—Yorkshire Cross Country Championships , Lightwater Valley, Ripon.
With Christmas out of the way it is now the season of Cross Country Championships , beginning with the Yorkshire’s and soon to be followed by the Northern’s and culminating in the Nationals.
For the third year in a row the local Yorkshire Championships have been located at Lightwater Valley, and it makes a fine venue. Thanks to the plentiful rainfall we have had lately a good deal of the course was very muddy or waterlogged, not helped by the earlier Junior races churning it up further.
First to go on Saturday in the Seniors were the Ladies, sadly after our excellent 3rd place in the West Yorkshire Cross Country League we were unable to field a full team of four Ladies.
Andrea Lancaster was 39th, Hannah King 65th and Bryony Parkinson 81st.
Knavesmire’s Men were out in greater numbers , managing to field two teams of six, The ‘A’ team, the first six to finish were an excellent tenth place and the ‘B’ team were 22nd of the 30 teams that completed the race. Sadly our best runner Kim Critchley pulled out with a twanged hamstring whilst in 5th place, hope it does not take too long to recover.
The ‘A’ team :
58th Chris Roberts
76th Josh Beech
86th Nicholas Rooke
95th Simon Fricke
109th Neil Stabbs
113th Barry Atkinson
The ‘B’ team :
114th Giles Hawking
130th Richard Lowson
138th Darren Hendley
149th Simon Collins
166th Pete Downes
179th Danny Chan
Also:
214th Phil Richardson
218th Stef Durkin
262nd Alistair Mcqueen
Race had 269 finishers.
More pictures at:
—Three Sisters Night Race.
This was a NIGHT race (in January!) out on the North Yorkshire Moors , so not one for those who like the cushier things in life. For those undertaking this 6.8 mile race there was only their headtorches to light the way as they battled high winds and rain atop the Moors , the out and back course along the Cleveland Way taking in Clay Bank – Wainstones – Cold Moor – Cringle Moor – Lord Stones – Cringle Moor – Cold Moor – Wainstones – Clay Bank , you probably would get lovely views in daylight!
Knavesmire’s Fell specialist Harry Holmes obtained yet another win in his favourite discipline, also running for YKH was Sarah Atwood.
—Temple Newsam Ten.
Sunday saw the running of a brand new 10 mile race , staged in the beautiful grounds of the Temple Newsam Estate . The course is mainly bridle and country paths (it could be muddy) covering areas of the estate that you wouldn’t normally see. There are stunning views of the 17th Century House and gardens designed and re-landscaped by Capability Brown. The course also takes in the nearby nature reserve, lakes and canals that form part of the Woodlesford navigation.
Andy Smith finishes the Temple Newsam Ten
8th Stephen Maddison 1:08:30
20th David Leese 1:09:23
33rd George Bilsby 1:11:29
54th Robyn Hawxby 1:13:49
79th Andy Smith 1:17:00
170th Helen Young 1:23:47
256th James Chambers 1:28:42
295th James Ollerenshaw 1:31:17
315th Roger Bilsby 1:32:52
413th Duncan Chambers 1:38:52 (657 finishers, a popular new race!)
—Point Walter race, Australia.
Liz Matthews is still flying the YKH flag down under – taking part in the Point Walter race with the WA Masters club. A chilly 22 degrees at 7 am this morning, “much better for running” says Liz.
—York Parkrun.
Parkrun reclaimed the Knavesmire from the floodwater for it’s first run of 2016 and it’s 4th Birthday.
24 members of York Knavesmire Harriers took part , no PB’s or first timers.