THE final leg of the 1997 English Junior Fell Championship took place on Saturday on the fells at Hayfield near Glossop at the annual Lantern Pike fell race.

The championship started back in April on the fells at Hebden Moor and it has taken the juniors of Horwich over some of the largest and steepest climbs of recent years. With final placings still to be decided it was always going to be a very competitive set of races on the day.

In the under 18's race over 5.2km with 500 feet of climbing, Michael Cayton and John Robertson were lying in joint third overall before this last race.

As they started up the first of three climbs, Cayton latched on to fellow England Fell Team members Simon Bailey and Adam Crossland and they worked together up the climb.

Robertson fell behind on this muddy and difficult climb and could not get back into contention.

Bailey of Staffordshire Moorland pulled away from the rest of the field and at the summit of the third and final climb had achieved a 50m gap from Harry Matthews of Shrewsbury and Gareth Hird of Keighley with Cayton in fourth.

Places stayed like that off the fells and so the finishing times for the race were Bailey 21.34, Matthews 22.00, Hird 22.19 and Cayton 22.22. Robertson completed the course in eighth place in 25.04, never really getting back on terms after the first climb.

The final English Fell Championship positions placed two Horwich juniors in the top four with Michael Cayton securing third place and John Robertson taking fourth.

With no championship points at stake for Horwich in the under 16's, it was a battle for points for the club championship. Ian Ramsdale had his best finishing performance on the fells this season, being the first Horwich runner back in a time of 24.34 placing him eighth overall.

He finished just ahead of Richard Hughes who was 11th in 25.15. A battle for the next position had Adam Birley and Peter Harrison running together over the final stages and Birley just managed to get the better of Harrison on the run in to finish in 18th place in 28.56 with Harrison 19th in 29.00.

The under 14's championship had Mark Smith lying in third place before the race. Smith started off well and confidently moved up the field before suffering stomach cramp.

He completed the course in ninth place in a time of 13.11, still well ahead of most of the field.

Matthew Bums had another steady run to record a time of 13.56 to finish in 12th place overall. Smith stayed in third place overall and still has another year in this age group.

Christine Boardman, in the girl's under 14 race, came in seventh in a time of 15.49. In the final positions for the championship, Laura Hughes was sixth, Gemma Jones was seventh and Boardman 14th.

Matthew Smith in the under I2's had his best run of the season with a second place finish behind long time rival Mark Buckingham of Holmfirth. Smith's time was 13.02.

This confirmed Matthew's third position in the final table of the English Fell Championship, which gives Horwich three bronze medals and a fourth place in the four age categories over the year.

A gold medal moved to local athlete Amy Spencer of Wigan Harriers who finished fourth girl in the under 12's on the day but performances throughout the season placed her above the rest at the end of the season.

In the 20th running of the senior race over a fast five mile course, previous winner Paul Dugdale finished ninth out of more than 200 in 32.45. Other Horwich notable performances came from F. Smith 58th in 38.12 and Ian Smith 125th in 41.39.

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