REPORT BY: JEAN SULLIVAN

THERE was great teamwork on show by the Ilkley Harriers at this year’s Hodgson Brothers Mountain Relay in Cumbria.

This event is the longest-running mountain relay in the country, taking place in the fells around Patterdale. It is a competitive event which attracts runners from around the UK, particularly from the north of England and is a tough race with each of the four legs involving testing climbs and descents on difficult terrain, with good navigational skills required.

Ilkley Harriers entered a male and female team. Ilkley men, represented by Christos Tzelis, Michael Odell, Jack Cummings, Edward Hobbs, Iain Gibbons, Matt Cox, Ben Rothery and Oli Murphy, had a great run, completing all four legs in 4:39:37.

Ilkley ladies, Abbie Rothery, Emma Sheppard, Jane McCarthy, Jann Smith, Alison Weston, Nea Weston, Kate Archer, and Rachel Carter completed the course in another impressive time of 5:58:03.

The Harriers’ love of ultra running continued this week, with Ritchie Williamson taking part in the interesting Punk Panther Takes the Hindmost – Elimination Ultramarathon. This event took place at the Swinsty and Fewston Reservoirs and sees runners complete a number of qualifying laps around a 10.5km course, with each subsequent lap then seeing the last person to finish drop out. The final three runners then have to battle it out. The first runner to complete 18 laps is the winner and if no one completes that task then the runner deemed to have run the longest distance wins the event. Williamson completed an impressive seven laps and finished in a superb tenth place overall.

This week saw the staging of the eighth race in the Leeds EvenSplits 5km series, held monthly at the University of Leeds Brownlee Centre. These chip-timed races are popular and attract a fast field. Junior Harrier Oscar Shinn led the Harriers home to finish in sixth place overall in a speedy time of 17:26. He was closely followed by Harry Stead who crossed the line in 17:50, with Pete De Sanctis the third Harrier home. Rachel Barnicoat also had a great run at this event.

Down in Leicester, Tom Lambe took part in the Leicester Half Marathon. This popular road event starts and finishes at Leicester’s Victoria Park, with runners going out along Leicester’s Golden Mile, before looping back via Watermead Park and Abbey Park, before the final push up the idyllic New Walk pedestrian promenade, all the way to the finish line. Lambe had a great run at this event, finishing in an impressive 1:37:16.

The weekly timed 5km parkruns remained as popular as ever this week, with 35 Harriers taking part in various parkruns around the country. The Robert’s Park parkrun was the most popular with an impressive 12 Harriers opting for this event. This event was a significant one for Harrier Will Worboys as by completing this parkrun he has clocked up an amazing 200 parkruns to his name! David Foyston led the Harriers home, and was the second finisher at this event, with junior Harrier Robert Carter also managing a top-ten finishing place. The Lister Park parkrun in Bradford was also a popular event with seven Harriers taking part. Jonathan Turner finished in eighth place overall in 18:52. Hot on his heels was Adam Gerrish, with Adam also managing a sub-19-minute finish. Harrier John Hayes managed his fastest time to date at the Skipton parkrun event, finishing in 19:56, his first sub-20-minute time on this course. Other results of note were Rob Cunningham who was the second finisher at the Holkham parkrun and Steven Gott who was the fourth finisher at the Chevin Forest parkrun.