From Will Worboys and Nicola Budding…
Photo credit Peter Coulsey
International Honours for Ilkley Runner, Harriers Vet Team Relay Win and Cummings Shines at Eccup
Hilda Coulsey was the only Harrier to make the journey to the northeast for the Great North 10K on Sunday morning. On this occasion the familiar club colours of red and green were nowhere to be seen, but instead the Ilkley athlete was proudly wearing an England vest. Hilda had qualified for this honour through the ‘Age Group Masters’ competition program and being in the top three in her age category and within the required time in previous qualifying races. In the race which takes place on the closed roads of Newcastle, Coulsey finished in a time of 54:33 which ensured she finished 6th overall in her category of the International Masters competition, in which she was also up against athletes from Wales and Northern Ireland.
At the same time but much closer to home, Jack Cummings was continuing his blistering form with a PB at the Hollybank Eccup 10 mile road race. The Harrier’s time of 51:36 would have been good enough to win the race comfortably in almost any other year. However, this time there was no shame in being beaten into 2nd by Yohanes Ghebregergis who ran at the 2020 Olympics for Eritrea and came 7th in the 2017 World Championship Marathon. Currently running for Leeds City AC the elite athlete finished exactly one minute ahead of Cummings. The only other Ilkley runner was Forrest Hamilton, who also gave an excellent account of himself around the scenic rural roads to the north of Leeds, finishing in a time of 1:10:28 and making it into 82nd place of the 560 total runners.
Earlier in the week was Tuesday night’s popular Danefield relays, which took place on the Chevin near Otley. There was one team from Ilkley Harriers who gave an excellent account of themselves. The relay consists of three legs of a hilly 4.5K loop starting high up on the Chevin, heading down almost to the Leeds Road before climbing back up. Amongst team names such as ‘North Leeds Fell Runners Men A’ (who were the overall winners), Ilkley were named ‘Something is rotten in the state of Danefield’; a Hamlet reference which could only mean that Dan McKeown was involved in the naming of the team. Alongside McKeown were Ritchie Williamson and Steve Gott, collectively they finished 15th of the 128 total teams and impressively won the Male Vet category.
On the same evening a lone Harrier made the trip to Methley for the Jane Tomlinson Canal 5K. The race which was the 3rd in a summer series attracted Amanda Newham who had a very good run amongst the 300 plus runners to finish 9th in her age category in a time of 31:48.
Up in the Lakes at the weekend an amazing mother and daughter team of Alison and Nea Weston tackled the challenging two day ‘Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon’. With camping at the end of the first night the competitors must carry lightweight camping and safety equipment. Competitors also need to be competent in the use of map and compass in the mountains and with these Ilkley athletes’ experience in the mountain wilderness, this would not have been a problem. The Weston’s completed the Carrock Fell course in 10:58:45 and finished in 41st place.
Meanwhile deep in the Yorkshire Dales, Dave Robson had his customary excellent run at Wednesday evening’s inaugural Whernside Fell Race. Starting under one of the arches of the Ribblehead Viaduct, the route was 6.5 miles of mixed and challenging terrain including over 1,500 of climbing before the descent to the finish at the Station Pub. Robson was Ilkley’s only representative and came in 2nd MV50 and 20th overall of the 99 total finishers.
Midweek racing also seems to have been a popular choice with the Juniors this week as Thursday evening saw two very different events take place.
New for this year, the second meeting of the Leeds Beckett Open Series took place at Leeds Beckett University offering younger athletes and those Juniors new to Track and Field, the opportunity to race in a competitive environment before the Senior BMC events taking place later in the evening. Three of our Juniors took part with some fantastic results. Rose Weston finished in 3rd Place in the U11 600 m in a time of 2:11 and in 1st Place in the U11 600 m Race Walk with a time of 3:56. Grace Spencer ran in the U13 100 m finishing 2nd in her age category in 14:49 and Henry Hirst finished in 3rd Place in the U11 75m “B” Final (12:21), 2nd Place in the U11 600 m (1:59) and finally in the U11 Howler Throw he threw a distance of 31.87 m to clinch 1st Place.
Over in Silsden, the annual Murder Mile took place which is just what the title suggests – a one mile uphill road race. The event always attracts a large number of runners and perhaps the good weather brought them out again this week! Oscar Shinn was the first Harrier home in 2nd Place (1st Senior) in 7:34, closely followed by George Whittlestone in 7th Place (4th Senior) in 7:55 and Samesh Chotai in 11th Place (7th Senior) in 8:05. Michael Moore finished in 20th position overall (2nd BU12) in 8:40 and finally Isobel Moore completed the run in 10:28 (8th GU12).
Michael and Isobel Moore were out racing again on Sunday Morning, this time taking part in the Hollybank Eccup Junior Trail Race. Michael finished in 2nd place completing the one mile course in 06:03 followed by Isobel who finished as 9th Female in 07:00.
Just two Juniors took part in a parkrun this weekend; Samesh Chotai in Skipton taking 1st Place in 18:10 and James Lee at Chevin Forest taking 5th Place in 20:38. Meanwhile senior Harriers James Horrex and Alicia Horrex both came 3rd in their gender category at Roberts Park. This following last week’s climax of the inter-club parkrun competition where Alicia Horrex won her category prize. There were also wins in the competition which has lasted for several months, for Diane Kitchen and Andrew Overend. Meanwhile Harriers Alison Bennett, Hilda Coulsey, Jonathan Turner, Steven Gott, James Horrex, Paula Reynier, Hattie O’Looney and Adam Gerrish all managed runners up spots.