Junior English Championships

Who's Who

Junior Coordinator

Vacant
[email protected]

Junior Editor for The Fellrunner

Judith Cole, Settle Harriers

Social Media links

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Presentation and Fun Day, Details to Follow

The Junior English Fell Running Championship

The Junior Championship (for under 13s to under 19s) and the Junior Challenge (for under 9s and under 11s) form the National Championships for Juniors in fell running in England.  They are open to all Juniors regardless of ability.

Championship points will still be scored from the best 4 out of 6 results.  For details of age categories and the organisation of the Championships see the 'About' section.  The Junior Championships are sponsored by Pete Bland Sports, and Inov-8.

For 2024, we have introduced an option to enter the series for a discounted entry fee of £18 (plus admin charge).  Any junior who enters the series will be issued with a chipped number at the first race they are able to attend and this number will be retained and used for the entire series so DON'T FORGET YOUR NUMBER.  The entry link for the series is:

 FRA Junior Championship Series Entry - niftyEntries.com

Alternatively, single race entries are available for £6 (plus fee) per race and can be found at:

 
Date Race (details link on title) Notes
21-04-24 Duddon Dash - Seathwaite (Duddon Valley, LA20 6ED) RO Charmian Heaton
12-05-24 Howgills Sedbergh - Helm Hill RO Justin Tankrel
19-05-24 Shutlingsloe RO Noel Curtis
09-06-24 Rossendale RO Graham Wright
15-06-24 Weaver Hills RO Chris Hopkins
07-07-24 Clwydian RO Nigel Crompton

Key Dates:-

Results 2023

The results and overall standings of the Championship & Challenge are below, after final round (updated 18/07/23). These are PROVISIONAL, please advise of any errors by 21/07/23 :

English Junior Championships 2023 :

 

FRA Challenge : 

If you find any errors or omissions please contact the Junior Statistician, Jamie McIlvenny /images/icons/email.png

Compiled with many thanks to the developed system of Jim Godwin.

 

Championship Records and History

Please see the Previous Results page for records of English, British and other championships back to 2010.

County and Local Championships

TBA

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About the Junior Championships and Challenge

Age Categories 2024

The names of Junior categories (e.g. "Under-13") reflect the age of the runners at the end of the year. For 2024, ages for all categories are therefore as at 31st December 2024.

Age categories
(Boys and Girls)
Year of birth Age of competitors Maximum race distance
all based on age
at 31st December 2024
     
Under 9's 2018, 2017, 2016 6 (from date of 6th birthday), 7 or 8 1 Km
Under 11's 2015, 2014 8, 9 or 10 2 Km
Under 13's 2013, 2012 10, 11 or 12 3 Km
Under 15's 2011, 2010 12, 13 or 14 5 Km
Under 17's 2009, 2008 14, 15 or 16 7 Km
Under 19's 2007, 2006 16, 17 or 18 10 Km

Please check this page and the FRA Juniors Facebook page for updated information.

Choice of Championship races

Some Championship races will inevitably clash with other sporting events and personal commitments. There is no expectation for athletes to complete all 4 races. The award to FRA members of a hoody for completing 6 races and for a tee-shirt for completing 4 races is intended to reward commitment, rather than performance.  A Junior Championship presentation and celebration 'Do' will be held after the conclusion of the series.  It will consist of running-based activities in the morning, a buffet lunch, followed by the presentation of medals, trophies and the t-shirts and hoodies.

Those athletes seeking opportunities to race at county and national level will be coached by their selectors to carefully choose which FRA Junior Championship races to enter (and not necessarily all of them). So, the following points should be noted:

1. Racing should be planned according to the season's target(s) and thinking about race frequency is important. For example, most of the athletes in the GB Mountain Running team will not do the whole British and/or English Champs fell race series.

2. There are always more races to choose from than it is optimal to do.

3. Athletes can choose 4 races to complete the FRA champs. series - they do not have to do all 6.

4. If athletes want to compete internationally (European Champs, Youth Cup, World Champs) they will need to consider whether completing the FRA Championship series fits into their programme or whether just doing 1 or 2 races would be better.

5. The race programme has been carefully selected to provide a variety of terrain, location and courses. Athletes will have various different strengths in each, so there is opportunity to focus on which course is likely to allow optimum performance tailored to each athlete.

6. If an athlete is selected to run for England or GB their selection is conditional upon agreeing a suitable racing programme with the selectors for the time period between the trial and the event.

7. All forms of sport at the junior level will find that the potential stars of the future will also have interests in other sporting activities and this should not be discouraged.

We look forward to seeing you on the fells and hope you enjoy the excitement of the championships as they unfold.

Please contact FRA Junior Co-ordinator Gareth Hardcastle by email (here) or via the FRA Juniors Facebook page with any suggestions for improvement or offers to host English Championship races in future.

Challenge (non-championship) Under-9 and Under-11 categories

Under-9 Boys & Girls (year of birth 2016 or later - must be at least 6 on day of race)

Under-11 Boys & Girls (year of birth 2014 or 2015)

There are no championship medals for the Challenge categories, but a commemorative T-Shirt to runners who finish 4 or more races in the series and a hoody to runners who finish all 6 races, and in both cases are members of the FRA by the time of the last race.

Individual championship format

In all Championship age categories the first 49 runners score points.

Scoring for all races: 1st = 50 pts, 2nd = 48 pts, 3rd = 47 pts, 4th = 46 pts, etc, to 49th = 1 pt.

Points are based on the position as shown in the race results.

The best 4 results from the above 6 races will count towards the final positions. The winner will be the runner with the highest cumulative score. In the event of two athletes obtaining the same score that position will be shared, and if this is a medal position both runners will receive the same colour medal with the appropriate engraving.

If the age of any competitor is not known, they will not count in the Junior Championship. All competitors can only count in their respective age categories.

Vouchers will be awarded to the first three finishers of each Championship race.

Team championship format

The 3 best individual scores by an England Athletics affiliated club in any Championship category at each race will count towards the club award. The winning club will be that with the highest cumulative score for all six races.

FRA Championship Awards

Perpetual trophies to first overall boy and girl in U13, U15, U17 and U19 age categories. A trophy will also be awarded to the winning club.

Championship medals to first 3 overall boys and girls in U13, U15, U17 and U19 age categories.

Commemorative championship T-Shirt to all competitors who finish 4 or more races and a hoody for all who finish all 6 races and (in both cases) are members of the FRA by the time of the last race.

Further details on the Championship and Challenge statistics and the points tables will be posted on this website once underway.

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