Halifax Harriers Johanna Sutcliffe was first lady at the Joe Percy 10k in 39:53 winning by just 9 seconds in a tight battle with Margaret Beevers from Stainland Lions 40:03.
Helen Ward also showed her impressive improvements are continuing to finish as fourth lady in 42.21 (1st F35), only a few seconds outside her PB time which was set on a much flatter course.
The Joe Percy race starts with a steady climb in the first 800m before the two lap course with 500ft of ascent. Most runners times are a couple of minutes slower than when running on a flat course.
Halifax Harriers men were led home by Ben Crowther in sixth place with an excellent time of 34:49. Michael Gaughan was next in 37:48. Possibly the biggest surprise of the night was by under 16 runner James Johnson with a brilliant PB of 38:22 in only his second race over this distance. Just one second behind came Ian Whitehouse 38:23 with the older of the Johnson family Harry clocking 38:51.
Other results for the club were Michael King 38:58, Andrew Wiggins 40:57, Will Stewart 41:06, James O’Rourke 41:10, David Ingle 41:42 (2nd M55), Will Carver 42:00, Robert Hick 44:48, Lee Cattermole 45:44, Tim Pegg 45:49, Richard Palethorpe 46:29, David Nutton 46:32, Marc Rocheteau 46:13, Angela Clarke 46:56, Paul Hopkinson 48:09, Mark Gaughan 48:09, Ian Giles 48:15, Nigel Taylor 48:18, Sean Moorland 48:32, Paul Bunker 48:44, Raymond Hall 49:11 (1st M70), Sophie Kelly 49:10, Sharon Cousen 51:08, John Moore 52:44, Martin Ellis 52:28, Samantha Layfield 53:18, Jane Hobson 53:20, Keith Midgley 53:56 (3rd M65), Rachel McCauley 54:21, Heath Reilly 55:29, Bethan Davies 55:58, Dennis O’Keefe 58:27, Jane Stewart 58:39 (2nd F60), Deborah Kirkbride 59:14, Monica Gallagher 59:31, Jazz Sandhu 60:40, Penny Bottomley 61:49, Jude Baines 63:01, David Cooper 63:00.
Consistency over 4 legs of the Hollingworth Lake 5K series brought Ben Crowther the overall title. Running each of the races at around 16 mins 30 brought 3 2nd places and a 4th, enough to win the title with his best 3 finishes. In fact the 16 minute 30 time for race 5 in appalling conditions probably represented the best effort.
As many of you will by now know, John Keighley passed away last Wednesday. John, like a lot of us, became involved with Halifax Harriers by virtue of bringing a child along to train. In his case it was his son Stuart in 1982. After joining himself, John got involved with volunteering his services, to Halifax Harriers... taking over from Helen Windsor as Club Secretary, and also to local athletics leagues. John was an avid supporter of the club as a spectator and a good athlete in his own right, memorably running the Burnsall double of the fell race and 10 mile road race. He also competed in the Calderdale Way Relay ... notably running leg 3 with Stuart in 1986.
For 3 decades John was a vitally important member of the team that organise the Calderdale Way Relay, applying his considerable administrative skills to producing the race results. This is the biggest fell race in the calendar with 1200 runners over 6 legs with cut off times and mass starts, so it is an incredibly challenging job to get the results ready for the presentation just two hours after the first runners finish. But, year in, year out, he would disappear into his "office" and perform some sort of witchcraft to make it happen ... much to the relief of a succession of race directors. When he was forced to give up the role through illness last year, he made sure that he passed on his wisdom to Sue corney and coached her to a successful delivery of the results on the day. We've since decided that it's actually too big of a job for mere mortals and have switched to chip timing.
For the last year, through his illness, John was even more enthusiastic as a spectator than ever, watching grandsons Harry and Sam at their various track and field, cross country and park run events. Sam's park run exploits seem to have brought particular joy. This new generation of Keighleys and their enthusiasm for running in a Halifax Harriers vest are a fitting legacy for a man that, those of us had the pleasure to know, will miss very much indeed.
The family invite you to celebrate John's life at Park Wood Crematorium on Monday 3rd June, 11.15 a.m. No black ... preferably Halifax Harriers kit or colours to be worn, it's what John wanted.