Great North Run
Eight Harriers made the journey to the North East to be amongst the nearly 60,000 runners at Sunday's 42nd Great North Run; the world's largest half marathon. Stephen Rainbow had a superb race, finishing in the top 500 in 1:26:24. Next was Laura Knowles, who was the first of our female contingent, clocking 1:46:29. Other Harriers were: Stef Dickinson (1:51:43), David Cooper (2:03:05), Wayne Stevens (2:10:19), Jane Stewart (2:19:51), Craig Shaw (2:26:28), Angela Cowton (2:28:05).
Vale of York Half Marathon
Eight Harriers competed in Sunday's Vale of York Half Marathon; the latest event in the club's Road Championships. There were almost 800 runners in total on the flat, fast course held on scenic closed roads between York and Selby. David Ingle was the first Harrier home in 1:41:27. Bryony Baron was close behind in 1:42:40. Other Harriers were: Rob Hick (1:44:17), Paul Hopkinson (1:52:48), Lee Jackson (1:59:57), David Parrington (2:09:47), Kirsty Carver (2:25:59), John Moore (2:36:06).
The Yorkshireman
A quartet of Harriers ventured off-road on Sunday to race on the hills around Haworth and Oxenhope in the popular Yorkshireman fell races. Father and son team, Will and Fred Carver (see photo), raced to victory in the Pairs category over the arduous full marathon course of 26.2 miles with over 3,000' of ascent in a time of 4:26:25 (see photo). Tom Paget and new member, Emma Elmerhebi, ran in the 'half marathon' distance race of 14.7 miles with 1,750' of climbing, finishing in 2:32:25 and 3:20:38 respectively.
Lost Shepherd Fell Race
Also on Sunday, Kieran Manchester competed in the Lost Shepherd Fell Race, which took place on the moors above Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge and included two visits to Stoodley Pike. Kieran completed the nearly 15 mile course with 2,700' of total ascent in 2:10:32, finishing in fourth place.
A dozen Harriers made the trip to Roundhay Park last Sunday to take part in the Leeds Running Festival. Nine participated in the 5k event; the latest counter in the club's Race Challenge. Nigel Rigg led the contingent home, finishing seventh overall in 22:23. Nigel was hotly pursued by Marc Rocheteau (22:42) and Rachael Beaumont (22:51) in eighth and ninth position repectively. Rachael was the first woman finisher overall. Next was Jack Melia, who set a new personal best (PB) time of 23:53. There were also age group victories for David Parrington (M50) in 26:43 and Susan Hall (F70) in 35:04. Other Harriers were; Paul Hopkinson (25:44), Steve Denniss (27:50) and Martin Haigh (30:06).
Laura Knowles and Clare Fountain both took part in the 10k, recording times of 46:18 and 75:41 respectively. Clare was making her 10k debut. It is so good to see our Couch to 5k graduates making progress. Well done, Clare!
Aaron Bergin competed in the half marathon, clocking a PB of 1:26:23 and finishing in seventh place.
Photo of Rachael powering her way to victory in the 5k
Podium 5k was a success for 4 Harriers last night with Harry Johnson 16th 'A race' 14.59 and Liam Parkin 'B race' 16.35 achieving PBs, Harry smashing 25 secs off his PB.
Meanwhile Josh Hall-Brown 'A race' equalled his PB of 15.12 and a closely followed Alex Franklin U20 'A race' in 15.40, only 2 secs off his PB.
One runner from the previous race claimed that the wind took 28 seconds off his time, very specific, but having ran our way round the 4 and 3/4 laps, one could see some truth to it. Other than that almost ideal conditions with a very fast field to pull us along. Had runners not found someone to tuck behind, they would’ve found themselves in no man’s land with only a strong breeze for company.
There was also a £1000 1 lap 1k Challenge which Josh sat in the hot seat for a few minutes, not on this occasion though, so close but no cigar.