THE pleasant sounding ‘Tour of Pendle’ belies the fact that this is a tough and challenging fell race requiring excellent navigational and technical skills.

This figure of eight course, is widely regarded as one of the hardest on the fell race calendar. Now in its 39th year, this race requires runners to deal with 5000ft of climbing over a distance of 17 miles, with steep ascents, boggy underfoot conditions as well as challenging descents including the infamous drop known as ‘Geronimo’. The race starts and finishes at the village hall in Barley, Lancashire. Six hardy Harriers in Jann Smith, Paul Carman, James Batterley, Peter Roll, Alison Weston and Katie Poulter undertook this event, in wet and misty weather conditions, with excellent results all round.

Race number three of the West Yorkshire Cross League, a league which has been running for over 50 years, took place at the weekend, in Middleton park in Leeds. This 9.8km course saw high placings all round for Ilkley men. Steven Gott was the first Harrier home, in an impressive 40:59, with Steven taking second place in his age category. He was closely followed by Tim Ashelford, who finished first in his age category, with Steve Coy hot on his heels to take second place in his age category.

Also off road, another event in the popular Punk Panther endurance series took place, the Wharfedale Skyline Trail Race and Ultra Marathon. The route of this challenging trail run closely hugs the hills around Otley, Chevin’s Surprise View, the Cow and Calf rocks and beautiful Lindley Wood Reservoir, with race distances ranging from 13 to 35-miles and climbs ranging from 1,700 to 4,800 feet.

Great results from Ilkley Harriers; Steve Ladhams chose the half marathon option, finishing in a great twelfth place overall, in a time of 2:09:56. James Dobbing opted for the 20-mile option, finishing in a superb seventh place overall in a time of 3:31:10 and Petra Bijsterveld opted for the 35-mile option, who completed the course in an impressive 7:39:02, which meant she finished as fourth lady overall.

On the road, the Tadcaster ten took place this weekend. This popular ten-mile road race is organised by Tadcaster Harriers and sees runners run on a largely flat course, with PB potential, but with the added challenge of a long steady climb at the half way mark. This years ‘Tad 10’ had also been selected as the Yorkshire Veteran’s Athletic Association Championship race for 2023, with additional trophies for all vet age group winners.

Harrier Matthew Thackwray managed a sub-60-minute finish, and finished in a superb fourth place overall and just under two minutes behind the first finisher. David Foyston was the second Harrier over the line, finishing in another impressive time of just over 60 minutes. Sally Armitage was the third Harrier home in a great time of 1:03, with Armitage taking first prize in her age category. Jonathan Turner also managed to finish in just over 1:03, with Sally Malir also having a great run at this event, taking second place in her age category.

On the track, Christos Tzelis took part in the Podium 5km race in Barrowford in Lancashire, billed as one of the fastest 5km’s in the UK. Despite the challenging weather conditions Tzelis came 24th in the A race in a quality field, finishing in a great time of 15:15, which was a PB by 19 seconds for him.

Overseas in Italy, Harry Brook-Dobson took part in the Verona half marathon. This scenic, mainly flat race sees runners run through urban and rural areas, along the Adige river and through Verona’s beautiful historic centre, with the finish line on the Plazza Bra, a spacious square that is home to the Arena di Verona, the third-largest of all Roman amphitheatres. Harry had a great run at this event, completing the course in 1:40:55, with Harry highly placed in the field of over 2,700 runners.

Despite it being a very wet Saturday morning, 27 Ilkley Harriers turned out to take part in the weekly timed 5km parkruns, in various locations, including Yorkshire and further afield. Jaysson Sawyer continuing to make an impressive come back to running, was the first finisher at the Clare Castle parkrun in Suffolk, with Jaysson completing the course in 20:42. The Chevin Forest parkrun and the Robert’s Park parkrun were popular this week, with Adam Gerrish the first Ilkley Harrier to finish at the former and Vince Gibbons the first Harrier to finish at the latter parkrun. Over in Lancaster Harry Stead was the sixth finisher at the Lancaster parkrun, with Harry achieving a PB on this course.