Report from Mark Hall

This is the second time I have done this event.  The race is in and around the grounds of the beautiful Nostell Priory estate near Wakefield.  It is worth doing this event to visit this lovely place.  The race is 2 laps of trails and fields, there are no steep climbs but lots of drags making it a tough event, looking forward to doing a flat race!  Shortly before the start of the race I had a heavy nose bleed, not the best preparation.  Once the race started I realised within the first mile I was not on a good day so I was pleased to get to the finish in a reasonable time. 450 starters.

Winner: A Peers, Wakefield ac, 33.48

Women: J Masterman, Goole Viking,42.00

Mark Hall, 6th, 1st V55, 36.59

Report from Graham Lake

After a busy summer of racing I was feeling a bit jaded and tired, but I had to give this race a go. Now in it’s 3^rd year, the Urban Trail Runner series of races was set up by a mate of mine who runs for Wetherby. The races have steadily grown from ~100 starters to 217 last night.

I’d had a look at the course map and it looked similar to the Peco race at Roundhay, starting down and finishing up ‘hill 60’ which is a short, steep climb up to Soldier’s Field. The course itself was really well marked, flagged for much of it which is good for an event aiming to get people in to trail running. There were some more technical sections through the woods which gave it a ‘proper trail run’ feel and I was surprised (and gasping for breath) at the number of climbs; my watch showing about 650ft of ascent over the 10k which isn’t bad for a city park!

I had a good run, battling with a couple of runners for most of it, but then faded over the last two hills dropping 2 places near the end which was disappointing. I found myself gaining on the downs and flats, but losing time on the ups (some club hills in order, eh?!)

The race was really well organised, even with a free icecream for finishers which was very welcome on such a muggy night! Tim and Mike were there selling their Yorkshire Runner wares too.

The next race in the series is the Middleton Massif – 20^th August, give it a go!

I finished 9^th, 2^nd MV40 in 42.57, the winner was Daryl Hibberd of Valley Striders in 38.33. First lady home was Alice Leake of Leeds City in 43.42.

Full results here: https://racebest.com/results/roundhay-rampage

Falcons, owls, eagles, swifts and tits; an ornithologist’s delight, but more importantly the names of the Otley AC teams at the Golden Acre Relays.

For the uninitiated, the relays are put on by Abbey Runners and involve a twisting three-mile lap of Golden Acre Park, between Bramhope and Adel.

Because there was a limit of 150 teams, Otley Tits were unable to register but were allowed to run unofficially; although the results showed that 154 teams had taken part.

In 36th place Otley Falcons: Rogan Ashton 17:06, Stephen Boddy 17:40, Christian Hosker 19:16 – total 54:02.

84th Otley Owls: Rachel 20:23, Caron Ralph 21:23, Liz Fawcett 22:10 – total 63:56.

126th: Otley Eagles: Richard Hamer 22:56, Joanna Hobson 24:15,Laura Hind 23:50 – total 71:01.

142nd: Otley Swifts: Madeleine Delucchi 26:24, Anna Murtough 25:23, Debra Brown 26:52 – total 78:39.

Unplaced (see above) Otley Tits: Dominic Egan 23:04, Rob Fearnley 23:39, Andy Webster 20:31 – total 67:14.

The winners were Chapel Mews AC of Danny Lauter 13:59, Mike Hayle 14:35, Matt Grieve 14:01 – total 42:35.

Full results.

Another perfect summer’s evening for Lizzie’s handicap.  Setting off first Debra held off the chasing pack to win by just over a minute, ahead of president Billy and Laura Hind.  Scott sped round to the fastest time of the night finishing 7th.  The top of the handicap has closed up quite a bit.  Antonio kept his lead 2 points ahead of Rob and 3 ahead of Laura Hind,  see the full table here.

Report from Tom Lynch:

Having decided against the big drive, and more importantly big effort of Snowdon on Saturday I decided to take on this much tougher local BOFRA race, which was also a counter in the BOFRA championship. A whole 4 km, but don’t let that deceive you, as ever with a BOFRA race it included a steep climb, with only a small bit of gentle introduction, with 310 m of climbing (2.5 miles/1020 feet) packed into the distance. The route started just above Cracoe and headed up over a wall via a farm trailer to the war memorial on the ridge above Cracoe, and then straight back down. The second half of the climb is boggy and rough, and the last sprint in required a gate climb to get back over the wall. It was perfect weather and  I was joined by Graham Lake, Don Buffham and Antonio Cardinale. There are some entertaining pictures out there of the race on the BOFRA facebook page and the Woodentops 1 and 2.

The winner of the race was Ted Mason (Wharfedale Harriers) 21:46, first woman was Kirsty Hall (also of Wharfedale) in 27:04. I came in 13th (9th champs counter) in 25:04, Graham Lake came in 23rd in 27:46, Don Buffham was 79th in 41:42 and Antonio Cardinale was 86th in 58:21. Full results are here.

Cracoe 2017 Race Start

The ever present Don Buffham neatly leaping the bog – although he seems to think he’s in Skegness.

Report from Howard ‘the bard’ Jeffrey

I now count writer’s block as a running injury and have been resting and recuperating from my regular race report contributions for a while and am pleased to see there have been plenty of interesting reports to keep you all amused.

As a prelude to the BL 10K which many club members will remember as one of the core Black Sheep race series (still lamented) I did the hard and hilly Temple Newsam park run as hard as I could, the day before (21.44). This is to keep me in the chase in the Leeds race series and was pleased to see Tom Potter who has been out for a while. Suitably sapped I lined up on Sunday for the BL10K. No other Otley runners here today so had to take on mainly Harrogate rivals in the age category alone. Had just beaten Tim Broomfield at Burn Valley half last week but had trailed in behind Kevin Murphy by 4 minutes despite a strong finish. Today there was also Geoff King, a very good fell runner who had been minutes ahead at this race last year. 309 people lined up at the start which is quite congested out of the primary school sharp right down a short hill then a hairpin up a steep grassy slope of 150m to the first stretch of tarmac. Geoff King was already long gone but I passed Tim up the grassy slope which was unusual as I usually catch him at about mile one. One down. Kevin Murphy had also disappeared into the distance so it was relax and see how much was left in the legs from yesterday. The race started at 11.00 and the sun was intermittent but it did get quite hot even along the first bit of tarmac which is nicely downhill to a stream across the road. Decisions, decisions, short queue for the bridge or splash through the ford? I opted to take the ford and the water was so shallow I never even got my feet wet!

Next stretch is up a concrete farm roadway going up to another stretch of tarmac road. Went through mile one in 6.35, ridiculous but felt OK. The road turns sharp right but we head off straight onto a rutted stony farm track for about a mile of gradual climbing a sharp descent to a right hander up a gravel track and then down through the woods on a very rutted path so watch your step! Another sharp right at the bottom onto a field of long grass to halfway and the water station, not before time as it has become very warm. I had caught Kevin Murphy and dived passed to show him how to run fast down through the woods. Two down. The route comes off the grass back onto the road and there is a tough slog gradually rising which gives way to a rolling single track across the hills beneath the blazing sun. Still managing to overtake runners along the track and we are then back onto tarmac for a mile of blissful downhill, sharp left back onto the concrete roadway, opted for the bridge across the ford. Then up a wearisome climb which levels off for 400 yards before the top of the grass bank down to the hairpin and left back into the school. The race was won by Andrew Grant of Harrogate Harriers in 33.58. First lady in 34^th was Donna Riddler in 43.27 and I was 59^th in 45.50, only 20 seconds slower than last year surprisingly.

Results are available spreadsheet here or text file here.  

An Otley / Leeds City team of Zack Whitehead (18:06), Nathan Dunn (20:51) and Scott Harrington (17:27) broke the race record by five seconds finishing in 56:24.

Harrogate’s Barry McGuire came back first on Leg 1 in 17:07, another record broken on the night.  Andy Grant extended the lead to just over a minute, at the end of Leg 2 with a the fast leg 2 time of 20:41.  Scott chased down John Young on the final leg round Swinsty, crossing the finish with a 11 second win.

The mixed team race was won by the Bingley JII team finishing in 10th overall, with Jo Buckley (19:59), Ian Fisher (21:30) and Ian Ferguson (21:46).   2nd was the Baildon Kasrobard team just less than a minute behind with Jennie Guard (19:11), Lee Kaznowski (24:06) and Gareth Holme (20:56).

Unfortunately we incorrectly gave the Pudsey Ladies team the women’s prize, as we missed Harriers Speed Queens from Knavesmire living up to their name finishing in a time, 1:07:49, that broke the women’s record with the team of Sarah Attwood (20:05), Emily Baines (26:15) and Lucy Pinder (21:31).

Photo’s of Legs 1 & 2 from Philip Bland here, and more from William Overton here.

Thanks to everyone who helped out on the evening, and thankfully the drizzle held off pretty much for the post race BBQ’s.

This is on the junior page – see the tab at the top – and well worth a general post for some fantastic junior performances.

Quote from Hugh…’Some fantastic times and improvements since last year’

Here here

Junior Results

Report from Tony Walker

A little story of encouragement for those getting on a bit and with aching joints. 4 years ago leading up to and post knee op, several esteemed people qualified in the medical profession told me I should never run again due to having little cartilage in my right knee. I then saw another specialist who was a bit more balanced and suggested ‘moderation’ and listen to your body. In fact he came out with a classic quote when I was in a check-up a few months later that I always recount when given the opportunity…

Me ‘it hurts when I run downhill particularly on roads’
Doctor ‘well don’t do it then’
Sage advice.

Anyway fast forward to this year and having not had any alcohol for several weeks I made the declaration that a drop wouldn’t touch my lips until I ran under 20mins for 5k.

On Thursday I was up in the north east working and spotted a fast Sunderland 5k. Game on. I’d got fitter by doing the Harrogate League – which by the way were brilliant – and was ready. They split the races into 2. The ladies and vets over 50 were in one race and the men another. It was a northern championship so hot competition. I love this kind of race. Quite simply you get dragged around. A bit of a chaotic start as expected and 2 laps of silksworth park – around a lake if you know it.
I tried to start relatively steady and managed to pick my way through to 16th in the vets over 50 race. I couldn’t have put much more in.

My reward and maybe encouragement to others to keep going is that at the age of 55 I achieved my fastest 5k for nearly 5 years…19.54.

Results here…
Now where’s that beer…

Report from Hannah:

On a hot and sunny Sunday morning on 9^th July whilst everyone else headed to Leeds 10k Sara Richard, Chris Brunold and myself set off for the Burn Valley Half in Masham. This race has had a break of four years and is now being organised by Ripon Runners and I must confess to have never heard of it till I saw a flyer for it somewhere.  For some reason I thought that doing this race the weekend of my birthday with friends and followed by a beer would be a great idea to celebrate. So I talked Sara, Ann, and Joanna into joining me and then Tom Hannah filled me in on how tough the course was, oh dear! That explained why a lot of people were laughing at me and saying no way….

Unfortunately, Ann and Joanna had to pull out due to injuries and in the meantime I’d talked Chris into joining us for a trip out to Masham with the promise of a beer. By the time the race came around I’d been told by countless people it was a tough, hilly course and to say I wasn’t up for it was an understatement. I’m just not feeling the love for running at the minute, especially road races that consist of hills and no stiles or gates to get a rest at. Plus I had a tight calf and dodgy ankle, when haven’t I got a dodgy ankle? We arrived at the car park and pulled up alongside ex Otley AC member Mark Berry and bumped into our Wetherby friend Richard Bell, it was good to see we weren’t the only nutters doing it. We also bumped into Ian Fisher who I believe had been asked to race as he is the current record holder, he told Sara he wasn’t very well and was full of cold but was hoping he’d be able to run ok, it looks like he didn’t finish as he wasn’t in the results.

The race starts in a narrow side street just off the market square and heads out of Masham through the grounds of Swinton Castle, up to Leeds Pals war memorial and before turning round and heading back to Masham via Healey and Fearby. All run on back roads and it’s very picturesque, which is a good job because I don’t think I’ve mentioned how hilly it is. It’s up down, up down and then up and up to the war memorial, then up and down all the way back too. As expected Sara and I lost Chris not long into the race, Sara and I were doing our own thing but were a similar pace for the first mile or so, before we hit the first incline where my tight calf really bothered me. It was that that made me pause to decide if I was going to carry on, well that and a bloke that I couldn’t get rid of who was doing my head in, he was coughing and spluttering all the time clearing phlegm from his chest (it was grim and making me feel sick). I gave my ankle a wiggle and decided to stop being a wuss and carry on for a bit to see how my calf got on if I took it really steady on the hills, it was fine the rest of the time. I managed to catch Sara up again for a bit and we hit a stretch of road that we’d covered during the ultra last year, we were laughing nervously about the hill we were about to hit before we turned off the road with a sigh of relief, before starting up a different hill.

It was blazing hot however Ripon Runners had water stations perfectly placed every two miles, a lady in one of the villages had her hose pipe out for us and the support from marshals and locals all the way round was great. Sara lost me at 6 miles after the long climb to the war memorial, my calf was not happy and I backed right off. At this point I got talking to a lovely lady who was also starting to fade, we’d been passing each other since the start and ended up encouraging each other to the end, yes we were having a good chin wag at times but she definitely helped me keep my pace up too. I was very surprised to catch Sara again at about 10 miles and fully expected her to some past me again before the end but the warm weather was really getting to her, I only had chance to catch my breath before I turned round to see her finishing though so we were very close in the end.

I can’t recommend this race enough, well organised, great support, yes it’s hilly but it’s really not that bad and the route is just so pretty, plus it’s £16 and you get a technical t-shirt, a banana, a packet of Yorkshire Tea and a bottle of beer (thank god Chris got her beer in the end!). On reflection I enjoyed myself and it has to be the best I’ve felt in a long time plus I got the time I had hoped for on such a hilly course. It’s far better than a boring flat run in some city centre, so who’s up for it next year?

Apparently Howard was there but we never saw him, surprising as it was only a small field of runners with 222 finishers. Chip times for Otley AC’ers were as follows; Howard Jeffrey 1:48:12 and 2^nd M60, Chris Brunold 2:04:35, Hannah Lupton 2:14:54 and Sara Richard 2:15:41.