[Photo courtesy of Tony Pye – Jack Cummings and Tom Adams were locked together the Baildon Boundary Way]
From Peter Shelley & Nicola Budding…
Offroad victories for the Harriers and an epic inter-club battle in perfect springtime conditions
Tuesday evening saw the start of the annual Bunny Runs Series on the hills and around the quarries of Penistone Hill outside Haworth. Tom Adams came in 2nd for Ilkley Harriers behind Calder Valley fell runner Martin Howard. Oscar Shinn was 13th, Harry Brook-Dobson 19th, George Whittlestone 23rd, Richard Joel 65th, Rob Budding 88th. 184 ran.
On Saturday Oscar and George were racing again in the Pendle Fell Race along with a number of Ilkley Harrier juniors targeting points in the junior race league. Starting in Barley and scaling the steep western reaches of Pendle Hill to climb 440m in under 7km, the race incorporated the Lancashire Fell Race Championship. An in-form Oli Murphy took a decisive win and with it the champion’s trophy. Ollie Holder finished 34th, George Whittlestone 38th and Rachel Holder 150th of 216.
Prior to the senior race, a full set of Junior Races were held with Archie Hallworth competing in the U9 Race and finishing in a fantastic 1st place.
Baildon Boundary half-marathon took place on Sunday. Organised by Baildon Runners, this is a popular race among Ilkley Harriers and a regular fixture in the club’s annual race league. The course is highly varied, passing through woods, fields, moorland, along the Leeds-Liverpool canal and through Saltaire World Heritage Site. The current dry sunny but cool weather eliminated any risk of the mud which can be a feature of the course, setting the stage for some fast times. Among the club’s entries were two previous winners, Tom Adams having taken the honours in 2010, 2012 and 2016 and Jack Cummings the winner in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The form suggested that this year’s race would be hotly contested between these two, but who would prevail?
Relishing the battle, Jack and Tom quickly dropped the rest of the field and ran cheek by jowl for most of the route, each pushing the other on and keeping spectators in suspense. Despite taking a full five minutes off his previous best winning time Jack couldn’t quite hold onto Tom in the final stages and slipped 15 seconds behind him. Tom won in 1:16:43, a remarkable time for a multi-terrain half marathon. It was a stellar display by both athletes and a great race for Ilkley Harriers!
Harry Brook-Dobson underlined his current form with a commendable 7th place followed by Justin Phillips in 28th, Paul Carman 50th, Daniel Fazackerly 63th, Ash Winter 68th, Kate Prior 85th (2nd lady vet 40), Colm McCann 90th, Peter Roll 91st, Emma Shepherd 106th, Steve Clarkson 115th, Adam Gerrish 121st, Richard Robinson 124th, Paul Disney 157th, Geoffrey White 195th, Lucy Lowe 242nd, Clare Boyle 251st, Paul Atkinson 264th and Nigel Illingworth 322nd.
Further north, in the Lake District, Samesh Chotai took on the second hardest parkrun in the UK on Saturday – Whinlatter Forest. The hilly route follows trails through the forest and offers views of Derwentwater and the Lakeland Fells. Samesh finished in 2nd place with a fantastic time of 19:30. Sub-20 parkruns were also achieved by Stephen Coy in Halifax, Steve Gott in Halifax, Rhys Jones in Helsington, Mark Hall in Lister Park, Andrew Overend in Roberts Park, Rob Cunningham in York and Jonathan Turner in Tyne Green. Paula and Dave Rayner went the furthest, running in Albert Park parkrun Melbourne.
Further southern hemisphere action took place in the Two Oceans Marathon. Bex Young ran the ultra-distance event (56km) on a route around South Africa’s spectacular Cape Peninsula where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic finishing in 6:07:47 to place 5068/10767.
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.