National fell running event held in Cumbria

Fell runners from across Britain descended on the Middleton Fells to take part in the British Athletics Fell and Hill Running Championships on Sunday, October 19.

The event is held annually but it is the first time it has taken place in Cumbria and it was met with a great reception - featuring 215 teams with six members each.

That equates to a 10 per cent increase in attendance compared to last year.

So prestigious is this event, which features two individual relay events at 5km and two paired events at 10km and 8km, that it was attended by Olympic silver medalist and 2012 Triathlon World Champion Jonathan Brownlee.

The event proved too tough for the professional athlete though who, although currently out of season, could only manage a ninth place finish with his team Bingley Harriers.

The event was won by Dark Peak Fell Runners, from Derbyshire, in a time of three hours 55 minutes.

Borrowdale Fell Runners were the first Cumbrian team over the line.

Their time of three hours 50 minutes put them in third place overall.

The stand out Cumbrian performers of the day were Ambleside Athletics Club's female runners Lou Roberts, Jane Reedy, Hazel Robinson, Astrid Gibbs, Steph Jones and Annie Conway who won gold in the female event with a time of four hours 38 minutes.

It was the first time a race had been run on the Middleton Fells and it was only made possible by huge efforts of cooperation on behalf of the Dallam and Howgill Harriers running clubs.

Fraser Livesey, 53, is President of the Howgill Harriers and was relay coordinator on the day.

He said: "This event brought together all aspects of fell running. The pressure was on the competitors as they were part of a team and they needed to gauge themselves against their other team members so everybody pushed hard on a challenging course.

"It had a real community feel to it and it got a great response from everyone.

"People were astounded by the quality of the area we were using."