BOWLINE HOLDS SIX APPEAL FOR ACE HARTLEY


10:30 - 05 February 2008


Tim Hartley stamped his remarkable authority on Leicestershire's only fell race, clinching the Charnwood Hills "Bowline" title for a fifth consecutive year on Sunday - his sixth in seven years.

And the 39-year-old runner did so in his slowest winning time of the series, 1hr 25min 4sec, though there were mitigating circumstances.

With a different race start than normal at Anstey and an extended loop around the furthest point, Beacon Hill, the distance was clocked at 13.7 miles on some GPS watches, a mile more than its usual length.

In addition, there was a biting wind and an inherent chill factor that took its heaviest toll on the second half of the race to the finish.

Hartley described the weather as the worst he could remember during his six victories but, after his customary casual start, he hit the front on the climb around Beacon Hill.

At that stage, the Barrow athlete had about 10 metres on last year's runner-up Phil Chritchlow, of Beaumont, with Harborough's Pete Swaine not far behind in third spot.

And those margins remained much the same over the next three miles until the lead group reached the foot of Rough Hill, where Hartley started to make his move.

"I put in an effort up Rough Hill, and got maybe 25 to 30 seconds on Phil," said Hartley.

Chritchlow still had the leader in view, but could not close the gap.

"I could always see him," said the 41-year-old Chritchlow, the County half-marathon champion. "There was always a gap, 20 to 30 seconds, but I could never pull him back. Pete Swaine was level with me coming back across the golf course, but I got away from him up the last hill, and he never got back at me.

"It was very windy coming back, especially across Bradgate Park, but I enjoyed it - it was a good race."

It was Chritchlow's third time in the race.

"I was second last year, and fourth the year before, so I might win it one year, you never know. I'm getting closer - I was two minutes behind Tim last year, I might catch him one day."

Hartley said: "The guys were strong behind me - Phil and Pete - I couldn't shake them. But then I went for the last hill, Rough Hill, and worked up that, and that's where I got maybe 100 metres. They were only 10 metres behind me on the golf course."

Chritchlow finished 40 seconds down on Hartley, with Swaine crossing the line in 1.26.03. Swaine's Harborough colleague Sean Fenwick, whose 76min winning return in the 1993 race is still regarded as the standard, even if it was over a shorter course, was sixth, with Desford's Nigel Stirk, a runner-up in his only previous appearance in the race 18 years ago, seventh.

In the women's race, Hinckley's Great Britain marathon international Beth Eburne made a winning debut and was beaten by only 18 men.

The 26-year-old is struggling to overcome an iron-deficiency problem which has baulked her progress in recent months, but she was delighted with her performance.

"I really enjoyed that," she said, explaining that for the moment she was simply enjoying her running, rather than feeling under any pressure to win every event she entered.

"This time last year I was really flying," she said.

But then problems with anaemia began to affect her performances and her training, culminating in the "big blow" of pulling out of the Dublin Marathon at halfway last autumn.

"At four miles, I thought, 'It's not going to happen for me today' and I was on my hands and knees at 13 miles," she said.

She is waiting to see a specialist.

"They thought it might be wheat intolerance but I don't eat wheat anyway," she said. "But I think it's probably connected to my diet."

Eburne got home in 1.35.48, four-and-a-half minutes clear of 2006 champion Zoe Fleming, of promoting club Bowline, with F45 veteran Sally Newman, a fell-running expert, third in 1.44.22.

One of the County's newest clubs, Hermitage Harriers, claimed the men's team prize.