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Please send any Harriers news or results to news@ilkleyharriers.org.uk for this web site and for the Ilkley Gazette.
Following the announcement on 4th Jan 21 of a further lockdown period, the latest Government rules with regard to exercise and activities are as follows:
You may leave the home to
This means that all organised club sessions are cancelled with immediate effect. If you do meet with another club member as part of your allowed exercise this must not be as a 'club activity' and so we would ask that you do not wear Ilkley Harriers branded clothing etc.
As further clarification is published by the Government or from UK Athletics on what is / is not allowed then we will update you all accordingly.
In the meantime, stay safe and stay active (within the rules) :)
From Jeff Green ...
The Great Owl GPX Grand Prix series which kicked off in July and included 12
races (best 5 to count) finally drew to a close on 1st Jan 2021. Only two
Harriers competed - myself and Steven Bysouth - but we both finished in the
top 10 with Steven just missing out (by 1 point) in a very closely fought
battle for first place. I got off to a good start with efforts that placed
me 4th in The Roundhay Rumble (see earlier race report), 2nd - to Steven,
obviously! - in The Dick Double (Medium Fell) and 3rd in Wild West Park
(Short Trail). Unfortunately, an ongoing Achilles problem meant I had to
stick to the short races for my last two counters and couldn't match my
earlier form, finishing 6th overall and first MV50. Steven on the other
hand, ran 11 out of the 12 races, won 4 and never dropped below 3rd place,
including a win in the 45k North Leeds Trail Marathon! A well-deserved
custom-made trophy should soon be sitting on Steven's mantelpiece!
Results ...
From Sally Armitage ...
Cam Reilly ran in Podium's 5k's sub 15 minute elite race
Results ...
(1 14:11 Emile Cairess, Leeds City AC) 17 14:56 Cameron Reilly 24 ran
From Jeff Green ... ...
Main Prizes:
Overall Team of 6 winners: Jingle Fell Juniors (Alexander Wolfenden & Dylan Shinn, Archie Budding & Harry Stead, Oscar Shinn & Ethan Doyle)
Overall Pair winners: Ebeneezer Herod FC (Dan McKeown & Danny Thompson)
Handicap Team of 6 winners: Jingle Bell Rock (Rachel Carter & Nick Kealey, Kate Archer & Helen Thurston, Nick Helliwell & Steve Murray)
Handicap Pair winners: The Full Colin: Rachel and Nick (Rachel Carter & Nick Kealey)
Fancy Dress Team of 6 winners: Tinsel Toes (Catherine Crawley & Zoe Donnely, Tom Lally & Jayne Norman, Justin Pierce & Tom Lambe)
Fancy Dress Pair winners: Turkey Twizzlers (Jonathan & Dawn Turner)
Spot Prizes:
Catherine Crawley & Zoe Donnely (Tinsel Toes) who "went the extra mile" and submitted the longest fell leg route as they were having too much fun and overshot the Badger Stone by some way!
Dick Waddington & John Hayes (Dos Santos) for their post-run shower in Willy Hall's Spout and fell leg boulder antics.
Alexander Wolfenden and Dylan Shinn (Jingle Fell Juniors) for their blisteringly quick fell leg.
Dave Robson & Mike Duffield (Rum and Racing) for making everyone jealous with their experimental recovery nutrition: rum & mince pies!
Special mentions:
All the runners that ran more than 3 legs competitively, topped by Rachel Carter who ran a total of 7 legs for 4 different teams.
All the pairs that ran all 3 legs in one go (known as a "Full Colin", after Colin Williams' tendency to do this when entering Dan McKeown's Strava segment time trials).
Clockwise or Anticlockwise:
Surely the biggest controversy since Mike AC's latest pair of trainers... which was the best way round?
Fell: 78% ran clockwise (Rocky Valley then Badger Stone)
Trail: 59% ran anticlockwise (Up Heber's Ghyll; down White Wells steps)
Road: 67% ran anticlockwise (Down Well's Road)
Thank you:
To Dan McKeown, Adam Nodwell of Great Owl Running and Keighley & Craven's Gathering Winter Fools relay for help and inspiration.
To the small but perfectly-formed event team (Jean Sullivan, Jonathan Turner and Sally Armitage) and to others on the committee who helped out and supported.
Link to results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R-GSantL7iGOkAbaD1nOFmi6qV9zUsAnTi0xXagi2wY
Link to photo gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YudEhqSCZUSNQ3mY6
There's a different look to the Harriers' Christmas Relays this year, but they still feature fancy dress and Festive fun - although you'll have to provide the mulled wine and mince pies yourself!
We've come up with a new format featuring three different 5km routes in Ilkley - one fell, one trail and one road.
You can do them at any point from now until Christmas Eve - in socially-distanced pairs. Choose whether to take on all three or be part of a team of six and just tackle one of them.
And there's the option to enter individually too as we'll pair you up with someone of a similar pace - just let us know whether you want to be in a team of two or six. The more, the merrier.
Just like Dan's popular weekly time trial segments, you can have as many goes as you like, with the fastest counting towards the regularly-updated leaderboard.
As well as fancy dress, socially-distanced selfie photos are also strongly encouraged. There are prizes for a range of categories, including best outfit, so it's as much about the taking part as being the quickest.
The rules, legs and an entry form are all available by clicking here.
In line with Government guidelines training can resume with bookable sessions as before the 'lockdown'. See the Training page.
From Petra Bijsterveld...
This annual mixed terrain half marathon organised by Baildon Runners had been postponed from April to today, felicitously just a few days before the next lockdown will be upon us. The club put on a masterclass of how to host an event during a pandemic, with perfect social distancing and a race in time trial format and a staggered departure in groups of 6 runners at 1 minute intervals from the field at race HQ to the start line half a mile down the hill. The course was marked as well as fully marshalled and without exception the Baildon marshals were full of cheer and encouragement, so even though most runners spent the entire race on their own, there was a proper race atmosphere to enjoy. The forecast had been for a lot of rain, but we were very lucky today as the sun shone on us the entire morning. Sadly that had no effect on the underfoot conditions which due to the heavy rain during the week were pretty dire. I have done this race quite a few times and this must be the muddiest I have ever seen this course, it made it harder on the legs but didn't dampen my enjoyment. There were some excellent Harrier times with Dan McKeown coming in the top 10 and Kate Archer was second female overall. I can only imagine they glided over the mud through sheer speed! Sadly that is not part of my skill set, I was pleased enough to avoid face planting in the mud.
We were all rewarded with a small pack of Yorkshire Tea teabags at the finish, my favourite, so what more can you want? Well done Baildon Runners for staging this event!
Results ...
(1 1:25:39 Michael Malyon, Baildon Runners) 8 1:34:22 Daniel McKeown 1st M40 17 1:38:49 Danny Thompson 28 1:45:48 Kate Archer 2nd F 29 1:45:51 Dave Robson 61 1:55:24 Steve Murray 63 1:56:33 Catherine Crawley 2nd F40 83 2:02:35 Mark Judkowski 2nd M60 107 2:08:38 Mike Baldwin 108 2:08:38 Claire McLoughlin 196 2:37:11 Petra Bijsterveld 201 2:38:08 Helen Doyle 225 2:49:10 Amanda Newham 251 finished
From Sally Armitage ...
This is a monthly 5k series organised by Evensplits which consists of 5 1k laps of the York Sport Village cycle track. The flat profile makes it a slightly more attractive course than the Leeds version of the same series (not yet resumed), which runs at the Brownlee Centre and has a slight hill with each lap.
This was the first race back since COVID halted the series in March. The organisers do a fantastic job of making the event 'COVID safe', including separating runners into 3 waves, within each wave 8 socially distanced runners are set off at 10 second intervals. We were then quickly ushered away from the track immediately on crossing the finish line.
3 Harriers made the trip to York. I went specifically with the goal of a sub 19 minute time, which I was pleased to achieve. Mike obliterated his current PB yet again by 16 seconds with a stonking fast sub 18 minute time. Rhys also ran fantastically and came in well under the 20 minute mark.
Results ...
(1 15:07 Rob Scott,Richmond & Zetland) 38 17:45 Michael Abrams-Cohen 66 18:59 Sally Armitage 78 19:34 Rhys Jones 142 ran
From Jann Smith...
50km, 4300ft - 5hr 54 mins - 8th overall.
Ranger Ultras did so well to put this event on combined with its sister event the 3Peaks Ultra at 70km. We were set off in groups of 6, every 5 minutes which made it a bit more intetesting, also wearing face masks for the first and last two miles.
These races are very friendly and low key and great as an introduction to Ultras. We set off from Hawes, uphill to Ten End then across to Horton in Ribblesdale where we climbed Pen Y Ghent then rejoined the Pennine Way and made our way back to Hawes, all great views and landscapes.
I was 5th overall and finished in 5h44, half an hour within the ladies course record but there was another lady in front of me!
From Petra Bijsterveld... For most of us the first racing event since lockdown in March, this very well organised event by Evensplits offered a choice of all distances, using laps of the Elvington Airfield runway. Runners were set off in groups of 8 at short intervals therefore this was a time trial rather than a race, and it felt very safe as far as social distancing is concerned. The location would have been a road runner's paradise had it not been for the strong headwind which put paid to any aspirations of a PB for most of us, hares or tortoises alike. Excellent times nevertheless for Dan and Michael who tackled the marathon which surely must have been the most mind-numbing as well as leg-numbing experience ever, with almost 10 laps of the circuit and absolutely zero of interest to look at. Personally I think I ran an all time worst for a flat 5k, it didn't help that it was mile 3 which was straight into the wind! That aside, it was great to be at an event again with some fellow Harriers.
Marathon (1 2:25:45 Michael Wright, Central Athletic Club) 34 2:55:24 Dan McKeown 92 3:42:15 Michael Ho 131 ran 10K (1 31:43 Joe Sagar, Spenborough AC) 91 42:42 Harry Stead 298 ran 5K (1 15:25 Gary Priestley, Salford AC) 42 18:28 Michael Abrams-Cohen 62 19:46 Sally Armitage 78 21:00 Archie Budding 101 23:26 Rob Budding 110 25:02 Nicola Budding 127 28:09 Petra Bijsterveld 158 ran
From Sally Armitage ...
A multi race event holding a 5k, 10k, 10 miler, half marathon and full marathon on the runway. There were 6 harriers entered in the 5k which was one lap of the runway, finishing with a 1 mile straight run to the finish. The first 2 miles got all our PB hopes up, I am convinced there was no wind at all, however turning the corner to begin the 1 mile home-straight saw us all run into an horrific headwind. Whipping PBs from under our feet!
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the day, it was fantastically organised, there couldn't have been more room to social distance and, despite the 5k being the last event of the day, the portaloos were still immaculately clean! The sun was shining and it was brilliant seeing friends again.
From Dan McKeown...
Sunday saw our annual Ilkley Incline race re-imagined as a socially distanced time trial for club members only. Runners ascended the hill with no company save their own thoughts, the morning birdsong, and the occasional errant 4x4.
(In order to be extra Covid-compliant, I pre-added safety pins to all the race numbers on the eve of the race to prevent germs being passed via the communal safety pin pot. Not only was this a particularly prosaic use of a Saturday evening - even in the age of Covid - but it probably sets an unfortunate precedent for future events.)
We had a great turnout on the morning with over 40 Harriers taking part and a lot of red and green vests getting their first outing in a while. Steve and Gaenor sent the runners off every minute, and Neil and I awaited them at the top with our timing sheets and a few choice words of encouragement.
Not that the runners needed it - despite the unfamiliar format, we were treated to some very quick times, with the final runner of the day, Nathan Edmondson, delivering a stellar 7:05 to unseat long-time leader Oli Murphy (7:31). Dan Dry (third overall) and Nathan Coy (fourth) also went inside eight minutes.
Jane McCarthy took the ladies' race in fine style, almost making up the gap on second-placed runner Fay Walsh who started a minute ahead of her. Fay edged out Catherine Crawley by a bare second, with Catherine taking third.
We're a bit up in the air on prizes at the moment; hopefully we'll sort out the how, what, where and when (and possibly even the why) in the next few days. In the meantime, pinning on a number and seeing some friendly faces doesn't seem like a bad reward in itself.
Many thanks to everyone who came out and took part, and especially to Steve, Gaenor and Neil for marshalling on the day, Hilda, Jonathan and Petra for other work behind the scenes in the lead-up to the race, and to Oli for some great snaps, which are on the club members' FB page.
1 Nathan Edmondson 7:05 2 Oli Murphy 7:31 3 Dan Dry 7:34 4 Nathan Coy 7:47 (first MU23) 5 Jon Denniss 8:10 6 Steven Gott 8:17 (first MV40) 7 Istvan Jacso 8:21 8 Jeff Green 8:29 (first MV50) 9 Michael Abrams-Cohen 8:34 10 Steven Bysouth 8:42 11 Rob Cunningham 8:50 12 Nick Kealey 8:51 13 Jim Ryder 9:04 14 Dan McKeown 9:16 15 Peter Shelley 9:17 16 Jonathan Turner 9:32 17 Forrest Hamilton 9:37 18 John Hayes 9:57 19 Colin Williams 10:05 20 Jane McCarthy 10:08 (first FV40) 21 Matt Snow 10:22 22 Richard Joel 10:25 23 David Singleton 10:28 24 Tim Johnson 10:29 25 Mike Williams 10:37 (first MV60) 26 Robert Hamilton 10:43 27 Michael Ho 10:46 28 Tom Lambe 10:49 29 Duncan Cooper 10:55 30 Fay Walsh 10:56 (first FOPEN) 31 Catherine Crawley 10:57 32 Justin Pierce 11:17 33 Zoe Donnely 12:10 34 Jane Bryant 12:23 (first FV50) 35 Tom Lally 12:26 36 Phil Chappell 12:30 37 Alison Weston 12:43 38 Jean Sullivan 12:57 39 Clare Boyle 13:05 40 Hilda Coulsey 13:21 (first FV60) 41 Dawn Turner 14:37 42 Jacqui Weston 16:01
From Steve Turland... Last Friday I finished the challenge of running the 214 Wainwrights in the Lakes by doing a "book a day" solo and unsupported. I'd saved the Southern Fells until last as it was notably harder than all of the other books - covering the Coniston Fells, the Scafell Range, Bowfell, Crinkle Crags and various others in between. In the end it turned out to be broadly equivalent to a Bob Graham in terms of distance and height, and took me just short of 26 hours. Around 12 hours had to be in the dark, but on the plus side, with a 4am start, I managed to catch two sunrises in one run.
Thoroughly enjoyed doing these books as single outings - been a great alternative whilst most races have been cancelled. Got to parts of the Lakes I'd never been to before and seen some great views and amazing sunsets/sunrises. This was my final tally.
From Jeff Green ...
The Great Owl GPX Grand Prix is a series of 12 time trials which can be run at any time from when the race opens until 06th December:
- Course lengths range from 4.5k to 45k.
- Your best 5 scores count towards the overall result.
- Enter and pay what you like through RaceBest.
- Download the GPX file and route description, run a recce if you like, then go for it and submit your time.
It's like Dan's weekly segment time trials but with longer routes - even the on-line form will be familiar to those who've submitted a segment effort. The only thing missing is the entertaining weekly write-up, but I guess you can't have everything!
Attempt 1 on 9th Sep. Time: 28:34
Full of enthusiasm, but short of time, I decided to have a crack at the Roundhay route without a recce and rely on the fairly primitive navigation functionality that my watch provides. Conditions were pretty good, but I took a couple of wrong turns and had to double back, which probably cost me around 90s. Getting home, and re-reading the rules before submitting my route and time, I realised that you had to enter before running (fair enough), so my scrappy attempt wouldn't count anyway!
Attempt 2 on 19th Sep. Time: 07:30
Perfect conditions for runners and, as it happens, for mountain-bikers. Coming round a corner in the woods I collided head-on with one coming full-speed in the opposite direction. I suffered a few scratches and a bloody knee, but neither of us was seriously injured - I was more shaken up than anything else. The rider was very apologetic and helped me find my glasses which were lying some distance away in the undergrowth!
Attempt 3 on 23rd Sep. Time: 27:07
Heavy rain all day meant that by the time of my evening effort the trails were muddy and a bit slippery in places, but everything else went to plan. I even ran a slightly faster average pace than my first attempt - third time lucky!
Recceing already underway for my next route, The Dick Double: visit Ilkley Moor and Baildon Moor trig points, starting and finishing from Dick Hudson's - any route you like.
Further info
Entries
Results so far
From Sally Armitage ... This race consisted of 9.5 laps of the Steven Burke Cycle track in Barrowford. The race was run in 5 heats, sub 40, sub 37:30, sub 34:30, sub 32:00 and sub 30 minutes. Each heat had a maximum of 20 runners. It was really well organised, there were no spectators and social distancing rules were in place.
Myself and Cam Reilly were the only Harriers to attend. I had a difficult run and was a bit disappointed. I even started making involuntary groaning noises on the final lap which I've NEVER done before... Cam Reilly however flew round at the speed of light for a fantastic personal best of 32:16
Results ...
Sub 32 heat (1 30:41 Tom Higgs, South London Harriers) 14 32:16 Cam Reilly 15 ran Sub 40 heat (1 32:18 Matthew Watson, unattached) 10 39:52 Sally Armitage 13 ran
From Steve Turland... As part of my lockdown plan to run all the Wainwrights, last week I managed to get round all of the Eastern Fells in the Lakes. 35 Wainwrights, but basically the Fairfield Horseshoe, Helvellyn Ridge plus a handful of other tops and outliers. Was in the mist for much of the day, which made the navigation difficult at times and a fair amount was in the dark given the time of year. But managed to catch a great sunset on Great Mell Fell. Pleased to get round in just over 19 hours, clocking 57 miles and 18,000ft of ascent. One more book to go - the Southern Fells. Hoping to get it done in the next couple of weeks - just waiting for a 24hr weather window.
From Andrew Merrick ... And finally ... my first running event of the year, taking place on the Cleveland Way over 110 miles and 6000m of ascent. It was initially scheduled for the end of May but was delayed until last weekend for obvious reasons. I can report that, overall, navigation was pretty straightforward, with the occasional aid of the GPX file. I made a couple of small errors at forks in the path and when following a couple of people, but noticed pretty quickly ... and I had at least remembered to recharge my watch in daylight during periods where the path was obvious so I had a fully charged watch by the time I got to the night sections.
Covid restrictions resulted in runners being set off in pods of six at 3 minute intervals and all the check points/feed stations being outdoors with a limited range of supplies, and no hot drinks or food. The emphasis from the Hardmoors team has also been on runners having a support crew - they require serious race experience before letting you run unsupported - but it was even more important under these conditions. Entertainingly the organisers specify compulsory check points for the support crew!
The kindest description of the weather would be blustery and showery - with the wind initially blowing from behind but it didn't seem to take long to change direction.... (it was probably us that changed direction!). As I was running I was reminded of having left my washing out on Thursday night!!.... for much of Friday just as the strong wind was drying it again, another shower appeared. I felt in the same state of wind blown dampness for much of Saturday - it stopped raining about 10pm - with the rain showers ranging from refreshing to beyond unpleasant.
It was actually my first time having a support crew, I did at least have an insight into how tough it is having supported an ultra friend in challenging conditions in Wales earlier in the year (storm Ciara weekend I think)... The support team (my daughter Sophie and Lis) did an outstanding job - getting to all our planned spots on time (I had declared myself as an unsupported runner to avoid Lis and Soph having to do the compulsory overnight check points but as it turns out.....) which made for very speedy pit stops. Early on in the race, I simply swapped empty soft flasks for full ones, grabbed a (peeled) banana and was on my way... Later on, as tea and hot food was required, my best buy of the year - a car kettle - proved its worth!
Releasing runners in pods of six, after our pre-registration temperature check and tracker fitting, made for an interesting dynamic - do I try to stay in my pod, or try to catch up the next one as that spread out in front of us? I was guilty of the latter approach with the help of a strong supporting breeze at least initially so was travelling more quickly than I had intended. Similarly with no indoor feed stations, support was much more distributed along the course which also made running in groups more challenging as runners stopped in different places for different amounts of time. Fortunately, overnight I was lucky to find people travelling at a similar pace so I ended up with company for all of the night sections. It was hard work - with two or three of you travelling at a similar speed, there is no let-up, not least on the climbs, but certainly better that way.
Our pod set off at 8:33 on Saturday morning from a sunny if windy Filey Brigg, and my progress was reasonably smooth up the coast until Saltburn about 50 miles away, and still not half way, before beginning to head inland. Over this section the biggest challenges were a significant number of steps, trying to avoid getting sand in my shoes across various beaches (at least the tide was out), and weaving through a very busy Whitby amongst a number of other coastal towns, all of which were closer to sea level than most of the Cleveland Way.... hence the steps.
I wasn't expecting to make it to the summit of Roseberry Topping by daylight, and I wasn't wrong! A challenging climb - the inland section of the Cleveland Way specialises in uneven, slippery-when-damp, stone steps on the uphill and downhill sections along much of its length. Topping Roseberry was made more challenging mentally since it was an out and back section of the route, exacerbated by the significant downhill that preceded it, which gave us a further uphill to look forward to on the way back.
Once I escaped from the Roseberry loop, it was at least downhill to the next feed station. I worked hard to force a pasta pot down and was clearly looking (and feeling) so rough at that point that Lis & Soph offered to meet me at the next checkpoint 14 miles further on, and at the second time of asking I said yes despite my intention to let them sleep at this point. A long overnight slog over the moor followed a climb up from Kildale but at least the group (2-4 of us) continued to move at a reasonable pace. I was feeling better by the time we got to the next checkpoint, just as well, since we had the "three sisters" to look forward to (I counted five) - some challenging short steep climbs up some more uneven slippery steps. Happily I had caught up my Geordie running buddy, after a double cup of tea stop, on the first sister so more route marching was the order of the night. I had also made a surprisingly sensible decision to grab my poles for this leg, which helped on both the ups and downs. And finally we made it to Osmotherly, where Lis and Soph were staying - they did at least get some sleep to make me feel less guilty... They had found the ideal parking spot in the centre of Osmotherly where I stopped for more tea and a porridge pot (more successful than the pasta pot) and parted company with John the Geordie who carried on to the race check point which was two miles further on (uphill) from the town itself.
Feeling slightly refreshed and knowing the next two miles from a previous outing I cracked on in full route march mode, feeling happy with my progress until I got to within sight of Sutton Bank. I underestimated quite badly how long I had to go to finish this penultimate leg and was feeling slightly dispirited as John cruised past as we finally reached the descent to the car park at the bottom of the Bank. I had planned a short stop here and forced myself to have a quick cuppa before climbing the steps back out of Sutton Bank. At this point, 101 miles in, there were about 9 to go, and it was a section I knew, which was helpful. I promised myself as soon as I escaped from the top of the bank, I would try to run at least some of the last leg - I felt I owed it to my support team given the effort they had put in. Once that message got from my mind to my body it seemed to get the hang of it although I was overtaken by a gang of about 6 runners, 5 of whom I think were supporting (support runners are allowed from Runswick Bay onwards). However I managed to keep them in my sight for a few miles, only tripping over once in the process, and saw Geordie John one more time as I cruised past him. One more steady uphill and then pretty much downhill to the finish, with just one more set of steps either side of a stream to allow some coastal (step) reminiscing on the run to the outskirts of Helmsley, where Soph was waiting to guide me to the finish.
My feet finished in better shape than most ultras I have done (which certainly helped with running the last leg) due to a combination of a strategically placed blister prevention patch (thanks for that tip Sharon & Helen), foot cream (thanks Brian), and less long wet grass than on most recent events - I realised the latter is much more likely to create wet feet than rain. Two lost toe nails and two falls were both about average for my ultra adventures....
I finished at just after 11am about 26 ? hours after I had started and in plenty of time for Sunday lunch at the Black Swan, having stayed long enough at the finish to drink my first beer, be given a first V50 trophy, cheer in Geordie John, and change in the car park. My watch refused to tell me the estimated calorie burn - I think it only goes up to four figures....
A challenging race with tough under foot conditions which has a reputation for being a little hard core but with reasonably well spaced checkpoints, and some beautiful cliff top scenery, and lovely views from the top of Sutton bank. I would recommend as a relatively local challenge but be ready for the steps and the stony, slippery climbs! I would also recommend a support crew!!
On which note, a massive thank you to Lis and Sophie without whom I simply would not have finished.
From Steve Turland ...At the start of lockdown when all races started getting cancelled I set myself the challenge of running all of the 214 Wainwrights in the Lake District by doing a "book a day" (Wainwright organised all the mountains in the Lakes by geographic area into 7 books).
So far I've completed 5 of the books, with the latest at the weekend. Two more books to go over the next 3 or 4 weeks. Each outing has been solo (apart from a couple of sections) and unsupported, which means carrying a full pack, but it keeps the logistics more straightforward.
It's been great fun planning the routes, seen some amazing views and have found parts of the Lakes I've never been to before. The smaller outliers are probably the harder ones to reach! I've actually not missed racing at all - enjoyed every single minute (apart from a few dark moments).
This is my progress so far. Will report again soon ...
From Bob Hamilton ... Forrest discovered a few weeks back that this long-standing fixture had secured permissions from UK Athletics and the FRA to go ahead. Having joined the Harriers at the end of last year and having only had the chance to wear the club vest the once since then, he was keen to enter and show the old man just how well the lockdown training had gone. At 13 miles and 1,400 ft of climb, it was definitely more of a trail race than a fell race, but there were a few steep climbs and even a river crossing. The scenery was entirely new to me and very beautiful. Strict Covid protocols were in place, runners being set off at five minute intervals, six at a time. It made for a rather lonely race for me. After running the first mile with my son, I wisely let him go and then saw only six other runners all the way around the course, overtaking four and being overtaken by two. But a race is a race and it was good to be able to talk to a few old friends afterwards and kind of remember what it used to be like. Much respect and many thanks to the organiser, Martin Stone, for being bold enough to jump through all the hoops necessary to make this event happen. The consensus was that it was a great success.
For the record ...(1 1:19:54, Chris Holdsworth, CVFR) 60 1:55:21 Forrest Hamilton 103 2:06:43 Bob Hamilton 234 finished
From Mike Abrams-Cohen ...
"the first race since lockdown was hotly anticipated, so much so that all 6 races were sold out in 1 minute and 24 seconds.
In the elite race Marc Scott and Alex Yee both went under the previous British Road 5k record and were also notably within a few seconds of the European record (held by Jimmy Gressier, I think).
In the "equally" anticipated 'D' race, Mike AC ran 18:20 to secure 17th place out of 22, in another stellar field with the winning runners well below 17 minutes.
The standard in all the races was stacked and it was great to see such high quality racing. I look forward to the race scene opening up in future months.
Results
All members will have received an info email and this updated information and booking link is on the Training page.
From Hilda Coulsey ... Very sadly I report that Pete Shields has passed away. A Harrier since 1992, an outstanding coach, leading training sessions, setting out race routes, seeing a task that needed to be done and doing it and he was a pretty nifty racer too. Always helpful and encouraging whether taking a group session, setting detailed plans for individuals, or just being there to talk to and run with. But most of all a very kind man, a top bloke. Our sympathy and thoughts are with his family.
From Geoff Howard ...At some time after the Covid 19 restrictions are lifted, Pete Shields' family hope to hold a memorial service and celebration of his life. As part of this, they have asked if I could deliver an extended version of the five minute limited tribute I was deeply honoured to give at his cremation service. As well as having a wealth of personal memories of Pete, and of the anecdotes he would tell when travelling to races, I would like to include any special memories or stories that others may have. Although the memorial service could well be a good way off, it would be helpful if anyone who would like to contribute could contact me well beforehand so that I can try to blend things together in a way truly befitting of Pete at ghoward44@oulook.com.
Has the lockdown set you on the path to running? Whether you're a beginner or re-discovering your love for it, Ilkley Harriers have put together some local routes, mostly around 7-8k.
They stick to roads and avoid gates as much as possible. Please use pavements where they exist - but if you do need to run on the road, then use the right-hand side so you can see oncoming traffic.
Hopefully they'll help to keep things ticking over whatever your usual sport - and new members are always welcome.
Strava map links in this PDF document.
These and other routes on the Run Library page.
We very much hope all Harriers are staying safe and healthy following another unprecedented week for the UK.
The good news is that one form of exercise a day from home is encouraged - such as a run, walk or cycle - alone or with members of your household. You should avoid busy areas and keep more than 2m away from others.
The introduction of the lockdown saw Dan McKeown put the solo time trial competition on pause until the restrictions are eased. Strava segments close to home - which you can also set up yourself - are a good alternative for now. More details on that, plus how to get in touch with Dan via this link.
Meanwhile Steve Coy has started the weekly home turbo sessions, which are posted on the Harriers Facebook page.
Helen Waddington has created two alternative 1k Strava segments to widen the scope for 5x1k efforts. So as well as the two down on the Nesfield Road in Ilkley, there are now ones in Addingham (Ilkley Old Road) and Burley (Hag Farm Road) for anyone who lives in those areas.
And Malcolm Pickering continues to post weekly advice and suggestions on the WhatsApp track group, advocating easy, enjoyable running from home to keep things ticking over and immune systems strong.
To be added to any of the Harriers WhatsApp groups just email Hilda or Petra.
It means there are still plenty of ways to continue training and stay in touch and we'll send this newsletter every week to highlight them.
England Athletics also have a range of helpful initiatives on their Athletics at home hub.
And just in case anyone missed their announcement earlier this week, EA has extended the suspension of all activities (including races and club sessions) until the end of May.
Unfortunately, this means that the Harriers-organised Ilkley Trail Race (scheduled for 25th May) has been cancelled - as has the Calderdale Way Relay, for which two teams had been entered.
Following the e-newsletter which was sent yesterday we would like to update our advice to all members in line with the statement which has tonight been made by the Prime Minister.
From tonight, people in Britain will be allowed to leave their homes for only "very limited purposes" - shopping for basic necessities; for one form of exercise a day; for any medical need; and to travel to and from work when "absolutely necessary".
Hence we cannot encourage any meet ups and we urge all members to be responsible with the exercise route they take.
We have not been able to find a more precise definition yet with regards to the distance and locality allowed of the 'one form of exercise a day'. Further updates will be provided by the club as more government guidance is received.
As we all adjust to the current COVID-19 situation - and while always following the latest government guidelines about safe distance and safe exercise environments - we've taken the first steps in generating a virtual Harriers community.
The aim is to help everyone to continue to train, keep in touch, and maintain morale and fitness in these testing times whilst the government continues to advise it.
Several virtual club sessions will now be posted on both the Harriers Facebook page and on WhatsApp.
If you're not part of the Facebook community - then click here to join.
To be added to a WhatsApp group - just email secretary@ilkleyharriers.org.uk or mship@ilkleyharriers.org.uk
And to join the Strava club click here.
The virtual - and solo - sessions are as follows:
1/ Wednesday track efforts - Malcolm Pickering will post the plan for each week so that you can do it in your own time, close to home. And any questions or advice, just get in touch via the WhatsApp group.
2/ Saturday morning 5x1k efforts. Helen Waddington is going to update on Facebook on the Thursday or Friday beforehand. Again, just ask any questions on there or via WhatsApp.
3/ Dan McKeown has created a solo time trial competition on Strava which allows an element of racing, while running alone. It will adapt and evolve according to the latest government advice, as will all of these options. And it is absolutely aimed at all levels - age/gender adjusted and improver prizes. Full details here.
4/ Turbo session (and maybe also strength and conditioning). This one's a work in progress - but chairman Steve Coy is a level 3 Tri coach and will be creating a range of sessions for Leeds Bradford Tri and is more than happy to do at least one turbo session a week for the Harriers as well as answer any questions via social media. It could be a great time to try something different and mix it up a bit, especially if we're limited in where we can run.
There is clearly a strong chance things will get worse before they get better. So if you have a lovely run and see anything from daffodils to spring lambs, a photo on Strava or the Harriers Facebook page could be uplifting for everyone.
Indeed, posting pics and evidence from any of the sessions above is also a great way to keep the interaction going. We'll be updating everyone each week via the website and Harriers newsletter so please let us have any ideas or suggestions you'd like including.
England Athletics has today advised that all face-to-face activity such as club training sessions, events, competitions, meetings, athlete camps, running groups and social events should be suspended until at least the end of April.
This follows yesterday's government announcement that everyone in the UK should avoid "non-essential" contact with others to fight coronavirus.
And, like everyone, our club has a responsibility to play our part and help the wider community. We had already called off tonight's social runs and now all Harriers activities have been cancelled until further notice.
And though running may seem relatively unimportant in the bigger picture, we all know what a key part it is in many people's lives - as well as the benefits of maintaining personal fitness and keeping active.
So, while always following the latest government guidelines about safe distance and safe exercise environments, we hope to be able to generate a virtual Harriers community as people train alone or in much smaller groups to help keep up morale, fitness and mental health in these unprecedented and rapidly-evolving times.
Please keep an eye on the Harriers website here, Facebook page and WhatsApp group - as well as the Ilkley Harriers club section on Strava which is now 170-runners strong.
We're all in this together and we very much look forward to being able to run together again in the not-too-distant future.
In the meantime stay safe and stay strong.
From Steve Coy and the Harriers' Committee.
From the Committee ...
Racing:
Oli Murphy, for a phenomenal 74-minute half marathon in windy Brighton
Dave Foyston for a big 5k PB (17:29) at the first EvenSplits 5k
Jo-Ann Pattinson for knocking 6 mins off her PB at the Barcelona half marathon
Cameron Reilly, setting a new club 5km record at Armagh 5km road race
David Singleton, Matthew Snow, Geoffrey White and Roar Leijssen, who ran in the final race of the PECO league at West Park. By turning up, in difficult race conditions, this led to Ilkley Harriers men winning 1st place in the 2nd division
Lucy Williamson, 1st lady, Anglesey half marathon
Volunteering:
Jonathan Turner, newspaper reports
Helen Waddington for setting up the 'efforts lite' group at 7.45am on a Saturday morning
From Caroline Howe... Nathan's time of 52:17 is only 28 seconds outside the club record which has stood since 1990 ...
and Sally's time is just 2s outside the LV55 club record set in 2010
Results ...
(1 51:44 Graham Rush, Leeds City) 3 52:17 Nathan Edmondson 198 69:01 Brit Tate 285 74:00 Sally Malir 961 finishers
Well done to Dom Coy, winner of the Young Male Sportsperson category.
From Jane McCarthy...
Feeling as though it might be a last chance at a city road race for a while I took advantage of an entry to Liverpool Half Marathon, after Dentdale 14 was cancelled on Saturday. A slightly frantic journey there caused by a 20 mile detour due to overnight M62 closures not having reopened by 8am meant parking up with 15 minutes to spare. No problem - with multi-storey parking 200m from the start line and masses of portaloos I was a little short of a decent warm up but otherwise good to go. The course is pretty much flat after a kilometre long hill in mile 2, does a nice figure of 8 in Sefton Park, and finishes with a 4-mile run in Dockside of the River Mersey in front of the Liver Building. It is a well organised, fast Course, not too big a field and well marshalled again this year. I couldn't find any other Harriers in the results. Perfect conditions for running, I found myself early on with the 1hr 30min pacers and was extremely happy to be feeling comfortable at the halfway point. I pushed on and finished in my best time for 5 years at this distance. Or maybe it was my new Nike Zoom Fly 3's ... either way, a great morning out. There is also a 10-mile option.
Results ...
(1 1:09:50 Alistair Rutherford) 140 1:28:04 Jane McCarthy 2192 finishers
From Sally Armitage ... 5 harriers made the trip over for Podium 5k in Barrowford. This 'no frills' race is 4 and 3/4 laps of a totally flat cycle track with £5 pay on the day entry. Well known for being a 'PB' course it attracts the fastest runners, the first male finishing in 14:30 and first female (Charlotte Arter) finishing in 15:53. The final finisher of the B race crossed the line in 23:10. Conditions were good, there was a bit of a breeze however which may have affected times slightly.
A race (1 14:30 Jake Wightman, Edinburgh AC) 59 16:46 Jemima Elgood 80 ran B race (1 16:45 Jack Wilkinson, Trafford AC) 10 17:50 David Foyston 15 18:27 Mike Abrams-Cohen 18 18:52 Sally Armitage 28 20:28 Mark Iley 36 ran
From Petra ... Jemima's time is a new club record : she held the record already with 16:54 in Cardiff last year.
From Mark Judkowski ... 32 miles. This was meant to be a long distance training run for the 3 Peaks. In the event it was just a long distance run! The early signs of rain were unwelcome but it dried up by the time of the start from the bottom of the Haworth cobbles. The first third of the run was in low cloud limiting what you could see but making Top Withens very atmospheric. After that the weather cleared giving cracking views from all the peaks. The opportunities for taking in the scenery increased as my pace slowed but I made it.
From Ben Sheppard... Classed as a short race in the Runfurther series, the Haworth Hobble is nearly 32 miles with 5,350 ft of climbing on trails and tracks from Haworth over the moors to Calderdale, up Stoodley Pike and back to Haworth via Heptonstall and Crimsworth Dean. One of few races not to be cancelled this weekend, it is the second counter in the Runfurther championships - but let's hope it's not the last one this season with the Fellsman already cancelled and other cancellations likely. The Hobble has many charms. It has runnable trails, which tempt you to run too fast, and just enough distance and climb to punish you severely for having earlier run too fast. It's local, friendly and reasonably priced, the scenery is not too bad, and you get a delicious meal at the end. Thanks to organisers Brett and Sue and helpers from KCAC for another enjoyable race.
Results ...
(1 4:16:57 Kevin Hoult, CVFR) 7 4:48:56 Ben Sheppard 99 6:23:14 Mark Judkowski 236 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Woodhouse Moor (1 17:32 Bobby Ingham, U/A) 61 21:52 Tom Lambe 528 ran Fountains Abbey (1 15:48 Daniel Cheeseman, York Acorn RC) 7 18:56 Jim Ryder 29 20:47 John Hayes 163 27:14 Sarah Hayes 418 ran Horton Park (1 20:34 Michael Coe, Queensbury RC) 7 22:16 Geoff Howard 67 ran Trelai Park (1 19:04 Edward Donovan, U/A) 2 19:38 Alex Hirst 119 ran
From Vince Gibbons ...
the 2020 Brian Sweet Predictor was run on a beautiful moonlit evening. The event attracted 39 cheerful Harriers for an undulating 10k course through the streets of Ilkley. Bottles of wine go to Catherine Gibbons, Peter Tapper, Elizabeth Gribbin and Tom Lambe whose finishing times were closest to their predictions. The event took place for the second time in memory of long-standing club member Brian Sweet who died in 2017. He led club runs every week for over two decades until reaching the age of 80. He introduced hundreds of runners to the sport. Many thanks to Race Organiser Bernie Gibbons, Neil Chapman for coordinating the timing, Jonathan Turner for producing the course map, sweeper Jayne Norman and marshals Pauline Watts, Heather Duke, Sue Williamson and Vince Gibbons. Prizes will be presented at club night on Tuesday 17 March.
Results.
From Paul Stephens ... Entries are now open for the 2020 Harrogate and District Summer Race League. Enter on racebest, further details on the HDSRL web-site.
From Daniel McKeown...
The 42nd Yorkshire Veterans AA Cross Country Championship was held in fine conditions at Longley Park in Sheffield, on a 4-lap 10k course with a series of sharp punishing hills, ideal for spectators and for exposing runners who get their pacing wrong.
It swiftly became apparent that I was in this category as, after a breathless first 2k, Steve and Istvan calmly made mincemeat of me. Steve finished 8th overall in the 60-man field, scooping the V40 silver medal, with Istvan a couple of places back, bagging the V40 bronze.
Happily, this didn't spell doom for the McKeown medal mission: by dint of staying upright and avoiding disqualification (neither of which was a given) I rounded out the winning men's V40 team. We were treated to a decent haul of medals, plus the familiar amusement of the announcer making a complete hash of Istvan's name.
(1 35:48 Will Smith, Halifax Harriers) 8 37:19 Steve Gott (#2 M40) 11 37:51 Istvan Jacso (#3 M40) 14 38:56 Dan McKeown 60 ran
From Alison Weston... A tough race in southwest corner of the lakes - 8 miles with 3400 ft climbing on lovely grassy terrain but sadly no views this year! 3rd LV50 1:51 (No published results yet)
From Gaenor Coy ... Well done Cam Reilly and Dom Coy representing Yorkshire at the Intercounty cross country champs at Loughborough this morning. 16th for Dom, 37th for Cam and both contributing to team bronze medals.
In the senior race, Tom Adams was third counter for Yorkshire and an overall team silver.
From Nick Kealey ...
The Welcome Ultra is the first this year in a series of ultras hosted by Punk Panther. The Welcome Ultra follows, for a large proportion, the Welcome Way with a 51km or 65km option for runners. Starting in Otley the route initially looped north of the river before crossing the iron bridge at Ben Rhydding. Then following footpaths to Burley, over the moor towards Shipley Glen, across to Guiseley, up the Chevin and finishing in Poole. A challenging route, not helped by the mud, but a rewarding one with some amazing views.
I ran the 51km, classic course, and managed to secure 1st place in 4:43:34 which was a huge surprise testing my navigation skills given there was no one to follow!
A bowl of chilli and a friendly welcome at the end were amazing as were all the volunteers throughout who encouraged and cajoled as we shuffled along.
Would definitely recommend and plan to do more in the series in coming months.
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Cardiff (1 15:44 David Eagon, Bristol and West) 21 18:18 Alex Hirst 805 ran Bradford (1 16:43 Alexander Thompson, Wharfedale Harriers) 56 22:53 Geoffrey Howard 165 27:20 Melanie Edwards 545 ran Crichton (1 17:22 Callum Waugh, U/A) 9 20:21 Robert Budding 36 24:43 Nicola Budding 151 ran Skipton (1 16:44 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 18 22:14 Catherine Gibbons 1st F 124 29:28 Bernie Gibbons 220 ran
lkley Moor Fell Race men's team winners Ilkley Harriers - 8th Oliver Murphy, 2nd Jack Cummings & 5th Nathan Edmondson. Photo: Woodentops
From Jayne Norman ... What an event. My first year running the fell race, and boy was it hard work. Every section uphill seemed to be in the 45MPH winds. It really did take your breath away, and is all the recent wet weather- the whole course was saturated.
A super organised event and made all the better for the super marshalls encouragement all the way around, they must have been cold.
Despite me doing slightly slower than expected - I thoroughly enjoyed the race - hopefully next year will be drier! Definitely one I would recommend.
Results (v3)
Harriers results ...
(1 40:51 Robin Howie, Wharfedale) 2 42:17 Jack Cummings 5 42:36 Nathan Edmondson 8 43:50 Oliver Murphy 14 46:11 Steven Gott 16 46:47 Oscar Stapleton 36 49:52 Jim Ryder 40 50:19 Dave Robson 61 51:43 Paul Carman 65 52:08 Robin Nicholson 79 54:38 John Marsham 87 55:55 Richard Joel 101 57:19 David Westhead 103 57:28 Alistair Barlow 111 58:06 Peter Shelley 136 60:48 John Hayes 142 61:18 Matthew Sunley 154 62:10 Colin Williams 164 62:50 Alison Weston 187 64:31 Paddy Hagan 188 64:34 Jann Smith 199 65:41 Catherine Crawley 204 67:05 Tim Buckingham 208 67:43 Michael Waterhouse 218 68:52 Chris Oxlade 234 70:21 Alison Bennett 258 73:19 Anna Nolan 272 75:23 Benjamin Fenton 292 79:3 Jayne Norman 306 91:00 Amanda Newham 318 finished Ilkley 1st men's team
From Sally Armitage...
Trafford 10k, well known for being fast and flat, didn't feel either today! The wind perhaps didn't help my perception of the course but it truly felt all uphill for me today! A relatively small field, run entirely on closed country roads, with a lot of very fast runners.
Results ...
(1 29:45 James Hunt, Cardiff Athletics) 126 35:27 Jemima Elgood (9th lady) 230 39:45 Sally Armitage (32nd lady) 840 ran
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Jemima Elgood's time at Trafford broke her own club record from last April's Salford 10k by 6 seconds.
From Sue Williamson...
Kate Lofthouse and myself made our way to Anglesey for this 10k while Lucy took part in the half marathon.
The scenic race couldn't be started on the Menai bridge due to the high winds, so changes were made and the start took place in the High Street.
The storm also caused damage on the half marathon route late on Saturday night, when a tree fell onto the route meaning this route had to be
changed again. The route now involved some testing hill climbs and was a slightly longer route.
The organisers did a great job making sure the race went ahead safely, as before the atmosphere is great and of course the lovely views.
Half marathon results (1 1.21.08 Martin Green, North Wales Road Runners) 1.32.56 Lucy Williamson 1st female 1198 ran 10k results (1 34.18 Ryan Davis, Wrexham) 1.01.01 Sue Williamson 1.01.47 Kate Lofthouse 641 ran
From Petra Bijsterveld ...
This was the first ever leap year Saturday to witness parkruns, and with the next possible leap-parkrun being 2048 it felt important to get this one in!
I went to Bowling Park in Bradford which started parkrunning only 6 weeks ago. A park made for parkrun I would say, large enough to require only 2 and a half laps, with very wide all tarmac paths so no congestion and a good running surface. A cafe with toilets at the park entrance. Lovely friendly volunteers. What's not to like? Oh, hills, did I mention hills? Yes well, it makes Lister Park's 'Teeny Tiny Hill' look teeny tiny indeed. Bowling has an uphill start, that same substantial hill has to be negotiated a further two times, and then just to add to the joy there is an uphill finish. For me it was part of the Leeds & Bradford Tri club's 2020 parkrun league, I gave it my all and battled hard all the way with a fellow woman LBT'er who looked to be of a similar age to me, I finished 4 seconds ahead but lost on age-grading. Could be a tough year ahead:)
Results ...
Woodhouse Moor (1 15:40 Marcos Angel Valero Palacios, Roundhay Runners) 77 22:43 Tom Lambe 640 ran Bradford (1 17:03 Andrew Humphries, Airecentre Pacers) 11 19:37 Michael Abrams-Cohen 184 27:19 Stephanie Fox 187 27:22 Melanie Edwards 199 27:44 Paula Reynier 533 ran Skipton (1 17:03 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 16 22:13 Catherine Gibbons 231 ran Coldham's Common (1 15:57 Joseph Smith, Cambridge and Coleridge) 74 26:01 Diane Kitchen 225 ran Centre Vale (1 18:08 James Jordan, Rochdale Harriers) 34 25:41 Will Worboys 115 ran Bowling Park (1 16:25 Tom Collinge, Queensbury RC) 117 27:33 Petra Bijsterveld 261 ran
From Daniel McKeown ...
It may have passed unremarked over the weekend, but the cancellation of the final PECO XC fixture (Roundhay Park having unfortunately not recovered from the rigours of hosting an Ed Sheeran concert, I ask you) meant a couple of prizes were confirmed for Harriers.
Nathan Edmondson, with a perfect record of three wins from three races attended, was crowned league champion without even having to get out of bed on Sunday (although to give him due credit, he did do the Ilkley Moor Fell Race instead).
Meanwhile the men's team, which would probably have been *stuffed* by the fixture clash with the Fell Race, were instead left with first place and promotion in the league's second division. A big well done to everyone who showed up through the season and especially for the frankly horrible conditions at West Park in race 4. The PECO men's league boasted 704 competitors this year and, behind Nathan, we had three others in the top 100.
The ladies' team finished fifth overall in the second division, spearheaded by Alison Bennett (72nd overall out of 592 league competitors) and ever-present Diane Kitchen (103rd, second F60). Both vet teams finished fourth in the first* division (the PECO follows the risible trend of having a 'premier' division, above the first division) and the club finished fourth in the League's Colin Morath trophy for most improved club.
The league officially concludes with the PECO relays, which should be on 29 March, presuming Middleton Park doesn't get trashed by a Rita Ora concert in the meantime.
League position (out of 704) Races run Cat pos Overall points 1 Nathan Edmondson 3 (#1 MSEN) 1500 19 Daniel Mckeown 4 (#4 M40) 1427.8 21 Steven Gott 4 (#5 M40) 1419.1 67 Jaysson Sawyer 3 (#12 M40) 1255.2 174 Robert Budding 3 (#16 M50) 870 267 Simon Richardson 2 (#51 M40) 629.8 300 David Singleton 3 (#54 M45) 568.3 345 Matt Cox 1 (#62 M45) 477.9 353 Matthew Snow 3 (#67 M40) 462.6 383 Geoffrey White 3 (#65 M35) 417.2 394 Steve Murray 1 (#40 M50) 403.8 406 David Westhead 1 (#41 M50) 379.8 547 Malcolm Pickering 1 (#10 M65) 195.2 612 Roar Leijssen 1 (#96 M45) 112.9 League pos (out of 592) 72 Alison Bennett 3 (#5 F55) 1067.4 103 Diane Kitchen 4 (#2 F60) 940.9 141 Nicola Budding 3 (#10 F50) 793.6 202 Ros Brown 2 (#26 F45) 597.9 251 Rachel Carter 1 (#39 F40) 483 278 Anna Pickering 2 (#91 FSEN) 441.7 290 Caroline Howe 1 (#46 F35) 421 311 Anna Nolan 1 (#42 F45) 400.7 312 Jane Bryant 1 (#35 F50) 399.5 340 Helen Waddington 1 (#41 F50) 343.1 371 Adela Reperecki 1 (#33 F55) 311.5 374 Helen Horton 1 (#34 F55) 304.7 395 Sue Williamson 3 (#37 F55) 270.5 463 Jacqui Weston 1 (#70 F50) 174.9 482 Kate Lofthouse 2 (#52 F55) 149.7 529 Sally Wright 1 (#57 F55) 89.2
From Hilda Coulsey ...
15 minutes is beaten at the Brownlee Centre in Leeds for the first time and hence Liam Rabjohn sets a new course record. It was wintery chilly and the attendance wasn't great for this first of the 2020 series of 10 monthly 5ks. I'm sure that will change as the year progresses. The juniors provided good competition with Alexander arriving first. I was pleased to clip a couple of seconds of my 2018 Harriers v65 record - an endorsement perhaps of the benefits of the Wednesday track session and the Saturday 7:45am 'lite'!
Results ...
(1 14:53 Liam Rabjohn Richmond and Zetland) 11 17:29 David Foyston 22 18:19 David Westhead 27 18:29 Alexander Wolfenden (junior) 33 18:49 Alistair Mcinnes 37 19:05 Archie Budding (junior) 40 19:21 Harry Stead (junior) 63 20:14 Robert Budding 81 21:23 Catherine Gibbons 85 21:26 Claire Mcloughlin 126 24:08 Hilda Coulsey 127 24:17 Nicola Budding 184 finished
From David Westhead... A cold night but the lack of rain, snow and wind gave good running conditions and brought some fast times over the flat 5k course, notably a course record for Liam Rabjohn from RZH, which seriously scaled down the Harriers league points for anyone who wanted to use this as a wildcard! Good performances all round from Ilkley (Dave Foyston 2nd MV40; Dave Westhead 1st MV50; Alexander, Alistair and Archie 1,2 and 3 MJUN, Hilda 1st FV65 and Nicola 1st FV50).
From Jane McCarthy...
We're three races in to the 2020 Harriers League - after some superb performances at Harewood 10K on Sunday - we've had one Fell, one Road and one Trail race. By virtue of completing all three, Jane McCarthy has the current highest total tally with 279 points, but Hilda Coulsey sits behind with a spectacular near 206 points from 2 races, 108 points from Harewood 10K and 98 points from her wildcard. Higher average point scores also for Jonathan Turner (2 races), Steve Gott (2 races) and Dan McKeown (1 race - winning at Harewood). Also great performances over 2 races from Jann Smith, Paul Carman, Dawn Turner, Jayne Norman and Sue Williamson, making up the Top Ten places. Next League Race is Ilkley Fell Race this Sunday .. Good Luck Everyone!
Please Note: There is a clash between the Beamsley Beacon Fell Race on 18th June and Ilkley Harriers hosting the HDSRL Road Race, so we will be announcing an alternative fell race shortly ...
2020 results tables as at 24 Feb
From Hilda Coulsey...
A text somewhat late in the morning told us the race was delayed 3.5 hours due to the estate not using the grass for parking and letting the half marathoners mostly complete and get away before we arrived. I watched them returning covered in mud and on asking what the terrain was like I'm told the views were great. However it wasn't so bad, certainly nothing like the pictures of the national cross country yesterday. Nevertheless our winner managed to head plant and looks like he's been a few rounds with Tyson Fury, this after racing in Nottingham yesterday! The starting pen was churned up and in trying to jump to keep warm I struggled to lift my feet. Rather than do that I retied my shoe laces tighter. I started with Jayne and went ahead on the initial few kilometres downhill before she overtook me and relentlessly plodded on up hills, straight through puddles and across muddy fields always in my sight but I was unable to catch her, my shoe coming off in the final field didn't help. So much for pre-race prep! It was a tough day for the organisers: I did feel for the marshals etc who'd had a very long day, the coffee van found some hard standing by the toilets and did a roaring trade once their generator was fixed, the pizza van got stuck in the mud and that was it for food. We were grumpy at the entry cost but afterwards the happy chatting of finishers retelling the tales of their mishaps and struggles was quite fun. (Apologies if I've missed any Harriers running)
Results ...
1 38:24 Dan McKeown 2 40:26 Jonathan Turner 10 45:19 Jane McCarthy 1st female 28 48:38 Colin Williams 1st v50 83 53:31 Jayne Norman 89 53:54 Hilda Coulsey 1st v60 153 58:25 Dawn Turner 224 63:57 Sue Verspyck 260 65:23 Sue Williamson 264 65:35 Katherine Lofthouse 399 completed
(1 1:09:05 Kevin Moore, Brighton & Hove AC) 11 1:14:01 Oli Murphy 2123 1:51:27 Zoe Donnely 7618 finished
From Sally Armitage... Today I ventured over to Huddersfield 10k. A hilly course, I decided, would do me good and make a change from all the fast flat ones I usually enter! A small field, all road, 240 metres climb, chip timed. I was rather pleased that the fastest woman on the entry list didn't turn up allowing me to take the win!
(1 34:32 Joe Sweetnam-Powell, Steel City Striders) 33 42:02 Sally Armitage (1st lady) 568 ran
From Nick Kealey ... Fancying some long but not too challenging miles, I raced the Canalathon 20 today. It is a point to point starting in Rochdale and finishing in Sowerby Bridge. The start time allows for travel on the first train from Sowerby Bridge to Rochdale meaning your car is waiting for you at the end. The majority of the route is along the canal, which is relatively flat albeit a bit wet and muddy after the recent bad weather. You would have expected navigation to be simple but, in my opinion, a shortage of signs and marshals made it more difficult than it needed to be, resulting in some unnecessary extra yards! I was pleased with a podium finish (3rd) and the warm soup on completion was very welcoming. All in all I would recommend to anyone needing some miles before the Spring marathon season.
From Petra Bijsterveld ... This was my 5th National XC event and my 2nd time in Wollaton Park in Nottingham. Whilst in 2017 it was moderately muddy, for 2020 the wet weather in the preceding few weeks had ensured a venerable mud bath, with several deep dips which could be described as 'water features'. Running at some speed through knee high smelly muddy water ensured that everyone was splattered from head to toe with the stuff. In fact despite a thorough shower yesterday (obviously) I still found a streak of mud in my ear this morning!! As if the water wasn't enough the organisers had also placed a couple of large trees across the course which needed to be jumped, or in my case stepped across in old-lady fashion. As I couldn't even leap over solid obstacles in my younger years I certainly wasn't going to try now!
The day did not start well for many of us as there was considerable parking havoc which I believe was not the fault of the race organisers, as Nottingham CC was in charge of parking. The addition of off-site parking on a disused supermarket site was a good call due to the grass parking at the park being very wet, but signposting and direction was poor leading to chaotic queues near the venue and stress for runners. It put me in a bad mood, especially being shouted at by an unhelpful parking marshal, but I was soon back on an even keel once I reached the club tent. I love the atmosphere of the Nationals with hundreds of tents and thousands of runners all squeezed onto a patch of mud, I love the feeling of 'being in it together' and running with (or rather, behind) the best in the country. In which other sport can you enter National Championships at any level of ability?
Considering the weather we have recently had conditions on the day were quite good. No rain to speak of and whilst it was blowy, it was more a stiff breeze than a gale. I actually loved my run (and the mud!) even though at 5.5 miles it went on a bit. Strava tells me I was considerably slower than in 2017, but I seemed to be battling it out with women I recognised from the Northerns a few weeks ago and from previous years, so I am blaming the underfoot conditions rather than being 3 years older!
Thanks must once again go to Steve and Gaenor Coy for organising another brilliant XC season and supporting all the runners.
Results ...
Under 17 Women (1 21:49 Maya Todd-McIntyre, Rushcliffe AC) 213 29:03 Poppy Anderson 257 ran Junior Men (1 36:27 Zakariya Mahamed, Southampton AC) 26 39:05 Dom Coy 195 ran Senior Women (1 32:59 Anna Moller, Aldershot, Farnham and District AC) 167 41:03 Rachel Carter 544 49:55 Sarah Edwards 765 57:03 Petra Bijsterveld 799 58:29 Anna Pickering 808 58:43 Sally Pickering 911 ran Senior Men (1 43:36 Calum Johnson, Gateshead Harriers) 432 53:47 Dan McKeown 1169 65:32 Steve Coy 1447 71:57 Malcolm Pickering 1710 ran
From Malcolm Pickering ... Well I ran my first English National in the Youth's race at Parliament fields back in 1968. Since then I have run many more but Nottingham 2020 must be near the top on the mud scale. It's a classic event with a long tradition which any club runner can toe the line with some the best distance runners in the country. So one for the bucket list......
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Woodhouse Moor 1 16:22 Nathan Edmondson 565 ran Bradford (1 17:36 Martin Soszka, Saltaire Striders) 26 22:23 David Singleton 31 22:47 Matthew Snow 370 ran Skipton (1 17:12 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 17 22:28 Catherine Gibbons 2nd F 57 26:01 Geoff Howard 176 ran Watergrove (1 22:01 Jonathan Moon, Sowerby Bridge Snails) 22 28:34 Will Worboys 61 ran Conwy (1 18:32 Morgan Kendall, U/A) 3 19:01 Lucy Williamson 1st F 184 ran Myrtle (1 20:07 Christopher Loftus, KCAC) 5 21:42 Michael Abrams-Cohen 103 ran
From Paul Calderbank ...How do you fancy the Dales Way Tuesday / Wednesdy? John asked on Sunday evening.
Achilles? mmm sure I can muddle through! Chantal wanted to join us Tuesday morning so we dropped a car at Kettlewell and had an eveing meal in the Dales.
8.00am Tuesday morning we were at the old bridge ready to go. Thank you for dropping us off Alison.
A pit stop at Bolton Abbey and a team of friendly faces of the Ilkley Tuesday morning run team.
A good cafe stop in Kettlewell we left a relieved Chantal, who had insisted on pushing the early pace.
As we climbed the Wharfe the weather closed in and the hail made frogsporn in the puddles. 45 miles later we rolled I into the old Youth Hostel at Dent Station like drowned rats. Thank goodness for the excellent drying facilities.
The plan was for the 6pm train from Windermere so we got away for 7am my very tender achilles. A perfect morning with only missing washed away foot bridges and poor signage to get in the way of a perfect morning. Then as we crossed the M6 the rain did its worst driving hard all the way till the end! As my right foot started complaining adjusting for my achilles I got my walking poles out to help get me home. Station reached 36 miles later with over an hour to spare before the train. (23&24 of 60).
Achilles just about held together and at the end it was 81 miles over all!
One of the most amazing things was looking at the flood levels in the different rivers we ran along from last weekend. 15 to 30 ft up on current high levels amazing!
Looking forward to the Dales Way relay at the beginning of August.
From Paul Sugden ... Results ...
(1 59:58 Victor Chuma, Kenya) 11708 1:57:52 Lisa Mcdonell 12276 1:59:19 Paul Sugden 13162 2:02:00 Sheena Pickersgill 13244 2:02:15 Peter Tapper 13525 2:03:12 Melanie Edwards 14953 2:08:39 Donna Jackson 16062 2:14:32 Jo Pattinson (PB 6 mins) 18572 ran
From Andrew Merrick ...
I normally like to do a half (at intended marathon pace) 2 or 3 weeks in advance of a marathon - in this case Tokyo on 1 March. Due to a number of adventures, this was about the only part of my marathon preparation which has been on schedule....
Three of us set off on a happily dry morning, arriving on the sea front in Blackpool - road parking was straightforward - with an hour to go before the 11am start. It had stayed dry but was very cold and windy at this point - registration, at an outside set of desks, took minutes giving us time to faff, get organised and then try to find a way to stay warm. I had already decided to wear the long sleeved running top, that I had planned to change into at the end, underneath my Harriers vest, and was regretting the absence of a hat, buff or gloves in my kit bag.
A well marshalled route, on the wide paths along the sea front took us out in a loop which brought us back to the start point in just over 2 miles, at which point I had visions of another 5 or so similar laps..... Happily that wasn't the case and we then had a relatively lengthy downwind section before turning into the wind for a couple of loops ending with a tough 3 mile into the wind finish. A distinct variation in mile times (about 1 ? mins in my case) reflected the challenging conditions. I was pleased with my on schedule finish in 1:44:15, within 45 seconds of my plan, albeit I probably had to work a little harder than intended..... at least it kept me warm.
An excellent pub lunch on the way home was probably the highlight.
Organised with no fuss, a relatively easily accessible, flat half marathon at the right time of the year for Spring marathon training.
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Woodhouse Moor 1 16:29 Nathan Edmondson 562 ran Bradford (1 16:59 Martin Soszka, Saltaire Striders) 92 25:42 Will Worboys 422 ran Roundhay (1 18:08 Chris Mullen, U/A) 12 19:23 Helen Thurston 1st F 403 ran Skipton (1 17:42 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 6 19:49 Jim Ryder 7 19:53 Rachel Carter 1st F 29 22:40 Catherine Gibbons 37 23:41 Geoff Howard 218 ran Horton Park (1 18:29 Joe Baker, Stadium Runners) 2 19:26 Jonathan Turner 38 27:32 Dawn Turner 85 ran Clapham Common (1 16:06 Johnny van Deventer, Clapham Chasers) 20 19:52 Rob Cunningham 630 ran
From Hilda Coulsey...
A new 5k club record for Cam Reilly (beating Euan Brennan's 14:58 from Barrowford last August) on a
5 lap course, "one of the fastest and most competitive races in the world", attracting world class athletes with 144 under 15 mins on a blustery evening.
Results ...
(1 13:41 Adam Clarke, Team Real Runners) 117 14:46 Cameron Reilly 237 ran
Well done to Tom Adams, 27th overall and a counter for the 'North' team - more on the club's Facebook page.
From Geoffrey White ...
A very wet PECO at West Park, jointly hosted by Horsforth Harriers &
Ackworth RR, on a slightly shortened course due to bad weather. After
huddling like penguins on the start line in freezing rain, we warmed
up somewhat during the race itself. Ground underfoot was very wet.
Congratulations to Nathan Edmondson and all who braved the conditions,
and a big thank you to the organizers and marshals.
Results ...
1 24:45 Nathan Edmondson 20 27:41 Daniel Mckeown 21 27:43 Steven Gott 49 37:34 Alison Bennett 72 39:46 Diane Kitchen 192 36:13 David Singleton 204 37:06 Matthew Snow 208 37:17 Geoffrey White 227 38:40 Roar Leijssen
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Woodhouse Moor (1 17:15 George Ravenhall, LBT) 354 28:23 Gaenor Coy 711 ran Riverside 1 16:19 Ruaridh Mon-Williams 520 ran Skipton (1 16:58 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 35 23:21 Tom Lambe 37 23:32 Geoffrey Howard 77 26:44 Melanie Edwards 220 ran Clapham Common (1 16:56 Ben Parker, U/A) 28 19:38 Rob Cunningham 847 ran Rothay Park (1 18:37 Scout Adkin, Ambleside AC) 20 23:06 Catherine Gibbons 151 ran
Well done to Tom Adams, selected for the Rotselaar International XC in Belgium on 8/9 Feb
From Petra Bijsterveld ...
Tom Adams won this race (16 miles and 4,295 ft of ascent) for the 4th time in an astounding 2:02:45 with 9 minutes elapsing before no.2 arrived!! Also a Yorkshire 1, 2, 3 with Ben Mounsey (Calder Valley) and Joe Baxter (P&B)
Results
From Jonathan Turner ...
It was great to see a fantastic Ilkley turnout in Dewsbury on Sunday. If you're after a 10k PB then this is definitely one to consider. It's a closed-road, out-and-back route with the first half gently uphill - meaning it's perfect for a negative split. It's also good to maintain interest during the race, with plenty of encouraging shouts between Harriers as those at the head of the field headed back first after the turning point. Matt Cox looked super-smooth as he led us home in 33:58 but there were so many other good times. I think the biggest PB upgrade (of nearly four minutes) was Catherine Crawley's 42:29 but any advance on that just email website guru Paul on the above address!
Results ...
(1 29:57 Chris Parr, Morpeth) 45 33:58 Matt Cox 92 35:24 Steve Gott 102 35:54 David Foyston 148 37:01 Jaysson Sawyer 153 37:02 Nick Kealey 179 37:34 Jonathan Turner 265 39:10 Michael Abrams-Cohen 267 39:13 Sally Armitage 274 39:13 Paul Carman 390 41:12 Jane Mccarthy 453 42:29 Catherine Crawley 499 43:21 Daryl King 575 44:08 Michael Ho 599 44:34 Claire Mcloughlin 610 44:44 Jann Smith 664 45:24 Mary Fairclough 1010 49:54 Tom Lally 1075 51:09 Jayne Norman 1187 52:28 Alex Stanley-Hyde 1264 53:22 Dawn Turner 1447 57:03 Amanda Newham 1566 58:35 Sue Williamson 2033 finished
From Hilda Coulsey...
I ventured a long way south, but less than an hour from family, to take part in this 10k England masters qualifier (having gained qualification for the half marathon a few weeks ago). Part of the attraction was that the final 4k was run on the Goodwood motor racing circuit which we'd visited various times in the past. It was described as an undulating course but together with fairly ok weather it was fine for a lass travelling from Yorkshire! I was pleased to have broken the 50 min barrier after some 5 years, bettering my Harriers record and achieving England qualifying.
Results ...
(1 29:01 Nick Goolab, Belgrave Harriers) 696 49:45 Hilda Coulsey 2nd FV65 1519 ran
From Jim Ryder... I think I was the sole Ilkley Harrier at the Glaisdale Rigg Fell Race in the North Yorkshire Moors. It was 8.7 miles and 1370ft of boggy moor, tussocks, track, muddy fields, conifer forest and a bit of road. I came in 2nd V50 at 1h10m49s. Well-organised, low key, friendly and a generous prize giving. A great fell race event.
From John Hayes...
An excellent turnout by many Ilkley Harriers at this iconic event. Congratulations to all those who battled through the strong winds and made it back for their end of race "school dinner".
The results may take some time to appear, as they send them out to anyone who included a stamped addressed envelope with their entry. I rather like this old-fashioned approach, just as I like the fact that every year the meal is identical to all previous years - a pie, boiled potatoes, peas and gravy followed by rice pudding and tin peaches.
But why change a winning formula? For many, the meal at the end is the best bit. There is no question that the true "winners" of the Rombalds Stride are the organisers and the marshalls. The 40 mph winds made this year's conditions very tough over Baildon Moor, Ilkley Moor and (just to add to the agony) even along the road coming off Otley Chevin. Yet at each checkpoint there was a team of volunteers who had somehow managed to put up a tent and were serving food and drink whilst cheerfully attempting to stamp your control card as it blew about in the wind. We really are very lucky that they put on such a good show for us every year.
From Petra Bijsterveld ... This was my first ever attempt at the Rombald's Stride. Always held on the same weekend as the Dewsbury 10K the road race had always been my go-to event. With lack of dedication to 'proper' training my road times are not improving and causing me frustration, so why not change to what is essentially a walking event hijacked by runners? At least I would always be ahead of the walkers and anyway, unless you are at the sharp end of the race times don't really matter that much here. The weather was 'interesting' with a relentless gale force wind from the west, making in particular the section from the Twelve Apostles to the turn at Pipers Gate a constant battle into the wind, and on approaching Burley Woodhead I was almost blown off the edge at times. Conditions underfoot were wet but at least better than when I last reccied it. I really enjoyed myself and felt better than expected, must have been all those jaffa cakes I scoffed at the checkpoints. Next year I will take my running poles, not wanting to look like 'all the gear and no idea' I had left them at home, but they would have helped. The (vegetarian) school dinner back at the school tasted delicious so I must have been hungry! Going steadily meant that after the start I did not see any of the many Harriers taking part, but I met some nice people along the way. The most kudos go to the marshals and volunteers at the checkpoints who did not seem fazed by the wind and looked after us very well. I shall be back in 2021.
From Petra Bijsterveld and Rachel Carter ... results ...
(1 2:51:28 Philip Boynton, Horsforth Harriers) 9 3:03:36 Ben Sheppard 16 3:08:53 Dan McKeown 23 3:15:15 Kate Archer 3rd F 25 3:17:08 Dave Robson 28 3:23:31 Rachel Carter 53 3:41:12 Dick Waddington 61 3:46:31 John Hayes 71 3:49:34 Richard Joel 72 3:49:53 Michael Duffield 73 3:50:44 Duncan Cooper 75 3:51:13 Colin Williams 81 3:53:46 Andrew Overend 97 4:03:01 Mark Judkowski 120 4:12:30 Alison Weston 127 4:18:53 Rebecca Mon Williams 130 4:19:08 Adela Reperecki 1st F55 136 4:21:02 Paul Stephens 150 4:27:01 Chantal Busby 163 4:36:16 Paul Calderbank 188 4:49:18 Sarah Edwards 222 5:17:02 Petra Bijsterveld 481 walkers & runners finished.
Results ...
(1 2:42:24 Martin Howard, CVFR) 6 2:55:49 Nathan Edmondson 25 3:11:13 Jeff Green 94 3:54:12 Paul Howard 98 3:57:21 Richard Eccles 115 4:06:37 Brian Melia 125 4:11:45 Dave Reynier 154 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Bradford (1 17:10 Martin Soszka, Saltaire Striders) 36 22:33 Oscar Street 116 27:03 Paula Reynier 441 ran Crystal Palace (1 17:08 Peter Lighting, Kent AC) 13 19:09 Neil Wilson 531 ran Ganavan Sands (1 18:24 Russell Daniels, U/A) 2 19:58 Alistair McInnes 33 ran Skipton (1 17:18 Chris Ovenden, Skipton AC) 22 22:53 Tom Lambe 37 24:16 Harry Sime 235 ran Clapham Common (1 16:51 Richard Ollington, Thames Hare and Hounds) 38 19:58 Rob Cunningham 899 ran Centre Vale (1 17:55 James Jordan, Rochdale Harriers) 27 23:27 Geoffrey Howard 238 ran