REPORT BY: JEAN SULLIVAN

ILKLEY Harriers shone at the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon as well as the half marathon, with wins in both events, though obviously the day was about so much more than that.

Burrow, a former Leeds Rhinos player was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2019, with funds raised from this inaugural event being used to support the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal, as well as the MND Association. The race starts and finishes in Headingley, passing through Adel, Bramhope and Otley, before returning to Headingley via Bramhope and Lawnswood.

Ilkley Harrier Nathan Edmondson won this marathon outright, completing this challenging hilly course in an incredible 2:29:14, with the Harriers star a full ten minutes ahead of the second finisher, notching an all-time club record in the process.

Dan McKeown was the next Harrier home, in a speedy 3:06, with James Lumb the third in 3:14:50.

Steven Bysouth, Rob Cunningham and John Hayes all managed sub-3:30 finishes, with Steve Murray, Michael Ho, Tony Pye, Tom Worboys and Rebecca Shaw all managing sub-four-hour finishes. Marc Westerman, Mark Judkowski and Simon Stokes had sub 4:30 finishes with Alan Travis and Fiona Schneider going under five hours on a special day for all.

The popular Leeds half marathon also took place at the same time, with Harrier Edward Hobbs winning this race outright in an impressive time of 1:12:38. Stephanie Fox was the second Harrier home in 1:53:05, with Lucy Lowe also managing a sub-2-hour finish in 1:59:44. Jonathan Nelson and Amanda Newham also had great runs at this event.

Following last year’s inaugural event, this week saw the return of the Rudding Park 10km trail race, with funds raised also going to the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease. This race takes place in the parkland of Rudding Park in Harrogate, with participants getting the opportunity to run a route on private land, the route created specifically for the event. And local triathlon legend and Olympic gold medallist Jonny Brownlee was present for the prize giving.

Another win for the Harriers too, with Tom Adams winning this race, crossing the line in an impressive 35:13. Clubmate Michael Abrams-Cohen was the next to finish in a great time of 42:10, with Tim Ashelford the third Harrier across the line in 45:13, Ashelford finishing second in his age category. Jane McCarthy was the first Ilkley lady to finish, with the Harrier completing the course in 48:40 and taking first prize in her age category. Other notable performances included Sally Malir who took first place in her age category, and Hilda Coulsey, who took first place in both the FV60 and FV70 categories.

Another weekday race took place this week with the first race of the Harrogate District Summer Race league taking place in Knaresborough. This series of five races is only open to club runners and races take place in various locations across Yorkshire, the series culminating in a handicap race. Each race is approximately 5-6 miles in distance.

Matthew Thackwray was the first Harrier over the line, with Matthew finishing in fourth place in a time of 32:42. Just under a minute behind was Harrier Dave Foyston, completing the course in 33:40 and taking second prize in his age category. Jonathan Turner was the third Harrier home with Jonathan taking first prize in his age category. Jane McCarthy was the first Ilkley lady home in a great time of 43:26. She was followed by Alison Bennett in 45:00, with Dawn Turner the third Ilkley lady to finish.

A week of busy evening running continued, with the staging of the Jack Bloor fell race, with all monies raised going to the Jack Bloor memorial fund. The race began in 1985 to commemorate the life of Jack Bloor, who was renowned for encouraging young people to engage in outdoor adventurous sport. The Jack Bloor Fund was started to carry on his legacy.

Sam Bentham was the first Ilkley Harrier to finish, with Sam completing the course in 43:07. Next was Simon Bell in 44:27, followed by Steven Gott in 47:15. These excellent results meant that Ilkley were the second men’s team overall. Alison Weston also competed in this race with Alison taking the first FV50 prize.

Also on the fells, the popular Fairfield Horseshoe took place in Cumbria, this year’s race being the second counter in the FRA English 2023 championships. This race, which has been running since 1966 and is one of the oldest fell races in the country, requires excellent navigational skills. Runners leave Rydal Hall in Ambleside to reach five checkpoints over a distance of 14.5km with a total ascent of 914m, before the final trail back to Rydal Hall where the race finishes.

Harrier Ben Rothery came third overall in 1:18:21, with Ben just ten seconds behind the winner. Alison Weston finished in a great 2:10:36, with Abbie Rothery the third Harrier to finish in 2:29:33.

Petra Bijsterveld continued her fine form to complete the Dales Highway, a 90-mile ultra run, with 14,000ft of climbing, going from Saltaire to Appleby-in-West Morland in Cumbria the route roughly runs parallel to the Settle and Carlisle Railway and takes in iconic Dales locations such as the Ribblehead Viaduct, Ingleborough, the market towns of Settle, Dent and Sedbergh, as well as traversing the majestic Howgills.

Petra was the second female to finish, as well as finishing first in her age category completing the Highway in an impressive time of 28:48:00.

On the trails, Mary Fairclough completed the Montane Howgills 26-mile trail race, which starts and finishes in Sedbergh. Mary completed this tough course in a time of 5:26:10. Mary had a superb run, finishing eighth out of 36 in her age category and 17th lady out of almost 100 women who took part.

The next race in the York Evensplits Series, 5km races that take place monthly from February to November at the University of York Sport Village Cycle Circuit, took place this week. This flat and fast circuit offers runners a great opportunity to achieve a 5KM PB time.

Dave Foyston led the Harriers home, completing the circuit in 17:04, finishing first in his age category. He was followed by Mike Abrams-Cohen in a great time of 18:04, with Beth Massey the third Harrier home in 20:00, with Beth finishing first in her age category. Mark Iley, Dick Waddington and Helen Waddington all had great runs at this event, with Helen finishing first in her age category.

Not surprisingly given the race calendar there were fewer Harriers taking part in the timed weekly 5k parkrun events this week, with 13 turning out across the country: Tom Adams was the first finisher at the Conyngham Hall event in 16:29; Adam Gerrish was the eighth finisher at the Roberts Park event in 19:00; Steve Newell completed his 25th parkrun at Bradford finishing in the top 20 in 20:06 with Mike Williams setting a PB at the same event in 21:14; and Clare Boyle and Vince Gibbons both achieved PBs at the Roberts Park event finishing in 26:49 and 29:31 respectively.

Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try our training

sessions, please come along to our main club night on Tuesdays, by signing up on the training

page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk

“Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 7pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.”