Race Report by Martin Downham
THE HIGHAM HURTLE RETURN (for the second race of 2025)
Firstly and most importantly, congratulations to Dawn Jackson for another win by a Strider at this event: First Strider home and First F60. Well done Dawn. A great performance in the heat.
Dawn Jackson winning the F60 category
The Hurtle is described as a scenic 5 mile race, with a few hills. My Strava showed: Distance 7.95km and elevation, 142m.
The event is organised by Barnsley Harriers (see: Barnsley Harriers ) and entry is £9 (£7 for UKA members). Registration is on the night from 6.15pm. The race entry limit is 300.
The first 2.5km are almost totally downhill. The most significant climbing starts at about 4.5km.
The race is run a mix of trails (and a bit of road). Given that it was very dry, I should have worn my road shoes. The start and finish are just outside the Higham Cricket Club,
You can enter individual races, or the series. Entries can be made in advance. On the night sign-up is also available.
Prizes (including the usual age categories) are awarded after the race (and for the race series). The minimum age for entry is 16.
The Higham Hurtle is just one of a number of races organised by Barnsley Harriers, which are near Jnc, 37 on the M1 (to the west of Barnsley). On the night the weather was very pleasant (but a bit too hot for running). The trail sections were almost totally dry (thanks to this ongoing dry weather).
This is a delightful route offering a wide variety of terrains, including; farm tracks, single track country roads, footpaths, pavements, large slippery (when wet) stones and a lot to see on the way round. The downhill start is on a quiet country lane, (which passes under under the M1 Motorway). This leads nicely on to a wide slightly downhill woodland path. The uphill bits are all fairly close together from about the halfway point and may need to be walked.
After the final climb, there is a long straight downhill foot path, which is perfect for finding fine running rhythm. After a small hurdle, the final “surprise” on the way back, is the short, sharp muddy ramp from the lane (just after we again pass under the M1). It may only be about 10m but the hill is steep and narrow (and very slippery when wet!). This emerges in to a corner of the playing field. The final “sprint, is then a dash around the parked cars, over the grass to the finish funnel, (on the hillside) just below the club house (and cricket pitch).
On such a pleasant evening it was handy having the Cricket Club bar (with truly amazing views) on site. It’s a useful shelter and perfect for a swift post race drink (whilst waiting for the results).
Thanks as always go to Barnsley Harriers for organising this series (and many other local races) and to the friendly and supportive marshals at all key junctions.
One of the friendly and supportive marshals
This is one of the nicest trail routes around, so if you haven’t ran here before, there’s one more race this year on the 21st August.
Striders Results:
| Position | Name | Time | Age Category |
| 26 | Martin Downham | 42.53 | M60 |
| 55 | Dawn Jackson | 55.03 | F60 |
The race was won by George Parr from Penistone Footpath runners in 31.35. First female was Poppy Cooke from Ackworth in 36.17.
Full Results on the Barnsley Harriers FB page:https://www.facebook.com/groups/155543836668