Nominations were:
Dave Wilby - Sedbergh Hills race and English Fell Champs placing
Alison Weston - English Fell Champs placing and encouraging others
Morgan Williams - CCC ultra
Brian Melia - UTMB ultra
Nicky Jaquiery - UTMB ultra
Diane Haggar - BOFRA races, results and encouraging others
The HoM awards went to Diane Haggar, and Dave Wilby. Congratulations to them. They will receive technical running shirts from HoM sponsor UP & RUNNING.
Extracts from Dave Wilby's report ... (read the full report in the next Harriers newsletter ....) Championship points are awarded for the top 50 men in each race, and the top 30 ladies. Award for consistent high achievement must go jointly to Alison Weston & Helene Whittaker, who not only secured a great finishing position of 4th in their age group, but also did well open standings. Special mention also to Val Kerr who has been at all the Champs races, performing excellently each time and making a great contribution to the V40 Team silver medal.
Ladies 11th Helene Whittaker 18th Alison Weston 23rd Emma Barclay Ladies V45 =4th Helene Whittaker & Alison Weston Ladies V50 =19th Val Kerr Men (Open) =60th Dave Wilby =62nd Tom Adams Ladies Team (Open) 5th Ladies Team (V40) 2nd
We've only shown a few results above, well done to the other Harriers who achieved placings, see them in the next newsletter or take a peep at the official results here.
Clare Smith adds ... I only competed in 4 English Championships races in 2011 and achieved a lowly =43rd place in the LV45 category but I'm proud to have even won a few points and I'd like to encourage other ladies not to be put off by the word 'championship' as runners of all standards can take part in these races.
Val Kerr adds: although the championship races are tough I enjoyed doing every one of them. It was a great experience to run over different types of terrain in different parts of the country and to compete (??) against some high class fell runners, including one or two from our own club. I agree with Claire when she says that club members should not be put off doing these races - there is a great atmosphere and slower runners get a great round of applause and encouragement as they cross the finish line. Personally I would like to thank Alison Weston for encouraging me to do these races and for her company in travelling to many of them, and Dave and Kelly for hanging around after Sedbergh Hills waiting for me to finish!
Diane Haggar reports ... Being a junior BOFRA Chapionships counter yet not a senior counter, this race was understandably bereft of "big guns". Mark Mon-Williams had a great run for 4th place and first Vet and I was chuffed with 3rd lady and matched Mark with first Lady Vet. Ruaridh Mon-Williams flew the flag for Junior Harriers.
4 18:32 Mark Mon-Williams 1st M45 17 22:23 Diane Haggar 1st L40 U14 5 15:12 Ruaridh Mon-Williams
Dave Wilby reports ... No results as yet, but rumour has it that Tom Adams beat a high quality field (including a number of recent fell/mountain internationals) to claim yet another win at Hebden Sports on Monday. This must be at least 2 or 3 Hebden wins for him now in recent years, to add to his burgeoning palmares.
Dave Wilby reports ... Kelly and I were in Snowdonia for the long weekend, and after checking the calendar realised that this race would make a welcome interruption to the drive home. 5m/1200ft, it was part of the local village show and was a fast runnable course, intially on road and then rocky track before climbing on wide grassy tracks to the summit of Moel Famau. The descent traced a different route at first taking in some lovely narrow, greasy tracks through the heather covered fell side, before rejoining the outbound route and running in over the tracks and road. There were plenty of volunteers to set a fast early pace but fortunately for me the lactic got them on the climb, and I managed to run my way through into 2nd place in 33:35, 11 seconds behind the winner Rob Grantham. I almost caught him coming off the fell, but he had too much finishing speed for me on the flatter run in to the finish. Kelly had already been out training that morning but bagged herself a very useful speed session to finish 87th in 44:21. There were 165 finishers.
Justin Phillips reports ... more BOFRA .. a huge event including Cumbrian Wrestling and the Cumbria Vs the World Tug o’ War this is well worth a visit. The classic fell race finishes off the day with a dash up the hill. I didn’t break the course record to win the £1k prize, I don’t know where I finished but I did have a brilliant day out.
And finally I’ve just read Diane Haggar’s article here which sums up my BOFRA experience rather nicely and deserves another plug,
here.
Justin Phillips reports ... I took my fell shoes to the Lake District for the first time ever and found myself totally addicted to running up stuff just because I could! I also entered and enjoyed a couple of BOFRA races. This was the first ... part of a friendly gala featuring sheep herding and hound racing a small field of 27 runners took on the 3 mile route up one hill and back down t’other. I was eighth at the top, and twelfth at the finish after the neck breaking descent. Fully embracing the BOFRA sprit I took a swim in Ulswater afterwards to sort my legs out.
70 23:05 Jim Towers 85 23:56 John Marshall 93 24:52 Gaenor Coy 156 29:22 Nathan Coy 163 19:42 Lyn Towers
Alison Eagle reports from Chamonix ... weather once again affected the races, with a storm delaying the start of the UTMB by 5 hours. The CCC runners had to deal with this storm throughout Friday night. Despite the weather, including some snow, both races went ahead this year.
Both courses were changed to some extent to engineer bad weather alternatives.
The Friday storm was bad enough to completely destroy the aid station at Bovine at a mere 1,900 metres.
CCC - 93 kms and 5,100 metres of climb. 1,800 starters, 1,592 finishers
724th Morgan Williams 19 hours exactly
UTMB - 170 kms and 9,700 metres of climb. 2,200 starters, 1,131 finishers
315th Brian Melia 38 hours 10 minutes
501st Nicky Jacquiery 40 hours 41 minutes
Read Morgan's full report here
Dave Wilby reports ...
With everything to be decided in the English Champs, and plenty of markers still to be put down in the British Champs, a field of the highest quality turned up for Sedbergh this weekend. The course (14m/6000ft) delivered the perfect test with a great combination of fast grassy running, long contours, leg burning descents and lung burning climbs - a perfect championship course. Morgan Donnelly made an early move and stayed out in front to put himself in pole position for the British Champs, Lloyd Taggart finished a clear 2nd to claim the title of 2011 English Champion, particularly impressive as he's now a V40 too!!
I was the sole Harriers representative in the men's field and was over the moon to claim 37th place. The ladies once again had a good turnout with Helene Whittaker finishing well up the field (12th?) despite the rumour that she was 'having an easy one'. Alison Weston, Outi Kamarainen & Val Kerr all came into the finish field looking very strong having had good races, and will no doubt have done well in the team standings.
37 2:21:51 Dave Wilby 154 2:56:34 Helene Whitaker 182 3:06:10 Alison Weston 252 3:25:06 Outi Kamarainen 287 3:39:34 Val Kerr
Dave Wilby reports ... 3 Harriers made the trip for this lovely little race in the Howgills, 8m/2000ft. It had a great low-key feel to it, with registration in a horse trailer and the start/finish field sandwiched between the sheep dog trials and the main show field. Next year will be a little different as the championship masses will descend on the race to get their fill of the fast, grassy running on offer. On the day, Kelly Harrison put her recent spell of hard work in the Alps to good use to finish 2nd lady, and less than a minute behind former British Champion Sharron Taylor. Graham Breeze & Sue Morley were also stretching their legs and both seemed to be rightly pleased with their runs.
Results of this 3.3 mile BOFRA fell race ...
6 24:05 Jack Wood 17 25:43 Mark Mon-Williams 24 26:38 Iain Gibbons 29 27:47 Dave Cummings 38 28:55 Emma Barclay 1st lady 39 28:57 Steve Weston 41 29:04 Mike Baldwin 54 30:37 Norman Bush 55 30:41 Helen Ilsley 56 30:45 Diane Haggar 74 32:54 Natalie Curtis 77 33:12 Chris Oxlade 82 34:13 Jim Towers 106 48:21 Lyn Eden U14 6 10:26 Jack Cummings 9 11:02 Lucy Williamson 3rd girl 22 13:51 Joann Williamson
We are right in the middle of the BOFRA fell race season - there are lots of great local, short, fell races still to do, including some this weekend. Diane Haggar loves them - read her article extolling their virtues here.
19 65:29 Jamie Hutchinson 26 69:35 Rob Cunningham 59 80:41 Chris Cunningham 76 85:05 Elaine Cossins 78 86:54 Helen Shew 87 89:51 Jean Sullivan 98 tbc Margot Dale 6th men's team, 4th ladies' team
Some Burnsall photos on woodentops.org.uk.
3 14:30 Tom Adams 31 19:12 Justin Phillips 34 19:18 Richard Joel 43 19:52 Bob Hamilton 4th men's team
Euan Brennan won the U10 boys' race in a quality field of 24 runners.
Some Burnsall photos on woodentops.org.uk.
69 22:29 Jim Towers 78 23:24 John Marshall 138 26:14 Gemma Carpenter 196 30:03 Lyn Towers
Heavisides Henry reports ... I ran the Millenium Bridge 5k in York. It's a flat course, with lots of twists & turns, mainly on narrow paths. I finished in 66th place in 19:24, my slowest 5k for quite a while, although I did manage to get a prize for first M55. Best performance of the evening was in the women's race where an under 15 year old from Scarborough won in 16:55 !
Janet Grace reports ... The Isle of Man marathon is a small, low-key event - about 100 people ran the full marathon and about 300 completed the half. The marathon is an "undulating" two-lap course on quiet roads from Ramsey in the north east of the island. The scenery is lovely and we were blessed with a beautiful day (although I did curse the westerly wind a couple of times on the second lap). There were quite a few runners from Yorkshire and I think Knavesmire even came third in the team competition.
I'd recommend this race, maybe not for its PB potential, but it's a really friendly event and in such a small field even I won a prize.
I finished in 3:50:23 (4th Lady, 2nd LV45)
Ken Souyave reports ... I ran 68 min 40 sec at Askern, didn't spot any other Ilkley Harriers but good turn out by Otley. South Yorkshire open championship. Good conditions but includes 2 long drag inclines which take a toll.
Diane Haggar reports ... Part of Trawden Show and organised by Trawden Harriers. 7.5 miles / 1400 feet BM. Three Harriers ventured over the border (but only just) to Lancs for this event and all three took home a prize. I received a rosette (as per show jumping horses and livestock!) for my efforts but I believe the others were spared this joy! I was delighted with my position but with the winning lady being a V50 and the 2nd being a V45 I was not going to win my age group. Also knowing that Wendy Dodds was somewhere behind me and anticipating her catching me at some point (but she didn't), made it was something of a battle of lady vets.
(1 50:17 Jason Williams, Charnwood AC) 5 53:57 Steve Turland 1st V40 80 73:08 Graham Breeze 1st V65 Ladies (1 58:47 Sally Newman, Calder Valley) 3 65:33 Diane Haggar
Jim & Lyn report ... Arncliffe Gala is always a good day out and incorporates both a 4 mile road race plus a 1.8 mile fell race, with 450ft of climb. The 4 mile road race is a lovely undulating run both sides of the River Skirfar, and this year included a nice addition of flooded road from the previous days rain.
Road race (1 21:00 Alan Buckley, Leeds City AC) 14 25:39 Derek Oliver 33 29:20 Andrew Jackson 38 31:06 Jim Towers 46 32:45 Alison Ricci 63 41:05 Lyn Eden Fell race {1 11:12 Ted Mason, Wharfedale Harriers) 28 16:06 John Coates 33 17:36 Sue Morley 34 17:54 Jim Towers 38 19:47 Eric Morley 42 27:39 Lyn Eden
77 23:02 Jim Towers 88 23:26 John Marshall 212 29:58 Lyn Towers
Ilkley Trail Race organiser Lawrence Basham hands over a "big cheque" for £1717 from the race proceeds to Phil Chappell, representing Revival Centre and Orphanage in Matugga, Ugunda, in front of some of the Tuesday night runners.
Diane Haggar reports ...
A contingent of 14 Harriers took part in the Round Hill Fell Race organised by Otley AC. An unseasonable chilly headwind made westerly the run out to Round Hill hard work but thankfully the rain held off. However recent rains had ensured that the going was definitely soft! Race winner was Liam Dunne of Otley AC in 58:10 and Harriers were led in by the duo of Ben Sheppard and Justin Phillips who crossed the line just 2 seconds apart. The ladies race was won by Jo Waites of Calder Valley who stormed round taking 11th overall and the ladies course record. Emma Barclay led the Harriers ladies in as 2nd lady (24th overall) and first lady V40 in 1:07:39. Our ladies packed well with Diane Haggar 1:12:26, Jann Smith 1:13:11 and Jane McCarthy 1:14:12. Ilkley won the team event which, unusually, was calculated from the best two men and best two ladies scores (Ben, Justin, Emma & Diane).
Full results and photos on Otley AC's site.
(1 58:10 Liam Dunne, Otley AC) 17 1:06:11 Ben Sheppard 18 1:06:13 Justin Phillips 24 1:07:39 Emma Barclay 2nd lady 33 1:09:36 Paul Stephens 37 1:10:10 Tony Melechi 41 1:11:31 Kevin Gooch 49 1:12:26 Diane Haggar 53 1:13:11 Jann Smith 54 1:13:28 Jane McCarthy 56 1:14:12 Phil Waddington 93 1:23:38 Jim Towers 105 1:27:03 Rachael Gooch 116 1:55:36 Amanda Parnaby 117 1:56:23 Lyn Eden
Chris Cunningham reports ... Rob and I ran at the wrong side of the Pennines on Sunday. (PBs at both 10M and 10K for me in a week.)
58 1:04:36 Rob Cunningham 131 1:15:24 Chris Cunningham
153 56:44 Christine Cox 226 1:10:43 Rachel Cunningham
17m/6,500' Clare Smith reports ... a counter as a 'super long category A' fell race in this year's Lakeland Classics Trophy, (presumably because Ennerdale and Duddon Valley were on the same day), Borrowdale is a superb but tough 17 mile race which starts at Rosthwaite and takes in the heights of Bessyboot, Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Dalehead. As we were late entries and hadn't managed a reccie, Neil and I stuck together for the duration, and were relieved that the early rain soon cleared to leave good visibility for most of the course. The highlights for me were being encouraged by Billy Bland on the way up Bessyboot, a friendly greeting from Joss Naylor at Styhead Pass and my initiation in the delights of scree running on the way off Scafell Pike. Brian and Richard had great runs, and I wasn't last!
142 4:21:58 Brian Melia 144 4:22:24 Richard Joel 274 5:17:27 Clare Smith 275 5:17:28 Neil Smith
Morgan Williams reports ... Nicky Jacquiery and I completed the Cumbrian Traverse, 35 miles with 12,000 feet of climb, in 10 hours and 36 minutes. Like the Bob Graham, the CT is a self-organised challenge, which can be supported at 2 road crossing points. It runs from the Village Hall at Broughton Mills and finishes at the Moot Hall, Keswick, though it can be done north-south. 21 peaks are climbed along the way. Between the start and 3 Shires Stone, across the first 9 tops, we saw no-one. We had reasonable weather, suffering various bouts of drizzle and a heavy, extended downpour around Cold Pike. This made the direct descent on steep rocky ground from Great End to Sty Head somewhat troublesome. After Honister pass we had extensive mist and some sustained rain, right into Keswick. A peaceful day was rather interrupted as we came down to Esk Hause to encounter runners in the Borrowdale Fell Race. As a gauge of fitness, it was good to be climbing Dale Head nicely quicker than many of those in the race, despite having been out for 7 hours by that stage. And all done in Salomon trail shoes. A fine route, much quieter than some of the “traditional” challenges. Thanks to Nicky for her company and to Alison Eagle for road support.
A few Harriers in the senior race, but the main news is that Sarah Pickering is the new Yorkshire Champion in GU12, setting a course record, and there were many other strong performances from Ilkley juniors. More on the junior pages.
18 29.48 Malcolm Pickering 36 32.14 Norman Bush 57 39.25 Eric Morley 58 41.04 Sue Morley
Leeds Hyde Park 51 22:54 Jim Towers 141 29:44 Lyn Towers Bradford Lister park 41 26:03 Andy Wiggans 44 26:50 Fiona Schneider