The 2019 English Fell Running Championship came to a finale with Carl Bell of Keswick AC winning both the English and British Fell Running Championship Series.

The year has brought an incredible amount of individual success for Bell, who won both of the most prestigious fell running titles in the same year and raced for Great Britain in Portugal, finishing 13th in the World Trail Running Championships in June.

He also managed to fit in getting married in the middle of the year.

Bell said: “It’s been a long season with some big gaps between races.

“I started the year really well and felt great winning the first three races in the English series.

“The latter part of the season has been a lot less convincing and I’ve had to grind out some results which has been hard as I wanted to finish the year on a high.

“But it’s been a dream come true.

“It’s been great to be part of this Keswick men’s team who’ve won gold in the English and British team event which is going from strength to strength.

“We have so much talent and it’s going to be exciting to see what happens next year.”

Ilam Fell Race, the last championship race of the year, was a short counter with three steep climbs and a lot of running with the last 1.5 miles flat and fast.

Keswick had some great results with Mark Lamb winning, John Battrick second, and Steve Hebblethwaite fourth.

David Birch finished first over-50 and Mike Mallen finished third vet 60 which clinched him the silver medal in his age category.

Lamb has clinched silver in the English Championship with his great victory and adds to his third place in the British Championship.

In the ladies race, Sharon Taylor of Helm Hill won the event as Keswick’s Jenn Bell got her best result of the season coming in fifth for a top-ten finish in the English Championships.

The Keswick ladies team just missed out on a bronze medal.

Keswick’s Zoe Webber climbed really well in the race and finished in 16th.

Keswick’s teams will next be competing in the October relays.