Report written by Will Worboys

ILKLEY’S Commonwealth Games silver medal hero Dominic Coy impressed in the Home Nations Podium 5K at Bute Park Cardiff on Saturday.

The race pits together some of Britain’s top road athletes on a fast course in South Wales. Coy finished 23rd and brilliantly managed to break the Ilkley Harriers men’s 5K all-time record. Five seconds were knocked off fellow prodigy Cameron Reilly’s two-year-old time, finishing in an amazing 14.25.

Still at University in Wales and having already competed for the Welsh national triathlon team, the future looks extremely bright for the young Harrier as he now bids to continue his fine form at the upcoming final two races of the British Tri Super Series.

Another long-standing record also fell on Sunday. Two Yorkshire raiders crossed the border to Lancashire and both with excellent performances came home with prizes. At the Preston 5-mile road race on Sunday, Mark Hall bagged the MV60 prize finishing 11th overall in a time of 30.05. This smashed a 13-year-old club record by nearly two minutes. Beth Massey also topped the FV50 category, finishing in a time of 34.12.

Elsewhere on Saturday, several Harriers made the journey up the dale to the Littondale 4-mile road race in Arncliffe. David Foyston finished in seventh place out of a field of 166 in 23:05, just a minute behind the winner. This was particularly impressive as he had raced at the EvenSplits York 5K the evening before, finishing in a super speedy time of 17.19. Also running in the Arncliffe gala event was Jonathan Turner who came 11th and was the first MV50 in a time of 24.38. Other impressive runs were had by Rachel Carter, Jaysson Sawyer and Sally Malir, the latter being the first home in the WV50 category. This event was then followed by the short sharp Arncliffe Gala fell race, in which the highest-finishing Ilkley runner was Gawain Moore in 10th place. Also excelling in the field of 145 runners was Iain Gibbons who finished 16th.

Two more Harriers impressed in another Dales event, the Dales runner 20. Based near Reeth the race had been originally planned for March but was postponed due to snow. The rearranged edition was much warmer but very windy. The route is just over 18km and meanders through Arkengarthdale with some great technical downhill sections, and a few steep, but mostly runnable climbs. Gavin Lamb followed up his PB last week at Borrowdale with a very strong seventh place in 1hr 39.09. Dave Robson was not far behind in eighth and also won the prize for 1st MV50.

Slightly closer to home the Kings Challenge fell race took place in Silsden. There was no sign of HRH King Charles III hurtling through the bogs around the Nab, however just as spectacular was Harrier Catherine Crawley finishing around nine minutes behind the first female Naimh Jackson, in a time of one hour and three minutes. The race is actually named after the Kings Arms pub where it starts and finishes and takes in six miles and a breathtaking 1,175 feet of ascent, displaying glorious views over the Aire Valley.

Meanwhile in the Lakes, ultra-running enthusiast Andrew Merrick completed the ‘Joss Naylor Challenge’. Starting at 5am this notoriously tough 48-mile route through the mountains was completed in under 16 hours last Friday. The challenge named after the legendary fell runner starts in Pooley Bridge and finishes in Wasdale and includes over 16,000 feet of ascent. Such is the difficulty; competitors are not permitted to run alone and must have support during each of the four legs. Merrick joins a small and prestigious band of hardy souls to have completed the challenge since its inception in 1991.

Finally, a busy weekend was had at parkruns by members of Ilkley Harriers. As is the time of the year there were attendees at far-flung parkruns in Ireland, Italy and even Japan! There were also an impressive four Harriers finishing first at their respective events.

These were Matthew Thackwray (Wycombe Rye), Danny Thompson (Chichester), Edward Hobbs (Exmouth) and Jake Norris (Myrtle). Meanwhile, Michael Abrams-Cohen was second finisher at Northallerton as was Jonathan Turner at Horton Park.

Jean Sullivan was second female at Illaunmanagh in Ireland, where Richard Joel managed fourth place. At Fountains Abbey Jaysson Sawyer completed his landmark 50th event and Geoffrey Howard managed one of the top age-related results of the day with his time of 23.05 in the M75-79 category. At Chevin Park’s 100th event Tim Ashelford and Adam Gerrish both managed top 20 finishes.

Finally, as is often the case Roberts Park won the most attended prize and there were excellent performances from Robert Cunningham, Will Wood and Andrew Smith all finishing in the top 100 of a bumper field of 415, while Nigel Illingworth continued to show encouraging improvement following his return from injury.