REPORT BY: WILL WORBOYS

ILKLEY’S Jack Cummings stormed to a decisive victory in this year’s ‘Stanbury Splash’ fell race.

The race is one of the old ‘Woodentops’ series and is now organised by the Wharfedale Harriers. Based at Penistone quarry near Haworth and taking in the moors made famous by the Bronte sisters, the participants enjoyed a bracing 6.7 miles, including 1,200 feet of climbing and several water crossings. 

The conditions were good but very cold after an overnight frost, and Cummings managed to navigate the tricky moorland terrain to finish nearly three minutes ahead of the second-placed runner. The next Harrier to finish was Nick Kealey who came home in 25th place. There were also excellent runs from Ilkley’s ladies with Jann Smith and Katie Poulter finishing as 12th and 13th females respectively, followed by Catherine Crawley in 17th and Nicky Liptrot in 21st. There were plenty of other runners from Ilkley and strong performances were noted from Tom Mountain, Robert Green, Jim Ryder, Charles Wain and Nick Helliwell, all appearing in the first 50 of the 202 finishers.

Also in the Pennines there have been several Harriers taking part in the epic Montane Winter Spine Race. There were several different options for the hardy endurance athletes with events ongoing all week including the full length race; an incredible 268 miles and taking in the full Pennine Way from Derbyshire to the Scottish borders, with Ritchie Williamson representing Ilkley.

There were also slightly shorter North and South versions which are 160 and 108 miles respectively. Shorter still was the ‘sprint’. Although conjuring images of Usain Bolt hurtling over the tops, this ‘sprint’ race is still 42 miles long and any actual sprinting would presumably be confined to the final couple of metres, so long as the legs are still intact; and in any case would probably not be advisable. This race starts at Edale and finishes at Hebden Bridge and two Harriers took part.

Ann-Kristin Marsham brilliantly finished as 8th female in a time of 12hr 41 and Deborah Nicholson was 14th in 15hr 24. Usain Bolt has however not yet reportedly crossed the finish line.

In Lancashire, the veteran club record hoarder Mark Hall managed another hugely impressive performance to finish third overall in the Garstang 10K. It almost goes without saying that Mark was the first in his V60 age category. His time of 36.52 is all the more impressive when taking into account the hilly nature of the two-lap course. Although not breaking the club record on this occasion, the 10K mark is already his.

In fact the only V60 club record that hasn’t been broken by Hall in the past few months is the marathon distance, with an 11-year record held by Nick Pearce perhaps tempting him to make it a clean sweep.

There were again some cracking displays across the nation’s 5K parkruns on Saturday from Ilkley athletes. James Horrex continued his excellent recent form with a first place finish at Pendle parkrun in Colne. Oscar Street was the standout performer in a large field of 471 at Lister Park, finishing 25th. Lizzie Reilly was 2nd female at Harrogate and Junior Harrier Heather Crolla was 5th female at Skipton. James Lee was 3rd finisher at Chevin Forest and Tom Worboys 5th at Bowling Park.

Meanwhile at Roberts Park Andrew Smith was the fastest Harrier again with both him and Vince Gibbons on an upward trajectory and surely closing in on PB times in the near future.