Report by: Will Worboys

THIS year's English fell championship was concluded on Saturday, with Ilkley’s Ben Rothery finishing in a fantastic second place overall just behind winner Billy Cartwright.

The final race at Shelf Moor saw Rothery claiming a hard fought third place to round off a fine season which has seen a string of podium placings in the nominated championship races and improved on his third place in last years’ standings. Rothery finished within a minute of the winner on the day in the 6 mile race which took in over 1,400 feet of climbing in the Peak District.

Ilkley’s Oli Murphy was not far behind finishing in 16th place of a field of 315 of some of the country’s finest fell runners. In the women’s race Alison Weston had a great run, finishing 7th in her age category.

Also on Saturday the Rombalds Romp fell race took place on Ilkley Moor. The race taking in over 8 miles of hilly fell, bog, trail and road attracted a splendid cohort of Harriers, being the first of two of the clubs league race counters this weekend. In a time of 56.47 Gawain Moore managed an excellent 2nd place just 43 seconds behind winner Adam Lomas of Hyde Park Harriers. Ilkley’s Jon Denniss also posted a cracking run to finish not far behind in 3rd place. There were several other notable performances from Ilkley runners, including James Horrex who came 5th in his first ever fell race! Jeff Green was 7th overall and second in the M50 category, Daniel McKeown who was 11th in 1.04.58, Peter Shelley was second M50 in 1.08.34 and Jann Smith who was 4th in the W50 category.

The second of the weekend’s Harriers league races took place in Leeds on Sunday in the form of the Kirkstall Abbey 7. The mostly flat, multi-terrain course unsurprisingly starts and finishes in the scenic surrounds of Kirkstall Abbey and is seven miles long. There were particularly impressive runs from Ilkley Harriers’ Forrest Hamilton (19th), Owen Parker (22nd) and Jean Sullivan who finished 3rd in her category. A special mention must also go to Tony Pye, Nigel Illingworth and Mike Williams who all completed this race on the Sunday a day after the energy sapping previously mentioned fell race in Ilkley. A great commitment to the Harriers race league and surely coincidental that both events promised a bottle of beer to all finishers!

Slightly shorter and flatter but posing its own challenges, the Leeds Golden Mile took place at the weekend on the running track at Leeds Beckett University. There were some brilliant performances with the stand-out being Alison Bennett who finished in a time of 6.23 which showed an age graded percentage of 92, the highest out of all 115 participants. Great times were also posted by Petra Bijsterveld (7.20), Geoffrey Howard (7.14), Hilda Coulsey (7.34) and Rachel Barnicoat (7.45).

Local success was also to be had at the 30th edition of the Ilkley Triathlon on Sunday at Ilkley pool. The leading positions were dominated by members of the Coy family. Commonwealth medallist Dom Coy predictably won and by some distance in a time of 47.33. His brother Nathan was second in 52.14 while their sister Helena finished second female in a time of 1hr 50 seconds. Christos Tzelis came 3rd overall to complete the podium for the Ilkley Harriers.

Whilst the younger Coys were dominating in Ilkley and presumably partying in a parentless house, their dad Steve was impressing in Pontevedra Spain; the venue for the World Standard Distance Age group Triathlon. Coy finished in 24th place in the 50-54 category earning a medal for his efforts. Fellow Harrier Tim Ashelford also participated and brilliantly managed an 8th place finish in the 55-59 category.

To round off, as always a good number of Harriers took part in the Saturday morning 5K parkrun’s and put in some big performances. Kate Archer was 3rd female in Strathclyde in Scotland. While David Foyston was second at Roberts park in a speedy 17.46. Also at the Saltaire event Vince Gibbons continued his weekly quest to relentlessly smash his PB’s. This week with a time of 27.25 knocking a further 23 seconds off from his last run out. Meanwhile at Chevin Forest Gawain Moore finished in 24th place just a couple of hours before his superb 2nd place at the Rombalds Romp.