THE continued warm weather definitely didn’t hamper the Harriers this week who were out in force on the road, fells and trails in another exciting week of racing.
Bob Graham Round fever continued this week with another successful solo attempt by Peter Shelley in an amazing 22 hours and 20 minutes. Starting and finishing at The Moot Hall, Keswick in the Lake District, at 66 miles and 27,000 feet of ascent this is not a challenge for the faint hearted. To become a member of the Bob Graham 24-hour club, runners must summit 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District in less than 24 hours. After months of preparation and supported by several club mates, Shelley set out at 6:30pm on Friday 16 June.
He seemed to deal with the hot conditions exceptionally well and had a consistent run to earn himself a place in the members’ club; a fantastic achievement.
Further afield, Sarah and John Hayes travelled north of the border to take part in the Seven Hills of Edinburgh event. The course is a combination of road-running, cross-country, hill-running, and urban orienteering. The total distance is a little over 14 miles, with 2200 ft of climb. Competitors can enter the race or the challenge and in both can determine their own routes up and down each of the seven hills which include the Castle, Corstorphine Hill and Arthur’s Seat. John tackled the race and completed the tough event in 02:19:01. Sarah entered the challenge event and completed it in 3:14:40.
Staying off road, Harriers dominated the podium at the annual Beamsley Beacon Fell race on Thursday. Despite being only 5.5 miles long the challenge of the 335m climb makes this a tough fell race. Starting and finishing in the village the route takes runners on a flagged route to the top of the beacon where they can choose which route they choose to descend.
Two Harriers led from the beginning with Ed Hobbs eventually taking the win in 33:26, closely followed by Sam Bentham in 34:31. Forrest Hamilton was the next Harrier home, finishing in the top ten in 38:13, securing the men’s team prize for Ilkley Harriers. Kelly Wilby was the first female home in 51:54 closely followed by Alison Weston in 52:31 which secured her first place in her age category.
Fell wins continued on Sunday with Oli Murphy storming home to take first place in the Settle Hills Fell race. A 7-mile race out of the town on a figure of eight course the route challenges participants with very steep ascents/descents giving a total elevation of 600m. Murphy had a great race, completing the event in 54:02. Dick Waddington was next home in 1:19:01 followed by Geoff Howard in 1:24:05 securing him first place in his age category. Next over the line was Helen Waddington who was third in her age category completing the event in 1:30:21.
Closer to home there was a great turnout for the Otley 10-mile road race, a fixture of the summer Yorkshire running scene with a very friendly but competitive atmosphere. The race starts and ends at Otley Cricket Club with a grandstand finish round the field. 19 Harriers lined up to tackle the hilly course resulting in prizes galore: Sally Armitage had a blistering run completing the course in 1:06:55 and taking third place overall; and Hilda Cousley and Dan McKeown took first places in their age categories completing the event in 1:33:49 and 1:04:12 respectively.
Jack Wood was the first Harrier home taking fourth place overall in 56:16 and there were age category top three placings for Steve Murray, Mike Williams, Kay Pearce, Jean Sullivan and Fiona Schneider. Some fantastic results.
On Sunday two Harriers ventured into South Yorkshire to take part in the Norman Cole Pensitone 10km road race. Taking in the roads around the historic market town of Pensitone the undulating course heads out towards the Pennine foothills eventually taking a steep downhill to reach the Trans Pennine Trail for the last two and a half kilometres on a fast flat surface back to the football club.
Both Harriers walked away with age category winners’ prizes; Mark Hall had a great run completing the course in 38:28 and finishing in eighth place overall; while one Harrier completed the event in 43:58 nearly ten minutes ahead of the next competitor in her category.
Hall’s category win came hot on the heels of an outstanding performance at the York Evensplits 5k event on Friday. These monthly races are designed to encourage participants to improve their times with the flat and fast York event proving a great course to achieve personal bests. Two Harriers took part and both achieved age category wins. Hall was first over the line in an outstanding 17:51, a club record for this distance; and Geoff Howard crossed the line in 23:20.
There were some outstanding performances on the track at the Podium Barrowford 5k event. These are a series of graded events creating a great race with similar standard competition and providing the best chance of a personal best. The course is flat, traffic free and fast as evidenced by the Harriers’ results! Nathan Edmondson and Ruaridh Mon-Williams took part in the A grade race and completed in 14:48 and 15:17 respectively. Christos Tzelis and Junior Harrier Archie Budding competed in the B grade race and completed in 15:34 and 16:00 respectively, with Christos finishing comfortably in the top ten.
And finally, parkrunners must be getting used to running in hot conditions as 20 braved the events this weekend again, with some fantastic top ten positions: Dave Foyston was the third finisher at the Fountains Abbey event in 17:29; at Woodhouse Moor, Mike Abrams-Cohen was the fifth finisher in 18:49; Steve Coy and Steve Murray both finished in the first ten at the Bradford event in 18:43 and 19:36 respectively with Paula Reynier coming over the line in 26:29 as ninth finisher; further afield Jacqui Foster took part in the Fell Foot event at Newby Bridge completing it in 25:10 and in seventh position; while at the Sizewell event the Mon-Williams family were having a great morning with both Mark and Rebecca finishing in the top ten in 20:34 and 25:41 respectively; Adam Gerrish took on the Armley event and was the tenth finisher in 19:26; and finally Fiona Schneider went over to Cliffe Castle finishing in the top ten in 29:30.
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