SEDBERGH-born Joe Symonds has been crowned British Fell Running Champion having finished second in the Arrochar Alps in Scotland.

Symonds, who won the first two races of the championships, made sure he was not beaten by Steveley’s Rob Jebb or Morgan Donnelly, with V40 Ben Bardsley from Borrowdale Fell Runners the only man to finish ahead of Symonds, breaking the course record by 20 seconds.


Jebb finished third while Donnelly came home ninth. Another Borrowdale runner Martin Mikkelsen-Barron ended up in fourth.


Ellenborough runner Ricky Lightfoot won his second race of the season in the 21-mile Wasdale fell race on Sunday, with Jasmin Paris emerging victorious in the women’s event.

 

HELM Hill Juniors collected a unique double as they were crowned FRA English Junior Fell Running Championships and English Uphill Champions after the final race at Sedbergh on Saturday.


Helm were led home once again by Chris Richards, winning his uphill race and becoming the FRA U14 English Champion with Matthew Senior scoring in 10th.

In the girls U14s Katherine Lawson ran strongly for sixth whilst Heidi Murray’s eighth meant she gained an English Championship bronze medal.


Mia Walsh had a great run to come third in the U12s with Imogen Burrow in fourth to gain a well-deserved silver medal.

In the U18s Lauren Munro-Bennett won English Championship silver by finishing fourth.


In the non-Championship U10s and U8s races Helm’s very young runners performed exceptionally well. Ryan Whitehead won the U8s with Joe Clayton third while Islay Aitken finished second in the girls race, Maddie Walsh third and Freya Richards fourth.


In the U10s, Emilia Stevens won her race, while highest performer in the bous was Elliot Wren in fifth.