The first race of the year, for the Juniors Championships and also the new U20s series, and this one is short and sharp.
Full details are now available on the Horwich site:
General Race Info
Course and venue maps (pdf)
Please note that the Juniors races (up to U16) start nearer the Pike than the combined Seniors/U20/U18 race.
Many thanks to Pete Ramsdale for providing the details.
Just to emphasise;
U8 - U16 registration at junior start behind school. 1st race 1:00pm.
U18/U20 registration at Crown Hotel, senior start at 3:00pm on Lever Park Avenue.
Going downhill fast - until I fell over
Looks good, hopefully we'll have a good turnout from Clayton as it's pretty local for us and it's in our club series as well.
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How are conditions over there, lots of snow and ice about here in Rossendale. Not much of a thaw forcasted this week, anybody heard anything about the conditions on the Junior courses.
You beat me to it Graham!
Actually, I was more interested in the conditions underneath the snow. I've never seen the course before and wondered what kind of a surface it was. I get the impression that the bottom section of the course (and hence most of the route for the u8 and u10 runners) is actually farm track or even tarmac?
Does anyone know any better, I'd like to be able to advise our runners what to expect.
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Juniors - they start on a flat dirt track and run approx 100m to turn left up the main climb.
The main climb starts on a concrete road - steep to start for 100m then perhaps 200m on an easier gradient (roughly U8s)
The concrete road turns in to a pebbly/grassy dirt farm track and continues for a few hundred metres (roughly U10s) at the easier gradient before leaving the track and up a steep grassy embankment to the fell wall/gate (U12s)
Then there is a stony dirt track climb to the Pike, around the Pike and descend on the moorland grass - it doesn't show this on the map, but as you climb this section, the line of descent is around 25 metres to the left.
So descend back to fell wall/gate - make sure you join the dirt track before the fell wall otherwise you'll end up boxed in by a fence and lose some time - so keep edging left as you descend the top section back towards the dirt track.
For the U18s, the Senior race starts in the town and runs around 1km before meeting up with the junior route and of course at the finish it is 1km more down in to town.
For the fell running purist, it may seem that there is too much firm ground, but it is a special race. I would recommend all juniors stay and watch the senior race and make their way up the course to watch - it's fantastic to see the top runners coming down the top section.
Last edited by Witton Park; 27-03-2013 at 10:03 AM.
There is a Google map on felljunior, which can be viewed in hybrid mode. This will give a rough idea of the mixed terrain; mud, compacted soil track, concrete, tarmac, stone track, grass.
The courses are likely to be to the NE of the junior start on Roynton Road. Note, there is no vehicle access to Roynton Road; please do not attempt to park there. To save time on Saturday a registration form can be downloaded here (not pre-entry) for completion before registering on Roynton Road.
Going downhill fast - until I fell over
All good info from above posts but doesnt answer the question of what conditions are like at the moment or may be like on Sat. I suspect if its anything like it is here (Calderdale) then we wont need to worry whether kids/seniors are running on concrete, stoney paths, tarmac or grass. Will t even be on. Any info greatly appreciated.
"Moors are a stage for the performance of heaven"
Hopefully someone from Horwich will come along and confirm this (since I'm not quite over there) but in the meantime: we've had virtually no snow over here (Bolton) this week. I've not been up to Winter Hill or Rivington this week but looking across there appears to be patchy snow lying but nothing serious and I suspect there is nothing or very little on the race route, apart from perhaps some around the Pike itself for the U18s, but even that will not be a problem to anyone. The temperature has been mostly below zero all week and the wind is biting so be prepared for that if you're likely to be standing about. There really is no weather/snow problem over here - unless it falls between now and Sat.
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