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Just like last year the organisers certainly kept us in suspense again with the presentations for this year’s Summer League series. In fact we waited so long some of our men managed to get through 3 lots of pie and peas. I’ll mention no names! More of us would have stayed had they got going a bit sooner but a big thank you to all who did stay. Apologies in advance for any misspelt names but there were some interesting spellings on the list the organisers sent me! I’ve tried to be teacher with them. And so to the prizes we did win: let’s start with the men’s awards. In the Open competition William New came 3rd but sadly couldn’t be there to collect his award. John Oliver came 2nd in the Men50 category and we did particularly well in the Men60 category with Ian Bithell coming 3rd and Mike McGrath actually coming top. The big surprise of the night was that our men actually came 2nd in the team competition. This was unexpected as we hadn’t seen any published standings for the mens team up until then. Our dream team was: William New, Simon Collins, Chris Roberts, Rory Henderson, Pete Downes, Darren Hendley, Ian Anderson, Andrew Booth, Giles Hawking, Mark Scoreby, Richard Whitfield and John Oliver. The award was collected by Chris Roberts. A big well done to all our award winning men. Another unexpected prize for us was winning the team handicap competition. And what did we have to do to win this? Well, to tell the truth I’m not really sure. I asked Jean and one of the series organisers and they tried to explain but I’m not really any the wiser but hey, it’s still another award to add to our collection. So, our handicap prize winners were: Stef Durkin, James Maxton, Mike McGrath, Mark Lawrence, Ian Bithell, Steve Rough, Stephen Robson, Graham Adams, Helen Farrell and myself. And most importantly lets big up our ladies (Come on I have to be biased since I am ladies captain) who have been absolutely outstanding in the series. Emma Yates won 2 awards: 3rd female overall and 1st in her age category. Sadly Emma couldn’t stay to collect the award but I went up on her behalf. Actually, none of our winning ladies could make the ceremony so I was pretty exhausted after several trips up on stage and I’m pretty sure the audience was sick of the sight of me! Katy Godfrey got a trophy for coming 5th overall and Andrea Lancaster also won 2 awards: 6th woman overall and 2nd in her age category. We also won the cup for being winning ladies team and our elite squad was: Emma Yates, Andrea Lancaster, Caroline Warrington, Katy Godfrey, Fiona Strange, Janet Cordingley, Abey Lawrence and myself. I said a big well done to the men but I’m saying a massive huge well done to our winning ladies. Praise should go though to
all our runners who entered this year’s Summer League, not just those that won
awards and I’m sure next year will be another exciting series judging by our
performance this year. It was fantastic to see 5 of our men finishing in the top 10. Once again we were graced with the presence of Darran Bilton in a Knavesmire vest and he won the race in style in a great time of 32.50, way ahead of the rest of the pack. Richard Whitfield finished 3rd overall in 35.27; Mark Scoreby came 8th in 36.42 (a pb too); Giles Hawking 9th in 36.46 and Darren Hendley 10th in 37.02. Equally as impressive, 4 of our ladies finished in the top 10 of female finishers. Emma Yates came 2nd overall and 1st in her age category in 38.01. Abey Lawrence finished 3rd in 38.09; Katy Godfrey 5th in 41.53 and Andrea Lancaster 6th in 42.13. And our greatest triumph, we actually came 1st in the open team competition which is absolutely fantastic. Praise again also to our ladies as we really showed some girl power and took 1st and 2nd place in the ladies team standings. I also think we need a pb hall of fame as several of us celebrated our own personal glories. Birthday boy Alistair Mc Queen knocked a full 2 minutes off his previous 10km record. Also in our hall of fame is: Stephen Robson, James Maxton and me! If anyone else managed a pb then well done to you too. So what does this race’s results mean for our overall standings in the Summer League? Well pretty damn good is the answer to that. Firstly in the team competition Acorn runners took the open team title but we secured a comfortable 2nd place, way ahead of Pocklington. Most notable achievement: our ladies A team retain our title as no 1 ladies team for a 2nd consecutive year. I’m so proud to be ladies captain right now. An outstanding performance by the ladies. For individual performances 6 of our men finished in the top 20. In ascending numerical order: William New, Darren Hendley, Giles Hawking, Simon Collins, Chris Roberts, Mark Scoreby. John Oliver finished 2nd in his age category and well done to Mike McGrath for finishing top of his. 6 of our ladies also finished in the top 20: Emma Yates, Katy Godfrey, Andrea Lancaster, Fiona Strange, myself and Janet Cordingley. Emma Yates has shone in every race she has ran and thoroughly deserved to come 1st in her age category. Massive congratulations too to Maureen Medlar for taking first prize in her age category. As a club we’ve got every
reason to celebrate as we’ve had some great successes in the 2011 Summer League
series so it would be great to see as many of us as possible at the presentation
ceremony after the Stillington handicap race. I remember pie and peas from last
year’s so surely that’s an incentive in itself. If you read my last report you’ll know that I had every intention of practicing my hill technique ready for this race but sadly an assignment and exam got in the way. When I began the epic ascent at Bishop Wilton I thought "this isn’t as bad as I remember" but very soon after that I changed my mind and was cursing the course. I guess one positive of a climb though is that at some point you’re going to have to come down and after the hill ordeal it pretty much was downhill all the way so once the legs have stopped burning it’s a good opportunity to make up some time. There was a clash again with one of the Vets' races but nevertheless there was a turn out of 40 Harriers. We were missing some of our super speedy ladies which meant that I was actually the first Knavesmire lady to finish and 8th woman overall in a time of 47.48 (7 minutes quicker than last year!!). I’m sure my glory will be short lived though. Taking silver for the Harriers but gold in her age category was Maureen Medlar in 53.54 which was also quicker than last year’s time, great work Maureen. In bronze position was Angela Dixon in 55.31 and only 10 seconds behind was Bev Watson in 55.41 so well done too to both of you. We were also missing the familiar face of Margaret Brown who was absent due to her recent bike accident. Hope you’re back running soon Margaret. You men definitely outnumbered us and achieved some fantastic results too. First Harrier home and 3rd finisher overall was William New in an amazing time of 37.10. In 2nd place, Giles Hawking in 38.42 (7th overall) and in 3rd Darren Hendley (9th overall) in 38.56. Just outside the top 10 finishers was Mark Scoreby in 39.13. Mike McGrath managed to once again retain his title of 1st in his age category. Great to see Andy Martin running again after having to pull out of the Knavesmire race. He finished in a very respectable time of 45.04. Just a quick word on team positions, we currently stand 2nd in the open team standings which is great but even better our ladies A team is currently top of the leader board! Brilliant, breath-taking…I’ve run out of ‘b’ words now! A big thank you to all our
members who were marshalling or helping out in other ways. Your support was much
appreciated. I think for next year though we could do with some supporters
strategically placed on the hill to help us all up. Well done to everyone who
ran though, you all deserve a medal for getting round that course. It’s a toughy
without a doubt. The next race is at Selby on the 12th July and I’m
sure a few of us will be aiming for a pb there since there will be no hideous
hills standing in our way. See you all there. An impressive 6 of our men finished in the top 20. We had the privilege of running supreme Darran Bilton wearing a Knavesmire vest and Darran went on to win the race in a time of 32.55 finishing nearly a full 3 minutes in front of the next runner. If only Darran could run for us more often! Our other top male runners were: William New 35.57 (4th overall), Ian Anderson, 36.06 (6th overall), Giles Hawking 36.54 (9th overall) and Simon Collins 37.29 (14th overall). Another person who didn’t seem to have any problems with the course was Chris Roberts who clocked another pb of 37.31 finishing 15th overall. There’s no stopping Chris right now! Well done to Mike McGrath for finishing 1st again in his age category again. There was an outstanding performance from our ladies too with 5 finishing within the top 10 women. Emma Yates did as proud as always finishing 2nd overall and 1st in her age category in 38.48. Fantastic performances too came from Andrea Lancaster 41.96 (4th woman overall), Katy Godfrey 42.41 (5th woman overall), Fiona Strange 43.30 (7th woman) and Mandy Clarke 43.46 (8th woman). Despite hating every km of the course I managed to run 2 mins 38 faster than last year. Credit for that has to go to our club coach Pete Schofield and his brilliant Tuesday and Thursday sessions. Sadly 2 of our runners Margaret Brown and Andy Martin had to drop out during the race due to injury so I hope they both fully recover and are ready to race again soon. Next in the series is Bishop
Wilton and we all know what that means…that hellish hill so I don’t know about
you but I’m off in hunt of hills over the next week to get some practice in. Always a challenge and incorporating the be-moaned Crake Hill, this years race was won in convincing style by Acorn runner Andy Hilton but team YKH were chasing hard and Will New produced another superb performance finishing 3rd overall just 12 seconds behind second placed Julian Hood. With Darren Hendley, Ian Anderson, Simon Collins, Giles Hawking, and Chris Roberts all finishing in the top 20 our mens A Team are battling hard against strong opposition from our rivals at Acorn and Pocklington and are currently placed 3rd in the team competition. Our ‘Queen Bees’ continue to impress with another formidable performance from Emma Yates who finished as 3rd placed lady overall and our ‘first lady’. Great running by Andrea Lancaster, Katy Godfrey, Sarah Douglas, and Louise Brennan who all finished in the top 20 of the ladies section. Well done ladies in securing 1st place in the ladies team competition. Individually the following Harriers are running well to maintain their age related trophy challenges:- Male Vets:- Ian Anderson 3rd M40 : Neil Strange 2nd M50 : John Oliver 3rd M50 : Mike Mc Grath 1st Male 60. Female Vets:- Emma Yates 1st F35 : Andrea Lancaster joint 2nd F35 : Janet Cordingley 2nd F45: Maureen Medlar 1st F55. Another really great turn out for the wasps (25%of field were Harriers) with accomplished individual performances and brilliant team results. Well done to each and everyone. Apologies if I have left out anyone but figures have never been my thing!!
Next race is
at The York Racecourse. Good luck to all of those running – numbers may be a bit
depleted as the Meanwood vets race is on the same night which just for info is
much more scenic and a little hillier! Report by Sarah Douglas link to results This was my first Summer League race of the series since I had to miss the first one as I was still in my recovery phase and what a great race for me to start with. I couldn’t believe how many runners there were in Knavesmire Harriers vests, 61 out of 233 to be exact. That’s the most I’ve ever seen at a race. I ran in the Summer League last year but Tadcaster wasn’t in the series so this was the first time I’d ever run this course. I think all will agree that the second half of the course was much tougher than the first. I remember the 6-7km stretch being particularly hard and my gratitude has to go to our Martin Medlar and Julie Rookes who were strategically placed at the top of that hill. They definitely helped me find my second wind. So, on to the all important results. Emma Yates was again our first Knavesmire lady to cross the line with a time of 40.09 and was also the 1st woman in her age category and 3rd woman overall, impressive achievement indeed. 2nd for the ladies and 5th woman overall was Andrea Lancaster in 42.38 with Fiona Strange taking the bronze in 43.56 and finishing as 6th woman overall. Great running by both Andrea and Fiona and also Janet Cordingley as I know all 3 have been plagued by the horrible ‘i’ word (that’s injury to any of you who’ve had the good fortune of not experiencing it!) Special mention also to Maureen Medlar for coming 1st in her age category. Looking at the results it looks like a photo finish was nearly needed for the men with just 1 second difference between our 1st and 2nd male harriers. I’ll not leave you in suspense any longer. Darren Hendley just managed to clinch it in 36.45 with Ian Anderson just behind in 36.46. Fantastic overall finishing places of 7th and 8th for these two- a great achievement. 3rd for the men was Simon Collins in 38.03 and a big well done to Mike McGrath for finishing 1st in his age category. These impressive results mean that we are flying high in the league tables with Knavesmire Harriers currently 3rd in the open team race with the ladies team clinching gold. May our brilliance continue for the next race. See you all at Easingwold on 31st May.
What an amazing start by team YKH - 1st 2nd and 3rd places for our ladies! Impressive running by Emma Yates to secure victory in a time of 39.56 mins (also finishing 26th overall) followed by Caroline Warrington 41.27 finishing in second place and by Kate Godfrey 43.02 the third lady home. Great performances too by both Fiona Strange who finished as 7th lady overall and by Janet Cordingley who was 10th overall. Emma Yates, Caroline Waddington and Maureen Medlar all secured 1st age category placings with Kate Godfrey and Janet Cordingley recording 2nd age category placings. Our mens team was led home by William New who completed the course in 36.19 to finish in third place overall. Congratulations to Will who was running for the first time as a ‘wasp’. With 6 of our men finishing in the first 25 positions it was a great start to the series. Mike McGrath secured 1st place in his age category finishing in 39th place overall in a time of 41.53 and with Neill Strange securing 2nd place in his age category in a time of 40.55. With such competitive running by one and all the challenge for the team trophies has begun. The next race is at Tadcaster on the 17th May when hopefully team YKH can build on these early successes. Good luck everyone. |
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