[Sally Armitage on her way to finishing fifth female and first in her age category at the Tadcaster 10 – photo credit Stephen Walker]
From Jill Ezard & Nicola Budding…
BOFRA Championship Success for Gibbons and Moore
It was a quiet week for racing but no less successful for Harriers on road and trail. On Saturday one intrepid Harrier headed north to tackle the Hardwolds 80, an 80 mile route from Hessle to Filey on the Wolds Way. The undulating route takes in market towns, ancient villages and the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy. The route description specifically mentions passing through “dry valleys” but Matthew Kennedy found the route anything but dry, battling driving rain at the start and mud, slush and snow underfoot on route! Despite the challenging conditions Matthew had a fantastic run finishing the race in 14:33:12 in seventh place overall and taking first place in his age category.
Conditions were slightly better for the three Harriers who took part in the Tadcaster 10 on Sunday. A popular race for those seeking a Personal Best (PB), the race starts with a tough two mile loop of the town centre, made more challenging this year by having to negotiate the overnight flooding, before heading east to the villages of Healaugh and Wighill on fast closed roads back to the town. Sally Armitage was the first Harrier over the line finishing fifth female in 1:02:47, just two seconds shy of her official PB, taking first place in her age category. There was a great run too for Claire McLoughlin who was second Harrier over the line in 1:18:05, followed closely by Sally Malir who took third place in her age category finishing the race in 1:20:48.
In a slightly less strenuous event but requiring no less effort to succeed, two Harriers were winners at the BOFRA (British Open Fell Runners Association) Annual Championship Awards evening on Saturday. The Championship sees members winning points for any of the 16 qualifying events they enter with their total score for all races determining their place in the championship at the end of the season. Iain Gibbons and Gawain Moore both took third place in their age categories following consistent performances across the events. For the Junior Harriers, Michael Moore took first place in the U12 Boys category. George Whittlestone and Junior Harrier Oscar Shinn just missed out on the podium both finishing fourth in their categories.
It was a bumper turnout at parkrun events across the country this weekend with 42 Harriers donning their trainers to run, walk or run/walk one of the free weekly timed events. There were PBs for several Harriers including Harry Brook-Dobson, Emma Fox and Hattie O’Looney. Mark Hall and Harry Sime topped the age grades with 87.1% and 80.06% respectively. Eight Harriers were in the top five finishers: Harry Brook-Dobson, Samesh Chotai, James Horrex, Dan McKeown, Sam Angus and Maddie Morris, who were both flying the flag in Japan, Cameron Reilly in Sweden and Paul Carman. Well done to everyone who took part.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.