This weekend saw the West Yorkshire Cross Country league return for race 2 at Thornes Park in Wakefield. Well done to all of our fine athletes, they had a fun time navigating the autumnal mud!
U11 boys - James Sutcliffe
U11 girls - Beatrice Powell
U13 girls - Lily Atkinson & Alesha Atkinson
U13 boys - James Dix
U15 boys (1st place team) - Eli Cattermole (2nd), Ben Slow, Sam Keighley, Beau Clark, Kai Sladden, Oliver Powell & Thomas Wright
U17 ladies - Jayde Mcgregor & Annie Thorp
U17 men - Charlie Pickens & Will Cattermole
Senior ladies - Katrina Oddy, Bethan Davies & Emma Elmerhebi
Senior men (5th place team) - Harry Johnson (3rd), Ben Crowther, Gareth Burrell, Ken Montgomery, Lee Cattermole, Michael Gaughan, Paul Bateman, Andrew Greenwood, James O'Rourke, Maksymilian Stytsun
Leeds Abbey Dash
A remarkable seven Harriers recorded personal bests (PBs) at Sunday's Leeds Abbey Dash 10k, taking full advantage of this highly popular race's reputation for being a fast, flat course. A total of 16 represented the club with Harry Johnson leading the contingent home, setting a PB of 31:30 and taking 48th place out of a total 5,042 finishers. Our three leading women all ran PBs; Laura Knowles (42:09), Joanne Arundale (43:29) and Amy Radford (43:40). There were also PBs for Ken Montgomery (37:27), Harris Faulkner (40:46) and Tabitha Howe (44:06). Rachael Beaumont took third place in the F50 category in 43:48.
Whixley Village Hall 10k
The Stewarts took on the Whixley trail 10k near York on Sunday. The course was mostly on woodland trails and farm tracks, with lots of slippery mud sections and surface water after our recent rainfall. However, conditions were perfect on the day, with glorious sunshine making it very enjoyable.
April was first lady with 43:44. Will was over three minutess faster than his wife, running 40:23 and placing third overall. What a team!
Bath Half Marathon
After a six-year hiatus, Stephen Rainbow decided to take the plunge once again by entering the Bath Half Marathon on what was his twelfth attempt at the race. This mass participation event had been a highlight of his race calendar prior to the COVID years following a recommendation he received from a work colleague way back in 2004. Sadly, the atmospheric experience was significantly watered-down this year as a result of a number of changes to the course that were apparently intended to combat climate change! Both the start and finish of the race were moved from their original iconic position situated on Great Pulteney Street (featuring majestic Georgian buildings and a grandstand finish) and were relocated to a small area of soggy parkland located just outside of the city centre. The changes also resulted in the inclusion of an unnecessary uphill finale for the remaining kilometre of the race on what had historically been a relatively flat and fast course. In light of these changes, Stephen can no longer wholeheartedly recommend this race, much to the chagrin of his rubber duck. But, to look on the bright side, at least the officials can breathe a huge sigh of relief now that the city of Bath won’t be completely submerged by the year 2024.
Despite losing somewhere in the region of 20-30 seconds on the final hill, things went swimmingly well for Stephen, and he managed to make a splash by achieving a personal best time of 1 hour 20 minutes and 19 seconds (his best time in eleven years at this distance). He finished in a respectable position of 153rd overall out of a field of just over 9,200 runners and was 10th in the MV40 category. Will he be back in the Bath next year? Don’t hold your breath!
Amsterdam Marathon
The Harriers had two representatives amongst the 16,000 participants at last Sunday's Amsterdam Marathon. Famed to be one of the fastest in the world, the course starts and finishes in the Olympic Stadium, goes under the Rijksmuseum, along the Amstel and through Vondelpark. Tom Needham ducked under the three hour barrier, clocking 2:59:03. Simon Johnson clocked 3:45:18. Fantastic efforts by both!