[Ben Rothery excelling in the highest trail running company imaginable, photo courtesy of Jamie Rutherford Photography]
From Caroline Howe & Nicola Budding…
Rothery and Bentham excel at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
A fantastic performance by reigning English fell champion Ben Rothery saw the Ilkley Harrier lead the GB&NI men’s team home at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain. Held in the Pyrenees for the first time, the Championships comprise a number of races across the spectacular mountain terrain over three days of competition. Competing in the 45km ‘Short’ Trail race, Ben finished 27th in this top international field. The race has an eye-watering 3500m of elevation. Ben was 68th at the top of the first summit, but showed his descending skills and some world-class pacing to move through the field, taking another four spots in the final ascent.
On the final day of the championships, Harrier Sam Bentham finished in 10th place in the U20 8km race. With 400m of elevation gain, Sam ran superbly to finish as the second British runner home, helping the GB&NI team to the silver medal – a fantastic achievement. Sam’s performance follows his third place finish at the British and Irish Mountain Running Championships in Wales last week, with his season continuing to go from strength to strength.
Further east, the Mon-Williams family took on another, lesser-known mountain range – the Julian Alps in Slovenia. The Julian Alps UTMB race offers a range of race options, from 120km to 5km. Ruaridh, Mark and Rebecca opted for the 25km route which starts and finishes in the Alpine village of Kranskja Gora, taking in 1000m of climb. It was a successful day for the trio – Ruaridh finished in fifth place in 1:55; Mark finished as second MV60 in 2:25, and Rebecca as first FV55 in 2:58.
In peaks closer to home, two hardy Harriers took part in ultra races as part of the 13 Valleys Ultra event in the Lake District. Four distances are offered over three days, ranging from 2 Valleys to the full 13. Gavin Lamb opted for the second longest option – the 110km 7 Valleys route, finishing in 23 hours and 10 minutes, while Ritchie Williamson went the whole hog, finishing a fantastic 12th place in the full 180km 13 Valleys race in 32 hour 53 minutes.
On home turf, Saturday saw the Rombald’s Romp take place on Ilkley Moor. Nathan Edmondson took the win, with Jack Cummings finishing fourth. Plenty of Harriers took part in the race, with age category prizes for Rachel Carter, Michael Odell and Alison Weston.
On the tarmac, some excellent running at the latest 5k Evensplits event at the Brownlee Centre in Leeds earlier in the week saw Harry Sime finish first in the M60 category in 19:53. A trio of Emily Butterworth (21:22), Claire McLoughlin (21:45) and Georgina Hamil (22:52) finished second, third and fourth in the F35 age category respectively.
On Saturday two teams represented Harriers at the Yorkshire Veterans’ Athletic Association road relays in Wyke. The event saw teams of three runners each run 2.75 miles around the Wyke Community Centre cycle track. Sally Malir, Caroline Howe and Sally Armitage, competing in the F35-44 category, finished in 58:06, fifth out of 12 teams. Competing in the F55-64 category Jane Bryant, Petra Bijsterveld and Diane Kitchen finished in 1:07:40, fourth out of five teams.
Notable parkrun performances on Saturday included Steve Coy in third place at East Holmes Field; Oscar Shinn in third place at Myrtle; James Lee in fourth at Chevin parkrun; Kyle Bethell in fourth in Skatas (Sweden); and Samesh Chotai in sixth place at Coventry.
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.