REPORT BY: JILL EZARD

IT was a week of steep ascents, technical ascents, all out sprints and batons this week for the Harriers with some impressive performances at home and abroad.

Tuesday saw two Harriers tackling challenging climbs 1000miles apart. English Fell Champion Ben Rothery was in action again in the fast and furious Kilnsey Crag Fell race, a feature in the Kilnsey Show calendar since 1897.

He was joined by Gawain Moore in the race which covers a whopping 124m climb in its short 2km distance. Rothery won the race in eight minutes with Gawain just behind in 10:13, coming 15th overall and third in his age category.

Meanwhile in Courmayeur, Petra Bijsterveld was taking part in the Experience Trail Courmayeur (ETC), which at ‘only’15km with 1267 meters of elevation may be the shortest race in the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc (UTMB) week, but with steep single-track ascents and very technical descents, is certainly in no way easy.

Bijsterveld had a great race, a warm up for an event later in the week, finishing the race in 3:39:21 and sixth in her age category.

Speed rather than technical ability was the key to success on Wednesday though as three Harriers took to the track for the next race in the Evensplits 5k series at the Brownlee centre in Leeds.

With a sneaky incline in the track, the race is not as easy as it sounds, but Matthew Thackwray gave the rest of a field a masterclass, coming first in a blistering time of 15:24 with an age rating of 86.6%.

Geoff Howard was also pushing the age ratings achieving 84.6% for his time of 24:25. Alison Weston was just pipped to the post by Geoff coming over the line in 25:09 and taking third place in her age category. A fabulous outing for the club.

From fast and furious on the track to a feat of Endurance back in the Alps, where Andrew Merrick was in action on Friday in the UTMB CCC race – Courmayeur/Champex/Chamonix - billed as “little sister" of the UTMB.

Not only is the race 100km long, but it packs a punch at over 6000m of climb. Although a popular race with over 2250 participants toeing the start line, only just over 1600 of those completed the race, and Merrick did it in spectacular fashion. He came over the line in 22:18:56, taking seventh place in his age category – Chapeau.

Back on the fells, three Harriers took part in The Derek Price Memorial Grisedale Horseshoe fell race on Saturday. A tough circular route from Glenridding, the ten-mile race takes participants over Catstye Cam, Helvellyn and St. Sunday Crag, packing in an impressive 1500m of climb.

Iain Gibbons was the first Harrier home in 2:34:42 finishing in the top fifty. Katie Poulter was the next home in 3:07:53 taking fourth place in her age category. Kelly Wilby also had a top ten age category finish completing the race in 3:25:54.

On Sunday, it was time for a team outing with 12 Harriers taking part in the mixed event in the Leeds County Way relay event. A six-leg race of 64 miles, participants must run in pairs ensuring they meet the cut off times at each changeover point. With legs ranging from 9.7miles to 11.75 miles, this is a tough race and the Ilkley mixed team had a great day out finishing in 08:16:21 and in tenth place overall: Tony Pye and Tom Mountain took the first leg taking the team into 22nd position; next up were Gavin Lamb and Justin Phillips, who moved the team up to 17th position; taking the third leg, Tom Adams and Nathan Edmondson took first place in the leg, taking the team into tenth place overall, a position which was maintained by the final three pairs of John Jackson and Emma Sheppard, Jonathan Turner and Nuno César de Sá and Kate Archer and Peter Shelley, who were also the fastest mixed team on the last leg.

Despite the still stormy conditions on Saturday 26 parkrunners joined events across the country on Saturday.

There were three PBs with Harry Sime getting an age grading over 80.51% for his, and Sarah and John Hayes taking a trip to Haverfordwest for theirs. And it was a good week for top ten finishers: James Horrex was third at Cliffe Castle; Steve Gott, Samesh Chotai, Jaysson Sawyer and John Hayes all finished fifth in their events; Geoff Howard continued his successful week with a ninth-place finish and an age grading of 85.32% at Horton Park; and Mark Hall hit an age grading of 88.15% with his ninth place finish at Lister Park. And finally, our very own roving reporter Will Worboys completed his 250th park run at the Roberts Park event! Well done to all that took part.