fielded teams in the men’s, veteran men’s, and mixed categories.
The men were led out by Will Tighe, who’s 7th place in Leg 1 equalled Buxton’s best ever stage position. The men’s navigation pair of Fin Grant and Ben Light performed well on Leg 2 despite misty conditions and handed the baton to Jason Brunnock and Stuart Diamond who kept Buxton in contention on Leg 3, a marked course for pairs, which crested three brutally steep summits.
Will Longden matched the club record placing when he set the 7th fastest time on Leg 4, a 5 km-distance hill climb for individuals. Will overtook three other teams to anchor Buxton men home in 13th place out of the 240 teams in all categories – Buxton’s best ever British Championship relay result. The total time of 3 hours 27 minutes was just 5 minutes outside the top ten.
There was close competition between the male veteran team and the younger mixed team. Jason Burgess was the 6th fastest veteran on Leg 1, but Lucy Bednall was just 3 minutes behind, as the 6th fastest mixed team runner, and 11th placed woman overall.
On Leg 2, mixed team navigators Rebecca Day and Gemma Tredwell overtook veterans Dave Finch and Rob White who had missed a checkpoint and had to backtrack up the steepest hill, losing more than 20 minutes. The veterans battled back ahead, but there was just 8 minutes between the teams at the changeover.
Leg 3 veteran pairing, Jon Sewell and Rick Aldred ran an almost identical time to that of Nick Jones and Dan Latham on the mixed team. On Leg 4, Jason Bennett kept the veterans in front of the mixed team and brought them home in 21st out of 27 in the competitive ‘MV40’ class.
Emily Dart made her fell relay debut on Leg 4 and was the 9th fastest woman on a mixed team. The team ended the day in 15th place out of 30 teams in their category.
Results of the fell relays can be found here.