From Jill Ezard…
Photo credit Sprint Finish Photography
Yorkshire Cross Country Team representation and Club Record results!
On Saturday six intrepid Harriers ventured over to Haworth to take part in the 51km Haworth Hobble, an event that sees participants traversing gritstone moors around Haworth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge with 1340m of ascent/descent. It’s a tough race being so early in the year and conditions can be challenging. Although most years it’s not warm weather that’s usually the challenge! Forrest Hamilton had a great run finishing in the top 50 in 5:12:02, just ahead of Ben Sheppard, also in the top 50, finishing in 5:13:48. Martin Hartley was next in 5:33:45 followed by Peter Shelley in 5:49:59. James Dobbing was the fifth Harrier in 6:01:28 with Mark Hickabottom finishing in 7:33:04. Well done to all!
Further afield, Samesh Chotai made the journey to Wollaton Hall and Deer Park in Nottingham to represent Yorkshire in the U20M Cross Country Team in the UK National Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships. The weather was unusually dry and warm with very little mud. Nonetheless, as you would expect of a National level competition, the 8K course was demanding with steep inclines, switchbacks and a fast downhill finish. Samesh completed the course in 28:35 and was the third of four counters in the team result.
Whilst Saturday was all about off road skills, Sunday was very much a road focused day with some fabulous results. There was a good showing of red and green at the Cambridge Half Marathon with five Harriers completing the course. Starting and finishing in the city, the course is pretty flat, taking competitors through the contrasts of University college grounds out to the countryside and back, with the opportunity for fast times and personal bests. And Tom Adams took full advantage of that, running a blistering race and finishing in 1:08:07, taking 12th place overall, first place in his age category and setting a new club record for the distance to boot! Daniel Fazackerley was next over the line, again taking first place in his age category and finishing in an impressive 1:15:16. Alex Foyn completed in 1:23:06, Helen Waddington in 1:45:05 and Natalie Gravett-Foyn in 2:00:23. Well done to all that took part.
Unable to resist the draw of Lancashire, Sally Armitage headed over the border to compete in the Trimpell 20. Billed as a good spring marathon training event, like the Cambridge Half, the race combines city and country views with a route through the historic centre of Lancaster and out through the picturesque Lune Valley and back. Despite a (relative) slow down mid race Sally picked up speed towards the end finishing in a fantastic 02:24:06 taking second place in her age category, just 36 seconds outside first place! Well done to Sally for persevering.
And finally, as if Lancaster and Cambridge weren’t exotic enough, Steve and Gaenor Coy went all the way to Portugal to take part in the Lisbon Half marathon. Starting on the famous Ponte 25 de Abril bridge, the views from the start of the race are legendary leading to a scenic course along the edge of the river. Steve completed the course in a superb 1:23:38, finishing in the top 500 of a race with over 35,000 competitors, and Gaenor came over the line under two hours in 1:58:59.
The sun, and perhaps the small matter of an inter-club parkrun league with our friends at Baildon and Saltaire, brought the Harriers out in force with 42 Juniors and Seniors taking part in the weekly 5k events across the UK and abroad. There were some fantastic achievements all round. For the seniors there were plenty of top ten finishes: Robert Cunningham at Druridge Bay; Matthew Thackwray at Fountains Abbey, James Horrex at Hampstead Heath securing a Personal Best (PB) at the same time; Mark Hall at Lister Park; Steve Gott at Roberts Park; and Alex Foyn at Storey’s Field. There were also some impressive age grade performances with four Harriers going over the 80% level: Hilda Coulsey 80.81%; Alison Bennett 82.62%; Matthew Thackwray 85.94%; and a whopping 88.17% for Mark Hall! In addition to James’ PB, Andy Shinn also achieved a PB at the Chevin Forest event, with Emma Moore doing the same at Roberts Park. For the Juniors, Michael and Isobel Moore both came away from Roberts Park Parkrun with PBs; Michael was 12th in 19:50 with Isobel tenth female in a time of 23:02. Oscar Shinn had a good run at Chevin Forest finishing second in 19:16 also a PB for that event. James Lee was second finisher at Lister Park in 19:35 and finally Heather Crolla was 12th female at Skipton finishing in 25:30. Congratulations to all who took part in an event.