Dom Coy and Ruth Kitchen at the Guiseley Gallop [Photo credit: Dave Woodhead / Woodentops]
From Jill Ezard…
Wins and records in bumper Easter haul for the Harriers
Jann Smith had a barnstorming start to April when she took on the ‘23 before Tea’ challenge in the Lake District on Monday with Paul Carman. The challenge requires runners to summit any 23 Wainwrights as quickly as possible, starting and finishing at the Elterwater Hostel. Jann and Paul had great conditions for their attempt and completed their round of 29 miles and 10,000ft of climb in eight hours and 43 minutes. This is the fastest known time for a female runner giving Jann the course record by a staggering three hours. Superb effort from both.
Friday by contrast saw two Harriers take to the road for the fast and flat two-lap Salford 10k course at the Salford Sports Village. Beth Massey and Helen Waddington both had great races: Beth was in the top 20 female finishers in a time of 40:32; and Helen took first place in her age category finishing in 45:42.
It was back to the hills and even further afield for another two Harriers on Saturday. Matthew Kennedy and Jack Wood travelled to the Isle of Man to take part in the Manx Mountain Marathon and Half Marathon respectively. The marathon route is a point-to-point fell race from Ramsey in the north of the island to Port Erin in the south, with the half marathon race following the second half of the route. At nearly 50km with 2600m of ascent, taking in the island’s highest peak, Snaefell, it’s actually an ultra-marathon but retains its original title from its inception. The half marathon is just under 22km with 1100m of ascent. Matthew had a great race finishing in the top 20 in 6:11:25, also taking second place in his age category. Jack had a fantastic run in the half marathon winning the race in a staggering 1:45:32.
Closer to home there was a superb turnout and some stand-out performances at the Guiseley Gallop 10km event on Sunday. Perhaps tempted by the bottle of beer for all finishers, 19 Harriers took on the route which follows two laps of Spring Woods in Esholt and surrounding paths and road, starting and finishing in Guiseley. There was podium success in both the men’s and women’s races: Dominic Coy took a commanding first place in 34:22, nearly four minutes clear of the second finisher; and Ruth Kitchen took a fantastic third place in 44:08. There were other great performances from the team: Both Christos Tzelis and Nathan Coy finished in the top 10, finishing first and second respectively in their age categories; Catherine Crawley and Adela Reperecki were first in their age categories finishing in 50:59 and 1:01:14 respectively; Danny Thompson was second in his in 40:35; and Tony Pye and John Hayes were both third in their age cats in 45:57 and 46:21 respectively.
The good weather brought the Parkrunners out in force on Saturday, with some great performances from the 21 Harriers who took part in the timed 5k events: Ed Hobbs and Mike Abrams-Cohen were the first finishers in their races in Exeter and Wetherby respectively. There were top ten finishes for Adam Gerrish at Bradford in 18:38, Dave Foyston at Fountains Abbey in 17:05, Robert and Yasmin Cunningham at Bedgebury Pinetum in 19:46 and 24:29 and Jacqui Foster at Morecambe Prom in 23:37. There were also a clutch of parkrun PBs with Sarah Hayes and Jaysson Sawyer at Roberts Park, Andrew Smith at Woodhouse Moor and Mel Edwards at the Richmond event all posting their best times. Congratulations to all!