From Petra Bijsterveld…
Photo credit Michael Abrams-Cohen
The Leeds Golden Mile 2023 is a mile on the track at Carnegie, superbly organised by our friends at Racebest. A friendly race open to all abilities, ages and paces, yet it has all the proper ingredients of a formal athletics event including a UKA official (Jerry Watson), a starter with a gun, a countdown board for the laps in case anyone were struggling to count to four, and a bell for the last lap. Five and a half Ilkley Harriers toed the line, that’s the five runners listed in the results plus Michael Abrams-Cohen who has transferred his first claim to Abbey Runners last month, but we still love him really.
All the Harriers were in the same heat which added to the fun. Alison Bennett led from the gun and opened up an unassailable lead, finishing in a blistering 06:23 which equates to an overall results chart topping age grading of 92.01%. The rest of us could only look on and dream of such pace! The remaining four Harriers ran well though, with Rachel Barnicoat going from strength to strength by running a 13 second PB, and Geoff and Hilda both being on amazingly superb form just one single week after the World Masters Mountain races. My own time was a 2 second PB as far as mile race results go, though I believe I have run faster this year at an informally timed mile on the Keighley track, so I was a little bit disappointed to not be faster. But it is what it is on the day, and I am very grateful to be still improving. Finally, Mike AC ran in a later heat and ran a six second PB to finish in 04:52, either despite or because of that Abbey Runners vest!
(1 04:33.8 Thomas Fell, Vale of Aylesbury AC)
79 06:23.4 Alison Bennett
95 07:14.2 Geoffrey Howard
99 07:20.1 Petra Bijsterveld
102 07:34.5 Hilda Coulsey
106 07:45.6 Rachel Barnicoat
115 ran across 11 heats