'Mr. Borrowdale' wins at a canter...
Simon Booth
Simon Booth took his 12th Borrowdale Fell Race win this weekend, beating a quality field of seasoned fell runners. Rob Jebb upset Booth’s decade run in 2009 by beating him into 4th, after 8 straight wins for the Borrowdale runner…
Borrowdale is another one of those races that commands a Billy Bland course record that may never be beaten (an incredible 2hrs 34 mins!), and Saturday’s damp conditions were never going to produce fast times. Still, Booth’s dominance was underlined by his margin of victory – an impressive 11 minutes! He was chased home by fellow Borrowdale stalwart Ben Bardsley, with Holmesey completing the 1-2-3.
Pippa Maddams at Borrowdale 2010
Keswick’s Pippa Maddams is currently dominant in women’s British fell running, and underlined this by storming round in 3:19, just 5 mins off the longstanding record – a superb performance. Karen Davison was second, with Christine Howard in third. There were a tremendous 387 finishers in this tough ‘long’ 17 mile race that takes in 6500ft of climbing.
Men
1 2:52:42 Simon Booth Borrowdale
2 3:03:47 Ben Bardsley Borrowdale
3 3:06:48 Ian Holmes Bingley Harriers M40
4 3:08:54 Steve Hebblethwaite Keswick AC
5 3:09:17 Ben Abdelnoor Ambleside AC
6 3:11:29 Scott Collett Unattached
7 3:13:20 Pete Vale Mercia
8 3:14:16 Richard Pattinson Pudsey & Bramley AC M45
9 3:14:35 Paul Thompson Clayton-le-Moors Harriers
10 3:15:16 Paul Cornforth Borrowdale M45
Women
1 3:19:42 Phillipa Maddams Keswick AC
2 3:45:37 Karen Davison Dark Peak FR
3 3:50:28 Christine Howard Matlock AC
Full results are now online, along with an excellent race report from the Borrowdale site.
Some great images over at Sportsunday and also by Pete on Picsaweb
Reactions so far
could it be magic Aug 10, 08:53 PM
‘Watch out for Hebbo!’ – I’ve been saying it all year. The Sportsunday pics clearly show Steve Hebblethwaite leading Ian Holmes on the way up Dale Head. What chance did Stevie have against the supposed ‘greatest current descender’. Another great ‘youngster’ …..well in ‘fell running’ terms… Ben Abdelnoor (5th) has been doing great in this year’s longer championship races, so who is this Steve Collett (6th and unattached) who beat Pete Vale (7th). Pete, the mellow fellow in yellow, shortly to represent England in the World Long Distance Mountain Race at Pikes Peak, USA, after coming 3rd at the Yorkshire Three Peak Race this year.