Ilkley Harriers news archive 2025
Ilkley Gazette Report – w/c 29 September 2025
Mon 29 Sep 2025
[Ben Rothery excelling in the highest trail running company imaginable, photo courtesy of Jamie Rutherford Photography]
From Caroline Howe & Nicola Budding…
Rothery and Bentham excel at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships
A fantastic performance by reigning English fell champion Ben Rothery saw the Ilkley Harrier lead the GB&NI men’s team home at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Spain. Held in the Pyrenees for the first time, the Championships comprise a number of races across the spectacular mountain terrain over three days of competition. Competing in the 45km ‘Short’ Trail race, Ben finished 27th in this top international field. The race has an eye-watering 3500m of elevation. Ben was 68th at the top of the first summit, but showed his descending skills and some world-class pacing to move through the field, taking another four spots in the final ascent.
On the final day of the championships, Harrier Sam Bentham finished in 10th place in the U20 8km race. With 400m of elevation gain, Sam ran superbly to finish as the second British runner home, helping the GB&NI team to the silver medal – a fantastic achievement. Sam’s performance follows his third place finish at the British and Irish Mountain Running Championships in Wales last week, with his season continuing to go from strength to strength.
Further east, the Mon-Williams family took on another, lesser-known mountain range – the Julian Alps in Slovenia. The Julian Alps UTMB race offers a range of race options, from 120km to 5km. Ruaridh, Mark and Rebecca opted for the 25km route which starts and finishes in the Alpine village of Kranskja Gora, taking in 1000m of climb. It was a successful day for the trio – Ruaridh finished in fifth place in 1:55; Mark finished as second MV60 in 2:25, and Rebecca as first FV55 in 2:58.
In peaks closer to home, two hardy Harriers took part in ultra races as part of the 13 Valleys Ultra event in the Lake District. Four distances are offered over three days, ranging from 2 Valleys to the full 13. Gavin Lamb opted for the second longest option – the 110km 7 Valleys route, finishing in 23 hours and 10 minutes, while Ritchie Williamson went the whole hog, finishing a fantastic 12th place in the full 180km 13 Valleys race in 32 hour 53 minutes.
On home turf, Saturday saw the Rombald’s Romp take place on Ilkley Moor. Nathan Edmondson took the win, with Jack Cummings finishing fourth. Plenty of Harriers took part in the race, with age category prizes for Rachel Carter, Michael Odell and Alison Weston.
On the tarmac, some excellent running at the latest 5k Evensplits event at the Brownlee Centre in Leeds earlier in the week saw Harry Sime finish first in the M60 category in 19:53. A trio of Emily Butterworth (21:22), Claire McLoughlin (21:45) and Georgina Hamil (22:52) finished second, third and fourth in the F35 age category respectively.
On Saturday two teams represented Harriers at the Yorkshire Veterans’ Athletic Association road relays in Wyke. The event saw teams of three runners each run 2.75 miles around the Wyke Community Centre cycle track. Sally Malir, Caroline Howe and Sally Armitage, competing in the F35-44 category, finished in 58:06, fifth out of 12 teams. Competing in the F55-64 category Jane Bryant, Petra Bijsterveld and Diane Kitchen finished in 1:07:40, fourth out of five teams.
Notable parkrun performances on Saturday included Steve Coy in third place at East Holmes Field; Oscar Shinn in third place at Myrtle; James Lee in fourth at Chevin parkrun; Kyle Bethell in fourth in Skatas (Sweden); and Samesh Chotai in sixth place at Coventry.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.
YVAA Road Relays – Sat 27 Sep 2025
Sat 27 Sep 2025
From Petra Bijsterveld…
The Yorkshire Veterans’ Athletics Association Road Relays 2025 took place at the relatively new (2022) Wyke Community Sports Village in Bradford, which contains a cycling track, football pitches as well as a nice pavilion with changing rooms. The track has an inner and outer loop, with one lap of both loops totalling just under a mile. The race was for teams of 3 runners who each had to run 3 laps (2.75 miles), and hand over a baton between runners, with the timing chip being in the baton.
Thanks to Sally Armitage’s encouragement we managed to get two ladies’ teams out today. Team F35 was made up of Sally Malir, Caroline Howe and Sally Armitage. Surely these runners are all perhaps a little older than 35 I hear you say?! Well with the female age groups defined as 35-44; 45-54; 55-64 and 65+ we had no choice, Caroline being under 45 forced the whole team into the F35 category. The second team, F55, contained Jane Bryant, myself and Diane Kitchen, slightly less spread out in age, though both Diane and I are well into our sixties. Anyway, this was not going to spoil our fun, we were realistic enough to know we were not necessarily there to win trophies.
Despite the prospect of possibly being a little way down on the results list all six of us gave it our very best efforts. We had a solid warm-up and explored the track. The connections between the outer and inner loops initially looked confusing but after a helpful explanation from a marshal we got to grips with it and it was actually a nice circuit to run. Not dissimilar to the Brownlee track known to many from the Leeds Evensplits races, but hillier than we had imagined and there was also a fairly stiff breeze making it a bit harder too. In fact the purple gazebo belonging to City of Hull took off across the grass just before the race commenced and had to be chased after by the Hull runners!
Once the race started at 2pm, men and women running together, it was immediately clear this was a fast field, and I spotted lots of familiar faces of speedy runners from other clubs such as Holmfirth, Bingley and Saltaire. All six of us worked really hard, no one dropped a baton and the handovers were as smooth as you could wish for. In the end we gave a good account of ourselves. The F35 team came 5th out of 11 teams. In fact so nearly 4th: Sally Armitage, running the last leg at a blistering pace, was just pipped to the line by an F35 runner from City of Hull, there is one second (!) difference in the total team time. The F55 team came 4th out of 5 teams.
We all enjoyed it, especially once it was over 🙂 Personally I find the short distances always much harder and more painful than any of my long ultras, but they are good to do, if only to prevent myself turning into a runner whose only pace is the ultra-shuffle!
Hopefully we can get some more teams (and some men!) out at the next opportunity.
Ilkley Gazette Report – w/c 22 September 2025
Mon 22 Sep 2025
[Steve Gott and his stag companions at the Kirkstall 7m]
From Peter Shelley & Nicola Budding…
Harriers undeterred by heavy rain and wind
Wet and slippery conditions on Saturday proved no deterrent to runners in the Great Whernside Fell Race. The 6.5km route is a simple but hard ascent of the Yorkshire Dales peak via the footpath which starts in Kettlewell and rises 686m passing Hag Dyke and through pasture, bog and rocky terrain to the summit before retracing its way down. Completing the race in 32:33, Sam Bentham took the win, his third annual victory in succession despite still being in the under 21-category. Sam was just three seconds clear of Wharfedale Harriers’ more experienced (and expert descender) Ted Mason. Oscar Shinn finished a creditable 10th and 3rd MU21, Gawain Moore 11th, George Whittlestone 15th and 4th MU21 in a great overall showing for Ilkley Harriers’ younger runners. Jamie Bentham was 37th.
Ilkley Harrier juniors’ strong collective efforts in the U19 Boys Team over the season won them a superb second place in the FRA Junior Fell Running Championships 2025. Medals go to Alexander Wolfenden, George Whittlestone and Oscar Shinn.
Kate Archer endured Saturday’s torrential conditions for considerably longer in the Hardmoors 60. Starting at 8am in Guisborough, the race headed to the North Yorkshire coast via Saltburn and on to Whitby and Scarborough before finishing at Filey. Runners had to manage not only the 60-mile distance and 3,000 metres of ascent but worsening conditions as the rain and mud intensified and, come the evening, was accompanied by high winds. 78 of the 179 starters retired. Kate rose to the challenge to finish in an impressive 12 hours 8 mins, placing 6th and 2nd lady, a fantastic achievement and testimony to her determination and race craft.
More brave souls tackled Saturday’s Three Shires Fell Race. One of the Classic Lakeland Fell Races, the Three Shires takes runners over 22km of remote and challenging terrain with 1,535m of ascent including the Little Langdale and Coniston Fells. Charles Wain made the finish in 94th place and Alison Weston in 110th.
Some way further east, Dick Waddington and Rumana Chowdhury faced a different kind of meteorological challenge as they tackled one of the world’s ‘Big Seven’ marathons in Berlin. Temperatures rose to the mid-20s on the route around the German capital leaving runners struggling to hydrate and keep moving. Dick made the finish in an excellent 4:02:38 while Rumana took encouragement from the party atmosphere and support to prevail over various setbacks, happy to earn her medal in 5:15:09.
Conditions in North Yorkshire had improved on Sunday by the time Hilda Coulsey and Jane McCarthy arrived for the Redcar Half Marathon. There was still wind to contend with on the coastal race route, but the sun was shining and both Harriers delivered competitive performances. Jane finished 78th, fifth lady and first F50 whilst Hilda finished 338th and 1st F70. They now qualify for England masters’ vests in next year’s home international in Swansea.
Benign conditions greeted the Kirkstall Abbey 7 on Sunday. En route to his stag-do in Leeds and dressed accordingly, Steve Gott was first Harrier to complete the seven-mile trail taking in the grounds of the Abbey to Rodley, finishing in 14th place and 2nd MV45. David Singleton was 46th and 2nd MV50, Matthew Snow 73rd and Roar Leijssen 148th of 214.
The trails around Swinsty Reservoir were also busy on Sunday with the Tilbury Douglas Yorkshire Run for WaterAid. The event raised money to help fund water supply projects in Ethiopia. Colm McCann covered the 10km route to finish 13th of 92 runners and 3rd M50. Wendy Lockwood finished 40th and 3rd F40.
Juniors were to the fore in parkruns this weekend. Alexander Wolfenden posted a swift 18:19 at Fountains Abbey finishing 7th overall and 1st JM15-17.
At East Holmes Field in Ilkley Daisy Lowe led the way for the girls, finishing 1st JW11-14 in 28:35.
At Chevin Forest James Lee was 5th overall in 19:44, Michael Moore 1st JM11-14 in 23:07 and Isobel Moore 1st JW10 in 27:12.
Among the seniors, Rachel Carter ran 21:03 at Fountains, Jaysson Sawyer 20:38 at Belvoir Castle and Rob Cunningham 19:45 at Ferry Meadows.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.
Ilkley Gazette Report – w/c 15 September 2025
Mon 15 Sep 2025
[Diane Kitchen won her age cat at the Wetherby 10k, photo courtesy Philip Bland]
From Jill Ezard & Nicola Budding…
Harrier’s success representing England in Mountain Running
Harrier Sam Bentham had a successful weekend representing England in the British and Irish Mountain Running Championships in Wales. Sam had been named in the squad in July having had a fantastic season so far. As part of the England U20 team, Sam took on the 6.9km with an impressive 303m ascent/descent over three climbs on the hills behind Canolfan y Fron in Snowdonia. The terrain is good for racing, climbing through a slate quarry and descending on some very fast tracks. And it was clearly a good race for Sam who came third in 27:01, just seconds behind the second place finisher, also taking the team prize with his teammates. Well done to Sam for a fantastic outing for the England team.
And it’s a performance that no doubt Jack Cummings will want to repeat as he received his first England call up this week for the Trofeo Vanoni in October, a relay-format mountain running race. It is a dream come true for Jack as it is an aim he has been working towards for years. It clearly gave him a spring in his step when he took part in the Wetherby 10k at the weekend. It was a great turnout of Harriers with eight taking part in this popular, fast, flat (apart from the hill at the end), and scenic route, ending with some excellent results: Jack took second place in the race flying over the line in 32:55; Sally Armitage was the second Harrier to finish in 39:08, fourth female and first in her age category; Ash Winter slipped into the top 50 finishing in 41:50; and Diane Kitchen took first place in her age category in 53:56. Well done to everyone that took part.
Back on the fells there was a fantastic turnout of juniors and seniors for the close-to-home Bradley Fell race. For the seniors the race is 3.5 miles with 900ft of ascent, starting with a steady climb up the fields and tracks to High Bradley, followed by a steep ascent to the top of Bradley moor. A steep climb can mean only one thing – a fast descent! Continuing his success on the fells, Gawain Moore was the first Harrier home in 25:06 taking 11th place overall and first place in his age group. George Whittlestone was 14th in 25:43, with Iain Gibbons and Nick Helliwell neck and neck in 27:27 and 27:46 respectively. Katie Poulter was fifth in the women’s race in 32.04, taking first place in her age category. Colm McCann had a great race finishing in 34:01.
And the impressive performances continued for the juniors: In the U17 Boys race, Oscar Shinn finished in third place; Robert Brooks took fourth place in the U14 Boys race; in the under 12 Boys there were two top ten placings with Michael Moore finishing in a fantastic first place and Thomas Bailey in tenth; for the U10 Girls Isobel Moore placed seventh; and in the U9 Girls race Georgia Poulter finished sixth. Well done to all our juniors for some determined running!
Continuing on the fells one Harrier travelled to Patterdale to compete in the La Sportiva Lake District Mountain Trial. Tim Ashelford joined forces with a friend from Durham Fell Runners to compete in the event which is a test of route choice, navigational skill and stamina in difficult mountain country. They competed in the Short Course pairs event which, depending on route choice will typically cover about 12 miles, and came over the finish line in 9:34:59.
Requiring less challenging navigational skills, two Harriers ventured to York to take part in the EvenSplits York 5K race, one of a series that are held monthly from February to November at the University of York Sport Village Cycle Circuit, giving participants the opportunity to track their 5k progress. Alex Wolfenden finished in a phenomenal 15:44 with an age grade of 82.3% and Harry Sime took second place in his age category in 19:41 and another impressive age grade of 81.6%.
Finally, 42 parkrunners took to the parks and trails across the UK to take part in the weekly timed events. Suitable for all capabilities the events are a great opportunity to build up your running. It was a bumper home event at East Holmes Field with 339 runners and walkers taking on the four lap course. Samesh Chotai romped home as first finisher with Kyle Bethell, John Hayes and Caroline Howe also finishing in the first ten for their gender. There was definitely something in the air though as nine Harriers achieved Personal Bests in the event. It was also a great turnout of Harriers at the Chevin Forest event where Junior Harrier James Lee was the third finisher and Paul Carman, Adam Gerrish, Jann Smith, Junior Isobel Moore, and Heidi Hoad all finished in the first ten for their gender. And there were PBs for Jann and Geoffrey White. Further afield Peter Roll took part in the Mallards Pike event and was fifth finisher. Well done to all that took part.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.
Ilkley Gazette Report – w/c 8 September 2025
Mon 8 Sep 2025
[The start of the Ilkley Incline, photo courtesy Woodentops]
From Nigel Illingworth & Nicola Budding…
Ilkley Incline, plus strong Harriers’ performances across fells, trails and roads
We had a packed race calendar for the Harriers this week, featuring our own Ilkley Incline, fell races, the Great North Run, Sunday’s exciting relays, and our new local parkrun.
Sunday saw two outstanding half marathon performances by Harriers. In the 11th running of the Vale of York Half Marathon, Matthew Thackwray was second overall male and first in the M35 category, setting a personal best of 1:08:49. Derek Oliver finished sixth in the M60 category with a time of 1:38:23. Other Harriers included Samesh Chotai (1:23:15), Ash Winter, who achieved a personal best “tuning up” for next month’s Yorkshire Marathon (1:32:33), Mark Gill (1:33:50) and Sarah Marsden (1:44:57).
Six Harriers also ran the Great North Run, battling a headwind from Newcastle to South Shields. Elite Nathan Edmondson impressively finished 21st with a time of 1:07:24, followed by Michael Ho (1:52:56), Lucy Lowe (2:14:17), Charlotte Smithson (2:16:10), Jonathan Nelson (2:40:03) and Scott Pinfield (3:00:12).
Geoffrey White delivered a winning performance in the scenic Derwentwater Trail Run 10K in Keswick, finishing first in the MV40 category with a time of 55:13 and placing 26th overall.
Sunday also marked the 29th running of the Tholthorpe 10K. Harriers’ ever-inspiring Jaysson Sawyer secured 11th place overall and fourth in the M40 category with a time of 37:54.
Earlier in the week, the Harriers hosted the Ilkley Incline in its 23rd year. This unique, one-mile, point-to-point race rises steeply by 170m onto Ilkley Moor. On a bright, dry, and breezy evening, 33 Harriers ran, with 95 participants in total. Harriers’ Ruaridh Mon-Williams finished third in 7:32, and Daniel Ellis was ninth in 8:42. The club also excelled in the age categories, with Gawain Moore, Ritchie Williamson, Peter Shelley, Matilda Irvine, Jann Smith, and Fiona Schneider each leading their respective categories. Second places were secured by Alex Wolfenden, Nick Kealey, John Hayes, Simon Jenkins, and Elaine Cossins, while third places went to Oscar Shinn, Paul Sullivan, Matthew Kennedy, and Marie Watson. Thanks to everyone who organised, volunteered, or supported the race.
Ahead of the Ilkley Incline, Harriers Juniors hosted the ever-popular Sprint Fell Relays on Ilkley Moor. Teams of four took on the short but challenging course, showcasing speed, stamina and teamwork across the hills, with every finisher enjoying a well-earned ice pop!
On the fells, Harriers were running at Burnsall and Muker. The historic Burnsall Fell Race covers 2.4 km with a 274m ascent up Burnsall Fell. Harriers had a strong showing in the senior race, with Gawain Moore claiming seventh overall and second in the MV45 category (16:46), Iain Gibbons finishing third MV50 (17:57), and George Whittlestone placing fourth MU23 (18:08). In the junior races, Oscar Shinn was fourth in the U17 Race. In the U14 category, Robert Brooks was third boy and Heidi Frank came home as tenth girl. Michael Moore had a great race finishing second in the U12 race followed by Thomas Bailey in 15th. Isobel Moore was ninth girl in 07:10 followed by Cecilia Hallworth in 09:35. Archie Hallworth third in the U9s. The Muker Show Fell Race took place in Swaledale. Harrier Iain Gibbons finished 19th overall and third in his MV50 age category with an impressive time of 14:52.
In the Leeds Country Way Relay, Harriers had three teams each comprising six pairs of runners, with each pair running a leg of the 64-mile route. Our open team came eighth in the Open category, with Kate Archer and Peter Shelley fastest on Leg 1 in the Mixed category. Our MV team came fourth in the Vets category. Our FV team came fifth in both the Ladies category, as well as the Vets category. Well done to all 36 Harriers who ran!
In Sunday’s West Yorkshire Track & Field Championships, Heather Crolla secured the title of West Yorkshire U15 Girls Discus Champion, and Rosa Crolla was fourth in the U13 Girls Discus.
In other events, Liane Cheetham completed the Yorkshire Trail Runs 10k at Harewood House, and Dan McKeown, Paul Carman and Dave Robson all ran the inaugural Ingleton Three Counties.
On Saturday morning, 46 Harriers took part in the weekly parkrun events. Ilkley’s own new East Holmes Field parkrun continued its enormous success with 398 participants, including Junior Harrier Joseph Bentham in third, Jann Smith, who was 8th female and achieved a personal best, Rafe Garner first JM10 and Bob Hamilton marking his 25th milestone run. Down the road at Chevin Forest, Harriers Junior James Lee secured a superb first place. There were six additional top ten male/female finishers: Dominic Coy, Stephen Coy, Nathan Coy, Dylan Shinn, Alison Weston, and Nicola Budding. Congratulations to Will Worboys who returned to the event he started, Centre Vale, for his 300th milestone run.
Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all. If you would like to try us out, please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk and then come along to our main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, meet upstairs at Ilkley tennis and squash club.
Berlin Marathon – Sun 21 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Rumana Chowdhury…
Sometimes you turn up to a race and stand on the start line feeling strong. You start running, your legs feel good and you just know it’s your day. This was me 4 months ago at Edinburgh. Sometimes you turn up and you’ve already lined up a small trail of disasters, your legs instantly feel heavy and you just know this is going to be hard. This was me at the Berlin Marathon. Fast, flat PB course they said. Not for me!
Granted, my training over the summer hadn’t been great, but thankfully I like my job and my kids so I can’t be too grumpy about that. But whilst Ilkley Chat was telling me there were floods back home, arriving in Berlin there was clearly a heatwave in full swing. Various other issues were building up – checking in to the wrong hotel, hormones, coming down with a cold – and I was starting to get more worried than usual. But I’ve done enough races now to know you have to be positive and try to enjoy it.
So on I went to the start line, ready to try my best. But oh my word did all that positive thinking rapidly disintegrate. Starting at 11am after much standing around, I was hot from the get go, parched and desperate for the 1st water station. 2km in and disaster struck as I got a stitch that went on to plague me for most of the marathon. Not the kind you can do some stamping and stretching to get rid of, but one of those sharp stabby ones that made it impossible to move. It became a real fight to keep going with gritted teeth and a salty sweaty forehead. By halfway, most people around me were walking, the heat proving too much. I somehow lost my headphones so had no music to shift my attention away from the fact that a marathon is a really long way. At one point I tripped on the wet sticky ground laden with crushed plastic water cups and pulled my calf in the process, the crowd actually gasped as I went flying. Thankfully no major harm done. There were some high points, my husband joining me along the way was a treat, random people in crowd with speakers blaring loud techno music was funny, voice note of support from fellow Harrier Marie to lift the spirits and some beautiful sights of the city with a DIY party vibe much of the way. But having stood on the start line chatting to a runner, laughing about how we might not pb but at least we shouldn’t get swept up by the ‘loser bus’, as the race dragged on I really started to wonder if I’d even make the cut off. It felt like an epic, slow fight to reach the finish.
The sight of the Brandenburg Gate at the end was such a relief I actually cried, then after realising I still had another 400m to go I started swearing again, but the crowd at this point were massive and I high fived and air punched my way to the end. I ran, but no sprint finish this time!
When you’re not on for a PB, or a run that feels good, you do start to question why on earth you’re doing this. Strangely though, I’ve never felt so deserving of a medal, even though it was almost my slowest time, I felt pretty awful and had to walk and stop so much. I think having all the bad things that can happen on a training run (if you follow me on strava, you will know all about this!) actually happen on race day was like a nightmare, but pushing through it was rewarding in a way I couldn’t have imagined. I did it ???? 2nd star in the bag. Never again! (For now, anyway).
Results
Harry Styles 2:59:13 (Kudos. No I didn’t see him)
Dick Waddington 4:02:38
Rumana Chowdhury 5:15:09
Thursday night coaching session
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Sally Malir…
Places are available at my grass speed work session on a Thursday evening, with the option of me helping out with more coaching.
I have stuck to keeping it a girl’s group – ages 13-20.
It’s from 6pm-7pm at Ben Rhydding sports club.
My email is sallymalir@gmail.com if anybody is interested or would like more info.
Kirkstall Abbey 7 – Sun 21 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Matthew Snow…
Four Ilkley Harriers took on the Kirkstall 7 mile trail race, starting at Kirkstall Abbey and following a roughly out-and-back route to Rodley and back.
The race was treated as Ilkley Harrier Steve Gott’s latest stag event before drinks in Leeds, in honour of which we all ran in T-shirts demonstrating Steve’s ongoing youthfulness. His wife-to-be, Heather, after almost 30 years of courting, has finally succumbed to Steve’s charms and they marry on Thursday.
Incredibly, Steve finished in 14th position overall and second in his MV45 category in a time of 46.19, despite being on another stag do the day before.
Dave Singleton (46th 51:53), Matthew Snow (73rd 54:49) and Roar Leijssen (148th 1:06:53) got round in a field of 214 runners.
A multi terrain race run in lovely sunny conditions with a friendly team from Kirkstall Harriers.
The Tilbury Douglas Yorkshire Run for WaterAid – Sun 21 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Colm McCann…
The Tilbury Douglas Yorkshire Run for WaterAid isn’t exactly a catchy name for race. It is essentially an annual 5/10k race to raise money for WaterAid which is a charity that aims to provide water and sanitation services in developing countries. The race is organised by Yorkshire Water, their partners and local supporters. Tilbury Douglas is the current organising partner hence referred to in the name of the race.
Back in 2017, when I worked for Yorkshire Water, the WaterAid 10k was the first organised race I took part in making a long trek over to Scammonden reservoir just off the M62. The following year the race moved to the much prettier surroundings of Swinsty reservoir, which was also much handier for me. I’ve done the race most years since then but it is still a relatively unknown race, which this year may have worked in my favour-more on that later. This year the race has been run under a UK athletics licence which means the results will also be published on the Powerof10 website.
On Sunday morning as I made the short trip to Swinsty I was pleased to see the torrential rain of Saturday evening had cleared to become a very nice morning. On arrival I was greeted by a car parking marshal doubling up as a WaterAid mascot, hence dressed as a giant tap.
After registration and a short warmup we made our way down to the start position for a mass start with the 10k runners going first and the smaller field of 5K runners behind. The 10k route is twice round the shores of Swinsty reservoir mostly on good gravel paths, although there are some killer puddles in the first few hundred metres, with short sections of road running and two short climbs at the end of each lap.
Wendy Lockwood and I were the only representatives from Ilkley Harriers with similarly low numbers from other local clubs. The field of 92 runners had a large contingent from Rothwell Harriers and Vegan Runners as one of the organisers is associated with both these clubs. A bit of luck and the make-up of competitors worked in my favour as I was placed 13th overall and third in the M50 category coming in at 47 minutes 24 seconds, a whole 4 seconds faster than my 2019 time in this race. Wendy did a fabulous time in 55 minutes 25 seconds which was also third in her category.
After the race Wendy spotted my red vest and came over for a chat, reflecting on the beautiful location for race, low numbers from local clubs and how we were lucky with the weather. We both really enjoyed this well-organised race raising money for a good cause. While enjoying a cup of a tea and some of the fine selection of cakes available I had a chat with runners from Skipton and Nidderdale who also reflected on low numbers of runners from local clubs which they attributed to a gap in the race marketing strategy. I said I would provide their feedback to the organisers but I am also aware I don’t want too much promotion as this may jeopardise my chances of repeating my lucky 13th place!
If you felt like you have missed out the race is usually held on the 3rd Sunday in September so put in your race planner for next year.
Redcar Half Marathon – Sun 21 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Hilda Coulsey…
Jane and I travelled to Redcar looking forward to some sunshine after the torrential rain in the previous few days. As expected, I suppose being on the coast, the wind was quite strong. It was chilly and I haven’t yet acclimatised to autumn taking only shorts and my Ilkley vest to run in. I was glad therefore of the tee-shirt I was wearing to travel in that I could wear under my vest as whilst we had sun it was quite weak.
The route is two and bit laps of the road along the seashore, hence fairly flat. Our issue was that whilst there were toilets there was nowhere to shelter, keep warm and out of the rain (which we were so glad stopped overnight) and changing was in the toilets. Nevertheless the race had a local feel, preceded by a kids 3k and a 10k, with lots of local running clubs and unattached.
As expected, the wind was fairly strong and its not very noticeable when its behind you but heading into it tucking in behind some taller runners is usually helpful. I didn’t have that opportunity at all in the last couple of miles heading directly into it – I struggled and hopes of sneaking in under 2 hours were dashed but it didn’t matter. We were there aiming to qualify for England masters vests to run in a home international next year in Swansea. We succeeded.
Prize allocation was novel. Rather than the usual, firsts or more in each M and F age categories, they calculated age grade %ages for us all and awarded prizes to the top 30. Jane easily met this criteria with 86.93%, 8th in the table, whilst I scraped in at 27th with 82.91%.
1. 1:08:45 Rob Scott, Richmond and Zetland
38. 1:21:31 Jennifer Berry, Wallsend Harriers
78. 1:27:23 Jane McCarthy 5th Lady and 1st F50
338. 2:01:18 Hilda Coulsey 1st F70
567 ran
UTMB Julian Alps, Slovenia – Sun 21 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Rebecca Mon-Williams…
The Julian Alps UTMB race offers a smorgasbord of race options, ranging from 120km to 5km. We opted for the 25km route which starts and finishes in the Alpine village of Kranskja Gora. Our route took in 3 main climbs (1000m total), and followed tracks along rivers, up wooded hillsides, along tops with glorious views of the stunning Julian Alps, and down grassy ski slopes. Underfoot was a mixture of tarmac (short sections), easy and technical trails, grassy slopes.
It’s a five star Trip review for the Julian Alps and Slovenia from us. The race gets four stars with one star lost due to the “wave” system (two staggered starts), which means if you want to race for a podium position (done on gun time), you’ve got 15 min to make up and a lot of people to overtake on some of the bottlenecks. We managed to argue for Ruaridh to be moved, but it took some persuasion. However, for those of us without those heady aspirations and in holiday mood, it’s actually quite nice to have a little breather, look up, and enjoy the views.
Results
1st Wendelin Mortendorfer 1hr 45
5th Ruaridh Mon-Williams 1hr 55
63rd Mark Mon-Williams 2 hr 25 (2nd MV 60)
206 Rebecca Mon-Williams 2hr 58 (1st FV 55)
Hardmoors 60 – Sat 20 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Kate Archer…
The route follows the coastal section of the Cleveland Way, starting at Guisborough and passing through Saltburn, Runswick Bay, Staithes, Whitby, Robin Hoods Bay, Ravenscar and Scarborough before finishing at Filey. Having run the Hardmoors 55 earlier in the year which follows the inland section of the Cleveland Way, I was keen to finish the trail (there is also the option of the Hardmoors 110 which Petra completed earlier this year and is the full Cleveland Way – perhaps one for another year).
The weather forecast was for rain, and it proved accurate. We started in heavy rain which continued all day, turning quite stormy on the cliff tops in the evening. After the event, I saw a Facebook post that said the wettest place in North Yorkshire had been Ravenscar with over a month’s rainfall in a day!
Of all the ultras I have run, this was probably one of the least enjoyable. The Hardmoors races are fantastic, and the route is probably beautiful on another day. But the constant battering from the weather, slipping around in mud and feeling a little bit cold most of the day was tough. The drop out rate was almost 50%, and I’m not surprised.
I was pleased to finish in 12 hours 8 mins, in 6th place overall (of 89 finishers) and 2nd F.
Three Shires Fell Race – Sat 20 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Alison Weston…
Charles Wain and I ran the new route for the Three Shires fell race this weekend. Starting and finishing at Tilberthwaite farm, instead of Little Langdale, and in an anti-clockwise direction with Wetherlam as the last climb. A bit more distance and climbing (22km and 1535m) but I like the new route!
The race was won by Tom Simpson from Ambleside in 2:07 and Sharon Taylor from Helm Hill in 2:55.
1 – Tom Simpson (Ambleside) 2:07:27
46 – Sharon Taylor (Helm Hill) 2:55:21 – 1st woman
94 – Charles Wain 3:23:56
110 – Alison Weston 3:38:25 – 1st FV60
Another England vest for Hilda!
Mon 1 Sep 2025
Congratulations to Hilda Coulsey who has qualified for the Masters Representative Marathon in Abingdon on 19 October and earns another England Age Group Masters vest.
Wetherby 10k – Sun 14 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
[Photo above is Ash Winter, Martin O’Halloran, Diane Kitchen and Sally Armitage]
From Ash Winter…
A wet and wild day was promised at the 20th running of the Wetherby 10km, with the weather getting worse the longer you took, providing extra motivation for the 600 or so who took part to get on with it.
I had a new road trip buddy for this one, with Martin O’Halloran helping the journey to Wetherby Racecourse pass in a flash. We set off from Ilkley at 1200 for a 1300 arrival, giving us plenty of time for number collection, stretches and the now 3 km warm-up I appear to need for any sort of race pace.
The Wetherby course is a real mixed bag, mostly road, some trail, more mud than I’ve seen for months, plus a couple of short, sharp hills over the motorway to keep you honest. A headwind started up too, making the 7th km pain cave seem deeper and darker than usual. Also, always a personal favourite, an extremely short out-and-back in the 8th km with a turn I managed to negotiate with the grace of a badly stacked container ship fighting off an attempted boarding by modern-day pirates.
Despite all this complaining, I managed to shave a full minute off my last attempt at this race, bringing it home (without the need of a knee slide) in 41:50. Very pleased indeed.
I wasn’t the only Harrier involved though. Kudos to Martin for predicting a 57-minute effort and coming in 2 minutes under that. Notable performances from Diane Kitchen being 1st FV65 and Sally Armitage being 1st FV45 and 4th lady overall. Of course, Jack Cummings was on the podium, 2nd only to a huge course record by Ed Bovingdon of Leeds City AC.
Josie Slack, Karl Hutchinson and Chris Cunningham also completed excellent races, with every Harrier sub 1 hour. Allowing us to scuttle off home before the storm began in earnest.
From Sally Armitage…
My favourite race of the year! A mixed bag of terrain, rutted farm tracks around fields, bridges, gravel footpaths and roads. Sold as flat there are a couple of undulations, one being the seemingly never ending dead straight kilometre long footpath near the end, this stretch generally sorts out the finish order. Knowing the course well now, this was my 8th year of running it, I used this 9th kilometre to try and edge past the 3rd lady, but I failed and had to resign myself to 4th place.
Jack Cummings had his first run around Wetherby and had already accepted the win wasn’t his before the starting gun sounded, recognising an exceptionally fast Leeds City AC runner was also there. He was right but put in a strong performance for 2nd place. Diane Kitchen also had a stonking run to finish first in her age category. Ilkley had a good field of 8 representing the club, great to see so many out there fighting the good fight.
1st male Ed Bovingdon Leeds City AC 30:19
1st female Jemima Elgood Nidd Valley 35:02
2nd Jack Cumming 32:55
22nd Sally Armitage 39:08 (1st F45)
49th Ashley Winter 41:50
160th Josie Slack 49:00
196th Karl Hutchinson 50:04
275th Diane Kitchen 53:56 (1st F65)
305th Martin O’Halloran 55:05
377th Chris Cunningham 57:37
613 finished
Vale of York Half Marathon – Sun 7 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Ash Winter…
With the Yorkshire Marathon fast approaching, the Vale of York Half Marathon is the classic tune up race. Always useful to see if those long runs are making a difference while there’s still a few weeks to tweak the training. Over a thousand runners too, so you get that big race vibe on the flat lanes around Wistow.
Last time I did the race, I got parked about 90 seconds before the race started, clomped over the ploughed parking field and over the start line with no warm up. Not my finest half marathon, not worth the extra half hour of sleep. However, my partner for this road trip, Mark Gill, is a self-confessed morning person and he was waiting for me at our Ilkley pick up point at 0710 to start the journey, ready for the 0930 start. We arrived with an hour to spare, allowing plenty of time to pick up numbers, warm up, discuss strategies and shed all excuses for a poor performance.
Thankfully, Mark and I were rewarded for our ability to wake up early and marathon training so far with half marathon personal bests! I even managed a negligible negative split as well, which I will be claiming was all part of the plan, thank you very much.
We were not the only Harriers present however, Matthew Thackwray came 2nd with an astronomical time of 1:08:49, which I think was also a personal best. Congratulations too to Samesh Chotai, Derek Oliver, and Sarah Marsden on great performances.
With all this confidence flying around, I’ll try not get too carried away at the start of the Yorkshire Marathon…
Ingleton Three Counties – Sat 6 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Dan McKeown…
Having injured my knee prior to this year’s Yorkshire Three Peaks race, I had set myself a recovery target of a ‘Calendar Three Peaks’: to do Pen-y-ghent on Y3P race day, retire from the race at Ribblehead, and pick up the other two peaks in other races during the year.
I accomplished the first part – my first-ever DNF – then sat on my hands and didn’t bother entering the Whernside or Ingleborough races that Settle Harriers organise, so it rather looked like I’d missed my opportunity. However, my C3P was granted a reprieve when a new event appeared in the running calendar: the Ingleton Three Counties, which would enable me to visit both remaining peaks in one fell swoop (dum-tish).
The downside: it’s a 19-mile 5,500ft race (plus one of the eponymous counties is Lancashire).
I sounded out a couple of other Harriers to see if we could get the required three runners to make up a scoring team, and managed to get Dave Robson and Paul Carman involved. What a result! On arrival in Ingleton, it turned out that Settle Harriers had brought half their club, and a lot of them looked disturbingly young and fit, but at least our presence meant they would actually have to beat someone to win the team prize instead of just getting it by default so hurray for that, I suppose.
It’s probably worth explaining the course at this point: departing from the Ingleton scout hall, runners head northwest to climb Gragareth on the Lancashire / Yorkshire border, then follow the watershed north to the imaginatively named Green Hill, which takes us into Cumbria. Descending to the east, runners then climb the west flank of Whernside (technically still Cumbria until you reach the wall at the summit), then go barrelling joyously down the east side into Yorkshire. It’s then all the way up to Ingleborough via Park Fell, and back down to Ingleton for tea and cakes.
As it turned out, both the Whernside and Ingleborough ascents were considerably more forgiving than on the Y3P race route, and the madcap descent of Whernside made an interesting reversal of the Y3P – plenty of Harriers will have grim memories of trudging up that way on the shortest (but steepest) line to the summit.
As Settle Harriers had shown up mob handed, inter-club rivalry looked a bit of a stretch, but we could still enjoy a good spot of intra-club rivalry between the three of us. As we came over the top of Whernside, you could have thrown a foil emergency blanket over the entire Harriers team, so close together were we. Dave took off on the descent of Whernside and opened up a sizable gap while I tried to hang onto Paul. It had all changed by the time we reached Ingleborough summit and I was first over the top, but then had Paul snapping at my heels all the way down the descent, with Dave feeling a bit gassed after his Whernside heroics.
While Dave hasn’t raced much lately, Paul’s done about 60 races in the last fortnight, so I was able to drag myself clear in the last couple of miles on the track down to Ingleton to complete my C3P in style – 11th out of a field of about 50 and probably behind all of Settle’s team scorers (although results aren’t published, at the time of writing).
We then went and sat in the scout hall and looked at the enormous pile of cakes on the table, and decided we couldn’t eat any of them. Paul commented that it was the sign of a good race when everyone’s just sitting around dead-eyed afterwards and can’t talk or eat.
As for the whole Whernside / Cumbria malarkey, the Whernside trig point is just the wrong side of the wall that marks the county boundary between North Yorkshire and Cumbria. So while Yorkshire’s highest point *is* on Whernside, it’s not quite at Whernside summit. Or not the trig point, at any rate. If you can cope with this revelation, good for you. I’m not sure I can.
Territorial controversies aside, the inaugural Ingleton Three Counties race, while gruelling, was great fun to be part of, and I hope it will establish itself as a fixture in the fell running calendar for years to come.
Results
11 Dan McKeown 3:48:12
12 Paul Carman 3:49:05
15 Dave Robson 4:00:29
One Foot in the Gargrave – Sat 6 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
From Jane McCarthy…
LDWA-organised ‘One Foot in the Gargrave’ offers runners and walkers a Challenge event (as opposed to a race – think Rombald’s Stride) with pre-event tea/coffee/toast, 4 well-stocked checkpoints, post-event meal and a super friendly team.
The 22-something mile route starts along quiet lanes out of Gargrave towards Otterburn, climbing gently before dropping down to the Grade 1 listed, millstone grit Church at Kirkby Malham – thought to have originated no later than the 9th century, it was completely rebuilt in the 15th century and is absolutely beautiful. Climbing again, up green lanes the route approaches Malham before turning towards Janet’s Foss and then a near 500ft slog up to the top corner of Mastiles Lane, where a bounty of sandwiches, cakes and tea, coffee and juice awaited. From this roughly halfway point the rest is fairly easy running, undulating but generally downhill with 360 degree glorious views. Finishing with a short stint along the Canal and back to HQ – a grand morning out with Nuno / Becca Cesar de Sa and lovely to see Adela Reperecki also enjoying the sunshine and scenery.
I haven’t seen any results but they don’t seem very important. For more events see https://ldwa.org.uk/WestYorkshire
Ilkley Incline – Wed 3 Sept 2025
Mon 1 Sep 2025
[Ruaridh Mon-Williams, first Ilkley Harrier home, photo courtesy of Will Worboys]
From Jean Sullivan…
Wednesday evening saw the staging of the 23rd Ilkley Incline race. This unique one-mile uphill only race, with 560ft of ascent, starts at the bottom of the Keighley Gate Road in Ilkley. The route starts on tarmac road, before runners have a stony track to contend with.
Conditions on the night were mild, with a little bit of sunshine at times, a pleasant treat after a rainy start to the day. The sunshine must have lured the runners out, with over 40 signing up on the night itself. A total of 95 runners battled it out on this tough course, with 33 of those racing being Ilkley Harriers.
Ruaridh Mon Williams was the first Harrier over the line, finishing in a superb third place in a time of 07:32, and just 13 seconds behind the winner Tom Bell of North Leeds Fell Runners (with Tom was celebrating his second win of the day, having come first at the Muker Show fell race earlier that afternoon!).
Alex Wolfenden was the second Harrier home in a great time of 7:47, with Oscar Shinn hot on his heels, finishing in 8:29. These great results meant that Ilkley men took the team prize.
Great results also for Ilkley ladies. Matilda Irvine was the first over the line, as she was last year, completing the course in a great time of 10:44, seven seconds quicker than her time the previous year. This great result meant that Matilda took first prize in her age category.
Claire McLoughlin was the second Ilkley lady to finish and Jann Smith the third, with Jann taking first prize in her age category.
There were lots of other age category prizes also for Ilkley Harriers, including Gawain Moore, Ritchie Williamson, Peter Shelley and Fiona Schneider, all of whom finished first in their respective categories. Well done all!
The evening was rounded off by the race founder Andy Wolfenden presenting the prizes to the winners.
Huge thanks to all those who kindly gave up their time to volunteer at the race, as well as to the Yorkshire Runner in Otley and Bini Brewery (who will be opening their new Taproom on Little Lane in Ilkley very soon!) who generously sponsored the event.