Ilkley Harriers news archive 2020

Baildon Boundary Way, Sun 1 Nov

From Petra Bijsterveld... This annual mixed terrain half marathon organised by Baildon Runners had been postponed from April to today, felicitously just a few days before the next lockdown will be upon us. The club put on a masterclass of how to host an event during a pandemic, with perfect social distancing and a race in time trial format and a staggered departure in groups of 6 runners at 1 minute intervals from the field at race HQ to the start line half a mile down the hill. The course was marked as well as fully marshalled and without exception the Baildon marshals were full of cheer and encouragement, so even though most runners spent the entire race on their own, there was a proper race atmosphere to enjoy. The forecast had been for a lot of rain, but we were very lucky today as the sun shone on us the entire morning. Sadly that had no effect on the underfoot conditions which due to the heavy rain during the week were pretty dire. I have done this race quite a few times and this must be the muddiest I have ever seen this course, it made it harder on the legs but didn't dampen my enjoyment. There were some excellent Harrier times with Dan McKeown coming in the top 10 and Kate Archer was second female overall. I can only imagine they glided over the mud through sheer speed! Sadly that is not part of my skill set, I was pleased enough to avoid face planting in the mud. We were all rewarded with a small pack of Yorkshire Tea teabags at the finish, my favourite, so what more can you want? Well done Baildon Runners for staging this event!
Results ...

(1  1:25:39 Michael Malyon, Baildon Runners)
8   1:34:22 Daniel McKeown 1st M40
17  1:38:49 Danny Thompson
28  1:45:48 Kate Archer 2nd F
29  1:45:51 Dave Robson
61  1:55:24 Steve Murray
63  1:56:33 Catherine Crawley 2nd F40
83  2:02:35 Mark Judkowski 2nd M60
107 2:08:38 Mike Baldwin
108 2:08:38 Claire McLoughlin
196 2:37:11 Petra Bijsterveld
201 2:38:08 Helen Doyle
225 2:49:10 Amanda Newham
251 finished