Junior English Championships

Who's Who

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.

Following the cancellation of the Trawden Junior races, Championship points will still be scored from the best 4 out of 5 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.

Key Dates:-

• The online shop to order T-shirts (for 4 races) and Hoodies (for 5 races) will open following the 5th race at Helm Hill
• Last date for ordering T-shirts and Hoodies - Friday 22nd July
• Details of the Junior 'Do' - TBC

English Championship Results

The race results and overall status of the Championship competition will be posted here as the races take place.

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

The Yorkshire Junior Fell Running Championships was held in conjunction with the Hoppits Hill fell race on 27th February 2022.  The results are available here.

About the Junior Championships and Challenge

Age Categories

The names of Junior categories (e.g. "Under-13") reflect the age of the runners at the end of the year. For 2022, ages for all categories are therefore as at 31st December 2022.

Please check www.felljunior.org.uk 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 5 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 2013 or later - must be at least 6 on day of race)

Under-11 Boys & Girls (year of birth 2011 or 2012)

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 5 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 5 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 5 races and (in both cases) are members of the FRA by the time of the last race.

For further details on the Championship and Challenge statistics, including the points tables once the series are underway, please visit the FellJunior website.