From Jill Ezard….
Photo credit Woodentops
Harriers go the extra mile
The racing week started early with four Harriers taking part in the sixth event of the Evensplits Leeds 5k race series. This event sees participants racing against their previous times making use of the flat and fast cycle circuit at the Brownlee Centre. The track was true to its reputation with all four Harriers posting great results. Matt Newell took first place overall finishing in 16:28. Kyle Bethell finished in 18:51 a touch ahead of Steve Newell who took first place in his age group in 20:54. Marie Watson secured a PB and second place in her age group with a time of 22:17. There are just four events left in the series for anyone wanting to improve their 5k times.
The remaining races for the club this week were not so quick to finish. On Saturday ten Harriers headed to Greenfield, Greater Manchester to take on the Alderman’s Ascent, an innocuous sounding 8.5k run. Taking in a lung busting 400m of ascent the race is far from a walk in the park and this year again, was one of the counters for the English Fell Running Championships. It’s a classic fell route, visiting the iconic ‘Pots and Pans’ monument before heading out to the highest point at Shaw Rocks. A long, technical downhill does not signal the end as participants face the long uphill to the shoulder of Alderman’s Hill where it is finally downhill all the way. Harriers took two podium places in the race: Ben Rothery continued to show his fell running prowess winning the race in 35:21, keeping him at the top of the table in the standings for the 2026 championships; Sam Bentham took third place overall and second in his age category in 37:01, placing him equal third in the championship standings; Ed Hobbs was next over the line in 39:01 followed by Jack Cummings in 40:53. It was a great fell turn out for the female Harriers: Katie Poulter was the first to finish in 56:31 closely followed by Alison Weston in 01:01:35; Shauna Burke and Rebecca Mon-Williams were close behind in 1:03:14 and 1:05:22 respectively; Alison Bennett took fifth place in her age category finishing in 1:12:11; and Jacqui Weston completed her first fell race in 1:21:47.
In contrast Jaysson Sawyer was the only Harrier to venture north for the Northumberland Coastal Run, a challenging and unmarked 14k run on road, sand and trail. Running to beat the tides, participants run from Beadnell Harbour to the Alnmouth Estuary with a strict cut off time. Jaysson was not in any danger of missing the three and a half hour cut off completing the course in a fantastic 1:32:17 in ninth place overall and fifth in his age category.
And the runs just got longer as three Harriers headed to the lakes to take part in the Montane Lakeland 100/50 races. Kate Archer opted for the 50 mile event, a challenging race with nearly 3000 metres of ascent covering the last half of the longer event. Far from being an easy option the route starts from the northern end of Ullswater within the grand Dalemain Estate before following the eastern shore line as far as Howtown. A quick climb and descent followed by a trek along the banks of Haweswater sees participants at Mardale Head. The route from here visits Long Sleddale, Kentmere, Ambleside, Langdale and Tilberthwaite before the final climb and descent to the finish at Coniston. Kate had a superb run completing the event in a staggering 9:58:20 taking tenth place and fourth in her age category.
Whilst Kate had a leisurely start at 10am on Saturday morning, Kirsty Wicks and Helen Ward had already been on the 100 mile course for 16 hours, having started the event in Coniston at 6pm on Friday evening. From Coniston the first half of the route heads south before completing a clockwise loop which takes in the Dunnerdale fells, Eskdale, Wasdale and Buttermere before arriving in Keswick. From here the route heads to Matterdale before the halfway point at Haweswater. Taking in the whole of the Lakeland fells and a punishing 6300m of ascent, this is a race that many want to conquer but few succeed. And this year was no different with over 35% of participants not making it to the finish line. Huge congratulations to Kirsty and Helen therefore who both completed the race, finishing within seconds of each other in 38:02:44 and 38:03:51 respectively. A fantastic achievement!
And finally, the Harriers were out in force at parkruns at home and abroad this week with 48 people taking part in events. There were top ten placings for Samesh Chotai (1) at Bowling Park, Michael Odell (2) and Steve Coy (9) at East Holmes Field, Sally Malir (7) at Lister Park, Rachel Carter (3) at Mitchelton in Australia, Finn Maxwell (6) at Roberts Park and Jaysson Sawyer (2) at Wallaceneuk. Samesh’s first place may have bagged him an age grading of 80.22% but it couldn’t beat Geoff Howard whose run placed him at 84.22%. Well done to everyone who took part.