THERE were fantastic performances on fell, trail and road this weekend for the Harriers with some outstanding results.

Saturday’s glorious weather saw three teams representing the club at the British Fell And Hill Relay Championships on Saturday, providing an opportunity for the best teams from around the country to compete together.

The event was being held on home turf this year, with the race starting in Appletreewick and taking in the surrounding fells.

There are four legs in the race: the first is a solo leg; the second and third are pairs event with the third also requiring runners to find a number of navigation points; and the fourth is another solo leg. The women’s Vet 40 team, who had got a place through the ballot, had an outstanding run out taking first place.

Katie Poulter’s descending skills in the first leg, Kate Archer and Rachel Carter’s ascending prowess on the tough second leg, Alison Weston and Jann Smith’s outstanding navigational work on the third leg and Helen Thurston’s speed on the final leg meant the team finished in a total time of 5:28:34, just over a minute ahead of the second team, guaranteeing them in a place in the event next year.

The men’s open team were also on top form: Sam Bentham led the team out handing over to Jack Cummings and Nathan Edmondson for the second leg; Jack Wood and Tom Adams had a fantastic navigational leg placing third and handed over to Ben Rothery who was the fastest runner in the final leg and brought the team up to a podium third place in a total time of 3:36:01.

The men’s Vet 40 team of Daniel McKeown on leg one, Michael Odell and Gawain Moore taking a fantastic second place on leg two, Iain Gibbons and Paul Carman on leg three, and Nick Kealey on the final leg, pushed the team into eighth place overall in 4:41:40. Well done to all the teams.

A little further north, three Harriers travelled to the Lake District to take part in the Lakeland Trails Helvellyn 15km race, a beautiful event taking participants into the foothills of Helvellyn, with elevated panoramic views of Ullswater, and dramatic vistas of the surrounding peaks. It was clearly a day for success as all three achieved personal bests on the route: Peter Roll was the first home in 1:21:04 followed by Steve King in 1:36:51, both taking sixth place in their age categories; and Penny Coulthard had a great run dipping under the two hour mark in 1:59:12.

In contrast on Sunday, it was a day to battle challenging weather conditions on the roads with seven Harriers taking part in the Yorkshire Marathon in York.

Starting and finishing at the University campus, the event takes in the sights of the city on a flat and fast course. Steven Bysouth was the first over the line in a cracking time of 3:05:10, a hair’s breadth in front of Jaysson Sawyer in 3:05:11. The remaining four Harriers were separated by less than 15 minutes: Danny Thompson finished in 3:23:03; Dave Reynier in 3:27:57; Ash Winter in 3:30:30; Harry Brook-Dobson in 3:34:41; and Mark Gill in 3:37:20.

Further afield, one intrepid Harrier travelled to The Netherlands to take part in the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. The course starts and finishes in the Olympic Stadium, passes the Rijksmuseum, follows the Amstel for several miles and winds through the Vondelpark. Lucy Lowe had a great run dipping under the four-and-a-half-hour mark in 4:29:03.

It was a quieter weekend of racing for our Juniors, but nonetheless a very successful one for those who ran. After last week’s 1st place finish at Chevin Forest Parkrun, Alexander Wolfenden decided to leave the trails behind and run on tarmac this weekend, with another fantastic 1st place finish at Skipton Parkrun in 17:28.

On Sunday morning, the wet and windy weather did not deter Ollie Holder from running in the Whixley 5K - a scenic run around Whixley and its surrounds. He was rewarded with 1st place overall, finishing in 19:51.

Taking advantage of the good weather, 19 Harriers took part in parkruns across the country. In a spot of parkrun tourism, Geoff White and Laura Dawes took part in the Girvan Prom event on the west coast of Scotland with Geoff the eighth finisher.

At the Lister Park event Mark Hall was yet again topping the age grade ratings with his time of 18:58 securing a rating of 87.61%! And it was a top ten finish and a great age grading of 79.52% for Harry Sime at the Roberts Park event. Skipton saw success for Samesh Chotai, taking a third-place finish and Geoff Howard achieving an age grading of 86.49%.

Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try their training sessions, come along to their main club night on Tuesdays, by signing up on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk