Mercia Fell Runners Trigs 2026 race report
The race had to be rescheduled for the second year running-ice this time. This had an impact on numbers but certainly not quality. The first 3 places were filled by previous winners. However last year’s course record setter, Tom Beasley, feeling a little under the weather had to settle for 3rd, in a time that would have been within seconds of the record he broke in 2025.
Between him and the winner was Henry Webb who best the previous record by 3 minutes, but that was not good enough to get ahead of a very in form Lea Gratton. Lee ran an incredible time of 90mins 36secs and so broke the one year old record by Tom Beasley. Lee has threatened more wins but has sometimes been let down by navigation. At the finish It was hard to tell if he was more pleased with his time or his navigation. Together they meant he and Tom have taken over 9 minutes off the record over the last 2 years. Now it seems a sub 90 minutes is up for grabs.
Sarah Gerry and Sam Morley paced each other to the win/2nd place in the Open Female race, with Sarah pipping the win by 8 seconds. They were followed by regular and previous winner Laura Palmer. Kelly Butler, another local and regular supporter tried a new route this year, but it did not pay off-showing that some navigation and route choice decisions do still count.
There were some other outstanding performances, with first two W50s finishing in under 2hrs 15 minutes, and M70 newcomer Stan Alexander returning in 2hrs 48 minutes, followed in that class by Kevin Uzzells running what we think was his 29th Trig race.
I know it is said every year but this, and indeed, any race cannot happen without the time and support of Marshalls. 19 people gave up their days to let the race go ahead, and messages of thanks universally mentioned the great job and support they gave.
Bob Dedge.
