From Jill Ezard…
REPORT: Road, trail and cross country – a mix of everything for the Harriers this week.
It was a fantastic weekend of racing for the Harriers with some great performances on road and trail. On Saturday two Harriers took part in the Kirkstall Calverley Cutter, a 16km race on both trail and road taking in the sights of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, the River Aire and Calverley Cutting. Starting and finishing near the Kirkstall Bridge Inn on the canal side, Peter Tapper and Scott Armitage had great runs coming 3rd and 4th in their age category in 1:40:18 and 1:40:19 respectively.
Saturday continued to provide some excellent results at the North of England Cross Country Championships at Whitton Park in Blackburn. There was a great turnout for the races and conditions were predominantly good with the ground not as muddy as anticipated. Each race covered at least three laps of the course, giving three opportunities to tackle the challenging hill mid-lap. The U20 women’s race was first with Emily Gibbins taking an impressive fourth place completing the three-lap, 5.9km course in 23:03. After the Junior races, where there was a great turnout for the Harriers, 17-year-old Ed Hobbs represented the club in the U20 men’s race. In a very competitive field, Ed finished the 7.6km course in an impressive 26:35, taking 19th place. In the Senior women’s race Sarah Pickering was the first home in 33:03, followed by Petra Bjisterveld in 43:09 and Anna Pickering in 48:58. Finally in the Senior Men’s race, Dan McKeown was first home in 43:33 followed by David Westhead in 50:56.
On Sunday it was all about the roads with both podium and age-group successes. Four Harriers travelled to Lytham St Annes to compete in the St Annes 10 miler. A flat straight course, the race runs along the promenade and round the lake to the windmill and back. There were tough conditions, with participants battling into the wind on the return route. Despite that there were great results with Dave Foyston the first Harrier home in 59:44, taking a fantastic 10th place overall and second in his age category. Mike Williams was next over the line in 1:16:28 taking fourth place in his age category. Alison Weston completed the course in 1:23:35 taking third place in her age category, with David Ibbotson crossing the line in 1:37:09.
Two Harriers travelled south of Huddersfield to take on the Meltham (Tough) 10k. A race description that warns about previous cases of hypothermia and covers nearly 200m of climb, it certainly deserves the ‘Tough’ title! Christos Tzelis had a fantastic race leading from the front and completing the course in 36:32, just being pipped in the last sprint over the line and having to settle for a fine second. Sally Armitage tackled the tough course head on coming over the line in 15th place overall and winning the women’s race in 40:46. Superb runs for both of them!
Our great performances continue in the weekly parkrun events around the country. 18 Harriers braved the chilly but glorious conditions for the events on Saturday with some great top 10 finishes: Beth Massey was the first female finisher at the Bradford event in 20:16; Michael Abrams-Cohen took on the Wetherby event this week, coming in as first finisher in 19:08; Jacqui Foster had a great run at the Myrtle event, finishing second female in 25:42; Steve Gott was second finisher at Chevin in 19:36 with Adam Gerrish finishing in seventh in 21:17. Further afield the Cunningham family were representing Ilkley at Druridge Bay in Northumberland. All four completed the course in under 30 mins but Yasmin was the first home in 22:41 pipping Rob at the line by one second. Over in York, Rhys Jones was the seventh finisher at the Heslington event in 18:39.
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 on this website and then come along to our main club night at 7pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.