REPORT BY: JEAN SULLIVAN

BEN Rothery continued to impress on the fells, reinforcing why he was voted ‘male runner of the year 2023’ by his club and clubmates.

Rothery won race five of the Kong Winter series, and also set a new course record.

This five-mile route, with 2,500ft of ascent, starts at Threlkeld village hall in Cumbria.  This challenging course sees runners traverse the flanks of Blencathra, undertake a tough climb up Doddick fell to reach Blencathra summit, race across the ridgeline to Blease fell, to finish with a steep technical descent back to the car park at Threlkeld.

And despite a tumble on the descent, Rothery still clocked an impressive 45:03, setting a new course record, shattering the previous record of 50:30, set in 2021. Clubmate Alison Weston also had a great run at this event, finishing with a high age-group placing, in a time of 1:16:48.

Meanwhile, on the roads, this weekend saw the staging of the Snake Lane 10.  This popular and well-established road race, now in its 32nd year, is a fairly flat, fast 10-miler, ideal as part of Spring marathon training. As its name suggests, the course has a winding stretch that snakes its way through beautiful East Yorkshire countryside at the foot of the glorious Wolds.  The race starts and finished in Pocklington. 

Sally Armitage continued her fine form, with an age category win, completing the course in 1:02:45.  Her incredibly fast pace meant that she set two new club records (40-44 and 45-49 age categories) for the 10-mile distance.  Clubmates Jaysson Sawyer and Sally Malir also completed this race, finishing in superb times of 1:04:40 and 1:16:37 respectively, with Armitage taking fourth place in her age category.

Jane McCarthy and Mark Hall also excelled this weekend, breaking four club records between them.  They both took part in the Wombwell 5, a long-established road race in South Yorkshire, organised by Kingstone Harriers. 

McCarthy completed the race in 32:29, not only placing her first in her age category, but also meaning that she broke two club records for a 5-mile race, the FV45 and FV50 categories.  Hall finished the course in 29:41, meaning he not only took first prize in his age category, but he also broke the M55 and M60 club records.  Hilda Coulsey also had a great run at this event, finishing second in her age category,

The interclub parkrun championships between Ilkley Harriers, Bingley Harriers and Saltaire Striders has certainly encouraged lots of Harriers to add a parkrun to their weekly running schedule.  This week saw the grand total of 52 Harriers give these timed 5km runs a go, with some incredible results and PBs all round.  Ruth Kitchen was the first lady home at the Roundhay parkrun, managing a sub-20-minute finish, also making this her PB time for a parkrun.  A first-place finish also for Matthew Thackwray at the Fountains Abbey parkrun, Matthews 25th parkrun to date, which he completed in a speedy 16:26. 

Lots of Harriers managed top five overall finishing places including; Dave Foyston, second finisher at the Heslington parkrun, Tom Worboys who was the second finisher at the Bowling Park parkrun, completing the course in 19:58, a PB for him for this course, Samesh Chotai was the second finisher at the Skipton parkrun, with Rob Cunningham finishing in fourth place at the same parkrun.  Alex Foyn was the fourth finisher at the Preston parkrun, Nick Kealey the fourth finisher at the Robert’s Park parkrun and Tom Lambe was the fifth finisher at the Horton parkrun, with Tom achieving a course PB.

Deborah Nicholson also managed a course PB at the Chevin Forest parkrun, with PBs also for Nicole Liptrot, Vince Gibbons and Phil Hirst at the Robert’s Park parkrun.