Twenty young Halifax Harriers travelled to Berry Hill Park in Mansfield on Saturday 2nd November to compete at the iconic English Cross Country Relays. Although there were some incompete teams, the younger Harriers represented the club in the U13, U15 and U17 age groups, running against some of the best clubs in the country.
The U17 Men fielded two teams, with the A Team of Chester Gately, Eli Cattermole and Ben Slow (who was making a welcomed return to competiton) finishing 37th out of 92 teams. The B Team of Henry Hallam, Matthew Booth and Daniel Hord finished in 72nd place.
Two of the U17 Women, Nia Harrison-Sargent and Annie Thorp had strong performances and were placed well up the field in their incomplete team.
The U15 Girls Team of Kitty Harrison-Sargent, Alesha and Lily Atkinson finished 62nd team out of 89, with Kitty finishing a strong first leg in 24th place.
The U15 Boys A Team of William Pickering, Harry Booth and Beau Clark came home in 48th place out of the 91 teams, with Albert Jones running the first leg for an incomplete B Team.
The U13 Boys were 55th out of 70 teams with James Sutcliffe, Alexander Weatherby and Maximus Cooper. Fleur Parkinson ran leg 1 in the U13 Girls race.
Well done to all who made the journey. The next Cross Country race will be the 3rd race in the West Yorkshire League on Sunday 10th November at Middleton Park, Leeds. Entries are being taken up to 7th November (see calendar page for more details).
The annual trip to Mallorca just keeps getting better and better with more people attending each year. This time there were 36 of us and it was so much fun! Racing, bike rides, meals, yoga, boat trips, karaoke, bingo, table tennis, pool, lots of laughs…. the list is endless.
The centrepiece of the trip was, as usual, the races in the island's beautiful capital of Palma, starting early on the Sunday morning with runners enjoying the stunning sunrise ahead of the races.
Ryan Barker and Max Stytsun took on the full marathon distance, finishing in 3:18:59 and 4:13:25 respectively, with Max setting a Personal Best (PB).
Ten Harriers ran the Half Marathon with April Stewart (1:30:36) and Will Stewart (1:33:17) leading the way. Next was Steve Wilford in a new PB time of 1:43:53. Other Harriers were; Joanne Arundale, Paul Hopkinson, Marc Rocheteau, Jenny Hopkinson, Hazel Berrett, Andrea Ackroyd and Jenny St Romaine.
A total of 15 Harriers and their guests participated in the 9k event. Craig Empsall was first home in 40:35 followed by Mark Crabtree (3rd M65) in 42:11 and Phil Grimes, who won the M70 category in 43:03. Full results are in Recent Races on the website.
Rachel McCauley was an absolute trooper taking part in the 9k and keeping her spirits high after breaking her ankle a few days before the trip. Chris and Debbie Kirkbride heroically pushed Rachel around the course in her wheelchair (see photo).
Thanks to everyone who made it special and well done to everyone who raced and pushed wheelchairs. Thanks Chris and Debbie as always for all the organising.
Who’s coming next year?
Seven Harriers took part in Saturday's Race You to the Summit Fell Race; a race that is now 56 years old. It starts at the Summit Inn on the main road between Todmorden and Littleborough, with competitors running up to the White House pub near Blackstone Edge. Runners then touch the pub wall and run back down for a well earned drink.
In total the course is 4.3 miles long with over 800' of ascent. Halloween costumes are encouraged and a number of Harriers took up the challenge (see photo). As has become customary at this race, Will Carver ran dressed as Gandalf. Despite costume and matching broomstick, Will still managed to be the first Harrier back, finishing in 36th place in 41:06. Rob Hick was next (second M65) in 44:45.
Stef Dickinson was the first of our four ladies in 47:12 (second F50) followed by Rachel Standish, who was first in the F45 category in 47:43. The other Harriers were David Ingle (51:50), Jane Hobson (53:42) and Kirsty Carver (1:03:04).
Well done to all our runners!
This was the latest event in the club's Fell & Trail League. The next League race is the Run Bolton Abbey 10 Mile Trail Race on 10th November. It's pre-entry only. So far, seven Harriers have entered. It would be great to see a few more!
https://racebest.com/races/9fu4f