Following the club’s successful inaugural outing at Endure24 Leeds last year, this year saw an even greater crop of Harriers descend on Bramham Park for a weekend of running, toasties and ice cream. With high winds, high temperatures and high humidity, the event certainly lived up to its strapline of “epic, brutal, relentless” and conditions were difficult from the outset. Swirling gusts drove plumes of grit and dust off the dry course into the eyes of runners. Undeterred, the 33 hardy Harriers battled through the difficult afternoon and racked up lap after lap, knowing they would eventually be rewarded with the relative cool of the nighttime.
Team photo taken before the start (this can be deduced from the fact that everyone is smiling)
Hem and Ellie are no stranger to the 100 mile distance but both expressed doubt about their ability to continue after only a few laps, with the peak heat of the afternoon taking its toll early on. Both showed their usual toughness and powered through, finding a new lease of life once the sun set. Hem joined the Endure24 100-mile yellow t-shirt club in an impressive 21:37, while Ellie spread her effort across the time available, finishing less than 10 minutes before the finish line closed for business. Viv also continued through the night without significant breaks, racking up a superb 15 laps with over two hours to spare. Andrew, Calum, Alan and Teddy preferred the heat of the daytime and ran their laps across the two days with a break overnight. All recorded phenomenal achievements, with Andrew breaking his target of 100 km, Calum and Alan both reaching 50 miles and Teddy smashing her all-time distance PB.
Ice cream envy is a real problem at endurance running events
In the teams, the Knavesmire Lions narrowly missed out on a podium finish for their mascot Simba by completing 36 laps, including an impressive double-lap finale by Pete taking his personal total to 7. The Brass Monkeys and Gazelles both benefited from last-minute supersubs and ended up on the same distance total, separated only by the half-hour time difference. The Knavesmire Tigers racked up a nice round total of 200 km with over an hour to spare and the Rufforth Ruffians pairing of Andy and Steve achieved 18 laps, mostly alternating but with some doubling up late at night and in the morning.
Why bother trying to sleep when you can party in a gazebo?
All in all our 33 runners notched up 236 laps, totalling 1888 km or 1180 miles. The best newcomer award goes to the club gazebo, which provided welcome shelter from the elements and was the focal point of the club camp. Thanks to club members bringing fairy lights, the gazebo also boasted an extremely low-energy party atmosphere throughout the night.
We’ll be doing it all again next year – will you join us? Here are some inspiring quotes from our participants:
“What a fabulous weekend. The entire thing was epic.”
“It was an absolute pleasure running with you all.”
“This is the worst I’ve ever felt at any instant in my life.”
Results summary:
| Team / Individual | Members | Laps | Time | Distance | Category position |
| Team Knavesmire Lions | Dan, Francesca (c), Francisco, Luke, Pete, Rob | 36 | 23:17:19 | 288 km / 180 mi | 4 |
| Team Knavesmire Brass Monkeys | Alice, Jeremy, Kevin (c), Nik, Nikki, Ste | 31 | 24:21:13 | 248 km / 155 mi | 16 |
| Team Knavesmire Gazelles | Alan (c), Aoife, Bryan, Kieron, Mandy, Tim | 31 | 24:50:59 | 248 km / 155 mi | 19 |
| Team Knavesmire Tigers | Alison, Emily, Jen, John, Liz, Ruth (c) | 25 | 23:45:08 | 200 km / 125 mi | 57 |
| Hem Rana | 20 | 21:37:01 | 160 km / 100 mi | 8 | |
| Ellie Wilkinson | 20 | 24:51:07 | 160 km / 100 mi | 7 | |
| Team Rufforth Ruffians | Andy, Steve | 18 | 23:34:17 | 144 km / 90 mi | 16 |
| Viv Fraser | 15 | 22:39:09 | 120 km / 75 mi | 21 | |
| Andrew McMorris | 13 | 23:55:05 | 104 km / 65 mi | 140 | |
| Calum Okeudo-Cogan | 10 | 21:34:18 | 80 km / 50 mi | 228 | |
| Alan Smith | 10 | 23:56:32 | 80 km / 50 mi | 259 | |
| Teddy Wilcox | 7 | 18:57:56 | 56 km / 35 mi | 195 |