Goudge relishes events that test the limits of running skills, such as night runs, as well as being a regular member of the club’s top cross-country team.
This year he has been competing in the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) series races – first at Snowdonia where he won the Vet 50-54 category and then last weekend at the KAT100, a 48km marathon at Kitzbuhl, in Austria.
These are two of 36 races in the UTMB World Series which attract the world’s top trail runners to test themselves over long ascending and descending courses.
Goudge won his age category by a margin of almost an hour. He put in a strong first lap, climbing 2,100 metres and then, in cold and muddy conditions, consolidated on the second longer lap up flooded forest roads and through a boulder-strewn landscape to take 44th place overall.
Steve Thomasson is another Harrier who favours the international events, specialising in half-marathon races. His previous personal-best times for the half-marathon have been set at Verona, in Italy, and then Riga, in Latvia. Last weekend, he ran the Lancaster half-marathon after pulling out of his previous race at Torshavn, in the Faroe Islands, with a hip injury. He was pleased with his time of 1hr 39mins 23secs, taking 40 seconds off his previous best time. He will now head for Odense in September, his first-ever race in Denmark.
Each runner has their own goals, as epitomised at the Worsthorne Moor race, near Burnley, where both Paul Boardman (M60) and David Barnes (M65) did enough to secure podium-series results in their respective age categories. The race was also the debut for Gary Porteous (M55) – both in the red and black vest and at the Worsthorne race, where he had a respectable 59:58 result in a race where course knowledge is useful.
It was a team effort at the Chip Chase fell race at Uppermill, in Saddleworth – the latest fixture in the Run The Moors Grand Prix where Gary Chadderton and Doug Fleming were first and second MV60 and Lawrence Pinnell made a welcome return to fell racing so that the men’s team accumulated 138 out of a possible 150 points.
Alison Mort is defending her FV40 champion crown and took another second place in the category at Chip Chase, which is not quite enough to retain the title this year but confirms her in second place for the series – and she is still competing for third in the open category.
Earlier in the week, it was the second of the four-race Rossendale midweek fell series at Whittle Pike where Dan Gilbert was fifth overall and second M45. Mark Walsh was 24th and third M55, while Barnes was 79th and third M65.
In parkrun, Rob Jackson joined Tony Hesketh at Peel in Salford where the heavy rain created more challenging than usual conditions.
Jackson had a bad fall on the muddy second-lap section as his road racing shoes lacked grip, but he recovered well to finish in 18:34, fifth overall and first in his age category yet again.
Hesketh ran 26:41 for first place in the MV75 category, himself returning from a running injury, while Charlotte Wilkinson was second female in 21:45 at the Medina course in the Isle of Wight and Grace Freary was fourth female at Bolton. Gillian Smith was first VW70 at Haigh Woodland.