REPORT BY JILL EZARD

ILKLEY Harriers were in action at home and abroad this week tackling a range of distances and surfaces.

Ann Marsham took on the longest challenge of them all, completing the ‘Lakes in A Day’ race on Saturday. At 50 miles and 4000m ascent this is a tough race which starts at the very top of the Lake District at Caldbeck taking participants to the very bottom, at Cartmel, via the stunning Helvellyn Ridge and the western shoreline of Lake Windermere. Marsham had a fantastic run finishing the race in 16:00:59, well within the top half of the field.

Still focused on the distance events Harriers have been travelling far and wide over the last few weeks. On Sunday, two Harriers took part in the Chicago marathon. One of the World Majors, at 45,000 participants the Chicago marathon is the fourth largest in the world and attracts a high-class field. With the men’s World Record broken in spectacular style by Kelvin Kiptum the bar was set high for Helen Waddington and Michael Ho. Both had their own triumphs posting great results: Waddington was first home in 3:37:34 closely followed by Ho in 3:57:05.

This was on the back of two Harriers tackling something a little bit different; Nigel Tapper and Helen Horton travelled to Sweden to take part in the Lidingoloppet 30k trail race at the end of September.

Set on the island of Lidingo just north of Stockholm, the undulating course passes through pine forests and along coastal paths above the Baltic Sea on good quality trails providing fast descents. Tapper and Horton both loved the event and finished in 3:34 and in the top third of their age categories.

With more elevation over a shorter distance, three Harriers tackled the Langdale Fell Race on Saturday. The conditions on the day were challenging with mist-limited visibility driving many participants to drop out of the tough 21.1km, 1450m elevation race which is over rough, rocky and slippy ground.

Paul Carman, Alison Weston and Jann Smith battled through the challenging conditions to beat the cut offs and post some great results. Carman was first home in 3:40:34; Weston was close behind in 3:56:46; and Smith finished in 4:11:20.

It was back to the roads on Sunday with Harriers running home and away races. Rumana Chowdhury took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London, passing some of the sights from her London Marathon success in April. It was a hot day making for challenging conditions for an autumn race but Chowdhury pushed through crossing the line in 2:12:58.

Closer to home, there was a fantastic turnout at the second Morley 10k in Leeds with nine Harriers tackling the course. Described as undulating, there were definitely some challenging ups for the team to contend with. Alex Foyn was the first home in 15th place in 36:37 closely followed by Jeff Green in 38:47 taking first place in his age category. John Hayes finished in 40:24 taking second place in his age category. Mike Williams took third place in his age category completing the race in 45:57. Natalie Gravett-Foyn was the first Harriers lady home in 48:52.

October always sees the start of the Cross-Country season and it was the first race in the West Yorkshire Cross Country series at Nunroyd Park in Guiseley on Sunday. Rachel Carter, Alison Bennett and Diane Kitchen represented the Harriers in the women’s 5.5km race.

Carter was first home in 21:55 taking second place in her age category; Bennett finished in 25:10; and Kitchen in 28:37.

The men’s 9.5km race had a great turnout of eight Harriers; Gawain Moore was the first home in 33:39 taking second place in his age category followed by Steve Gott in 35:05; Steve Coy and Tim Ashelford also had age category second place finishes; Andrew Overend, Steve Murray, Iain Young and Mark Iley completed the team securing ninth place in the team event.

And finally, 16 Harriers took to the paths and trails to take part in the weekly parkrun events across the region: At Lister Park, Mark Hall was the fifth finisher in 18:43; in Wetherby, Rachel Barnicoat was the eighth female finisher in 30:05; Adam Gerrish was the fourth finisher at Chevin Forest in 21:25 with Stephanie Fox posting a PB at the event completing it in 28:59; and finally, Roberts Park saw the biggest turn out of Harriers with Paul Sugden making a return to running after a significant injury and completing his 25th parkrun.