Half a dozen Harriers escaped the clutches of Storm Bert this weekend to enjoy running in the warmer climes of Spain’s Costa Blanca. Harry Johnson continued his recent sensational form to finish second in a field of nearly 3,000 runners in the Benidorm 10k. Harry's time of 30:33 was a new personal best and club record.
Will Stewart was next, clocking 40:59, followed by wife, April, in 42:02. Joanne Arundale (46:28), Mark Crabtree (46:44) and Craig Empsall (46:48) completed the team, all finishing close together.
Tom Paget and James O’Rourke travelled across the border yesterday to take part in the 40th Tour of Pendle fell race.
Warm up consisted of a jog around Pendle parkrun - a route with plenty of ups and downs and some nice scenery.
Once their bar codes had been scanned, they made a dash from the finish line to the pretty village of Barley to collect their numbers for the main event.
The classic Tour of Pendle fell race is generally acknowledged to be one of the hardest on the calendar at about 17 miles and nearly 5000ft of ascent with many boggy sections, very steep climbs and descents and the infamous drop that is ‘Geronimo.’
Both finished in a creditable sub 4 hour time and James even won a spot prize to put the icing on the cake. After a well earned chip butty and cuppa, they headed back to Halifax.
Fourteen Harriers turned out at the Tadcaster 10 this morning; the latest race in the club's Road Race Challenge. This popular race takes place on a fast and flattish course (albeit with a long steady climb in the middle!), starting with a loop around the town before heading east to tour around surrounding villages. All on closed roads.
Niall Smith (see photo) was the first of the Harriers to finish, coming very close to breaking the one hour mark, taking 38th place in 1:00:22. Paul Bateman was next in 1:04:03 followed by Amy Radford, the first of our four ladies, in 1:12:43. Jack Melia recorded a new Personal Best of 1:19:32.
Two Harriers were amongst the 2,765 finishers at the scenic Conwy Half Marathon in North Wales. Marc Rocheteau completed the course, which takes in superb coastline views around the Great Orme, in 1:59:16 whilst suffering from a heavy cold. Jane Hobson finished in 2:05:12.
There were also two Harriers at the Alton Towers Half Marathon. The course starts and finishes in the Theme Park and follows roads and paths within the Resort. Free access to the rides is included in the entry fee. Will Stewart finished in 44th place in 1:29:31. Ian Giles clocked 1:53:27.
Away from the roads, Simon Gelsthorpe competed in Saturday's Padfield Plum Fair Scamper Fell Race in the Peak District. Simon clocked 39:19 on the 4.3 mile course with 850' of total ascent, and placed first in the M65 category.
Congratulations to all our runners competing this weekend. Full results are in Recent Races on the website.
Stef Dickinson led home the 10-strong Harriers contingent at yesterday's Run Bolton Abbey 10 trail race, finishing in 21st place in 1:37:16.
This beautiful race takes place on the trails around the Bolton Abbey Estate and raises funds for the Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope. The ten mile event takes in very varied terrain and scenery with a total ascent of over 1,500', and contains a section in the middle that feels very much like a fell race. Conditions were ideal with cool temperatures, no rain and little wind. Views, however, were restricted by mist on a typical November day.
Rachel Standish (1:39:35) and Jenny Hopkinson (1:43:06) followed Stef in, with both taking first place in their respective age groups. Fiona Murphy (1:52:48) was also first in her age group.
Rob Hick unfortunately took a wrong turn and added three miles to his run. There was some talk that Rob was simply seeking full value for his money as he had initially entered, and paid for, the half marathon race!
Other Harriers to compete were; Andrea Ackroyd, Sharon Jamieson, Martin Ellis, Margaret Deacon and Jane Hobson. Full results can be found in the Recent Races section on the website.
This was the latest race in the club's Fell & Trail League. The situation is very tight in the women's section with Jane Hobson and Stef Dickinson tied at the top with Rachel Standish just one point behind. In the men's section, Ryan Barker leads Will Carver by one point with Tom Paget in third. There are three races left in the 2024/25 season with the next race being the Coley Canter on 28th December.
Harry Johnson on Saturday 9th obliterated his own 5K PB by an astonishing 31secs to finish 12th in the highly recognised Adidas Podium 5K at Barrowford.
Stacked full of internationals, Harry ran 14.03 ahead of Olympic gold medallist Jonny Brownlee and arch rival of fellow club mate of Max Burgin, Ben Pattison. The race was won in 13.36 by Belgian Ruben Hendrix with Leeds City's 2024 Marathon Olympian Phil Sesseman 3rd in 13.38.
Both Harry and coach Matthew Pierson are delighted with the fast progress, which has elevated Harry to elite status with 18 months of coaching.
Halifax Harriers had another good team turnout for the 3rd XC league race at Middleton Park in Leeds on Sunday. The new testing course consisted of relentless rolling hills although conditions underfoot were dry.
The Under 11 Girls team placed well in 5th with the U15 Boys doing one better and placing 4th team on the day. Sarah Cumber and Katrina Oddy both showed their strength and class in the Senior Ladies race, both finishing 1st in their respective age categories (Sarah had raced the previous evening at Barrowford). Will Cattermole had a strong finish, just outsprinting clubmate Liam Parkin on the line to finish 7th U20. James Franklin had another solid run finishing 1st M45.
With just one more league race to go, the Harriers are featuring in the overall West Yorkshire standings with Ben Crowther in 3rd M35, James Franklin 1st M45 and Nigel Rigg 3rd M60. The U15 Boys are joint 3rd team with the U11 Girls in 3rd team place.
The final race in the WYXC league is on Sunday 8 December at Oulton Sports Club, Rothwell. See the XC page for full results of the races to date, current club championship standings and details of the final race.
Please find below a link the Santa Hat Dash Charity Run which is being held on Sunday 8th December and is in aid of the My Mito Mission charity.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/tdUJBYFhGgfo5rVD
Green is the new red! Join us on Sunday 8th December for our Santa Dash, raising funds and awareness for mitochondrial disease while having some Christmas family fun!
Tickets available now at just £15 for adults and £5 for kids, which includes your very own green Santa hat, a lapel pin & certificate to remember the day by.
Find out more & get your tickets now on our website: https://www.mymitomission.uk/santa-dash-2024/
As well as runners help is also required on the day. If you could give a little time to help then please contact Martin Haigh at martin@lattitude7.co.uk
Many thanks, Martin Haigh
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).