Tadcaster Harriers Running Club

National Triathlon (Half Ironman)

Author: Stephen King   |  Sep 13, 2017

Strictly speaking this isn't Harriers News, however it's well worth a mention. In their "other" jobs as triathletes Joanne Derry and Glen Johnson competed in the Vitruvian Triathlon at Rutland Water, Leicestershire on Sunday 10th September, which also doubled up as the British Triathlon Championships over the Half Ironman distance - that's 1900m swim, 85k bike and 21k run (or in old money 1.2 mile swim, 53 mile bike and 13.1 mile run).

They both came away with fantastic results. Jo claimed 3rd in her age category; Glen finished 9th - and remember this is the National Championships. 

The superstars are pictured below - Jo getting them in at the bar while she waits for Glen to finish 

Club Champions

Author: Stephen King   |  Sep 11, 2017

That's it, the Vale of York Half Marathon was the last event in the Club Championships season and we now have the final results. I'm delighted to announce our new Club Champions - Abi Carter and Ryan Kavanagh

Here are the official tables in case you want to see how close you came ...

Club Championship (Men)

Club Championship (Women)

Race Report: Krakow Parkrun

Author: Becky McGuinness   |  Aug 24, 2017

My first international parkrun

Last week I took part in my first parkrun outside the UK while on holiday in Krakow.

I had checked at the course route online in advance and it looked both fairly easy to find and straight forward to follow. It takes place at Błonia Park just outside of the old town.

To be on the safe side, I turned up at 08:30 to allow for getting lost and making sure I could find the start line. It was already 20°C, however, almost the entire course was shaded by trees lining the outside of the park and there was a light breeze.

I didn't really have a clue what was said during the welcome, as the only two Polish words I'd learnt by this point were ice cream (lody) and alcohol (alkohole). Someone was waving around a Rubix's cube, and everyone clapped so I'd guess it's handed over to the fastest runner each week, but I can't be sure.

In many ways it is quite similar to the York parkrun; it is a lap and a bit, run anti-clockwise on tarmac. If anything, the course is even flatter than York! It was a much smaller field with 116 runners, and the path was quite a bit wider meaning that everyone could set off easily without getting stuck in a bottleneck.

There were other runners, walkers, cyclists, and rollerbladers on the path to navigate and I even spotted a nordic walker walking alongside on the grass. On the last bend you have to cross a cycle path which I was a bit concerned about, but most cyclists gave way to the runners. The last straight had a bit of a blustery headwind, which wasn't unpleasant given how it warm it was. The finishing process was really quick as the field was spread out, and they were giving out water which was very much appreciated.

The results were finally published on Monday afternoon. Despite having to stop briefly to tie my shoe lace in the first kilometre, I got my best parkrun time this year so I am very happy with that. If you happen to be in Krakow on a Saturday morning, I'd definitely recommend it!

Becky

Club Handicap Championship

Author: Stephen King   |  Aug 23, 2017

Congratulations to Glen Johnson and Mark Swinden who are joint winners of this year's club Handicap Championship.

Well done to everyone who has taken part in the 9 race series which started back in October 2016 and finished last week. Huge thanks also to everyone who has supported the events. These include Mike Smith (timekeeping and handicapping), Ian Ward and Sue Tennant (compiling results tables), Mark Swinden (organising, setting up courses, generally making sure each race goes ahead). Thanks also to everyone else who has chipped in with timekeeping, marshalling, photos, etc

Final Tables: Handicap Championship

Race Report: Cannon Hall Farm 5/10/15

Author: Sue Tindall   |  Aug 20, 2017

I decided to try out one of the "It's Grim Up North" races and entered the Cannon Hall trail race. The route is 5 miles and there is an option of 1, 2 or 3 laps. I opted for the 10 mile race.  

Upon receiving the race instructions a couple of days before the race I was surprised to read that there were 7 stiles per lap, maybe not quite the steady trail race I was expecting.

I arrived at Cannon Hall on Wednesday 16th, the race started at 6pm and in the race instructions it recommended you wear bright coloured tops as" the light is drawing in". I certainly hoped to finish before it got dark so as usual I wore my Tadcaster Harriers vest.

We set of promptly at 6pm, the route was marked however there were a couple of points that had I not being following others I may have gone wrong. We soon came upon stile after stile and hills, the route was mainly off road there were just a couple of short sections on the road. There were plenty of cows in the fields thankfully not taking much notice of the runners. A one point it was necessary to clamber over quite a high wall, there were foot holes however once I was perched on top of the wall I decided the only option was to launch myself into the next field as there was quite a queue of people behind me.

The marshals were very friendly offering words of encouragement and cheering on "Tadcaster". On the second lap it was evident that many people had opted for the 5 mile route as there were less people to follow resulting in me taking a wrong turn twice, however dog walkers were quick to point out my error so I think I only wasted a few seconds. Upon approaching the field with the "wall" I was pleased to see that a gate had been opened so it was wasn't necessary to scale the wall a second time.

It was a tough route and as I approached the final stretch I was pleased that I hadn't opted for the 15 mile route, two laps were enough for me. At the finish I was greeted with lots of cheering and there was a huge selection of homemade cakes to choose from along with a bottle of beer and nice medal.

Sue

Cotswold 24 Hour Race

Author: Dave Mullaney   |  Jul 24, 2017

Sat huddled in a cold wet hospitality area, drinking beer to drown our sorrows, a few of us (who had arrived on Friday evening) pondered what we were doing almost 200 miles from home! We had torrential rain from arriving; pitching our tents and the event shelter created a challenge to avoid them becoming too wet! The number of injured runners leading up to the event compounded this, and I don’t think I was alone in wondering whether or not we had done the right thing.

Things brightened up in more ways than one on Saturday. The sun was out and the remainder of our two teams arrived safely. After registering the teams, it was time for the team captains (myself and Glen Johnson) to discuss our tactics for the weekend with our teams. Glen took his team off into his camper van to keep his tactics secret. My team (officially registered as Tadcaster Harrier’s ‘B’ team) had decided to take a simple approach, and everyone would take their turn to run in order for at least two laps. That would take us up to the middle of the night. At that point we would allow the runners driving home on Sunday chance to get more rest. This meant that Shirley Steele would run two laps continuous, before handing over to Keith Smith and reverting back to running one lap each. Meanwhile we would log finish times on a whiteboard and keep track of starting times.

Glens ‘A’ team approach was different. Glen stated that his tactics were done on the back of a fag packet, and perhaps a little less ad-hoc than he would care to admit. The faster / stronger runners on Glens team were to run multiple laps and build up a strong lead that the ‘B’ team would be unable to match (not that it was to be any way competitive!).

First runners out were Angela Wray for the ‘A’ team and myself for the ‘B’ team. The weather was glorious at this point, and if anything the first few laps were too warm. Then, in what was to be a bit of a ‘theme’ for the weekend, Emma Dunn started her ‘laps’ and the heavens opened! I say a ‘theme’ as it was ironic that on Emma’s last (and sixth!) lap on Sunday it rained really heavy just prior to her run, yet had stopped by the time she had finished!

In between laps, the club banter was flowing with everyone joining in. Having our own camp area, with event shelter, tables (for drinks, cake and sweets!) and chairs was ideal for the social side of this event. We were also ideally placed close to the start and the race route so we could cheer on the runners out on the course.

The run route was perfect too. 9k of slightly undulating grass, track and trail around the Bathurst Estate with the only obstacles being the Nordic Walkers who insisted on walking three or four abreast and refusing to move aside! (Believe it or not, second place prize for the solo Nordic Walkers went to someone who only completed 2 laps over 24 hours!). Even with the heavy (at times) rain over the 24 hours, the course never became too muddy to be un-runnable in road shoes!

By Sunday morning both teams had plans in place to maximize the number of laps we could run before the cut off at 12:00 noon, when your last runner had to be on their final lap. For the ‘A’ team this was Chris Cook, and Celia McRoyall for the ‘B’ team.

We came to this event with the intention for it to be purely a social occasion (with some running). During the event and at the prize presentation we realised that we were actually competing with the other teams and not too far from the trophies. As teams, we were well organised and at no point was there any moaning about running at unsociable hours, and at all times there to take the ‘baton’ from the previous runner.

The event itself was well organised with plenty of entertainment and good quality food available. The only downside to the actual event was the failure of some of the showers and the posh toilets during the night….and the weather!

I have received many thanks for organizing the event for the Harriers. However I need to thank all the runners; Glen Johnson, Angela Wray, Rebecca McGuinness, Chris Cook, Emma Dunn, Emma Triffit, Jon Steele and Sophie Overfield for the ‘A’ team; Shirley(Celia) Steele, Sue Tindall, Celia (Shirley) McRoyall, Keith Smith, Mark Swinden, Elspeth Bartlett and Abi Carter for the ‘B’ team. Thanks to the supporters; Annette McDermott, Gill Johnson and Will Smith. Thanks to Abi for stepping in at the last minute to replace the injured Rebecca Illingworth and thanks to Gill and Glen for the breakfast on Sunday morning.

I am sure we are all now looking to next year’s Endure 24 event at Bramham and enticing others to join us

Results (mixed teams of 6 – 8)

Tadcaster Harriers ‘A’ team : 29 laps in 24 hours 23 mins 54 seconds (261 kM / 162 miles), 9th place out of 59 teams
Tadcaster Harriers ‘B’ team: 28 laps in 24 hours 30 mins 45 seconds (252 kM / 156 miles), 18th place out of 59 teams

Others

1st place: Fallowfield Hillbillies: 35 laps in 24 hours two minutes and thirty one seconds (315 kM / 195 miles)

Full results including individual laps here: http://tadcasterharriers.org.uk/news/187/63/Cotswold-24-Hour-Race.html 

Out of interest the winning solo runner completed 22 laps. The winning Nordic Walking solo winner completed 8 laps!......anyone fancy that category next year?