From John Hayes…
I grimace a lot when I do fell races. Especially after a long climb. And the first mile or so of this fabulous race route involves such a climb. I know I grimace because, as I stagger up the hill in many local races, invariably I find Dave Woodhead perched near the top with his trusty camera to capture how I look. However hard I try to smile, his camera doesn’t lie! And there he was today, calling out cheery comments as the runners went by. As I approached, he called out, “Come on tired looking Ilkley runner. You’ve been in lockdown too long!” For a few moments, I allowed myself the comfort of thinking I had that excuse. But it hardly counts when it applies to everyone else too! However, this race, like so many, did reinforce what a pleasure it is to be back racing, seeing fellow Harriers and friendly faces from the locality and other clubs. Huge congratulations to our star runners, Jack Cummings (1st) and Kate Archer (1st female). And many thanks to the organisers at Burley who call this (somewhat ambitiously in mid November) their “summer festival” race. Today we had summer weather and lovely cups of tea and biscuits at the end. Fell running in all its glory!
1 42:31 Jack Cummings
8 51:28 Dave Robson
9 52:26 Andrew Overend
12 52:57 Danny Thompson
13 53:58 Gavin Lamb
20 56:06 Richard Joel
21 56:17 Kate Archer 1st F
22 56:46 Steve Ladhams
27 57:55 Peter Shelley
29 58:05 John Hayes
51 64:34 Rebecca Shaw
65 69:08 Michael Ho
75 72:07 Adela Reperecki
95 82:13 Rumana Chowdhury
108 ran