Harriers shine at the Ilkley Half Marathon

AN incredible 88 Harriers turned out to race this year’s fourth Ilkley half marathon.

This popular, well organised event, with fantastic crowd support, is organised by the Ilkley Round Table, with this year’s race attracting just over 1750 runners.

Harrier Sally Armitage was the first lady home as she completed the course in an impressive time of 1:22:16. She also finished in an incredible 53rd place in the field and was over 40 seconds ahead of the second female finisher.

Harrier Jack Cummings, part of a field of some of Ilkley Harrier’s finest calibre runners, stormed ahead to finish in a superb second place in a fantastic time of 1:09:04. Hot on his heels was Harrier Jack Wood who finished in an impressive fourth place in a time of 1:10:01. Tom Adams was the third Harrier home, finishing in sixth place overall, with Tom completing the course in another impressive time of 1:10:23 and taking first prize in his age category. Edward Hobbs and Cameron Reilly also managed top ten finishes, completing the course in seventh and tenth places respectively.

Ilkley Harriers also won the team prize, and received the Jim Read trophy, presented to Jack Cummings by Jim’s sister Liz, to commemorate this popular and much loved runner.

Jack Cummings , second finisher at the Ilkley half marathon receiving the Ilkley Harriers Team prize, the Jim Read trophy, from Jim’s sister Liz Lewis (Image: Will Worboys)

There were also lots of impressive category placings, with both Geoff Howard and Hilda Coulsey taking the first V70+ prizes.

Harrier Ben Rothery had the honour of being selected to represent England at the 46th Castell Howell International Snowdon Mountain Race at Llanberis. This was Rothery’s second appearance for England at the Snowdon Mountain Race, with his third-place finish in the trial race at Fairfield gaining him selection to this prestigious event. He had a great run in the elite category, finishing in seventh place, completing the course in an impressive time of 40:34.

Nathan Edmondson also took part in this event, representing Ilkley Harriers, finishing in an incredible second place overall in a time of 40:20.

Always impressive, Harrier Jane McCarthy ran the coast-to-coast route which goes from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire.

This is one of the most famous long-distance trails in the UK, going through some of England’s most dramatic scenery. The path covers over 190 miles, with a total elevation of almost 20,000ft. The route starts at the Irish Sea at the village of St. Bees in Cumbria, before crossing the width of the UK to finish at the North Sea at Robin Hood’s Bay in the North York Moors.

The route passes through three of England’s most epic national parks; The Lake District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. McCarthy completed the route in an incredible five days, averaging an impressive 40-miles each day.

On the road Harriers Beth Massey and Mark Hall travelled to Cheshire to take part in the Wilmslow Summer 10km. This relatively flat race is a one lap course on closed roads, which attracted over 2500 participants. Massey finished third in her age category in a great time of 42:01. Hall took second place in his age category, finishing in an excellent time of 36:33. This meant that the latter set a new club M60 10km club record by over four minutes, as well as a new M55 record, by twenty seconds.

Still on the road, Hall also travelled north of Preston to take part in the Elswick Express 10m. This largely flat race takes in the lanes of Elswick, Inskip and Gt. Eccleston. Conditions were poor with a strong wind to contend with. Despite this, Hall finished in an impressive fifth place, in a time of 1:01:05, as he claimed first prize in his age category.

On the fells, Dave Robson took part in the Widdop fell race, organised by Calder Valley fell runners. This tough 7-mile high moorland event, with 1200ft of climbing takes place in the stunning hills overlooking Widdop reservoir. Robson finished in twelfth place overall in a time of 57:48, as he took home second prize in his age category.

Also on the fells Alison Weston and Jamie Hutchinson took part in the Pete Bland Kentmere Horseshoe fell race, run in memory of fell runner Pete Bland who sadly passed away in 2020. The longest medium Lakeland fell race, with 3300ft of ascent over a distance of 12.3miles, involves a clockwise horseshoe of the Kentmere Valley, including High Street and Kentmere Pike. Conditions were tough, with wind and rain to contend with. Weston completed the race in a great time of 2:28:33, with fellow Harrier Hutchinson completing the race in 2:39:55.

Overseas, Andrew Merrick took part in the Trail Verbier Saint Bernard by UTMB X-Alpine. The Trail Verbier Saint Bernard is the oldest ultra trail in Switzerland. This event offered a choice of four distances and Merrick chose the longest, the 140km option. This demanding event starts in Verbier, goes to the famous village of Champex and its lake having passed several typical Swiss villages. A climb to the Omy hut and the first glacier, is then followed by a descent to La Fouly, before going along the lakes of Fenetre. A short passage to Italy follows before reaching the historical pass of Grand St Bernard, famous for its hospice and rescue dogs.

Runners then return to Verbier through several passes, the glacier area of Panossiere, before eventually going back down to Verbier. Merrick completed the course in a superb time of 37:58:15.

Harriers continued their commitment to the weekly timed 5km parkrun series, with eighteen Harriers taking part in various parkrun events. Beth Massey was the first lady to finish at the Barnsley parkrun, with Beth completing the course in an impressive 22:30. Michael Abrams-Cohen was the first finisher at the Conygham Hall parkrun, with the latter crossing the line in 19:09. Lots of Harriers finished with top ten placings at this weekend’s parkruns, including Nick Kealey who was the sixth finisher at the Robert’s Park parkrun and Adam Gerrish the fourth finisher at the Yarborough parkrun.