From Jill Ezard and Nicola Budding…
Yorkshire Team Bronze for Harrier at UKA Inter-Counties Championships
Tough muddy conditions were the order of the weekend as several Harriers tackled fell and cross country courses in the Lakes and East Midlands. On Saturday, one of our younger athletes, Matilda Irvine, represented Yorkshire in the 100th UKA Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships. She headed to Wollaton Park in Nottingham to take on the 6k, two-lap course as part of the U20 women’s team. Matilda completed the course in 26:18 helping the Yorkshire team to take Bronze position in the U20 women’s event. A huge well done to Matilda.
Equally muddy and a little steeper, a group of thirteen Harriers headed to the remote western Lake District to take part in the Black Combe Fell Race, the second counter in the 2026 English Fell Championships. Perhaps fuelled by the promise of warm pies at the end, there were some great performances across the board on a course where the description is somewhat loose “if you don’t know it very well, all the sides of Black Combe look the same.” Taking on the now annual tussle at the front of the race with Finlay Grant of Dark Peak Dell Runners, Ben Rothery took second place this time in 1:06:12 having pipped Sam Bentham on the downhill who took third place in 1:07:02. Sam’s placing created quite the challenge for the father/son race between the Benthams and the Hamiltons with the former taking the win: Forrest Hamilton completed the race in 1:22:53; James Bentham in 1:42:32; and Bob Hamilton taking fifth place in his age group in 2:00:30. Another of our younger athletes, George Whittlestone completed the race in 12th place in his age group in 1:41:14.
First over the line for the female Harriers was Kate Archer, continuing her current run of form and completing the race in 1:38:18, finishing eighth in her age category. Alison Weston also had a great race finishing fifth in her age category in 1:52:27. A special mention for Sacha Jones (1:46:55) and Katie Poulter (1:47:01) who both aced the descent, shaving several places off their final results. Well done also to Iain Gibbons (1:35:33), Dave Norris (1:52:19) and Kelly Wilby (1:54:11) for their performances.
There was some action on the roads as well with two Harriers travelling to Cambridge to take part in the half marathon. Described as stunning, the route takes runners through the heart of the city passing several iconic landmarks including King’s, Trinity, Jesus, and St John’s Colleges, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, the Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester, and the River Cam. Jane McCarthy had a superb race coming over the line in 1:28:16 taking second place in her age category and finishing in the top 100 women, a fantastic achievement in a high quality field of over 6000. Martin O’Halloran finished in 2:01:16 in the top half of his age category.
For our Juniors, it was the traditional end-of-season PECO Cross Country Relays on Sunday at Middleton Park. The trio of Rose Weston, Thomas Bailey and Millie Houlbrook (aka Team Bar Tatters) took on the challenge and finished an excellent sixth Team in the U11 Open Category. Well done team!
With the parkrun challenge in full swing between Baildon Runners, Saltaire Striders, Bingley Harriers and Ilkley Harriers there was a bumper turnout of 44 parkrunners this weekend. The challenge embraces the spirit of parkrun rewarding individual participation and age relevant results. And there were some fantastic age gradings this week: Topping the charts with 86.24% was Geoff Howard; Steve Coy achieved 84.45% at York; Samesh Chotai was at the University of Northampton and claimed first place and an age grading of 81.97%; Diane Kitchen and Nick Kealey were at Roberts Park and got 81.81% and 81.39% respectively; and Sally Malir achieved 80.06% at Lister Park. And the challenge is clearly pushing Harriers to their limits with several achieving PBs in their events, so congratulations to Harry Brooks-Dobson, Andy Shinn, Junior Harrier Lerryn O’Neil, Jacqui Foster, Zoe Murphy, Nathan Coy, Finn Maxwell and Rob Cunningham. Well done to everyone who took part in an event.