[Jack Wood and Jack Cummings leading the pack at the Littondale Fete Four Mile road race, photo courtesy of Woodentops]
From Jill Ezard & Nicola Budding…
Podium finishes, club records and age category successes galore!
Successes started early this week with one Harrier heading to Gateshead to take part in the Quayside 5k on Wednesday. The course takes in the famous landmarks of the Newcastle Quayside passing the Swing Bridge and going under High Level Bridge, Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, King Edward VII Bridge & Redheugh Bridge, before returning the same way. This is a flat, fast course boasting real PB potential and it certainly worked for Matthew Thackwray who ran a fantastic race finishing in a stunning 14:55 taking 11th place overall and the club record for his age category over this distance. A superb result!
And the successes continued with two races in Littondale on Saturday with some Harriers taking on both. First was the Littondale Fete four mile road race, a beautiful run around the quiet lanes of the Yorkshire Dales. It was a popular outing for the Harriers, it being one of the 24 races in the Harriers Race League 2025, with 16 lining up for the start. And it was a battle for first and second place from the start for two Ilkley Jacks, with Jack Wood just taking the win in 19:51 only 15 seconds ahead of Jack Cummings in second. There were numerous age category successes in the race too: George Whittlestone took first place in his category; Jaysson Sawyer, Rachel Carter, Derek Oliver and Mike Williams all took second place in their categories; and Peter Roll, Jann Smith and Sally Malir all took third place in their age brackets. Well done to all that took part.
Not content with one race some of the club also took on the second event of the day, the Arncliffe Gala Fell race, a popular race in the BOFRA calendar. With races for all ages the seemingly innocuous Senior race is just 1.6 miles long. But with 120 metres of climb this is not an easy run! Again, it was Jack Cummings and Jack Wood at the front for the Harriers again. This time it was Jack Cummings who was the first Harrier to finish taking second place in 11:04. Jack Wood finished in fourth place in 11:10. Gawain Moore was second in his age category finishing the race in 12:48, followed by Iain Gibbons in 13:36 and third in his age category. Rachel Carter was the first female Harrier to finish taking third place in her age category in 17:01.
There was a good turnout for the Junior Arncliffe Gala races too: Michael Moore was third in the U12s race with Isobel Moore placing sixth; Robert Brooks was fourth in the U14 race; and Oscar Shinn was fourth in the U17 race. Well done to our Juniors!
Sticking with the Juniors and Round Six of the West Yorkshire Track and Field League took place in Wakefield on Wednesday evening. Ethan Pickwoad was our only Junior competing at the meet this week finishing the U13B 200 m in 32:76 and jumping 3:93 m in the U13B Long Jump.
Thursday evening saw the annual Eshton Moor Fell Race take place near Gargrave. Archie Hallworth had a great race finishing in 2nd Place in the U9 race. Likewise, George Whittlestone also had a good race finishing as 2nd U21 in the Senior Race.
In contrast to the short but steep fell races, Petra Bijsterveld tackled the North Downs Way 100 mile race over the weekend. The race begins in Farnham at the western end of the North Downs. The course works its way through some of the best of the English countryside towards Ashford in Kent and the finish at the Julie Rose Stadium.
With over 3,300 metres of climb, this is a deceptively hilly race which saw 30% of those starting the race dropping out. An accomplished ultra runner, Petra had a successful race and came over the line in 28:44:44, the 20th female finisher and first in her age category. A fantastic result from Petra!
Finally, 38 parkrunners took to the parks and trails to take part in the weekly timed events. Suitable for all capabilities the events are a great opportunity to build up your running and with a new event now taking place at East Holmes Field (EHF) in Ilkley, you don’t even have to leave town. Across the UK there were several top ten finishers this week: Michael Odell, Jaysson Sawyer, Jane McCarthy and Diane Kitchen. And a long list of personal bests, with many happening at the second official EHF event: Rachel Corrigan, Jane McCarthy, Jaysson Sawyer, Junior Harrier Megan Snow, Tim Ashelford, Kyle Bethell, Geoff Howard and Vince Gibbons. And four Harriers had impressive age grading statistics this week: Tim Ashelford 80.85%, Jaysson Sawyer 81.55%, Alison Bennett 84.15% and a whopping 86.84% for Geoff Howard. Well done to all that took part.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.