The third round of the English Junior Fell Championships was held at Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire. Coiners Fell Race, offered a variety of testing routes each with a tough uphill start, the older the age group the wilder the route!
The older runners took in large chunks of open moorland before a long fast downhill descent with a bit of everything – moor, tracks, woodland and fast grassy slopes. The Buxton AC junior fell squad have gone from strength to strength in this Championships, with 22 juniors running, joint top scoring team at this match, elevating the team to Bronze overall position in the league at this, the half way point!
Top performance of the day went to Lucy Bednall who stormed to victory in the U17 girls breaking the course record and putting herself in Gold position overall. Closely followed by three individual second positions – Jonty Brown in the under 11, Will Longden in the U17 and Sam Soles U19. Will and Sam now sit in Silver position in the overall standings, with team mate Stu Diamond joining them in podium position – Bronze medal position U19.
The entire Buxton team ran their socks off – showing how their confidence and strength is growing throughout the season, evidenced by strong performances across the board. The superstar under 9 team was led home by 6 year old Stanley Cook in 9th, followed by Hannah Cudahy – 14th girl, and Jimmy Golden – 25th boy – 42 ran. Jonty Brown has really found is feet on the fells, flying down that final hill narrowly missing out on victory as he was pipped to the post – taking 2nd in the under 11 race. Followed by sister Flo and teammate Rachel Cudahy, the girls pushing each other to 23rd and 26th positions respectively. – 90 ran.
100 juniors ran the under 13 race with Buxton’s Jack Cook striding down the hill in 22nd place, followed by strong runs from Lucy Whelan to finish 24th girl, Grace Bond – 37th, Molly Golden – 40th and Rebecca Cudahy 42nd. The under 15 race saw Lauren Wilshaw making a season debut to finish a creditable 12th leading the Buxton girls in, Grace Longden in hot pursuit – 18th and Sienna Philips completing the team in 30th – 85 ran.
The last race of the day saw the U17 and U19 starting up the hill together, with the older runners going further up onto the Moors. Buxton juniors dominated this race – Lucy Bednall setting a new girls U17 course record to take victory, backed up by great runs from Amy Whelan 9th and Heather Wilshaw 11th. Will Longden was 2nd under 17 boy with another solid podium position performance, team mate Harry Bond running well to finish 15th. Sam Soles added another silver medal performance to consolidate his position in the under 19 men, Stu Diamond chased him in in 4th position with brother Ed not far behind in 10th.
Team manager Rachel Dowle said, “Wow the Juniors absolutely smashed this round! The BAC team have improved their points performance in this Championships every single round – you couldn’t ask for better than that! Proud beyond words!”
Photo: Lucy Bednall leading the way