British Champs Rd 3: Blisco Preview
After two rounds of the 2013 British Fell Running Championship, Morgan Donnelly and Helen Fines are sitting pretty at the top of the standings as nearly 500 runners head to the Lakes for the classic Blisco Dash this weekend…
The third counter in this year’s champs is the short distance race, which everyone must complete to be considered for the Championship, with the first two races of the season at Silent Valley and Yetholm the medium counters. The season culminates in the arduous Peris Horseshoe in Snowdonia this September.
Runners at the 1984 Blisco Dash, a Brit champs race in 2013
Blisco has always been a classic ‘short’ Lake District race with a little bit of everything in its five miles, including navigation at the top of the descent! A lung bursting first half mile up the road is followed by steep grassy track leading on a good path up the easier graded plateau and three rock steps to the summit.
Race Records
Male: J. Maitland – 00:36:01 – 1987
Female: L. Roberts – 00:47:25 – 2004
The women’s race on Saturday should be fascinating, as all of the contenders in the current standings are entered for this 5 mile ‘lung buster’ which takes in 2133ft of ascent. Fines is currently sitting pretty at the top of the standings after a convincing win at Silent Valley and strong second place finish at Yetholm. However, Yetholm winner Victoria Wilkinson is a serious challenger to Fines this year as with both runners having a maximum 32 from a medium scorer it will be very interesting to see how the battle pans out after this weekend.
Helen Fines
Also toeing the line (or at least entered) at Blisco are Jasmin Paris, 2012 British champion Lauren Jeska and the in-form Olivia Walwyn, plus a host of top female UK fell runners.
In the men’s race Morgan Donnelly will possibly be the man to beat. The Borrowdale man is well rested and will be running on ‘home ground’ and terrain he knows well. Still, he will have his work cut out holding back the sea of challengers that Blisco will bring.
Donnelly sprints in at Yetholm
Ones to watch out snapping at Morgan’s heels will be current second place runner in the standings, Rob Jebb, who has performed solidly in the first two rounds, Finlay Wild (currently joint second with Jebby), round one winner Gavin Bland, Lloyd Taggart, Rob Hope, Ben Bardsley, Karl Gray, Darren Kay, Carl Bell and Mercia’s Simon Bailey.
Follow MST and Fell Running Briefs on Twitter for updates and race results as they happen this Saturday.
2013 British Fell Running Championships
13th April 2013 – Silent Valley
2nd June 2013 – Yetholm
27th July 2013 – Blisco Dash Fell Race
14th Sept 2013 – Peris Horseshoe
