Ilkley Harriers news archive 2022
Commonwealth Games – Sun 31 Jul
Sat 30 Jul 2022
[Pic credit of Dom Coy: Ben Lumley / World Triathlon]
Two wonderful performances from Harriers today at the Commonwealth Games and – judging by the WhatsApp group – massively enjoyed by many of you:
Dom Coy – at just 20 – took silver with Team Wales in the Mixed Relay. And he produced an epic leg himself, clocking a faster time than Sam Dickinson who won gold with Team England.
Rhys Jones, who has worked so hard to make this a reality, was fourth behind world champion Dave Ellis in the PTVI men’s race. We caught up with him earlier and he said: “What a day. Tried our best to catch big Jono [Australian Jonathan Goerlach] on the run but couldn’t break him. So pleased with that though. Gave absolutely everything. Thanks to everyone for all the support along the way.”
Both doing themselves proud and while we appreciate their tri clubs and national federations come first, making the Harriers very proud too.
South Cave 10k – Sun 31 Jul
Fri 29 Jul 2022
From Iain Young…
Starting at Cave Castle Hotel & Country Club, the first three-quarters of the course was all flat through and coming out of South Cave (Town)+ 500 m stride across a field before going through Ellerker (Village). Undulating finish on the way back to SC and a 200 m sprint finish on the local primary school field. Pleased to just get sub 40, again representing IH in red & green and credit to KUHAC road runners for organising the race.
(1 34:30 Oliver Donkin, Barton & District AC)
28 39:58 Iain Young, Ilkley Harriers AC
Montane Lakeland 100 – Fri 29/Sat 30 Jul
Fri 29 Jul 2022
From Andrew Merrick…
Photo credit: Montane Lakeland
The Montane Lakeland 100 … and the F word (105 miles – 22,500 ft)
The Lakeland 100 seems to have a lot of social media exposure and a big reputation as an iconic Lakeland event. Consequently it had made it to my list for this year, having been successful in the ballot last September. It was some time later that I found out that I had made it into UTMB again at the end of August so the timing was a little imperfect but I decided I would keep my entry open and if I only used it as a 50 mile training run, there was limited downside. Happily Ritchie Williamson had also entered, and Kate Archer was committed to the 50 after a challenging experience last year. So the three of us planned to travel together – the 50 starts at 11:30 on the Saturday morning (6pm Friday for the 100) and uses the last 46 miles of the 100 route.
We had a few inauspicious moments before the start… I woke up with quite a sore throat on the Friday morning, and then remembered the very crusty pork pie I hadn’t chewed enough the day before – so more eating disorder than covid happily. I was a few mins late picking up the gang for our afternoon drive, and it was 10 – 15 mins into our journey before Ritchie remembered that his fully packed running vest was still at home – oops! Who would have thought that the traffic would be quite bad on a Friday afternoon heading to the lakes. So we arrived at 4pm, later than planned, just in time to miss registration cut-off, having to park Frankie (the camper van) reasonably close to the far end of the second camping field. Ritchie and I set off for registration hoping they would be helpful, me failing to remind him to take some ID. Happily the support crew were very understanding and did the full kit check…. and while Ritchie headed back to the van to get his ID I headed into Coniston to buy some leggings. I had read “Spare base layers” on the kit list several times, without managing to understand this meant bottom as well as top!! So finally all sorted and we were just in time for the pre-race briefing in a very warm hall at the school which was the race base, with some pre-race faffing still to be done. We then headed back to the van and were finally fully faffed out and ready to go by about 5:40 on a pleasantly warm evening. Starting the race was a bit of a relief and Ritchie and I wished each other a good run as he headed off into the distance.
I had made a (slightly arbitrary) plan to at least get to Dalemain (just over half way and where our drop bag was) and if I felt ok, try to stick to about a 30 hour schedule and a midnight finish. Importantly there was no beer cut-off since the main event tent was open all night. Navigation was largely ok given the numbers on the earlier legs so it was just a question, as always, of enjoying the experience for as long as possible and getting to the next check point. Helpfully the CPs were no more than 10 miles apart with 14 CPs in total between the Coniston start and finish. The route is described as rugged; other words could also be used, but certainly quite typical loose stoned, rocky, narrow Lakeland paths which are not always easily runnable. Virtually all of the 15 legs involve some reasonable level of climb. The recent rain, followed by persistent rain pretty much from dawn onwards made for challenging conditions but progress continued, helped particularly early on by re-visiting some locations I had recently seen on my Bob visit, including Wasdale Head with no Yewbarrow to climb, Keswick and Blencathra also without summiting. By the time we left the Blencathra centre 41 miles in, a very cloudy dawn had broken and we had done the hilliest third according to those around me. So I let the 30 hour plan become my focus – for me, that became helpful, it banished any thought of not finishing, and (rather sadly) it gave me some maths to do to occupy by brain for a while (what pace do I need to do for the rest of the race to hit midnight?). It also stopped me getting into race mode, which was an important part of my finish in one piece plan. In the miles leading to our drop bag at Dalemain, I tried to banish thoughts that we were only about half way (105 miles is the actual distance) and promised myself a compeed when we got there. I finally made it to Dalemain about an hour or so before the 50 mile runners start (although they do a 4 mile loop to start with) so 46 miles left for me, and I set off after some veg soup and a change of shirt in reasonably good spirits… From then on the rain was pretty incessant, although it remained pleasantly warm so much taking on and off of waterproof jacket – I didn’t feel the need to try out my newly purchased leggings…. Generally I found the food pretty good at checkpoints, although I would have personally preferred more fruit early on. In the first couple of CPs I resorted to cake and sweets in the absence of a better plan, and drank quite a lot of coke, Dr Williamson having educated me on the scientific benefits (yes, really!).
The next part of the route took us on a reasonable climb onto a ridge before a long descent into Howtown. By now my feet were beginning to hurt a little but I found my speedwalking with pole support pretty effective uphill, and for the first time, having overtaken a few people on the climb up found myself alone on the descent. I hadn’t found time for any recceing so realised full concentration was required, although despite that came slightly off the route and was rescued (with CP directions) by a woman who had come to collect her husband who had determinedly removed his tracker before anyone of us could change his mind. Whilst the food could have been slightly better, the check point staff were fantastic pretty much everywhere (it always helped when they are staffed by runners), and they kindly sorted my bottles whilst I had a quick cup of tea, so I could set off again. One small further navigational error, easily self-corrected, on the start of the next leg, which was 9.4 miles and had 2500 ft of climb, after which the legs and climbs were shorter I had to remind myself! The other largely good news was that at some point on this leg, I would see the first of the 50 mile runners and therefore I could relax again on navigation. This was slightly double-edged of course since it felt like we had an obligation to keep out of their way so there was much sidestepping into the bracken on the narrow twisty descent to Mardale Head, which felt endless. I was very much in “keep on keeping on” mode by this stage with my feet making any downhill running painful and climbing pretty sore too!! For the last 4-5 ultras I have had very little in the way of foot issues, and my preparation was the same this time…. When I wasn’t doing maths or thinking about navigating, I was reflecting on why my feet got so shredded this time (Ricky and many others had the same experience). Clearly it was mainly due to both the underfoot and overhead conditions so very very wet feet, plus the terrain with lots of rocky descents and opportunities for grit to get into the shoes to compound the challenge. The next CP came and went, more vegetable soup and coke, with the minimum of time spent hanging around although it was lovely to see Kate there, who was clearly going well, her only challenge being some random bloke wanting to interview her at the CP!! Then I was on the route to Ambleside which was starting to feel like we were getting closer to the end. I was pretty much moving at my own pace at this point but surrounded by other 50s and a few 100s. When I got to Ambleside (the same CP the Lakes in a Day team use), there was fantastic road support all the way through the town which was lovely, the only downside being if I wanted hot food I had to go up some steps in the main CP building…. Whilst there (more soup, although I did also have a couple of bowls of pasta along the way somewhere) I asked about the route from here hoping that there wouldn’t be too much in the way of climbs over the remaining three shortish stages. There were of course decent climbs on each, however, the next leg was to Chapel Stile, and I knew most of it (apart from the climb) since I had based myself there last year to cheer on Jane, Kate and Ben. Slightly surprisingly that knowledge, coupled with the relatively flat terrain after Loughrigg made a real positive mental difference with no “I can’t believe we’re not at the CP yet” thoughts. So despite my feet and the rain, I was in a good place when I arrived at the Chapel Stile CP and was in let’s just get this done mode. I decided not to sit down and just grab a quick cup of tea to go (we had to take a non-collapsible mug with us) and was surprised to see Ritchie sitting there as I was waiting for the cuppa. We said a quick hello and I felt a little guilty for heading straight out, determined to get us far as possible on this leg before darkness fell.
This leg was the absolute lowlight with the meandering climb up to Tilberthwaite largely on narrow windy, fiddly trails, in some cases having got bored of their day job, moonlighting as part time water falls. My mood was not helped with some people enjoying the cooling effect of a forced dunking, whilst my shredded feet had rather different ideas of whether it was fun or not…. For the final boggy climb up to the “virtual” CP (a bloke in a car) and the actual CP at Tilberthwaite I hooked on to a few 50s who seemed quite chatty, were moving at a pace that worked for me, and knew where they were going. This meant half a cuppa at the final CP, before heading off again up the final steep in places but less-messy-than-the-previous climb. One of the 50 runners had the same feet challenges so we shared experiences and weird pole supported descending as we took on the final rocky, slippery descent before hitting the tarmac (I didn’t think I would look forward to tarmac). I even managed a (still painful) jog on the road to the finish just outside my 30 hour plan to be presented with a very heavy medal, and have my photo taken again before being “introduced” into an area of the marquee filled with cheering support recognising the effort we had all made to get there. One man was very happy for me to have a celebratory sip of his beer.
The remaining challenge was to find Frankie – the camp site look very different in the dark – which I eventually did with the aid of someone who had a more functioning brain. Then it was back to the main site to join the queue for the 5 showers before the full pint of Fell Racer Blonde that I had been promising myself for some time (28 hours approx.), supplemented by some vegge chilli. I was happy to see Ritchie back at the camper van (communication with him having been challenging due to a phone problem he had) before I crashed out for the night.
All in all a rewarding but challenging experience; the route would definitely qualify as rugged and the 40-50% drop-out rate is not a surprise! I am very happy that all three of us finished, and that Kate had such a good run (first V40); she was the only one who could walk normally on Sunday morning, Ritchie and I and many others suffering from feet shred! Happily my legs are still in decent shape.
It is a serious physical and mental challenge, with (in good weather) some lovely lakeland views, the Ullswater section being my favourite. I happy to have completed it and shared some of the experience with Ritchie and Kate, and the camp camaraderie and support crews were fab too. I don’t have any plans to do it again!
Harriers v Baildon v Saltaire – Wed 3 Aug
Wed 27 Jul 2022
There’s a track night with a difference on Wednesday night (3rd August) as our friends at Baildon Runners and Saltaire Striders have asked us to join them in a friendly ‘Murder Mile’ event which is geared to ALL abilities. It’s in our usual 7.30pm-8.30pm slot at the UAK track in Keighley.
There will be four mile heats and you run in the one that fits your predicted time (8mins or over, 7-7:59, 6-6:59, sub-6) and then there’s a 4x400m relay, each team featuring one club runner from each of the four different heats (more details in comments).
The cost is completely free to you – we’re paying for it as a club as want to encourage as many people to get to the track, especially those who haven’t tried it before. The aim is to get 30+ from each club and Baildon and Saltaire close to that so we’ve got a bit of catching up to do! You just need to fill in this simple Google Form (no SignUp for this) so please enter ASAP! Any questions at all, just ask.
Leeds 5k and Club Championship – Wed 27 Jul
Tue 26 Jul 2022
From Alison Bennett…
A dozen Ilkley Harriers turned up at the Brownlee Centre near Leeds for this traffic free 5k held on a purpose built, tarmac, 1 mile circuit cycle track. The race has 2 start times or waves. The first wave is for those participants expecting to finish in over 20 minutes whilst the second wave is for the speedier athletes with a sub 20 minute goal.
After finishing and recovering from the first wave, it was exciting to be on the bridge overlooking the track to watch the second wave complete the 3 and a bit laps of the course. Michael Abrams-Cohen led the Ilkley Harriers for most of the race although he was overtaken for a while by Dave Foyston before regaining the lead and finishing 11th overall. There was also an exciting almost neck and neck finish between Danny Thompson and Kyle Bethell. For the ladies, Ruth Kitchen was the first female Ilkley Harrier across the line. Other Harriers who came 1st in their age groups were David Foyston MV45, Tracey Watson FV55, Alison Bennett FV60
These races are held over the season on the last Wednesday of the month. There are club team points to be claimed as well as individual placings so the more Ilkley Harriers that can be fielded, the better the chance of improving the scores against our competitors.
The race was won by Otley’s Edward Hobbs in 16:25
Hampsthwaite Feast 5k – Sat 23 Jul
Fri 22 Jul 2022
From Mike Abrams-Cohen…
Saturday was the inaugural Hampsthwaite Feast 5k, an undulating off road 5k (advertised as a cross country race).
Mike AC, having only just finished Conyngham Hall parkrun an hour previously, took the win in a time of 19:32 ( a course record, in as much as this was the first ever race, so whoever won was going to take it). A strong youth Harrogate runner came in only five seconds later in 19:37, and his dad rounded out the podium in just over 20 minutes.
A lovely route, well organised in a nice part of the world. Only gripe was the gate I had to try and open at 3km which allowed second place to make up about 20 seconds on me, but nevermind- at least is was open for the rest of the runners to come through.
I will be enjoy the £5 Betty’s voucher prize – it may pay for about a quarter of a Fondant Fancy.
ROC England – Sat 16 Jul
Sat 16 Jul 2022
From Jeff Green…
Photo credit: Jumpy James Photography
I completed my first middle distance triathlon (Epicman) in 2021 – a roll-over from 2020 when it was supposed to have been part of my build-up to the Yorkshireman – an iron-distance triathlon. The latter event ended up being a permanent victim of COVID: the organising company went bankrupt! Not feeling quite ready for an ironman this year, I was on the look-out for a shorter alternative and ROC England seemed to fit the bill; a five-stage triathlon, starting from the same venue as the Epicman at the YMCA near Lakeside:
1. 1.5k swim in Lake Windermere
2. 45.5k cycle to the end of Langdale
3. 17.5k run to the summit of Scafell Pike and back
4. 45.5k cycle back to Windermere
5. 1k trail run to the finish line.
After a brief swim to test the waters (actually fairly warm ~17C?) I joined the rest of the relatively small field of just over 100 competitors at the start line, about 50m from the water’s edge. I’d never experienced a mass start run into open water before and was a little apprehensive of the rocks I’d just seen below the surface, but I got into the water and round the course unscathed in just under half an hour. So far, so good.
Seconds into first bike leg disaster nearly struck while struggling to open a gel. I veered off the road, narrowly avoided falling off, but squirted gel over the handle-bars instead of into my mouth and had to put up with sticky hands for the remainder of the ride!
The route followed fairly main roads, but once through Greenodd, it was a pleasant route through Torver, Coniston and past my parents’ old home in Skelwith Bridge before turning into Langdale. It was hard to keep a lid on the pace as slower swimmers – who were better cyclists – continued to zoom past me for most of the first hour.
Into T2, where our mountain bags and shoes were waiting, I quickly slapped on some sunscreen and headed out through Stool End Farm and up Mickleden, trying to claw back some of the places I’d lost on the ride, knowing that the mountain stage played to my strengths.
I’m sure I’ve been to the top of Scafell Pike before, but I’d forgotten quite how tough a climb it was – a relentless climb up to Angle Tarn, then boulder fields, scree and scrambling to the summit. I managed to maintain a steady pace on the way down, but was aware that my legs were tiring and started to wonder whether I’d have enough left for the return bike stage.
It was actually a relief to stop running and get back on the bike – at least until the start of the first hill! I must have paced it reasonably well as I think only 1 person came past me on this leg, but the 3 mile uphill drag from near Haverthwaite to Newby Bridge was murder. At least by this point, I was pretty certain of finishing and the last 1km trail run was mercifully short and shaded. I could definitely work on my cycling and transitions, but having been aiming for a total time of 6:30 to 6:45, I was pretty happy with my overall time of just under 6:22.
There are Wales and Scotland versions of the race involving – you guessed it – ascents of Snowdon and Ben Nevis. Entries still available for both events (Wales on Sat 3rd Sep and Scotland on Sat 8th Oct 2022).
(1 5:04:40 Iain Veitch U/A)
15 6:21:56 Jeff Green
100 finished
International Snowdon Race – Sat 16 Jul
Fri 15 Jul 2022
From Jean Sullivan…
There were two sensational Harriers performances at the International Snowdon Race.
Nathan Edmondson was third behind Scotland’s Ross Gollan and Italy’s Luca Merli, while Ben Rothery – wearing an England vest for the first time – claimed fifth.
The event attracts top athletes from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, along with some of the best racers from other European countries.
It was the 47th staging of this challenging ten-mile race which involves running from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon and back to Llanberis.
Nathan finished in a superb time of 1:10:20, under one minute behind the winner, while Ben clocked 1:11:50.
Frog Graham Round – Fri 15 Jul
Thu 14 Jul 2022
From Jane McCarthy…
Looking for something a little out of the ordinary? This is the enticing line in the Introduction to the Frog Graham Round on the (extremely slick) website froggrahamround.co.uk It is billed as the UK’s Ultimate SwimRun Challenge, and was created by Peter Hayes (brother of our own Ilkley Harrier John Hayes) via inspirations from the classic Bob Graham Round but with an added twist. As well as running over 40 miles and ascending and descending over 15,000 ft over the NW Lake District fells, the contender must swim across Bassenthwaite Lake, Crummock Water, Buttermere and Derwentwater before finishing where it all started at Keswick’s Moot Hall. Jann Smith and I had listened to Peter waxing lyrical about the joys of swim hiking and the nature of his Frog Graham Challenge at an Alpkit-hosted event in March. He is also extremely entertaining and has created the Frog Graham Roll of Honour for successful completion of the Round, AND a certificate.
We set on the date of 15th July weeks and weeks in advance, needing to fit in with busy schedules and hoping the weather would be kind to us. The recent warm weather and the upcoming predicted heatwave bode well, but alas the weather in the Lakes is nothing but unpredictable and we knew our attempt would start wet and windy on the fells. At 6am prompt we left the Moot Hall, having chosen to attempt the Round in the less popular clockwise direction (either is permitted). Jann had done all the hard work of recce’ing all the legs – swimming and running – and given our relative competencies (decent runners on the fells, but only adequate swimmers) she wisely decided we should tackle Derwentwater first, so we set off in our wetsuits to run just over a mile to the shore. It is the longest swim and involves visiting three islands on route, we were a bit nervous, but thankfully Paul Carman had acquired a canoe for the purpose and escorted us across the water. We were carrying our running kit (trainers, backpacks, food, water) in our swim tow floats so a quick change at the shore and we were off up Catbells for the first leg over to Buttermere. The weather was pretty terrible for the next 5-6 hours, extremely high winds on the summits, cold rain and poor visibility. It was a relief to descend and we were looking forward to the relatively short and ‘easy’ swims in Buttermere and Crummock. Unfortunately, easy they were not as the wind even at lakeside was creating waves and testing our fairly recently acquired open water swimming technique to the limit. The route on the far side of Buttermere has some gruesome climbing up to High Stile, and the leg finishes with the steepest descent I think I have done in the Lakes – Jann sat down and set off sliding about 300m – very effective descending! The next leg covers more high fells, including Whiteless Pike, Crag Hill, Hopegill Head and Grisedale Pike, before descending to some more gentle hills beyond Whinlatter Forest. We arrived at our final swim on the shores on Bassenthwaite, greeted by still water and glorious sunshine, the 1km swim wasn’t fast but it was utterly beautiful. We had been greeted at each lakeside by Paul and his parents John and Julie who made us cups of tea and helped us warm up and refuel – an essential and wonderful support crew. A final gruelling climb up to Skiddaw from Dodd Wood and we summited the final peak before sundown, to enjoy a 5 mile gentle descent in to Keswick and finishing back at the Moot Hall at 10:41pm. It had taken us 16 hrs 41mins to complete the Round, which we understand is the fastest Clockwise Round to date, and we are Members 134 and 135 of the rapidly growing Frog Graham Club (there were 70 members as of July 2020). A new and wonderful experience for both Jann and I, not easy though – it is described as a ‘formidable, very tough challenge’ on the website and we would say this is a fair summary of our epic day out!
HDSRL Handicap Race + awards – Wed 13 Jul
Tue 12 Jul 2022
From Alison Bennett…
The ‘Harrogate District Summer Race League’ series culminated in the exciting handicap race and presentation evening. Otley AC hosted the event and provided a well organised and great evening. There were stacks of marshalls provided to guide the runners from the ample car parking area, to the cricket club then onwards through the cemetery, across the river to emerge at the start of the race on Prince Henry’s playing fields. The nature of the handicap is that each runner is given a start time based on their performance in the previous races with the slower runners setting off first and the increasingly faster runners following at timed intervals. The aim is to catch the runner ahead, whilst not being overtaken by those behind. This results in a mass of runners all thundering towards the finish within a short space of time. It was a fairly flat and varied course around playing fields, through a park, a nature reserve, along tracks and the roadside before retracing the first mile in reverse towards the finish. Again, the marshalls were plentiful and encouraging. The race was won by Sarah Bostock of Ripon Runners and the first three Ilkley Harriers across the finish were Rachel Barnicoat (pictured) in 14th place, Lucy Elliott 71st and Matthew Snow 77th.
Afterwards, hot food was served at the Cricket Club and the presentations for the Race Series and the individual prizes for the handicap were awarded.
For the race series events, the outstanding Ilkley Harrier performance was by Emily Gibbins who was the overall female winner and also 1st female U18. A number of other Ilkley Harriers received age category awards:
Kate Archer 1st FV40
Alison Bennett 1st FV60
Ken Souyave 1st FV70
The evening also marked the retirement, at over 80 years of age, of Roy Hollingworth, the President of the League who was thanked and warmly applauded for his many years of dedication.
Ilkley Half Marathon – Sun 10 Jul
Sat 9 Jul 2022
From Rumana Chowdhury…
A PB this was not to be!
Another fantastic Ilkley Half – well organised with amazing crowds and marshals. In fact I got so carried away with the shouts of encouragement as I flew down The Grove that I totally missed the first water station, which turned out to be a big mistake… I was pretty parched by Addingham, though still feeling ok, but then the heat got to me and it all went a bit wrong.
The final section in the blazing heat was a real struggle and I’m very grateful to Katie Ward for rescuing me at the finish line with yet another much needed bottle of water and dragging me into the shade. As with all these things though there was a lot to learn and a lot to love. I’ve already signed up for next year – I have unfinished business!!
A brilliant set of results from the Harriers at this great event.
Wasdale Fell Race – Sat/Sun 9/10 Jul
Sat 9 Jul 2022
From Joe Morrell…
‘Wasdale’ is a word that strikes a certain level of trepidation in most fell runners, it has a reputation of being a brute, with not only 34km and 2,870m to contend with but also some of the roughest ground in Lakeland.
As Wordsworth said, ‘deepest lake, highest mountain, hardest fell race’ or something along those lines…
The heat on Saturday the 9th was stifling. At 10.15am as I pulled up at the National Trust campsite, the car temperature gauge was reading a tropical 21°C. My good friend Lawrence McCourt, a native of the far and inhospitable Northeast was looking at me with a worried expression, “I’m gonna fry out here today!” Being a kind and loyal mate, I gave him an empathetic look and told him he should consider his full body waterproofs as a means of protection.
Wasdale FR has some pretty strict cut-off times and no room for dilly dallying and ‘enjoying’ the time on the fells. ‘Enjoyment’ is a folly strictly reserved for ramblers, apparently. After this encouraging pre-start pep talk from the folks at Cumberland Fell Runners Association (C.F.R.A), we were given the usual nonchalant ‘right go on then’ for the start. With that, approximately 180 very warm and already distinctly smelly runners went off up to the summit of Illgill head, a lovely ‘laal’ fell with it’s distinctive ‘scars’ plunging down 600m into lake Wasdale. Pace setting on super long classics is hard to judge, go off too fast and it’s not a fun experience, go off too slow and you’re panicking to make up time.
The first CP is Whin Rigg, a couple of km’s down the ridge from Illgill, a lovely section of runnable ground. From here, as you turn to descend down into Nether Wasdale (it’s worth a look up), the whole of the Lakes, in all its glory, is looking back at you. On route down the fell, Lawrence McCourt, Simon Bell and I assembled into Ilkley formation and did our best impersonations of proper fell runners. The next few km’s over to Joss’s farm at Greendale is flagged and flat, here Lawrence overtook me with his superior running ability and I didn’t see him for a good 2.5 hours.
Next is Seatallan/ Middle Fell/ Buckbarrow or one of its many other names it was called during the day. A brutal, tussocky, and boggy climb up to 680m. I got into a good group here and found my place with a bunch of familiar faces including Victoria Thompson of Helm Hill and Paul Cornforth of Ambleside who was leading us on hidden trods and old racing lines.
The heat really started to kick in around 13.30, just about the time when our small group was scrambling up to Pillar. Lack of salts started to take its toll here and at only 20k in, Great Gable but also cramp was on the horizon. The old Coffin route that skirts around Kirk fell was an opportunity to immerse oneself in water and many runners were taking advantage of the cooling potential. Just remember to fill up bottles upstream of those washing bodies.
The crux of the whole route is Great Gable, its dominant Western face a constant reminder of the brutally steep and unforgiving climb. A scene incredibly reminiscent of Mordor and the Frodo’s ring destruction took place, apart from it was bear crawling fell runners reaching to dib the ‘precious’ dibber. The descent from Gable to Styhead is never pretty and your choice is between bad and rough, many an ankle has been rolled on those rocks.
Lawrence’s parents were spectating at Styhead and saw my Ilkley vest. His dad threw me a bottle of water but the temperature was that of a perfect flat white, not boiling but not cold enough to quench a parched gullet.
Up the path to Esk Hause, I caught back up with Lawrence who had done incredibly well to say that he markets himself as a middle-distance specialist. I was proud to see how much he’d improved on the big ‘sloggy’ days and to say I’d been part of the journey with him. I only nearly killed him about 10 times. Coming over the rough ground on the tourist path under Great End our little gang started to simultaneously break into a cacophony of cramp induced screams brought on by the change of gradient and the serious dehydration. What is usually a lovely runnable climb was brought to a shuffle.
With Scarfell in sight, the next challenge was the dodging of tourists who were annoyingly really enjoying the heat. After getting over this, a short and sharp balcony path down Lingmell Fell to the final CP awaited us. Probably one of the steepest descents in the Lakes, it’s a cruel finishing touch to blow your quads before Wasdale campsite comes into view. I was too tired and dehydrated to care about Lawrence’s screams of cramp pain and I crossed the line in 5:08. Billy Bland had already been home, showered and had a cuppa at this point, as his incredible record of 3.25 set in 1982 still stands.
A classic fell race ending with a dip in the lake, homemade sarnies and a catch up with familiar faces. That’s some of the many the reasons why we love this sport; no thrills, no medals, no pat on the back, just a brownie and a few good memories.
Beautiful, brutal Wasdale didn’t disappoint.
166 started
42 DNF or missed the cut-offs
Men’s Winner:
Philip Rutter 3:56:38
Women’s Winner:
Victoria Thompson (25th overall) 4:57:39
Ilkley:
Joe Morrell 29th – 5:08:00
Lawrence McCourt 31st – 5:08:26
Simon Bell 39th – 5:18:20
Race to the Stones – Sat 9 Jul
Fri 8 Jul 2022
From Lynn Donohue…
This 100k race follows the ancient Ridgeway track from the Chilterns in the East to Avebury stone circle in Wiltshire near Marlborough and Devizes. There are some options with a 50k, a 50k overnight camp then 50k or the non-stop 100k. This was a sequel to my 50 @50 challenge when in 2012 I completed the 50 mile Montane UTLD. Why not do 60 @ 60 in 2022 I thought in a moment of madness back in October? It was a boiling hot day setting off just after 8am and with only a little shade for about 2 miles at the start. Most is on rolling chalk downs and surprisingly very remote, exposed and much hillier than I thought it would be. The tracks were hard packed and tough under foot, many runners getting awful blisters and the heat reflecting back off the white chalky paths made it worse with many runners retiring. I made it to the stones at Avebury just as the sun was rising several hours after I had anticipated but I finished – never again and 70 @ 70 isn’t going to happen! I finished 588 out of 1346 starters in 20 hours and 8 minutes for the non-stop event.
‘A Bob Graham attempt’ – 6/7 Jul
Thu 7 Jul 2022
From Andrew Merrick…
66 miles, 42 peaks, 27,000 ft of ascent
A Bob Graham attempt had been in my mind for a few years, if I was going to take on one of the rounds, this was the logical and only possibly achievable one to have a go at. A number of running and non-running friends have occasionally nagged encouraged me to have a go, and it seemed to fit in with this summer’s UTMB training…… I eventually recognised that a fear of failure and of rocky, slightly technical terrain had been the principal reason I hadn’t got myself organised. Fortunately when I finally decided to take the plunge, Jann Smith and Paul Carman had one remaining gap in their July support schedule, and a plan was created… Ben Sheppard said he was up for the first two legs, and Kate said she would do anything I needed. I couldn’t believe my luck when Paul said his preference was to do legs 3 and 4 – the rockiest and toughest of the legs. So I had a date, and a running support crew, joined subsequently for legs one and two by Ritchie (there is only one Ritchie!). Jann was kind enough to do road support at either end of Paul’s two legs and Lis filled in the gaps, driving me to Keswick, picking up Ben and Ritchie on the way.
I had given some thought to the start time, and asked others for their views before eventually deciding that 6:30pm (Thursday evening) had two key things going for it: firstly it allowed us to get down Hall’s Fell Ridge in the light, leaving, in my view, the most easy running leg (2) to be done in the dark. Secondly, it gave me about 28 hours to get back to Keswick on Friday evening before the pubs shut, not an unimportant consideration in my world!
Paul and Jann were kind enough to see the three of us from Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick; it might be described as a somewhat inauspicious start since the three of us realised that none of us knew the quickest way out of Keswick…. Fortunately Jann came to our rescue and showed us the definitive route and off we set. Ben had kindly sent me a 23 ½ hour schedule which I used as the basis of my short form “route card” giving me 2-3 time check points per leg. The schedule was of course designed on what I needed to do as opposed to what I thought I might be able to do… I hadn’t done any recce leg quicker than the required time hence the previously referenced fear of failure….
Happily we were a few minutes ahead of schedule after the first climb up Skiddaw, and the route to the next peak (Great Calva) was a more visible trog than it had been a few years ago, when I first reccied it. And then it was time for leg scraping bracken bashing as we made our way down to the river (erosion made it more challenging to enter) and the never pleasant climb up Blencathra. On the way up I learnt that Ben had only done Hall’s Fell Ridge once, and Ritchie never, so I had to go into fully focused mode to both find the right route, and stay upright. It would be fair to say that Ritchie didn’t particularly enjoy the journey down, however we were still on track when we reached Threlkeld, having as planned got down HFR in the light, and our first refuelling stop. It didn’t take long on the long climb up Clough Head for Ben to regret his choice of two sandwiches. I was in slightly better shape for the tea and porridge pot option, and we continued at a steady pace on relatively runnable terrain in the dark and low cloud/drizzle. We finally got to the very recognisable peak of Helvellyn, knowing we had one more messy climb to go before the descent into our second stop. The steep drop down to Grisedale tarn required full concentration on wet grass, and I was grateful at this point for my (Old County Tops) fell running masterclass from Alison Weston. Upright at the bottom we steeled ourselves for the climb up and down Fairfield – there is something mentally tougher about an out and back – with just a small final leg two climb up Seat Sandal before the relatively long descent into Dunmail Raise.
The tea, second porridge pot and camper van seat were waiting for me when I arrived, still slightly ahead of schedule, and I was carefully supervised eating it all before Ritchie, Ben and I said our goodbyes, and Paul took on the challenge. I was happy with my progress up Steel Fell – the start of every leg is a tough climb – and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise as we summited, looking down on the cloud in every valley. With Paul’s skilful route finding we continued to make steady progress, on what is my least favourite leg, due to length, general rockiness and the joy of the climb up Bowfell and the challenge that is Lord’s Rake. I had made a late decision on the last part of leg two to sacrifice more Inov8 grip for more Hoka comfort. Happily this option didn’t cause me a problem on the drop into Lord’s Rake (partly because we went a different way than intended!) or the climb up. However, I was conscious on every climb after Steel Fell on leg three that I wasn’t moving as quickly or comfortably as I had been on the first two legs, so despite Paul’s continued encouragement, I was pretty sure I was losing too much time to make the planned schedule. However I kept on keeping on, and having extracted ourselves from the previously referenced Lord’s Rake without incident (we had earlier been the only two people in beautiful sunshine at Scafell Pike), it was just a long, initially rocky, then scree, and then steep descent onto the track into Wasdale Head. Handy hint: if you are going to attempt a bum slide down a steep wet grassy slope, do think through your braking strategy before you take the plunge….. Nevertheless we arrived into Wasdale Head, Paul having run ahead to place my meal order (tea, pot noodle and coke, with a banana to go), both in one piece and to my significant surprise only a few minutes behind schedule. Having convinced myself by that stage that there was no chance of getting the full round done in sub 24 hours, the possibility reappeared as feasible and gave me encouragement for the climb ahead. My plan was always to finish, however long it took, I had (deliberately) told too many people I was doing it, not to, however I shifted at Wasdale into a “don’t waste the opportunity” mode.
The climb up Yewbarrow was the expected mental and physical battle, but I stuck with my climb rule of not stopping however slowly that meant I had to go. The top of Yewbarrow was the first point I actually looked at my “route card” and found we had made up the few minutes we had been behind, and we were to the minute at Steeple, despite the surprisingly long climb after Yewbarrow to Red Pike (renamed Red Mist in my vocabulary, which I believe works both in English and German). Paul helpfully reminded me that if we stayed on schedule as far as Honister, the 23 ½ schedule meant that we would have an extra 30 minutes to spend on leg five. I appreciate this was very obvious but my tired brain received it as a significant gift and it kept me motivated for the messy and very red climb up the chimney to Kirk Fell (we took a moment to feel sorry for someone trying to come down that way). I knew Great Gable was going to be a challenge too and for the first time all day I found myself briefly in front of Paul, a situation which he quickly resolved with some refuelling. And by the time we were heading down into Honister he was helpfully disappearing into the distance to place my refreshment order. We had previously made a no faff plan at Honister so Kate was ready to set off as soon as I had gulped down a glass of coke (I did apologise for the ensuing burp), and sipped some tea. Jann had decided to join us, so it was a slightly merry band who set off for Keswick at about 2:45pm, which even my tired brain realised meant I had 3 ¾ left to complete the final leg.
At this point, I wasn’t about to stuff it up now, so I continued at the same steady pace that I seemed to have been able to sustain from leg 3 onwards, determined to give myself some leeway for any potential comedy fall or other semi disaster. Happily there was only one fall on the small amount of remaining slightly technical part of the leg, and no damage sustained, so by the time we reached a gentle grassy rock free slope downwards to the final road section, I was in a good place. With some gentle (if regular) encouragement from Jann, we kept jogging along the downhill parts of the route into Keswick and relatively soon found ourselves on the outskirts. With some prompting I managed a final run to the finish back at Moot Hall, just over 23 hours from our departure the previous evening. The barman at the nearby The Round pub wasted no time in coming out to offer me a free beer, which it would have been rude to decline.
A massive thank you to Paul and Jann who are seasoned support professionals – I couldn’t have been in better hands; to Ben and Ritchie, who were hugely supportive in a calm relaxed way; to Kate, who also kindly gave me a lift home, as well as being completely flexible as to which leg she ran; and to Lis who selflessly filled in the gaps in the road crew schedule.
I found taking on a (for me tough) timebound ultra challenge materially harder both physically and mentally than my usual ultras. Equally, the support provided by the people mentioned above who were willing to give up their valuable time to be there for me was a massive positive. Relays aside, running doesn’t often feel like a team sport. It certainly did last week. My intention is to do fewer events and more support next year, so do please feel free to ask!
Finally I feel I should mention that by Saturday morning, I was a fully signed up member of Steve Newell’s bungalow appreciation society…. Stairs are still not my friend!
Val d’Aran PDA – Thu 7 Jul
Thu 7 Jul 2022
From Petra Bijsterveld…
Peades d’Aigua means ‘water footsteps’ in Aranese, the local language, and the route of this Spanish trail race takes in more than 20 lakes. As I passed them I did think how lovely it would be to be out on a leisurely walk with plenty of time to look at them and take pictures. As it was, the PDA, described as a fast and demanding race, allowed little time for admiring the landscape, especially for those like myself who are maybe not so fast, and seriously have to keep an eye on the cut-offs. At 55km this is the shortest event in the Val d’Aran week, other options are the CDH at 106km and the VDA at 161km. These races are part of the UTMB World Series, and since 2022 taking part in one of the series’ races is the only way to have a chance of entry into the Chamonix UTMB races. There are opinions aplenty in the running press on the direction UTMB has taken in recent years, which I’ll let you check out for yourself if you wish. I had heard good things about the Val d’Aran races from Dick Waddington who did the CDH last year (he also told me it was very technical! I remembered that a few times during the day). This was my first ‘by UTMB’ event and though I entered it because I have hopes to get through the ballot into the OCC in Chamonix, I would admit that at times during this very busy race I wished I were in a much smaller event and thought ‘perhaps never mind Chamonix’. Still, the razzmatazz of a UTMB event has definite pulling power, it’s like the trail running equivalent of a big city marathon, something you may want to experience at least once. And having now spent the day after my race watching the start of the VDA as well as the arrival of the winners in the CDH I would defy anyone not to get caught up in the emotion of the event.
On the morning of the race we were taken by bus from Vielha to Salardu (1250m) a short distance up the valley for the 7.30 start. Starting upstream means this is a net downhill course with 3,300m (10,000ft) of ascent and 3,700m of descent. You can already feel your quads hurting just thinking about it I am sure. The start felt special, the playing of Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise, as is standard at UTMB events, had a lot more impact than when you see it on YouTube. I felt quite emotional being on the start line after many months of training and being lucky not to get ill or injured. The start was in 2 waves 15 minutes apart, I am not sure how the runners were divided but it seemed random, with people of all speeds in each wave. I was in the first wave and spent many miles having to make way for fast runners from the second wave coming past on a narrow track. This was irritating both for steadier people like me and just as much for the fast runners I am sure. Moving in a single line and having to queue at steeper ascents was also very much a feature of the first half of the race, and it did feel rather crowded. With more than a thousand runners I guess that is unavoidable, it’s just that I had not really thought about it, having only taken part in much smaller mountain races.
I reached the first checkpoint after 9km of climbing with 30 minutes to spare. This is when some early optimism about my finish time reared its head, misplaced of course. A steep climb followed, hands required at times, to Coth de Podo (2600m). The 600m descent to the second checkpoint at Colomers was hideously technical and really made me question my decision to enter this event (even though I knew it would be technical, the reality of it was just even worse). I also realised that if the other 2 descents were of the same nature I would definitely be timed out. I feared that I would be too late at Colomers, 23km in, but I just made the cut, having tried to go as fast as I could over the never ending boulders without wanting to risk an accident.
Straight out of the checkpoint and onto the next climb to Tuc de Salana (2476m). At the bottom we had to wait whilst a young runner was helped off the very steep slope by medics, wrapped in a foil blanket. I couldn’t work out if he had hurt his leg or was generally unwell, but he had trouble standing. An older runner also came down the slope and got into the same vehicle saying he felt dizzy and was abandoning the race. The rest of us climbed upwards, in single file again. I was in front of an Irishman, it was one of the very few times that I actually had a conversation with anyone, as about 95% of the runners were Spanish speakers, so most exchanges were limited to simple nods or a bit of French on my part. He had also struggled with the technical descent, and we were both hoping that the mainly grassy slope of this ascent boded well for the other side, and thankfully it did. The next descent was steep but largely runnable of sorts, and took us in stages all the way down to the village of Arties (1140m) right in the valley bottom, 41km into the race. There was lots of cheerful support from spectators in Arties, it almost felt like coming into a finish, and part of me wished it were, I was getting quite tired. As I ran into the village someone called out ‘you have 8 minutes’ and when I reached the checkpoint they said we all had to leave within 7 minutes. No time to hang about! At least no more timing checkpoints now, other than needing to be at the finish in Vielha by 20.45.
Just a small matter of another massive climb ahead to Tuc de Cauva (2200m), so more than 1000m to ascend over 8km. The first part of the climb was in the forest on never ending steep zig-zags. By now it was warm, not warm by Spanish standards (very lucky with the weather!), but it was definitely affecting me. I started to feel dizzy and had to leave my place in the long line I was in to stop and take on some sugary carbs. This didn’t help. I ploughed on upwards but had to keep stopping to put my head down. I now felt queasy from the carbs and still dizzy. It was one of the low points of the race, I worried about actually passing out and being a burden on other runners who would have to stop. Thankfully my problem solving abilities were still functioning, I thought if it wasn’t sugar I needed it was likely my blood pressure was low and I needed salt, thankfully I had my own cheese supply (there must be Wallace and Gromit joke in there) and I sat down and ate some. Within minutes I felt better and able to carry on. We reached a short flat section, wonderful, but the profile on my watch told me there was a lot more climbing to come. This time on grassy slopes so it felt less claustrophobic, it was steep and tough and I was so tired I wanted to cry, but I told myself to get a grip and that at least I was no longer dizzy, just tired, and I would get to the top eventually, even though there were multiple false summits. Finally some abandoned ski lift posts came into view indicating the real top. There were absolutely stunning views all round but I didn’t stop to take them in, I knew that barring a last minute accident I would easily make the cut-off for the finish but I wanted to get the best time I could. It was only 6.5km to the finish, all downhill and very runnable. Initially steep and on gravelly scree, several runners were struggling to stay upright and seemed to struggle with the grips on their shoes and with their quads, but my shoes were grippy and quads you can ignore, they can hurt later all they like. These sorts of descents I can do, as long as there is nothing large to trip over. Then followed a wide track, think coming down from the Shooting Hut along Occupation Lane, just heaven to run down on and only a parkrun to go, yay, then paths through hay meadows, finally steeper paths through the woods with gnarly tree roots but still runnable. I hit the road in Vielha with about half a mile to go and sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me, not sure why, it felt like a matter of pride to do so. Hearing the sound system from the finish line from afar spurred me on. I got lots of cheers and shouts of encouragement from spectators and overtook a few people still. Really nice to see this level of support from the town and from fellow runners for what in reality was very much the back end of a race where the winner had come in 7 hours earlier (how that is even possible is just beyond me)! I rang the huge bell under the finish arch 12 hours and 39 minutes after I had set off, and was delighted to have achieved my main aims, to not get injured or have an accident, to make all the cut-offs and to get to ring that bell. A tough day out, I think slightly easier terrain and less time pressure suits me better, but very glad to have done this race and to have savoured the experience of a UTMB event, at least the once. Who knows what 2023 will bring?!
(1 5:37:42 Yanqiao Yun)
1037 12:39:55 Petra Bijsterveld
1091 finishers (922 men; 169 women)
1246 starters
155 DNF
International Masters Road Events – Sun 3 Jul
Sat 2 Jul 2022
From Alison Bennett…
It was a great privilege for myself and Helen Waddington to be selected for the England 5K teams in the Masters event in Tenby.
A fine morning found us proudly sporting our new England attire ready to enjoy the event. At the crowded start in the centre of Tenby we were surrounded by a mass of unfamiliar faces but soon bonded with fellow team mates recognizable by their Home Country vest. Before long we were cheered on our way by the assembled crowds and loud motivational music as we headed out of the town on an undulating course.
Being a 5k, it wasn’t a long race, but it was still a relief to run down the red carpet towards the finish knowing that we had given our best effort.
The less said the better regarding the combination of confusing signage and lack of directions which caused many of the lead runners to approach the finish funnel from opposing directions.
Ilkley is a club with a great strength and depth of Veteran runners at all distances, many of who could qualify for selection for similar events. It would be great if we could aim to have a larger Ilkley contingent at one of the Masters races in the future.
52 Alison Bennett 21:49 (1st FV60)
65 Helen Waddington 22:45 (5th FV50)
Lakeland Mountain Marathon – Sat/Sun 2/3 Jul
Sat 2 Jul 2022
From John Hayes…
The Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon takes place every year on the first weekend in July. There are various courses, each named after a mountain. All are line courses except one score event (Fairfield) which I entered with my brother-in-law Martyn. This year, the event started in Eskdale, with the Saturday overnight camp at Wasdale Head. It was great to see Mark & Rebecca and Alison & Nea at the event. All of us had good runs and enjoyed the relaxed friendly atmosphere of the event.
I put our surprisingly high placing in the Fairfield (score) course down to two things: (1) After a lot of deliberating over the map handed out at the start, we made the right call on the first day (7 hours) to head west to the high fells and pick up some high-scoring flags. We then concentrated on day two (5 hours) collecting as many points as we could in a zigzag route back to Eskdale; and (2) I could not resist adding a swim in Wastwater after we had pitched our tent overlooking the lake on Saturday night. This acted as a miracle cure for my very tired legs!
Carrock Fell (line course)
(1st Simon Patton + Euan Patton 7:21:1)
23rd Mark Mon-Williams + Rebecca Mon-Williams 9:52:3
45th Alison Weston + Nea Weston 11:30:1
61 finished
Fairfield (score course)
(1st Mark Clarkson + Andrew Higgins 912 points) 11:58:0
8th John Hayes + Martyn Pegg 590 points 11:15:2
87 finished
Harriers duo in Commonwealth Games action
Fri 1 Jul 2022
Two Ilkley Harriers will be racing in the triathlon for Wales at the Commonwealth Games this week:
Dom Coy goes in both the men’s individual (1101BST on Friday) and the Mixed Team Relay (1431 on Sunday) and will be up against the likes of Olympic gold medallist Alex Yee.
And Rhys Jones is in the PTVI men’s race (1101 Sunday) and faces para triathlon legend and reigning world champion Dave Ellis. There’s full live coverage on the BBC.
It’s an incredible achievement from both Dom and Rhys and best wishes to them from everyone at the club.
Congrats to Ben Rothery
Fri 1 Jul 2022
Ben Rothery has been selected for England in the Snowdon International Mountain race this Saturday 16th.
Oakworth Haul Fell Race – Sat 2 Jul
Fri 1 Jul 2022
Well done to Mary Jeal, first FV60 at the Oakworth Haul Fell Race at the weekend.