Nineteen young Halifax Harriers athletes participated in this season's first Yorkshire Development League meeting at Cleckheaton.
The 800 metres provided a flurry of personal bests (pbs). In the boys under 15 race, Ben Slow, 2nd place in a pb time of 2.12, ably supported by Sam Keighley in 3rd place. A pb of 2.47 and 2nd place for Abbie Brown in the under 15 girls. Connie Wood 1st in the under 13 girls (pb 2.51), Paige Richardson 3rd place and James Dix a 2nd place and pb for the under 13 boys. The under 17 women saw another 1st place for Nia Harrison with a time of 2.17.
The 1500 metres saw two 1st places for Ralf Jones in the under 15 boys and Annie Thorp in the under 17 girls and Faye Skilbeck 3rd in the under 15 girls race. Alesha Atkinson with a time of 4.13 was 2nd in the 1200 metres.
There were also successes in the sprints and field events with a number of first, second and third places.
The under 13 girls 4 by 100 metres relay team was another 1st place (team; Paige Richardson, Connie Wood, Lily and Alesha Atkinson).
The final event was the under 15 boys 4 x300 metre relay with the boys bringing home the baton in 1st position in a time of 3.05. (Team: Adam Barber, Sam Keighley, Ollie Powell and Ben Slow).
Harriers have seen a few track runners competing in early season competitions:
In last weekend’s Doncaster Spring Open, an injured Lou Royston and Maisie Brown competed in a combined age race 400m. Lou finishing 2nd in 61.09s (2nd Senior), and Maisie having stepped up this season from 300m into the u20s, came 5th in 64.69s (2nd under 20); and Rob Mac in combined age range races 200m and 400m, finishing 6th in 200m in 27.2s (2nd V55), and 3rd in 400m in 61.4s (1st V55)
Rob raced again in a windy Sheffield/ Northern Masters Open on Wednesday evening winning his 400m in 61.35s
Having recently joined Harriers and this training group, Lasantha Chandimal (Chandi) has declared he is returning to track running and 400m (after 10 years away). Last Sunday, he opted to run the Cragg Challenge John Jones 1 Mile Dash, winning the downhill race in 4min32secs.
Sixteen Halifax Harriers raced in Sunday’s Cragg Challenge 10k on Cragg Road in Mytholmroyd. The road was closed to traffic for the event. There were seven Harriers amongst the top ten finishers in the latest race in the club road championships. Niall Smith was the first to complete the up and down course, winning the race in 39:14. Will Stewart was close behind coming third in 39:44. April Caufield was second female in fifth overall in 44:28 with Rachael Beaumont third female in ninth in 46:37. Other Harriers were; Will Carver (45:42), David Ingle (45:53), Harris Faulkner (46:17), Tabitha Howe (47:44), Nigel Rigg (51:30), David Parrington (51:55), Paul Hopkinson (52:38), Andrea Ackroyd (53:48), Martin Ellis (54:01), John Moore (56:21), Jenny St Romaine (57:38), Kirsty Carver (58:43).
Junior club member, Beau Clark, put in an outstanding performance in the 5k race, finishing in fifth place in 20:58.
Sarah and Geoff Cumber both ran in the one mile downhill race. Sarah came second overall in 5:16. Geoff clocked 6:59.
Three Harriers participated in Saturday’s Calderdale Way Ultra event. Ryan Barker completed the gruelling 50 mile route with 8,500’ of ascent in third place in 9 hours 36 minutes. Clubmate, Will Carver, finished in 10 hours 56 minutes. Sally Shacklock clocked 7 hours 13 minutes in the 30 mile race. (Unofficial times.)
Also on Saturday, Tom Paget ran in the 68th annual Three Peaks Fell Race in the Yorkshire Dales. Tom completed the 23.3 mile course, climbing nearly 5,300’ over Pen-y-Ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, in 5:24:25.
Photo of Harriers at the Cragg Challenge