REPORT BY: WILL WORBOYS

Ilkley Harriers were by far the most dominant club in terms of their prize haul at Saturday’s Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon.

Sixteen Harriers made the trip up the valley to Threshfield and an amazing six of those came away with category wins, with another four managing top three finishes.

The overall race was won by Ilkley’s Jack Cummings in 1hr 23:23, just outside the course record. This after a brilliant battle with fellow Harrier Tom Adams who finished 2nd in 1hr 25:18 and first in his category. Adams led going up the infamous hill of Mastiles Lane but was reeled in by Cummings well before the finish back at Wharfedale Rugby club.

The classic race attracted 226 finishers and is a challenging circular route of 13.2 miles, which takes in parts of the Dales Way before heading over Kilnsey Moor and Malham Moor; and includes a lung busting 2,000 feet of ascent.

After the front two, the next Harrier home was Matt Cox who was 5th overall and 2nd MV45. He was followed by category winners; Steve Clarkson MV35, Jane McCarthy MV50, Jonathan Sinclair MV60 and Bernie Gibbons FV70. Other outstanding performances were had by Owen Parker who was 18th overall and Emma Sheppard who was 2nd FV45. Finally, Robert Hamilton, Peter Ferguson and Vince Gibbons were 3rd, 5th and 9th respectively in the MV65 category.

There were two representatives from Ilkley at Sunday’s NorthowRun 5. One can only speculate at the hours of brainstorming and extensive focus groups that must have happened for Northowram Pumas running club to come up with ingenious pun on the name of their village where the five-mile race takes place.

Harrier Sally Armitage took the prize for first lady with a superb time of 32:26 which was also a new Harriers record for that distance in the F45 category. This was all the more impressive as the course was by no means flat. Set in the rugged hills near Halifax, the other Harrier present Helen Waddington also put in a brilliant run to finish first in her category in a time of 40:20.

Back up in the Dales on Sunday was the Pen-Y-Ghent fell race which again saw success for all three Ilkley runners who competed. The race is a tough seven-mile loop including the climb up to the peak of Pen-Y-Ghent and starting and finishing in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Gawain Moore led the Harriers home finishing 12th overall and winning his MV45 category prize. Next back was Kate Archer who was 1st FV40 and 5th lady overall. Followed by Geoffrey Howard who had a great run to also finish 1st in his category of V70; continuing Ilkley’s streak of prize winning this weekend.

Further north one Harrier was taking on a special challenge. Jann Smith completed the ‘Joss Naylor Lakeland challenge’. Named after the fell running legend, the challenge is an East to West traverse of the Lake District. There are a mind-boggling 30 designated summits to reach and 47 miles to cover in a time limit which depends on age and gender. In this case Smith had 16 hours and managed it well inside; in an amazing time of 14 hours and 24 minutes.

Meanwhile on Thursday evening was the Apperley Bridge Canter; with this year’s multi-terrain 10K race being a particularly muddy renewal. The sole Harrier to take part was Thomas Mountain who put in a good shift to finish 94th of the 336 participants in a time of 51:34.

Slightly further afield there were brilliant international performances from Harriers Ed Hobbs and Ben Rothery around Annecy last week. Ed was fourth in the European Uphill U20 Championships - the first Brit and part of a bronze medal-winning team; and Ben 16th was on his GB debut in the elite senior European Off-Road Champs Up/Down Race, with a silver medal for the team. They both helped Team GB come second overall in the final medal table, with only France ahead of them.

To the nation’s weekly parkruns. The pick of the 5K results were had by Marie Watson who was 1st female at Nova Prestatyn in 22.37 and Helena Coy, also first female at Conyngham Hall in 20:29. Gaenor Coy followed her daughter home in 10th at the same event. Elsewhere Dave Foyston was 4th in 18:11 at Roberts Park, pushed all the way by Nick Kealey who was just 3 seconds behind him in 5th. At Lister Park Mark Hall was 4th and Sally Malir was 5th female. Finally, Hilda Coulsey won this week’s age grading with a huge 87.33% with a time of 25:55 at Heslington near York.