YKH Weekly Round Up – W/e 26.Feb – Knavesmire Ladies top 20 at National XC’s, Snake Lane & more…

—English National Cross Country Championships.

Wollaton Country Park in Nottingham was the venue on Saturday for the 129th running of one of the biggest events on many amatuer club athletes calendars.

York Knavesmire Harriers were in attendance in good numbers and good spirits after a pleasant trip down together by Coach , and we had the luxury of the big YKH tent to change in at the venue.

Before the Senior races there are a number of junior races , and this gave us a chance to warm up,  inspect the course and watch the kids valiantly trooping through the big water logged bog , which would become most peoples lasting memory of the course. In truth there was one nasty section , which ensured no one left with clean shoes, but 95% of the course was in as good condition as one could hope and was very runnable . A short sharp climb right up to the grand facade of Wollaton Hall , then a long gentle descent along a tree lined avenue, a speedy section beside the picturesque lake  , then the boggy bit before completing the lap.

YKH Ladies in good spirits before the race

The Senior Ladies race would consist of two large laps , totalling 5.1 miles in distance .
Knavesmire’s Ladies had a great race and with the first four to count ‘A’  team placing in the top 20, they did the club proud.

Their excellent 19th place was achieved by Nik Tarrega 130th, Becky Penty 131st ( great first race after long period of injury ) , Sarah Attwood 155th and Cassie Holmes 196th.

To put that 19th into context, this race attracts the nation’s highest calibre club athletes,  there were 93 eligible ‘A’ teams and the YKH Ladies were 4th from Yorkshire.

https://www.facebook.com/YorkKnavesmireHarriers/videos/1229709227120956/

Also running ably for YKH were :

196th Caroline Warrington
255th Cassie Holmes
264th Emily Baines
284th Katie Smith
389th Mandy Clarke
503rd Jane Nodder
530th Qin Zhou                                                              788 runners in total.

Following the Ladies race it was time for the Gents to take centre stage . The start of the Senior Men’s race is something to behold , and even more epic to be a part of .   1800 runners set off in a stampede , sprinting wildly, jockeying for position , elbows clashing , fearful of falling under the multitude of spike shod feet, but desperate for a good start so thundering blindly onwards. The 7.7 mile  race would consist of a small , medium , large and extra large lap, each one providing an opportunity to traverse the bog .

The ‘Mire’ Men were missing a few key entrants on the day due to injury and illness , but we still managed to field a good number of runners , and thanks to everyone running their hearts out we gained a respectable result.

Harry Holmes, who was running his last race for the club went out on a high with a top 300 placing , an excellent 242nd, also in the Nation’s top 300 was Chris Roberts 282nd.
Completing the Men’s , six to count ‘A’ team which was 43rd overall out of 131 in total ( 4th from Yorkshire )  were :

595th Simon Collins
614th Simon Fricke
675th Giles Hawking
717th Barry Atkinson

Also proudly running for YKH at this Blue Riband event were :

834th Richard Lowson
856th Tom Ratcliffe
872nd Darren Hendley
910th Dan Chan
Mark Dye
Peter Downes
Richard Tarrega
Michael Page
John Nodder

Many Photos can be seen on the clubs facebook group page .


—Snake Lane 10.

A perennial  favourite amongst club members, this Pocklington road race was again well attended .

YKH best placed runner was David Smithers 9th.   Results 


—Carribean Running

Between 29th January and 4th Feb, we took part in running Costa Rica, St .Thomas (U.S Virgin Islands),Barbados ,on board ship, St.Lucia, St .Kitts and Netherland Antilles
12k, Marathon ,10k,half marathon-144laps of deck 14, Marathon, Half Marathon and finally Marathon.
A medal for each race- different colour ribbon and name of each place on each medal.
The intention is to run 7 Marathons in 6 countries( which included one on board the cruise ship).However , we didn’t feel trained sufficiently to undertake this ,but as you can see we did run everyday. The Marathon at St.Thomas- US Virgin Islands was a partnership with St Thomas Asssociation of Runners. The  Runs were often multiple laps , some along a bay, some in shaded areas and some in very hot conditions.
All in YKH Vests and some more countries off our marathon list!!
David Darton & Colin Lea


—BHF Harewood House Half Marathon.

Results


Running this muddy race were Neil Strange, Laura Schofield , Teddy Wilcox , Andy Falconer, Liz Matthews and possibly a few others.


—Huddersfield 10k

Kathryn Dickinson ran this 10k in 49:18.



—Endurancelife Northumberland Coastal Ultra

John Freel ran this 36 miles trail race along the beautiful Northumberland coast.

“Ran in 6hrs 20 with a mere 2047ft of elevation so predominantly flat’ish…must try harder in the future!” said John.


—Ilkley Moor Fell Face.

Andy and Petra Chaman-Gibbs competed in the 8km  Ilkley Moor Fell Race which has been staged by Ilkley Harriers every year since 1990. It is a hard fell race in Winter and is not suitable for beginners as there are some steep, slippery, and rocky descents.


—York Parkrun.

36 members of YKH took part.
Parkrun PB’s for :

Jayne Fligg 31:30