[Photo courtesy of Philip Bland]
From Jonathan Turner & Nicola Budding…
Harriers success on road and trail – and a new Ilkley parkrun
It’s been an incredible week for Ilkley Harriers – and the town itself – with the first edition of the East Holmes Field parkrun.
The parkrun ethos is to encourage everyone to get outdoors and run, jog, walk – or volunteer – in the weekly 5km event.
The benefits are huge and there’s much more about that elsewhere in this week’s Gazette.
But kudos to Hattie, Paul and Emma O’Looney – and their core team – for making it all a reality last weekend.
And all the hard work to get an Ilkley parkrun up and running was rewarded on Saturday when 181 people took part in ideal conditions – running or walking their way round four flat laps next to the picturesque River Wharfe.
A big team of volunteers, many of them Harriers, helped it all go incredibly smoothly and Hattie – in her first welcome message as race director – encouraged anyone else who would like adding to the volunteer team to get in touch.
Back to racing and Jack Cummings had a starring role on ‘Look North’ on Sunday evening as he added another big-race victory to his CV in the York 10k.
More than 5,000 people took part and Jack crossed the line first in a super-impressive 31:18, nearly a full minute ahead of the second-placed finisher.
Sam Angus was the next Harrier home, in not much more than 40 minutes. And also running, no doubt celebrating the Ilkley parkrun getting going, was Hattie O’Looney (48:30).
Switching from road to the fells and fifth English Championships race was Borrowdale – an epic 17-mile 6,500-feet from Rosthwaite in Borrowdale making its way to Esk Hause contouring around Glaramara and Allen Crags, then on to Scafell Pike, down the wicked scree to the corridor route then up Great Gable and along to Honister Pass for the final pull up Dalehead before the final descent back to the valley.
The weather was a tad warm but there was a breeze on the tops and no problem this year with visibility.
The race was won by Finlay Wild in 2:49:26 with Ilkley’s reigning English champion Ben Rothery second in 2:55:03 and Finlay Grant close on his heels in 2:55:16.
Ben’s fellow Harrier Oli Murphy had a great race to finish 11th in 3:15:36 and Jack Gribbin was 99th in 04:11:03.
Jane McCarthy had a fabulous race and was 1st FV50 in 04:26:04, followed by Paul Carman in 04:46:44. Alison Weston was just over five hours in 5:02:12 (2nd FV60), and Jann Smith was 05:30:56 (3rd FV55).
Given those results the ladies managed to get a team result of 3rd FV40 and 1st FV50.
Closer to home and the Round Hill Fell Race took place on Sunday, just under 14km in distance and around 350m in ascent.
Five intrepid Harriers took part this year – Rachel Carter, Fraser Arnott, Geoffrey White, Colm McCann and Peter Roll.
Fraser was a superb fourth overall while Rachel was the first lady home – in the race as a whole, not just for the Harriers – in 1:14:23. And she also collected the V45 prize.
On the juniors front there were two races to choose from in the BOFRA Championships this week – and two Harriers took part in both!
The Annual Ambleside Sports Fell Races took place on Thursday. Described as “a deceptively unrelenting climb”, the fell races start from the showground before climbing to the rocky outcrop followed by a rapid descent. The Senior, U23 and U17 races all covered the same distance with the U14 race a slightly shorter route. Robert Brooks had a good run finishing 4th in the BU14 race, Oscar Shinn also finished 4th in the BU17 race and George Whittlestone finished 7th MU23.
The second BOFRA race counter this week was held on Sunday at Farleton Knott. Both George Whittlestone and Robert Brooks were once again running with George finishing in 4th place in the MU23 race and Robert finishing in 5th place in the BU14 race. Michael and Isobel Moore were both competing in the U12 race with Michael finishing in a fabulous 2nd place and Isobel as 7th GU12.
Lily and Pippa Singleton travelled the furthest for a parkrun this week with Minehead in Cornwall their destination! Lily finished 24th female with a time of 28:27 followed by Pippa as 42nd female in 30:29. Closer to home, Oscar Shinn had a good run at Chevin Forest parkrun finishing in 5th place with a time of 20:21. Finally, it was the inaugural East Holmes Field Parkrun on Saturday. Ethan Pickwoad finished in 25th position with a time of 23:36 and two of our older Juniors Helena Coy and Lucy Hayes had good runs finishing as 5th and 6th females respectively in 25:10 and 25:12.
On the seniors front at parkruns, at least three stand out.
Matthew Thackwray will always be the first finisher at that inaugural East Holmes Field parkrun – and his time of 17:19 was seriously impressive on what is mixed terrain.
Meanwhile Petra Bijsterveld was the first lady at Horton Park near Bradford and Luke Watkeys has the aim of going under 20 minutes for the 5k and moved a significant step closer with 20:09 at the Cinder Track parkrun, Whitby.