MAIN PHOTO: Elaine Cossins taking first place in her age category in the Rombalds Romp, [Credit: Woodentops]
From Jill Ezard…
Another memorable week for the Harriers
Click here to read about England Athletics recognition for Neil Chapman plus Caroline Tong and her team.
The race week started on Wednesday with another race in the EvenSplits Leeds 5K race series. Held monthly from February to November at the Brownlee Centre these events are a great chance to measure your progress over the year and chase a personal best. All five Harriers, clearly spurred on by the free chocolate bar at the end, had superb runs taking places in the top three of their age categories: Kyle Bethell was third in 19:12; Jonathan Turner second in 19:26; Georgina Hamill third in 21:23; Claire McLoughlin second in 21:37; and Geoff Howard first in 25:56. The next event is on 28 October.
Saturday saw a big Harrier turnout for the Rombalds Romp with 13 club members taking on the 13km local race. Starting and finishing on Keighley Road the race is over mixed terrain and takes in 370m of elevation gain. Dan McKeown was the first Harrier to finish taking third place overall and first in his age category in 1:00:08.
Patrick Wardle and Iain Young battled it out on the course both finishing in the top 20 in 1:08:22 and 1:09:39 respectively. Other notable performances were Elaine Cossins taking first place in her age category in 1:32:25 and John Hayes, Kate Prior, Mike Williams and Jean Sullivan all taking second place in their age categories.
Further afield three Harriers took on the Three Shires Fell Race in the Lake District. Starting in Tilberthwaite the slightly altered 22km course follows a route through the old three counties taking in Coniston and the Little Langdale Fells and covering an astonishing 1535m of elevation. Sam Bentham continued his superb year, winning the race in 2:03:51, a mere four seconds ahead of the second place finisher! Charles Wain was next over the line in 3:25:55 with Alison Weston just behind in 3:32:28 taking first place in her age category.
With less elevation to battle but a strong coastal wind, Hilda Coulsey ventured to Redcar to take on the Redcar Half Marathon. An England Masters Qualification event, the race is a flat out-and-back along the front at Redcar. Hilda completed the race in 02:08:44.
Stepping up the distance, Derek Oliver travelled to Berlin to take part in the marathon, one of the World Marathon Majors. A fast course boasting the most world records of any marathon course, the route takes in the highlights of the German capital taking participants over the Brandenburg Gate just before the finish line. Derek paced his race perfectly with almost equal splits in both halves of the race, finishing in 03:29:23.
And as if a marathon wasn’t enough, two Harriers headed to the Lake District to take part in ultramarathons at the weekend. Kathryn Hamilton chose the 58km Five Valleys Ultra, starting in Ambleside and taking in a breathtaking 2283m of elevation over High Street, Sticks Pass, Blencathra and Skiddaw before finishing in Keswick. Kathryn’s hill training with the Tuesday groups paid off as she took an impressive tenth position in 07:57:17. Not content with five valleys, Kate Archer took part in the 110km Seven Valleys Ultra, a similarly challenging race with just under 4000m of elevation which adds in a tour of the Langdale Valley before following the same route as the Five Valleys event. Kate completed the event in 16:26:13, a time that saw her taking sixth place. Well done to Kathryn and Kate.
And finally, over 40 Harriers took part in parkruns at home and abroad this week with some impressive achievements: Nicola Budding, Tony Pye and Andrew Wilson all recorded parkrun event PBs; there were impressive age gradings for Geoff Howard (83.69%), Sally Malir (80.12%) and Samesh Chotai (82.14%); and eight Harriers finished in the first ten in their events – Harry Brook-Dobson, Maddie Morris, Finn Maxwell, Louise Nash, Samesh Chotai, Daniel Paterson, Sarah Marsden, and Steve Coy. Well done to everyone who took part.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.