Holly Page and Chris Richards win first mountain titles at a shortened Snowdon
CASTELL HOWELL SNOWDON INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN RACE, inc UKA Mountain Running Championships and Senior Home Country International, Llanberis, July 15
Holly Page of Carnethy and Chris Richards of Salford took their first UKA mountain running titles, Anne Buckley reports.
There had been doubts as to whether the race would go ahead because of the high winds and forecast thunderstorms but eventually the decision was taken to run a shorter course of 10.2km and 530m climb/descent instead of the full route to the top and back of 15.35km and 994m climb/descent. Richards, delighted with his UKA title, described the conditions as “proper Lake District weather, which suited me.”
Phillipa Williams, the 2019 World Mountain Running Championships bronze medallist, was just 17 seconds down on Page at the top but Page, a former Dartford Harrier, Kent champion and British junior steeplechase champion, managed to extend her lead slightly on the descent to win by 24 seconds.
Holly Page
Caroline Lambert of Middlesbrough AC/Mandale was third in the race and took bronze in the UKA Championships thanks to her descending skills, having been in fifth position at the top.
In the men’s race, Richards was first to the top but Italian Isacco Costa managed to pull past on the descent to win the race by six seconds. Behind Richards, Andy Douglas and Dan Haworth had a battle for silver and bronze in the UKA Championships, with the experienced Douglas taking it by 25 seconds.
In the Home Countries International, England took both the women’s and men’s team titles, followed by Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in both competitions.
Overall (10M/3300ft): 1 I Costa (ITA) 38:59; 2 C Richards (ENG) 39:05; 3 A Douglas (SCO) 39:33; 4 D Howarth (ENG) 39:58; 5 A Rossi (ITA) 40:03; 6 G Cunliffe (ENG) 40:04; 7 N Edmondson (Ilkley) 40:20; 8 B Rothery (ENG) 40:34 ; 9 R Gollan (SCO) 40:49; 10 A Chepelin (SCO) 41:03; 11 R Gardiner (SCO) 41:16; 12 A Campbell (SCO) 41:46; 13 J Kevan (Horw) 41:55; 14 F Grant (ENG) 42:03; 15 K Mooney (IRL) 42:13; 16 T Wood (WAL) 42:17; 17 M McConnell (IRL) 42:21; 18 J Martin (NIR) 42:28; 19 M Marshall (Oxf) 42:55; 20 T Johnson (IRL) 43:00
M40: M Roberts (Calder V) 43:45
M55: I Holmes (Bing) 45:54
M60: D Griffin (Helm H) 53:56
M65: D Whitley (Meirion) 63:51
M70: J Jones 72:51
TEAM: 1 ENG 1:59:10; 2 SCO 2:01:28; 3 IRL 2:07:37; 4 WAL 2:09:27; 5 NIR 2:12:59
CLUB TEAM: 1 Eryri 2:25:36; 2 Horw 2:28:37; 3 Mynydd D 2:33:08
Women: 1 H…
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