Report by Sarah Douglas

I’m sure we’ve all been eagerly awaiting the results of the Bishop Wilton race. This was the penultimate race in the series for deciding final overall standings in the league so needless to say this was a very important race. Many see this as the toughest course in the series and I would definitely agree. There’s a gruelling, what seems never ending ascent near the start of the race. There’s a great chance to make up some time on the steep downhill section but the pounding really takes it out of you so the final mile seems like a real slog.

A massive well done to all our runners for putting in such a great performance. In the men’s race William New (36.34) and Chris Roberts (37.22) took gold and silver. Fantastic running too from Giles Hawking (6^th overall in 38.31), Simon Collins (9^th in 39.28) and Mark Lawrence (10^th overall in 39.38). For all you stats lovers that’s 50% of our men finishing in the top 10 so it’s no wonder our men are storming out in front in the team competition.

As for our women, Emma Yates (40.29) took gold in the ladies race a good way in front of her rival Emma Willits from York Acorn. Andrea Lancaster (44.57), Sarah Douglas (45.00) and Nik Vogan (45.24) came 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th. Such a fantastic achievement to have 4 of our ladies finishing in the top 5. We fully deserve our place at the top of the leader board in the team standings.

A big well done also to Mike McGrath and Richard Gott for their excellent race organising. A lot of  our men and women are in great positions in the individual league standings but I don’t want to jinx things by saying too much about those. With one race still to go a lot could change but what I will say it looks like there’ll be some fully deserved Harrier celebrations going on at Stillington.

Report by Sam Lyth.

June might have been a washout weather wise, but is has produced some excellent running conditions. The cool, calm evening coupled with a flat course meant that myself and, I suspect, many other runners were aiming for a PB in race 4.

The three circuits of The Knavesmire seem a long way and can be a bit boring, so it was really nice to be running with Julie Rookes for the first lap. What is good about this race is that us back runners can see the race develop up front. We were lapped by the first three finishers on the first lap – it was great to see William New in there on his way to a very close 3^rd place. A group of runners, including Knavesmire’s Chris Roberts (who got a PB), Giles Hawking and Ian Anderson, who took 4^th, 5^th and 6^th places respectively, passed us soon after. Ian was first M40.

The first female athletes lapped us just before the 5k mark and Emma Yates was going at a good speed to take second place overall and 1^st F35, with Sarah Douglas taking 4^th place in a PB.  At half-way I recorded a PB for 5k (better than my numerous parkruns round Knavesmire) which helped keep me going as getting on for ½ the field overtook me on the second circuit.

That third lap feels lonely after passing so many people at the finish, but the marshalls were really encouraging all round the track and I kept telling them I was on target for a PB (to keep myself motivated). In the closing kilometres there was a mini battle for places between Julie, Paul Adams and myself, which I lost, however I won the battle with the clock and recorded a PB.

Report by Sarah Douglas

Most of us have been loving the beautiful sunshine over the last week but we were all hoping for cooler running conditions at Easingwold. Alas! That was not the case. A combination of heat and hills made the course pretty gruelling. Despite this, some more fantastic performances from our men. Chris Roberts finished in 2^nd place (36.35), Giles Hawking in 4^th (37.04), Ian Anderson in 7^th (37.17) and Simon Collins 15th (39.17). Thanks to their efforts the men are currently top of the mens team leader-board. Keep it up guys!

As for us ladies, we can boast that 5 of us finished within the top 10 of ladies. Emma Yates was 1^st (39.41), Robyn Hawksby took 3^rd (42.33), Sarah Douglas 4^th (43.00), Andrea Lancaster (44.11) and Nik Vogan (44.28). These great results mean that we too are top of the team leader-board. I don’t want to speak too soon but it’s looking like a strong possibility that we might retain our winning ladies team status for the 3^rd year in a row. Here’s hoping.

Special mention too to Maureen Medlar and Mike McGrath for coming 1^st in their age categories and also to Stephen Robson for running his fastest race of the league so far.

A big thank you to those who organised the food afterwards. Once again it proved a huge hit.

The first summer league race of the season: freezing cold, but at least it was dry and calm, about the best we can hope for this year. The light was a bit low and I was very pleased that the Harriers shirts show up pretty well in the gloom, especially as I was finishing well after 8:30!

The summer league really is about the taking part and not the winning. As a slow runner I really appreciate all the supporters there are at the end cheering all of us in.

I remembered enjoying this course last year: it’s nice to have a chat with some of the other back-markers in the first km although quite daunting to see all the field streaming up the first hill way out ahead. We did have to remind ourselves that we did it for fun as we jogged along behind.

I was pleased with how I ran and finished strongly. Thanks to Paul Adams giving me a target for 5k, my second half was faster by about 3 minutes, although I was slower than last year – perhaps I enjoyed socialising en route too much!

The great news when I got back was that William New (34.58) and Emma Yates (40.29) were runners up in the men’s and women’s races respectively and Ian Anderson (36.06) won the M40 category. Chris Roberts came 3^rd overall. In fact a great all round performance from both our mens and womens teams with 7 of our men finishing in the top 15 and 4 of our ladies finishing in the ladies top 10.

At the back of the 260-strong field there was a plethora of Knavesmire Harriers and for once I had runners round me most of the way. Particular congratulations should go to Jean Snelling who not only hasn’t run a 10k for 8 months but organised the sandwiches afterwards!