REPORT BY: WILL WORBOYS

 

THE weekly Harriers update may soon have to be renamed the ‘Rothery report’, such is the frequency of mentions for the feats of Ilkley’s Ben Rothery on the nation’s trails and fells.

On Saturday he chalked up another win, this time in a relatively local race. The Stoop is an annual festive slog around the moors above Oxenhope. Just under 5 miles and starting and finishing in Penistone quarry, the race is organised by Wharfedale Harriers and involves around 700ft of boggy ascent plus a loop around a bleak and remote standing stone. This year’s event was a much milder and less icy affair than last time but runners still had to contend with blustery winds on the way out.

Rothery won the race in a time of 31.35, getting some revenge over a recent nemesis in Nathan Lawson who was second. Other Harriers to impress among the field of 150 were Gavin Lamb in 28th and Tom Mountain, who finished 36th. Alison Weston and Catherine Crawley finished as 17th and 19th ladies. Nick Helliwell and Harry Brook-Dobson were also well up the field of runners.

Sunday also saw the third in the series of the winter PECO cross country mudfests. This one took place in West Park and Beckett Park in Leeds, was hosted by Abbey Runners and again attracted a large number of soon-to-be very muddy participants. 445 took part in the men’s race and it was won by Dan Garbutt of St Teresa’s AC. The first Harrier home was Dan McKeown, finishing in 25th place and also coming first in his category of M45. There were several particularly heroic performances which deserve a mention. Forrest Hamilton injured his ankle in the first kilometre but dug in to continue the run and finish in a very good time well into the top half of finishers in 146th place. Jaysson Sawyer continued to excel on his road to recovery, finishing 96th. Most unbelievably

Danny Thompson arrived at the last minute, having just completed the West Yorkshire league cross-country fixture just up the road at Bramley several minutes previously, and still managed to finish in 165th place.  Excellent runs were also had by Stephen Gott, finishing in 75th, Robert Hamilton and Jim Ryder, who came second and seventh in their respective categories.

The women’s race was a little more sparse in terms of Ilkley Harriers but was represented with no less commitment with excellent runs from Sarah Lambert and Diane Kitchen, who was third in her category.

Meanwhile, in South Yorkshire, a lone Harrier represented Ilkley in the ‘Travellers 6’. A six-mile undulating road run around the Denby Dale area saw Mark Hall superbly finish 11th out of a total of 198 runners in a time of 37.58. Unsurprisingly as it is almost always the case, Mark won his MV60 category.

The 5K parkruns seemed a little quieter than usual this week with people preparing for Christmas and some big running events over the festive period. There were a couple of results of note however. At Roberts Park Rachel Carter was first lady and Harry Brook-Dobson managed a new personal best of 20.31. While Adam Gerrish travelled all the way to Timboon Australia to finish in first in what was likely to be lovely warm sunshine in comparison to December in Yorkshire.