Road Race Reports'10

London Marathon - 25/04/10
report by Margaret Brown

Congratulations and Well done to all York Knavesmire Harriers who took part in the London, Shakespeare & Warwickshire marathons April 2010. I can only report on the London as that was the marathon I myself had taken part in but I am sure members who completed the Shakespeare and Warwickshire will report how well they did.

I am sure we were all thinking the same in the week leading up to the marathon when hearing the weather report that is was going to be in the 20’s and would be hot. Thankfully it was just right and we even had a shower. All Knavesmire Harriers who took part ran to the best of their ability and I know it has been hard for some with the setback in the weather in the first part of the year with all the snow causing many of us not able to train like we would want to. Nevertheless you can see from the results how well everyone did and it is a credit to everyone and that goes for the Warwickshire and Stratford marathon too. WELL DONE EVERYONE.

Thank you to all the marshals too for their support and cheering and I am sure I can speak for everyone it was very much appreciated.

One more thing to add. I must have had at least a dozen people mention the York Brass Monkey and how they all enjoy doing the race and reports of our marshalling. It is quite a privilege as I have said before to be wearing our vest at races and known for a great race that we host. : )

Margaret

The Butty Run - 02/04/10
report by Margaret Brown

QUESTION: Who would run 15, 18, or even 20 miles for a bacon butty and a cup of tea??????

I know in the life of the Christian calendar Good Friday has a religious point to it which I do respect, so I hope that I have not offend anyone with this report.

Approximately 50 members, including family, turned up to do their training for the London Marathon with generous hospitality from Dorothy and Frank Holden, and support both Frank and Gill. It was a great day - along the route runners turned up who were not running with their family with supplies of water and encouragement, with support from family members on bikes and at specific points with water. It was amazing. Back at the start members and family again were there to cook the bacon and literally within minutes of arriving back from the run I was handed a large mug of tea followed by more tea, a bacon butty, hot cross buns and mini chocolate eggs. The atmosphere was BRILLIANT, everyone really enjoying themselves and it made me think how nice it would be if this was done after our training nights - but then again when we are finished from our training night at the club we all want to get home for something to eat, a shower and our family!! So the social side gets lost. We even managed to recruit a new runner who had heard about us, and turned up to run and was delighted with what he saw. One of the many highlights for me was seeing Martin Medlar do a fantastic job of driving Margaret Metcalfe's car out of the smallest space you can imagine – NO PRESSURE REALLY but he did a great job – why don’t you ask him or Margaret next time you see them?
Well done to all who turned up and I hope like me you to enjoyed the run - but I still think we must be MAD to run that distance for a bacon butty!!!

St Wilfred’s Muddy Boots 10k (well 10.5k) - 07/02/10
report by Phil Elliott-Dick

Seven Harriers took on the muddy fields around Ripon on Sunday 7^th Feb and with some success.

Robyn Oldham took first place in the female race in 41.37, (40 sec ahead of her closest rival). In the men’s race Phil Elliott-Dick chased hard to come in second place (36:00) behind Sunderland Harriers Brian Rushworth, who took victory in a time of 35:14. It was good to see Andy Neale (49:24) out and getting his shoes dirty and other harriers running included Martin Smith (43:36), Peter Welsh (43:44), Patricia Gill (55:04) and Helen Farrell (62:09).

Dewsbury 10k - 07/02/10
report by Darren Hendley

York Knavesmire Harriers was represented by a small group of runners at the Dewsbury 10km, a fast out and back course that runs from Dewsbury town centre through Batley and Birstall.

Darren Hendley was the first Harrier to cross the finish line (35.16) followed by Ian Anderson (36.27), David Darton (40.37), Colin Lea (42.17), London marathon bound Nick Lawrence (46.08), Andy Smith (51.03) and Mark Raven (51.14).

A first York based finisher was Mike Raynes, running back to form in 34.56

The fast nature of the course always ensures a high quality field. This year, Mark Buckingham from Holmfirth took the mens title in a sub 30 mins clocking (29.55) closely followed by the 2009 winner Matthew Bowser from Lincoln Wellington AC (29.57). The women's race was won by the recently crowned Northern Cross Country Champion Hattie Dean from Hallamshire Harriers AC (33.28), followed by Susan Partridge from Leeds (33.42).

A video of the finishers crossing the line can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVrTU7M8m2w

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