Morgan's season starts here...
Donnelly crests Yr Aran
Borrowdale runner Morgan Donnelly returned from a long-term lay off to win round two of the 2011 British Fell Running Championships in emphatic style at the Welsh Yr Aran race yesterday.
Having struggled with an achilles injury in the early season, and more latterly with a twisted ankle, it’s clear that Donnelly’s season starts here. Speaking to MST after the race he was well aware that though he missed the round one Mourne Peaks race in Northern Ireland, he would be very much in the running for the title with Sedbergh (Long) and Devils Beeftub (Short) still to come.
Morgan Donnelly
“This is where it starts for me really, with the next three that count in the championship, here, Sedbergh and Scotland (Devils Beeftub). I haven’t raced too much this year, and apart from the injuries I am feeling pretty fit.”
Speaking about his injury problems Morgan continued:
“I wouldn’t say I was fully fit at the moment. I had physio last night (Friday), and I still have achilles pain when I run, and I turned my ankle recently as well, so that’s what was really worrying me, and that was the other strategy for going out fast, as I didn’t want to be pushed too much on the descent – but it held up okay.”
“Well I am not very good at coming down, so the only chance I stood really was to get as much of a lead as I could and hopefully stay in front!”
Donnelly heads back to Llanuwchllyn
200 starters got underway a little after 1pm, after overnight storms had given way to a beautiful summer’s day in Llanuwchllyn, just outside of Bala, and it was Donnelly who signaled his intent from the start as he raced into a lead. His strategy of getting away and building a big lead at the summit was obviously working, with runner up Tim Davies stating afterwards that he felt they shouldn’t have let him build such a lead.
The Davies brothers: Tim leads Andy
Coming to the summit Donnelly led, from Rob Jebb, with Davies in third. Brother Andy (who was to finish an eventual fourth) admitted to going out a little too hard on the ascent and was in a group of 8 containing Lloyd Taggart, Steve Hebblethwaite, Graham Pearce, Rob and Danny Hope, Darren Kay and Eryri’s Richard Roberts, as they headed back down the rugged Aran descent.
Taggart leads the charge
Apart from Tim Davies catching Jebb on the descent the top 3 were pretty much assured, with Davies gradually reeling Donnelly back in and later saying “I ran out of race!”.
But the Borrowdale man was not to be denied and scored a super win of over a minute at the finish, breaking Tim Davies’ record to boot in 1:22:55.
Morgan is well clear at Yr Aran
The women’s race was also a tale of one runner taking it out early and adding pressure for a resounding victory. There was no surprise in that the runner in question was Pippa Maddams – a women who has pretty much dominated British women’s fell running for the last three years.
She told us:
“I had been to recce the route and pretty much knew what to expect. It was still pretty tough though, and I went out hard to build a lead. Though at around halfway up I looked round and saw Jo (Buckley) so thought ‘get your head down you’re here to run!’ and pushed really hard to the summit”.
Pippa Maddams
Similar to Donnelly, Pippa then built on this lead still further as she flew back to Llanuwchllyn for a 3 minute plus win, and sliced over 2 minutes off the course record into the bargain.
Calder Valley runner Buckley finished a comfortable second ahead of revelation Mel Price, who has been having a great season in Wales and Borders races. Lauren Jeska was fourth with Helen Fines in fifth.
Fines’ relatively (by her very high standards) low scoring position means that Maddams now has a commanding lead going in to the last two rounds and only needs to score well at the short Devil’s Beeftub race in Scotland in September to secure her third successive British title. Few would bet against it.
Some superb images as ever from Al Tye over at Fell Running Pictures now.
Men’s top 10
1 1:22:55 DONNELLY, – Morgan Borrowdale
2 1:24:05 DAVIES, Tim – Mercia Fell Runners
3 1:24:34 JEBB, Rob – Bingley Harriers
4 1:24:57 DAVIS, Andrew – Mercia Fell Runners
5 1:25:07 HOPE, Danny – Pudsey & Bramley AC
6 1:25:12 PEARCE, Graham – Pudsey & Bramley AC
7 1:25:27 TAGGART, Lloyd – Dark Peak Fell Runners Men 0/40
8 1:25:38 HEBBLETHWAITE Steve – Keswick AC
9 1:25:43 KAY, Darren – Pudsey & Bramley AC Men 0/40
10 1:25:56 JOHNSON, Oli – Dark Peak Fell Runners
Women’s top 5
1 1:39:08 MADDAMS, Philippa – Keswick AC
2 1:42:24 BUCKLEY, Jo – Calder Valley Fell Runners
3 1:43:16 PRICE, Melanie – Mercia Fell Runners
4 1:44:32 JESKA, Lauren – Todmorden Harriers
5 1:47:07 FINES, Helen – Calder Valley Fell Runners
Congratulations must go to Graeme Stringer and the Merionnydd AC members who put on a superbly organised event. Full results can be found on the Merionnydd site by scrolling down to the Aran news and following the link, and championships standings will be updated in due course on the FRA site.
