From Will Worboys…

Harriers Dominant on the Fells

Ilkley athletes have been dominating the fells, with several wins and podium finishes posted on a successful weekend for the Harriers.

Ilkley’s English fell champion Ben Rothery continued his winning streak, finishing first and breaking yet another course record in the process. Rothery was up against a strong field in the third race of the ‘Kong Winter Fell Series’ at Clough Head near Keswick. An extremely tough five-mile route incorporating 1870 feet of climbing did not deter Rothery from posting a brilliant time of 35:09, just ahead of rival Finlay Grant. Fellow Ilkley runner Sam Bentham was not far back in 6th place and a time of 37:30, again demonstrating that a big future lies ahead for the young Harrier. Two other Harriers also travelled to the lakes and put in very good performances. James Bentham finished in 56:33 and Alison Weston made it back in 1:01:04 and was 5^th placed in the W50 category.

Closer to home at the Stanbury Splash, Jack Cummings had another brilliant run. He finished 33 seconds ahead of the second placed runner in 38 minutes dead, to win the race for the second year running. The race, which is organised by Wharfedale Harriers, is part of the annual series of fell races based at Penistone quarry near Haworth and as the name suggests includes some stream crossings in addition to navigating plenty of rugged moorland terrain. It attracted a good number of Harriers who were happy to get their feet wet, maybe due to it being the first event of the 2025 club race league. The Ilkley ladies also excelled at the race, winning the team prize. This was helped by Rachel Carter being second female in a time of 1:02:07, followed by Kate Archer who was 3^rd female in 1:03:36. Katie Poulter was the other contributor to the team prize by finishing as 6^th female. There were plenty of other superb runs in very cold conditions. Kelly Wilby was 7^th female, Paul Carman was in 29^th place overall and Alistair Barlow, Peter Roll, Ash Winter, Paul O’Looney, Paul Disney and Colm McCann all finished well inside the first half of runners to complete the race. At the same venue in the junior 3K quarry runs, Oscar Shinn finished 2^nd overall (1^st U19), followed by George Whittlestone in 4^th place.

Meanwhile in the Pennines, Ilkley’s own endurance specialist Petra Bijsterveld attacked the monstrous Montane Winter Spine Challenger North. Starting at Hawes and finishing 160 miles north, all the way up in Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish borders. This amazing attempt in wintry conditions had Petra’s clubmates glued to the live map ‘dot watching’ for athlete number 507’s progress. After setting off on Monday morning Petra battled through all the way to Friday and a painfully close 7 miles from the finish before she unfortunately succumbed to a painful back problem and had to pull out. An amazing achievement to get so far in what is one of the toughest endurance races there is.

On the road on Sunday was the classic ‘Brass Monkey’ half marathon, which is based in York and takes participants out into the countryside and back. The race always attracts a strong field due to its flat route and PB potential and this year was won by ex-Harrier Laurence McCourt, now of Morpeth. Several current Harriers made the trip including Helen Waddington who put in a very good performance to finish 5^th in her category in a time of 1:42:59. Justin Phillips in 1:26:51 and Phil Joyner in 1:28:31 headed the way for the Ilkley men. They were followed by Dick Waddington and Alan Travis who both ran very well. Paula Reynier was pleased to dip under two hours with a superb run and then Sarah Lambert in 2:16:18.

One Harrier made his way to Cheshire for a half marathon after missing out on a Brass Monkey place. Harry Brook-Dobson completed the Four Villages Half Marathon which tours somewhere between 3 and 5 villages on pleasant country lanes. The lone Ilkley runner will have been glad to have made the trip as he bettered his nine year old PB by over three minutes to finish the race in 70^th place of over 1400 finishers and a time of 1:21:13.

More success was had in the 5K parkruns on Saturday morning. At Chevin Forest James Horrex was first finisher in a time of 19:24. Junior Harrier James Lee was 3^rd at the event in 20:05. At Roberts Park, in addition to his 1^st place at Bradford schools XC earlier in the week, junior athlete Alexander Wolfenden was first finisher in a time of 18:13. Rachel Carter was 1^st female at the same event, while junior Ethan Pickwoad came first in the JM10 category in an excellent 22:34. Ruaridh Mon-Williams came a brilliant 1^st at Holyrood in a time of 16:23. At Skipton Harry Sime continued his superb 5K form to finish 8^th in 21:53. While at Myrtle Park Nicola Budding was 7^th female in 26:31. At Lister Park Mark Hall was 6^th finisher in 18:53 and Ethan Carpenter was the only junior Harrier there finishing in a time of 27:02.