From Jean Sullivan…
REPORT – A great start to the New Year for Ilkley Harriers with a win on the fells
Ben Rothery was certainly the king in the YHA King’s Challenge fell race held in Cumbria. This 1.6-mile uphill-only race, with 650ft of climbing starts from the YHA hostel at Borrowdale and involves an ascent of Castle Crag, the smallest of the Wainwright series. The first to reach the war memorial at the top of Castle Crag is the winner.
Ben stormed to the finish to win this fell race in an impressive time of 11.38, placing him joint third on the leaderboard of fastest-ever times for this race and just eleven seconds off the record.
Lightwater Valley was the venue for this year’s Yorkshire 2023 XC Championships held over the weekend. Conditions were tough for those racing due to lots of heavy rainfall resulting in very muddy conditions underfoot.
Emily Gibbins had an excellent run and finished in second place in the junior women’s race. Edward Hobbs and Nathan Coy were in the top ten finishers of the junior men. In the senior men’s race, Ilkley Harrier Nathan Edmondson finished in 11th place, with Tim Ashelford, Jonathan Greenwell and Mark Iley also having great runs in this race. Sarah Pickering led the Ilkley ladies home, followed by Petra Bijsterveld and Anna Pickering
This weekend saw the staging of the popular Temple Newsam 10, organised by St. Theresa’s Athletic Club, described as ’10 and a bit miles of beautiful road and off-road running’. It is held in the Temple Newsam Estate in Leeds. Ilkley Harrier Kay Pearce took part in this undulating multi-terrain race, with Kay finishing first in her age category, completing the course in an impressive time of 1:20:56.
Another beautiful setting for a race; the Harewood House half marathon took place this weekend, organised by Wild Deer events. This race starts from the Harewood House Estate and follows a traffic-free course on a mix of muddy trails and off-road paths. Ilkley Harrier James Batterley finished in a superb fourth place in a great time of 1:33:50.
The weekly timed 5km parkrun events were popular with Ilkley Harriers this week with 23 Harriers taking part in various events around the UK. Notable performances included Dave Foyston’s second-place finish at the Robert’s Park parkrun, with Dave completing the course in a great time of 17:10 and Michael Abrams-Cohen’s runner-up spot at the Bowling Park parkrun in a time of 18:39. Other top ten placings included; Jonathan Turner who was fifth to finish at the Bradford parkrun, Steve Newell who was the sixth finisher at the Monsal Trail parkrun and Adam Gerrish who was the seventh to finish at the Chevin Forest parkrun.