From the Committee ...
Racing:
Dave Foyston for a massive PB of 45:16 at the Chevin Chase.
Lucy Williamson for impressive finishes at Auld Lang Syne and The Stoop.
Paula Reynier for her commitment to parkrunning, having just clocked her 200th parkrun.
Hilda Coulsey for beating the LV65 record which had stood since 2007 with her time of 50:38 at the Telford 10k.
Nick Helliwell for his continued dramatic improvement as shown by 37:29 for the Ribble Valley 10k, just a few months after going sub-40 for the first time.
Volunteering:
Jane McCarthy for compiling the Harriers Race League results for 2019.
From Geoff Howard ... Jaysson Sawyer and I joined 792 others in a muddy field in Ripon on Sunday for the JGJ. An undulating, mixed terrain,10+k favourite of mine through Studley Park. It is pretty serious at the sharp end, as shown by Andy Grant of Harrogate's first place in 36m 06s, and more seasonal fun run at the other end. Jaysson's great 40m 15s earned him 19th place. Some way behind, my exact 49m gained 140th. Chip timing in such a location never fails to impress.
Results ...
(1 40:31 Mark Buckingham, Holmfirth) 34 50:33 Jeff Green (1st V50) 50 52:44 Lucy Williamson 66 54:31 Kate Archer 110 58:32 Paul Disney 134 60:25 Alistair Barlow 172 63:17 Alison Weston 253 70:23 Adela Reperecki 262 71:12 Nea Weston 365 finished Ilkley ladies 1st team
Results ...
(1 28:32 Marc Scott, Cambridge & Colleridge) 91 33:26 Dom Coy 210 37:29 Nick Helliwell 228 38:00 Mike Abrams-Cohen 256 38:49 Dave Westhead 306 40:38 Brit Tate 326 40:57 Harry Stead 429 43:47 Catherine Gibbons 433 43:50 Sally Malir 1st V50 515 45:38 Colin Williams 628 48:22 Helen Waddington 639 48:27 Alison Bennett 725 50:40 Jayne Norman 745 52:20 Hilda Coulsey 2nd F65 810 52:50 Dave Ibbotson 902 55:20 Petra Bijsterveld 904 55:27 Alex Stanley-Hyde 981 56:44 Bernie Gibbons 3rd F65 1283 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ...
At Bradford the previous course record of 15:49, set by Tom Adams in 2013, was broken by 2 seconds this morning by James Habergham from Halifax.
Results ...
Bradford (1 15:47 James Habergham, Halifax Harriers) 30 21:24 Beth Massey 63 22:53 Oscar Street 189 27:37 Petra Bijsterveld 195 27:47 Alex Stanley-Hyde 521 ran Roundhay (1 18:46 Richard Drake, Roundhay Runners) 41 22:46 Tom Worboys 384 ran Skipton (1 17:14 unknown) 8 20:16 Tim Ashelford 218 ran Fountains Abbey (1 16:50 Robin Regan, Eden Runners) 12 18:55 Jaysson Sawyer 551 ran Cliffe Castle (1 18:55 Ian Willis, KCAC) 11 23:43 Jann Smith 1st F 132 ran Centre Vale (1 16:53 Andrew Worster, Vegan Runners) 28 26:24 Will Worboys 95 ran Conyngham Hall (1 19:04 unknown) 23 24:51 Robin Nicholson 130 ran
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
1 38:53 Jack Wood 2 39:08 Nathan Edmondson 3 39:18 Jack Cummings 4 39:26 Tom Adams 1st V35 21 43:51 Ben Stevens 25 44:28 Steven Gott 38 45:16 Dave Foyston 53 47:02 Nick Kealey 55 47:07 Tim Ashelford 1st V55 71 48:21 Gavin Lamb 78 48:33 Jonathan Turner 92 49:10 Dave Robson 93 49:12 Rachel Carter 1st F40 114 49:55 Daniel Hayes 120 50:16 Ralph Tench 126 50:39 John Hayes 163 52:17 Michael Lomas 178 52:54 Brit Tate 240 54:39 Helen Wood 256 55:37 Catherine Crawley 304 56:34 Daryl King 325 57:29 Derek Oliver 357 58:15 Matthew Snow 368 58:29 Paul Stephens 442 60:58 Tom Lally 457 60:48 Tom Worboys 468 61:40 Martyn Stocker 475 61:21 Rob Budding 490 62:07 Robert Meadows 503 61:55 Michael Ho 505 62:17 Geoffrey White 521 63:01 David Taylor 573 64:13 Jayne Norman 604 65:17 Sarah Edwards 684 67:09 Nicola Budding 711 67:49 Will Worboys 715 68:14 Adi Weatherly 786 70:59 Petra Bijsterveld 802 70:59 David Ibbotson 822 71:10 Helen Horton 824 71:13 Nigel Tapper 897 74:33 Bernie Gibbons 1141 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Bradford 1 17:58 Cameron Reilly 65 24:01 Arthur Reilly 92 25:44 Tom Worboys 386 ran Harrogate 1 17:26 Ruaridh Mon-Williams 22 20:14 Mark Mon-Williams 129 24:19 Rebecca Mon-Williams 567 ran Barnsley (1 17:09 Gareth Cooke, Penistone Footpath Runners) 37 21:24 Beth Massey 1st F 287 ran Roundhay (1 16:53 Callum Elson, Roundhay Runners) 80 22:24 Poppy Anderson 278 27:35 Petra Bijsterveld 558 ran Burnley (1 17:24 Calum Holmes, Blackburn Harriers) 128 27:13 Melanie Edwards 323 ran Skipton (1 17:24 unknown) 9 20:37 Adam Bennett 24 21:55 Catherine Gibbons 2nd F 57 24:22 Alison Bennett 234 ran Uckfield (1 22:09 Paul Savage, Prestwich AC) 8 25:06 Rob Cunningham 87 ran
Merry Christmas to all Harriers. NB There will be no Tuesday evening social training sessions 24th and 31st.
From Jann Smith ... This is a great little fun race fundraiser for Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue organised by Due North. 3miles / 800ft Fancy dress is almist obligatory. It sets off at 4.30pm in the dark running up Skipton moor to the Trig point and around. Paul ran round with his Mum in 54:05, I was 10th place and 3rd lady in 32:47.
From Petra Bijsterveld ...
As we all know parkrun is a run, not a race, yet I am proud to report that this week 4 members of our club went under 16 minutes at parkrun. Tom and Jack battled it out at York, Cameron smashed it at Fountains Abbey, and newish member Oli Murphy did the same at Morecambe. Nearer home Rachel Carter was 1st female at Bradford on her first visit there, and Mike AC continued his excellent current form by knocking off over a minute from his previous Bradford time. Geoff Howard and Tim Ashelford both remain on awesome form with fantastic age-graded results.
Results ...
York 1 15:14 Jack Wood 2 15:40 Tom Adams 485 ran Bradford (1 17:29 Will Kerr, Saltaire Striders) 5 18:35 Michael Abrams-Cohen 13 19:39 Rachel Carter 1st F 29 21:34 Beth Massey 89 25:20 Phil Hirst 152 27:57 Petra Bijsterveld 328 ran Skipton (1 16:48 Robin Whiteley, Asics West Track and Field) 130 29:55 Bernie Gibbons 193 ran Fountains Abbey 1 15:58 Cameron Reilly 95 23:00 Geoff Howard 462 ran Castle Park (1 17:27 Andrew Mynott, Saffron Striders RC) 6 19:18 Tim Ashelford 273 ran Centre Vale (1 18:41 Ste Brock, Wharfedale Harriers) 35 26:09 Will Worboys 98 ran Morecambe Prom 1 15:54 Oli Murphy 173 ran
1 35:20 Tom Adams 5 36:16 ack Cummings 11 37:49 Oli Murphy 40 44:23 Lucy Williamson 3rd lady 43 45:06 Neil Wilson 50 45:51 Kate Archer 52 45:53 Rachel Carter 54 46:08 Richard Joel 63 47:20 Alistair BArlow 65 47:35 Colin Williams 110 53:46 Alison Weston 123 54:37 Geoffrey White 177 67:25 Amanda Newham 190 finished Ilkley won both men's and ladies' team prizes
Men 1 26:24 Nathan Edmondson 31 29:47 Steve Gott 43 30:14 Dan McKeown 85 31:53 Jaysson Sawyer 173 34:39 Simon Richardson 198 35:36 Rob Budding 476 finished Ladies (1 32:29 Alice Rogers, Abbey) 125 43:32 Dian Kitchen 1st F60 173 45:37 Nicoila Budding 286 52:41 Sue Williamson 287 52:42 Kate Lofthouse 352 finished
From Caroline Howe ... The aptly named Gathering Winter Fools relay saw 3 Harriers teams of 8 take part this year in what is a fun festive occasion. Istvan Jacso assembled a strong men's A team, named Platypus Power, to defend the title won in 2018. Nick Helliwell and new member Nick Kealey led the team off in style on the 9 mile first leg, handing over to Steve Gott and Oli Murphy for the Kildwick to East Morton leg, then Paul Carman and Iain Gibbons, and finally Istvan and Dan McKeown taking the team home to Keighley in the bronze medal position.
We also had a strong men's B team, Rebelves without a Claus (team name decided after a very long WhatsApp debate!) with Steve Murray and Mike AC on leg 1, performing brilliantly but hampered slightly in the latter stages by Steve's sodden elf trousers. Pete Shelley and Jeff Green took on leg 2, then Mike Duffield and Dave Robson on 3, and Paul Disney and Mark Judkowski on the final leg, ensuring a fantastic top 10 finish for the team.
Jingle Belles, the ladies' team, was led off by Catherine Crawley and Rachel Carter with a strong performance, handing over to me and Sally Armitage. Leg 2 is a tough, boggy 9.5 miles, which I fear has done nothing to persuade Sally away from the roads and on to the fells in future... We dragged each other round to give Jane Bryant and Anna Nolan a slight head start on the mass start for leg 3. After a great run they handed over to Petra and Jacqui Weston, who laid old ghosts to rest after a traumatic experience on this leg last year which involved freezing rain. This year, it was just a few hail showers to contend with, and they breezed round the 7 miles in style! Not sure of our overall placing as no official results yet.
This relay is a great occasion on the trails and hills around Keighley, Bingley, Silsden, where festive fancy dress abounds, and the weather adds to the fun! Take a look at Dave Woodhead's photos on Facebook to get a sense of the occasion! Looking forward to next year!
Results ...
1 28:47 Tom Adams 297 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Woodhouse Moor 1 16:18 Nathan Edmondson 117 23:59 Tom Lambe 536 ran Skipton (1 16:28 Sebastian Segger-Staveley, Settle Harriers) 21 22:24 Catherine Gibbons 45 25:59 Geoff Howard 149 ran Shrewsbury (1 15:37 Liam Rawlings, Oswestry Olympians) 2 15:38 Jack Wood 415 ran Fountains Abbey (1 17:37 Stephen Ellison, U/A) 3 19:15 Helen Thurston 1st F 360 ran
Well done to Dom Coy, overall senior male and U20 male West Yorkshire cross country champion.
Race results ...
Men, 9th team (1 31:17 Joe Baxter, P&B) 2 31:49 Dom Coy 25 35:30 Steve Gott 46 37:39 Tim Ashelford 69 39:54 Steve Coy 87 41:37 Rob Budding 95 42:55 Mark Iley 108 49:23 Phil Chappell 110 50:12 Michael Ho 119 finished Ladies, 10th team (1 20:18 Jennifer Walsh, Leeds) 33 25:22 Beth Massey 38 25:50 Sally Malir 63 29:12 Joanne Williamson 72 31:34 Petra Bijsterveld 82 finished
From Istvan Jacso ...
The Mytholmroyd Fell Race is a great low key winter race in typical tough Pennine terrain. The course is very exciting with climbs of all sorts of gradients, sharp and tricky downhills but also with some where you can just let the legs go as fast as they can, plenty of bogs, puddles, mud, beer (free) and cake (£1)! It's less than an hour drive from Ilkley so I was surprised not to see more harriers. At the end I finished 6th overall and first M40 although two M50 runners finished ahead of me showing how much experience is valuable at fell running! Highly recommended!
Results ...
(1 48:27 Karl Gray, CVFR) 6 51:57 Istvan Jacso 212 finished
From Hilda Coulsey...
This 'road' race was actually fully inside a park, the paths were quite narrow with puddles and leaves. However it was billed as a fast 10k and also hosted England qualifying places for next year's 10k internationals so it was worth a shot and, although the day was poor weather wise, it's the same for everyone, allegedly!
I was very pleased that my training progress this year has borne fruit again so that I posted a time to take the Harriers v65 record which has stood since 2007 set by Margot Dale by some 40 seconds. I didn't get the England qualifying spot but I am always inspired by others' outstanding results, my age category being won by Dot Kesterton, Sheffield Steelers, in a time of 46:46.
Results ...
(1 28:32 Adam Craig, Inverclyde) 758 50:38 Hilda Coulsey 1127 finished
From Steve Turland... Tough day out in the Cheviots on Saturday doing the Cheviot Goat. Lots (and lots and lots) of bogs - pulled one chap out who was up to his waist. Conditions for the second half were difficult with strong winds and zero visibility but managed to miss the worst of the weather, as winds reached 80mph for some of the later competitors. Garmin clocked 55 miles and 10,800ft in just over 12 hours. Did quite well, finishing 17th out of about 220 runners in quite a competitive field. Good prep for the Spine Challenger in a few weeks time.
From Alison Weston ... Results ...
(1 34:51 Pete Harrison, Helm Hill) 180 51:31 Alison Weston 717 finished
From Petra Bijsterveld ... Results ...
Cardiff (1 16:30 Oliver Carrington, Newark AC) 13 18:19 Alex Hirst 571 ran Bradford (1 17:27 Michael McCartney, Bingley Harriers) 31 22:20 Oscar Street 129 27:34 Paula Reynier 319 ran Skipton (1 18:12 Jake Riddings, U/A) 26 22:33 Catherine Gibbons 196 ran Penrhyn (1 17:05, unknown) 3 19:09 Lucy Williamson 1st F 96 ran Bramley 1 17:01 Nathan Edmondson 120 ran
From Geoffrey Howard ... What do you do if you have park with a perimeter path exactly one mile long? Well, Ealing Eagles, having such an asset on their patch (Lammas Park), have been hosting UKA licensed lunchtime races every first Friday of the month for the past two years. Peeved at having to miss the annual Golden Mile at Becketts Park in September, I took advantage of a cheap Off-Peak return and the, nostalgically low, £3 entry fee to join forty three others on the start line for the last race of the year. There were at least dozen officials/marshals at a superbly organised event (receiving a personalised results e-mail before I got home) with all the friendly ambience of a park run (including a tail walker for the last competitors finishing in twenty minutes). Two Eagles were first man (Colin Clifford 5m 8s) and woman (Yvette Burton 6m 3s). I was pleased to run sub 7m in 6m 46s. I fully intend to repeat the experience next year and thoroughly recommend it to any Harrier in the 'Smoke' on holiday or business (12.30 start and only ten minutes from South Ealing tube station). The on-tarmac one mile seems to be a real Cinderella event, unattractive to organisers or just not fashionable, and I can't recall ever having done one before.