[Photo courtesy of John Hayes – Jack Cummings taking a commanding lead in the Rob Burrow Leeds Half Marathon]

From Jill Ezard & Nicola Budding…  

Ilkley Harrier wins Rob Burrow Leeds Half Marathon

It was a fantastic Harriers’ turnout for the third Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon and Half Marathon with 18 participants across both events. The conditions were tough for the race, with temperatures well above average for May, making the climb out of Otley at mile 17 really challenging for the marathoners. With a grandstand finish at Headingley Stadium, the route takes all participants from the event village out towards Lawnswood and Adel, where the half marathoners start to make their way back. The Marathon route continues out through Pool-in-Wharfedale, then Otley, turning back for the killer climb. Six Harriers took on the Half Marathon with Jack Cummings taking a commanding lead early on. He held the lead throughout the race winning in a superb time of 1:08:36!  Next to complete was Adam Gerrish in 1:38:08 with Joanne Williamson the first female Harrier over the line in 1:48:38. Well done to Mark Gill, Lucy Lowe and Hannah Roby who also put in great runs.  

In the marathon, Tony Pye continued his superb run of form, despite the heat, putting in a time of 3:19:16 just two weeks after his Manchester marathon outing. Kate Prior was the first female Harrier over the line in 3:50:55. Also coming under four hours was Alan Travis in 3:55:55. Congratulations to Melanie Cashmore, Wendy Lockwood, Esmail Zadeh (one of our run/walk group), Heidi Hoad, and Hannah Osieku, who all came in under five hours.  Well done also to Jonathan Nelson, Fiona Schneider, Sarah Lambert and Nigel Illingworth all of whom braved the heat to finish the race!

Thanks must also go to the team of volunteers, coordinated by Harry Brooks-Dobson, who marshalled 2km of the route through Adel and gave amazing support to all the runners (but maybe a touch more to the Harriers!).

Elsewhere during the week it was a mix of trail, fell and track for the Harriers. Harry Sime was the only member to head to the next in the York 5k series.  Maybe it was the guaranteed chocolate bar at the end or the opportunity to test his 5k mettle that took him there but either way it proved successful with Harry completing the distance in 19:58 and taking first place in his age category!  

On Saturday another lone Harrier, Kelly Wilby, took on the Fairfield Horseshoe in the Lake District.  At 14.5km it sounds like a nice day out until you realise that Kelly had to tackle nearly 1000m of ascent in the process.  Starting from Rydal Hall in Ambleside and taking in the summits of Great Rigg, Fairfield and Dove Cragg, it is a tough race.  Kelly put in a great performance completing the challenge in 2:15:38, safely in the top ten for her age category.

In contrast it was red and green in abundance at the BOFRA Sedbergh Fell Race on Saturday with both Seniors and Juniors taking part. All the races start from the showfield in Sedbergh before climbing up Winder for various distances before the fast descent back to the start. It was the first race in the BOFRA Junior league and there were some great performances: In the U12 race, Michael Moore had a great run finishing in third place followed by his sister Isobel who was third girl to finish with Olly Brooks coming home in 17th; Robert Brooks just missed out on a podium finish in the U14 race finishing in a fantastic fourth place; and in the U17 race, Oscar Shinn had another good day, taking second place.  For the seniors, Gawain completed the Moore hattrick taking third place in 23:36. Iain Gibbons was next to finish in 12th place in 26:28, with George Whittlestone also finishing in the top 20 in 28:16.

And finally, the hot weather must ease the aches and pains of many of the Harriers as there were some excellent results at the weekly 5k parkrun events at home and away. 46 Harriers took part in the events which are a great way to run in a non-competitive group environment.  19 Harriers were top ten finishers including first place finishes for Robert Cunningham, Alexander Wolfenden, Alicia Horrex, Tom Adams and Samesh Chotai.  There were personal best runs for 12 Harriers including Rachel Carter, Sam Angus, Maddie Morris, Jill Ezard, Hattie O’Looney, Leanne Bower and James Horrex.  And the age grading dominance continued with six Harriers posting over 80% – well done to Alison Bennett, Tom Adams, Jaysson Sawyer, Geoff Howard, Diane Kitchen and finally Mark Hall who nearly made the nineties with 89.98%!  Well done everyone that took part in an event.

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.