The final results are now in for this year’s British and English fell championships, and it was certainly an improvement on last year, both in terms of quality and quantity.

With regards to quantity, we had 25 people competing at 1 or more champs race, compared to 21 the previous year, although there were 6 people who ran last year but not this year. 5 people ran in 7 of the 9 champs race, so well done to Joe Baxter, Charlie McIntosh, Graham Pilling, Claire Green and Rachel Pilling for racking up the miles. The women had a scoring team at 5 of the 9 races, whilst the men had a scoring team in 7 races, and the 2 we missed were Ireland and Isle of Man which involved a lot of logistical problems.

In terms of quality, there was plenty of success to shout about. Rob Hope had yet another stunning season, finishing in the top 3 in all 6 races he ran in including a win at Duddon which was enough to earn him the silver medal in both the English and British, and he took the Vet 40 gold in both as well

Jamie Parkinson is going from strength to strength and although he was unable to make continuous trips from his base in Oxford he performed so well in the 3 races he finished that he finished 2nd in the English U23 and 4th in the British U23 – the first time we have ever achieved a medal in the U23 catgory!

Matthew Lockyer and Joe Baxter kept on showing up at the top end of the results, Matt having his best season yet to finish 11th, and Joe having a fine first season on the fells to finish 24th. Charlie McIntosh showed that things do get better with age as he scored in the senior category, as well as finishing 11th V45 in the English champs.

In the women, Claire Green had a remarkable year, and amassed enough points throughout the season to finish 10th in the English ( the first time since the 90’s we have had a runner in the top 10) and 14th in the British.

Rachel Pilling was one of the club’s most consistent performers, only finishing outside the points in 1 of her 7 races, and finished 19th in the British and 26th in the English. Jo Schreiber had an excellent season after putting a number of miles in the bank, and finished an excellent 6th place in the British V50, as well as scoring well enough against much younger competitors to finish 61st in the seniors too!

In the team competition, the men finished 3rd in the English and 4th in the British. This is our best year since 2011 when we finished 2nd in both, so a big congratulations to all who contributed to this. Although not confirmed, I believe that the following people were involved in securing the bronze medals – Rob Hope, Joe Baxter, Matthew Lockyer, Graham Pearce, Neal Crampton, Jamie Parkinson, Charlie McIntosh and John Heneghan.

The women also had their best performance for many years (I only have team results back as far as 2004, and it’s bettered all of them) finishing 5th in the English and 7th in the British. A big congratulations to our small but fast women’s team of Claire Green, Rachel Pilling, Caroline Harding, Suzy Sharman and Jo Schreiber.

Full results for the championships are below:

ENGLISH CHAMPS

Men’s team – 3rd

• Rob Hope – 2nd and 1st V40
• Matthew Lockyer – 11th
• Jamie Parkinson – 22nd and 2nd U23
• Joe Baxter – 24th
• John Heneghan – 37th
• Graham Pearce – 50th
• Mark Nixon – 52nd
• Charlie McIntosh – 101st and 26th V40 and 11th V45
• Neil Armitage – 82nd V40

Women’s team – 7th

• Claire Green – 10th
• Rachel Pilling – 26th

 

BRITISH CHAMPS

Men’s team – 4th

• Rob Hope – 2nd and 1st V40
• Joe Baxter – 33rd
• Jamie Parkinson – 35th and 4th U23
• John Heneghan – 40th
• Charlie McIntosh – 95th and 23rd V40
• Neal Crampton – 99th

Women’s team – 5th

• Claire Green – 14th
• Rachel Pilling – 19th
• Jo Schreiber – 61st and 34th V40 and 6th V50

Hopefully the teams can continue this success into the British Fell Relays in a couple of weeks time.

 

-Captain Nixon