CAPTAIN’S COLUMNS
Road races to look out for this Autumn There are some great road races to look
forward to this Autumn. I just want to highlight a few of them to give those of you who haven’t run them an idea of what to expect and for those of you who have previously run them to inspire you to get your racing shoes out and do them again.
Yorkshire Vets AA road relays This year will be the second time that Ilkley Harriers have organised the Yorkshire Vets road relays. At the time of writing the date hasn’t yet been finalised, but it should be towards the end of September. Each leg of the relay starts at Ilkley Lido and is a hilly three miles including Carters Lane (up) and Curly Hill (down). Teams comprise either three or four runners per team and cover all vets age groups from 35 upwards. Last year Ilkley Harriers had seven men’s teams and five ladies teams. Some of these teams were very competitive and won medals, others were more ‘social’ teams. It really is an opportunity for all of our veteran runners to take part, let’s see if we can have even more teams this year.
Thirsk 10 miles
The Thirsk 10 should take place at the end of November and it will be the last road race counter in this year’s Harriers League competition. Included in the race will be the Yorkshire Vets 10 mile championships. The course is very fast and is basically flat apart from a couple of bridges over the railway. This is a great chance to set a PB for a 10 mile race as you won’t find many quicker races in the North of England. Last year the winner took just over 48 minutes and the slowest runner almost 2½ hours, so it caters for a wide range of abilities. About 1,000 runners take part and it starts and finishes at Thirsk race course.
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Ribble Valley 10k This race is run on country lanes around Clitheroe just after Christmas. It’s not an obviously fast course – winding lanes, undulating, always cold and exposed to any wind that’s blowing. However it always attracts a very good field of runners, usually with a good representation from Ilkley Harriers. Despite the nature of the course the winner normally runs well under 30 minutes for the 10k. For some reason it seems to offer a better chance of a 10k PB than the Leeds Abbey Dash, it’s a lot less crowded, more scenic & less expensive to enter as well.
If you’d like any more details on these (or other) road races let me know. Don’t forget, also, there are 5k time trial Parkrun races held every Saturday morning at Hyde Park in Leeds and Lister Park in Bradford. They’re free to enter – just register online in advance at
www.parkrun.com and take your barcode with you.
Henry Heavisides, Men’s Road Captain 01943 831 765
Mud and rain will come again
Yes it’s hot and dry but fear not the rain and mud is getting nearer by the day and the Cross Country Season will be with us sooner than you think. Therefore just a few dates to paint on your bedroom ceilings:
• Northern Cross Country Champs 29 January 2011 in sunny Sunderland – let’s get a team together this time.
• English National Cross Country Champs Alton Towers, Staffs, 19 February 2011 – can we fill a coach this time?
Have a great summer! Malcolm Pickering, Men’s XC Captain
ILKLEY HARRIERS NEWSLETTER • JULY–AUGUST 2010
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