The race starts and finishes at the Pack Horse pub at Widdop, in conjunction with the long established senior race.

Despite the dismal summer weather the junior races still managed to attract 52 runners. In the first race for the under-8 which, despite only being a short race, takes them on a real adventurous course down to the riverbed before climbing steeply through tall bracken.

The home club’s latest recruit Todd Halsey continued to make a big impression by winning by some considerable margin with clubmate Joey Gwilliam in eighth.

In the same race for the girls the top five were all Calder runners and were lead home by Libby Fazackerley followed by Gemma Johnson, Chloe Greenwood, Charley Godsman and Evie Hairsine.

The other age groups all set at the same time but with the under-10s taking a slightly different route to ensure that all races complied with the requirements of the sport’s governing body.

This made for some good racing as the under-10 runners tried to avoid being overtaken by the older ones as their routes converged on the same climb out of the river bottom to Gorple Cottages. First local runner in the under-10 race was Luka Morris finishing in third place – just ahead of Todmorden’s Jack Crummett - before a cavalry charge of Calder runners crossed the line. Sam Foster was fifth, Adam Johnson seventh, Jude Corcos eighth, Ted Fazackerley ninth, Nat Hairsine tenth, Silas Paige 11th and Dillon Whitelaw 12th. Jade Harvey was third girl home.

Such is the strength in numbers of the Calder Valley club that it provided 12 of the competitors in the under-14 race. The first three finishers - James Hall of Bingley, Max Wharton and Edan Whitelaw of Calder Valley - are all currently in the top five of the English Championships. Behind them Chris Godridge was running well in his first race for the home club, finishing fourth. He was followed by Euan Davies fifth, Niall Oxley sixth, Jack Fillingham seventh, Jamie Gwilliam eighth, Rafi Bear 11th and Oscar Corcos 13th.

Issy Wharton continues to be unstoppable, adding another girls’ gold to her tally, and sneaking into the top 10 overall in the process. However, she is being pushed all the way by her clubmate Rose Mather who was just three seconds adrift in second with Molly Chesworth getting the better of yet another Calder runner, Hannah Fillingham, in fourth.

The under-15 race saw Calder Valley take the top four places with Peter Walker winning ahead of Jack Paige, Joey Scarf and Jamie Davies. Siarlot Lloyd finished second in the girls’ race.

Racing will continue throughout the summer with the next race in the club championship being at Hellifield Gala in August which is a race that also serves as the Yorkshire Championship race.