From Michael Odell…
It was a fine evening, almost like summer, as 185 runners lined up at Darwin Gardens to commemorate the memory of Jack Bloor, now 38 years after his death.
The route was not marshalled but rather included six way points at relatively well known features on Ilkley Moor: Badger Stone, Swastika Stone, Cowper’s Cross, Rombold’s Cairn, Poem Stone and finally a small hillock somewhere near to White Wells. Choose your own paths but essentially the race entailed, as summarized quite succinctly by my wife: “up a bit, along a bit and then down a bit”.
I followed a Pudsey & Bramley shirt for the duration of the race which meant that route finding was quite straightforward. But I was thankful to have recced it the day prior if nothing else to remind myself that if you’re not running on a track of some description then it’s painfully slow.
As we turned uphill from the Swastika Stone to the summit we were surprised to see a lonely Harrier approaching from the right bounding over tussocks. Jack Cummings heading to cross back onto the route. He had misjudged the path from Swastika Stone and in first place didn’t have the luxury of following someone else. He climbed his way back up the field for the rest of the race.
Harriers dominated the field with notable top performances from Emily Gibbins (1st woman), Alison Weston (1st V50W), Joyce Marshall (1stV60W), Jack Wood (2nd overall), Jeff Green (1stV50M) and Malcolm Pickering (1st V70M).
And I was happy to make up the final component of the winning Ilkley Harriers team behind Jack Wood (2nd) and Jack Cummings (6th), finishing 9th overall. I felt like a bit of an imposter though that my parents hadn’t christened me Jack Odell!