Buxton AC juniors travelled up to Marl Pitts, Rossendale to take part in the English Junior Fell Championships Presentation Do hosted by Rossendale Harriers.
A day celebrating junior fell running kicked off with the presentation of the t-shirts and hoodies that all participating juniors earnt through doing the series which consisted of 6 races held across the countries National Parks and mountain ranges in many of the most challenging, rugged, scenic and sensitive areas of the country. The juniors were then split into their competitive age categories to take part in fun, friendly, informative workshops where they could enjoy playing with the youngsters that they had competed with all season. They all had an opportunity to take part in a Pilates session to find out the importance of core stability, strength and conditioning to running form.
After a fabulous buffett lunch they were then treated to an inspiration q & a with this years Junior Home International team fresh from winning a string of Gold and Silver medals in Ireland and learnt how they could earn an England vest in the future. Chris Jones the FRA Junior Co-ordinator and ex-Access officer then gave a talk on Access and Environment where the youngster learnt to respect the very fragile ares that they compete on and to help preserve it for future generations. Finally the juniors who had won awards in the Championships were given their trophies. Buxton’s Will Longden won a Silver medal in the U15 category and Buxton AC juniors came in 4th over out of over 50 clubs taking part – missing out on Bronze by only 1 point! The U9 and U11 were also one of only 5 clubs who manged to get full teams out in both these categories for all 6 races so were awarded a Club Challenge Award.
Coach Rachel Dowle who accompanied the juniors said, “This Championship has been amazing for the juniors, they have raced in some of the most beautiful, most remote and most rugged areas of the country. This event has given them an awareness of how privileged we are as fellrunners to experience the environment in the unique way that we do and how we are the custodians of these areas of Special Scientific Interest so have a duty to protect them as well as enjoy them. The kids have had such fun taking part in these races and this was an opportunity for them to spend time with all the new friends they have made from clubs all over the country. What a great event!”