REPORT BY: JILL EZARD

THE week of racing kicked off on Wednesday (last week) with a successful final event of the Harrogate and District Summer Race League hosted by Otley AC.

This final event is completely different to the rest of the series, being the Norman Smith Handicap race.

Runners who have completed at least two of the races in the series are given a starting time based on their performance in those races.

If the handicap system works perfectly, everybody will arrive at the finish at exactly the same time, but as a minimum it gives everyone, regardless of speed, the opportunity to win.

Twenty Harriers took to the start line for the event. Sarah Lambert was the first Harrier home taking a superb third place overall and first lady in 52:02.

Paul Stephens was the second Harrier home in 50:04 taking second place in his age category too. There were category top three placings for Alan Travis and Fiona Schneider as well.

As it was the end of the series, the series Category winners were also announced. Matthew Thackwray came away with the first prize in the men’s series and Diane Kitchen took the win in her age category.

The rest of the week’s racing was all about trails and fells. Amanda Newham started off the weekend’s racing at the St Aidan’s 10k on Friday.

This popular 10K trail race is a perfect introduction to off-road running being fast and (mostly) flat along public footpaths and bridleways in the idyllic setting of RSPB St Aidan's Country Park to the east of Leeds.

Newham braved the heat of the evening to complete the race in 1:11:55.

On Saturday it was podium success for the Harriers at the annual Ingleborough Mountain race.

This 11km, 600m ascent race does exactly as it says on the tin – participants start in the sports field next to Ingleton Community Centre and run up Ingleborough and back down.

Five Harriers took on the race and were led home by race winner Oli Murphy in a superb time of 49:28. Gawain Moore was next over the line in 57:38, taking third place in his age category.

Katie Poulter was the first female Harrier home in 1:16:10 also taking third place in her age category. Kelly Wilby was just a couple of minutes behind in 1:18:55 and David Howe completed the race in 1:43:01.

In a step up in distance, Lynn Donohue took part in the inaugural Boudicca Way 50k on Saturday, following the well-established long-distance path from Diss to Norwich.

Run on well-marked trails, the Boudicca Way passes through historic South Norfolk Villages where Boudicca, The Queen of Iceni, once ruled resisting the might of the Roman Empire and cementing her place in history.

It was a scorcher of a day for Donohue and her brother with temperatures hitting 34o.

Donohue completed the race in seven hrs 29 minutes, taking second place in her age category, finishing in the top 20 females and 84th overall.

Sunday was also busy on the fells. Three Harriers took part in the Cracoe Senior Fell Race, which this year was also hosting the Under 20 England Trials for the Home International in Ireland later in the year.

With only 4.4km to cover, the race starts deceptively gently over fields, but with ditches and tussocks to deal with, the final sharp steep climb to the pinnacle of the fell, gives a total of 274m of climb in a very short space of time.

With a treacherous return to the race start, it’s not for the faint hearted! Sam Betham had a superb run taking first place in 20:51, with Ed Hobbs taking eighth place in 22:03. Not content with one challenging fell race in a weekend, Gawain Moore was the final Harrier over the line in 1:04:05.

Staying on the fells but venturing out to the Lake District, Sunday also saw four Harriers taking part in the Kentmere Horseshoe fell race. The route has fantastic ridge running on the grassy Eastern fells and consists of 12.3 miles, 3300ft elevation, clockwise horseshoe of the Kentmere Valley including Ill Bell, High Street and Kentmere Pike.

Gavin Lamb was the first Harrier home in 1:58:48, followed by Dave Robson in 2:02:15, James Batterley in 2:04:46 and Paul Carman in 2:06:10.

And finally, the 25 parkrunners were travelling far and wide hitting top ten placings across the country. At the Hyndburn event in Clayton-le-Moors in Lancashire, Steve and Gaenor Coy finished in third and sixth position in their respective categories.

With ten Harriers participating the Lister Park event was the most popular, with Jonathan Turner taking a top ten position. In Skipton, Samesh Chotai continued his run of form and was the third finisher at the Skipton event.

At Fountains Abbey, Nick Kealey was the seventh finisher, and James Horrex was the third finisher at the Chevin Forest event.

Further afield, Jaysson Sawyer took part in the Løvstien event in Bergen in Norway, doing the Harriers proud by finishing third.