Box Hill Fell Race Results
The 38th Box Hill Fell race took place on Saturday 19th January 2019. Thanks to organiser Harold Wyber and the team of volunteer helpers.
Update Monday 21st 10:45am – Sorry, we correct the results.
The Fabian4 entry form allowed people to enter as M45, M55, etc. but there were no prize categories for these. They should therefore have been re-categorised as M40, M50, etc but it was all quite rushed this year and that manual change fell through the cracks, sorry. We have now done this and it affects the summary results.
- Jean Shotter becomes the 3rd placed W50.
- Andrew Reeves becomes the 3rd placed M40.
- Natasha Cendrowicz becomes the leading W40 pushing the previously reported 1st & 2nd runners down one place.
We owe Natasha Cendrowicz a prize.
Rob McCaffrey has a 10 minute video of the race – with nearly everyone pictured. The heading picture is from the video.
Rob has also produced a shorter ~3mins film of the race. Link here.
Race Director’s Report
Surrey is not typically known for its fells or fell races but the Box Hill fell race continues to inspire a strong following among the South East’s fell-starved runners, with a strong field producing record-breaking performances. First staged by Cambridge University Fell Runners in 1982, the race is now organised by South London Orienteers, with this year’s race filling up in a record time of 7.5 hours.
For the 257 runners who had secured an entry and made it to the start line, the 12km of racing offered a variety of gradients and terrain types. While conditions were relatively mild, morning drizzle made for challenging conditions on some of the steep downland slopes of Box Hill, with a sharp descent of a grassy edge from the trig point adding an early test. After effectively traversing the southern escarpment of Box Hill, with a few ups and downs along the way, the race then takes runners up and past Box Hill village, through Headley Heath and up Juniper Top before returning to near the summit of Box Hill and back down to the finish.
The men’s field included a strong contingent from Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets AC (from one of London’s flattest boroughs) but the race was emphatically won by Chris Smith in a time of 53:49, beating Andy Greenleaf’s previous record, set in 2015, by 20 seconds. Aaron Mcgrady of Victoria Park came second, almost a minute down in 54:48, but with five of his team mates in the top 20, the club easily won the team competition. The women’s race saw a similarly dominant performance, with Rosemary Hurford of Clapham Chasers winning in 69:53 followed by Serpentine’s Sarah Pemberton in 71:07.
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped with marshalling, setting out the course and running event registration, enabling the continued success of this much loved race.
Harold Wyber