Racing Round Up – w.e 16th Feb’ – Evensplits 5k, Bloodaxe, At the Double, Barcelona 1/2

Please send race reports,  photos & results to :  ykhracereports@gmail.com

—Barcelona Half Marathon.

18013th Neil Croxson 2:02:49
18015th Jill Armes 2:02:50

Lucky to be running in a race where the half marathon world record was smashed by Jacob Kilpimo. New record of 56:42 was an improvement of 48 seconds!

—Evensplits 5k Series ( Club Championship Race).

Ste Robson reports:
This monthly 5km race series kicked off on Valentines Day, and to mark the start of their racing year in style 39 Knavesmire Harriers lined up on the start line. Being five laps of a fast tarmac loop it always attracts people from all over the region, and often brings out the best in everyone who takes part.

As it was a 19:30 start time in February it was dark and chilly while we huddled waiting for the race to start. We took the obligatory selfie, but then warmups were highly recommended to maintain temperatures.

Race time finally arrived and we were given an efficient briefing on the start line. There was an excited murmuring amongst everyone, keen to get our 2025 campaigns off to a great start.

The first lap is always fast, way too fast! We get caught up in the excitement, and think maybe today’s the day we can set an enormous PB. More often than not we’re punished for our hubris at the end of lap one – the clock says something delightful but our legs are a little less impressed. Settling into a more sensible rhythm is usually the preferred option as we tick off lap after lap.

All but the fastest of runners have the great pleasure of being lapped on this course. There’s absolutely no shame in that, and when people are running sub-15 minute times it’s incredible to see them glide past us at an eye watering pace. We’ve trained for weeks, months, years, and so have they. Every triumph and disappointment we’ve had in this hobby has been echoed by everyone else at some point, from the people at the back to the very fastest at the front, and it’s beautiful to know that we’re all the same yet different.

Knavesmire Harriers had some great times, with so many people buzzing and chattering about it afterwards. Huge congratulations to everyone who took part, and hopefully you had an amazing evening.

The full results can be found here: https://racebest.com/results/cvv92

As this was our second 2025 club championship race, the updated league tables are here: https://www.yorkknavesmireharriers.co.uk/race-calendar/club-runs-2025

—Stamford 30k.

Colin Lea
David Darton

—It’s Grim Up North – Dogs Doodahs 20 mile.

Run along Leeds – Liverpool canal at Bingley.

4th Female Viv Fraser 3:35:56

—Bloodaxe Challenge. ( report thanks to Ste)

Who likes running around in circles? ‍

Who likes the Heslington cycle track?

Who wants to spend two hours flogging themselves silly on said cycle track? ‍

The Bloodaxe Challenge is a See York Run York event which is as inclusive as it is quirky. You sign up, get an ankle bracelet with a chip in it, and in two hours run as many laps as you fancy. Some people just do a single lap, others do dozens of laps. You get to see everyone multiple times as you lap them and are yourself lapped, and it’s a whole lot of fun.

Seventeen people from York Knavesmire Harriers took on the challenge this year, with many of them running for the full two hours (plus a little more if you start a lap before the cut-off)! For some it was the furthest they’d ever ran, and some fools had also done the EvenSplits 5km on Friday night, and Julie Rookes also did Heslington parkrun on Saturday morning – that’s a LOT of laps of the cycle track!

This really is a wonderful event, so if you’re on the fence about doing it next year I’d say definitely do it! Good fun, good results, and a lot of good cake at the end

The full results are here: https://www.timingmonkey.co.uk/results/Bloodaxe25/#0_4468F5

—At the Double Fell Race.

An almost 7 mile blast along the North Yorkshire coast, featuring an ice cold wade across the harbour, undulating windswept  clifftops and strength sapping sandy dunes in the last mile.

84th Karen Mather 1:20:44