Ilkley Harrier Sally Armitage continued her fine form to finish as first lady at the Wistow 10km Road Race, writes Jean Sullivan.

This scenic race, organised by Selby Striders, is one of their biggest events of the year and the fast flat course sees many runners achieve their personal time for a 10km race.

Not only was Armitage the first lady home, she also ran her best ever 10km race, completing the course in 37:59.

This which was a new all-time club record for the 45-49 category - knocking more than a minute off the previous mark.

Clubmate Helen Waddington also continued her fine form on this course, crossing the line in a superb time of 46:03, ensuring she was also highly placed in the field of over 300 runners.

Overseas in Switzerland, the annual Lucerne Marathon took place, with runners finishing on a ‘golden’ lane to allow them to enjoy the glory of reaching the end of the race.

It was definitely a glory run for Harrier Jack Wood who won this race in an incredible time of 2:25:14; his superb result meaning that he has set a new overall club record for a marathon time by four minutes.

Also in Europe, Sally Malir took part in the Malaga half marathon, running this race in a great time of 1:43.

This flat road race starts and finishes at the town hall in Malaga, with runners enjoying lots of lovely sea views along the route.

Petra Bijsterveld and Hilda Coulsey travelled to Wales to take part in Marathon Eryri in Snowdonia National Park.

This road marathon, which has been held since 1982, starts and finishes in Llanberis.

It is a tough course which circles Mount Snowdon and has 750m of elevation for runners to contend with, divided over three climbs, from mile 2 to 4.5 up to Pen-y-Pass, mile 13 to 15 out of Beddgelert, and mile 22 to 24 out of Waunfawr.

Both Bijsterveld and Coulsey achieved great results, with the latter taking first prize in her age category, completing the course in 4:58:07.

It was Bijsterveld’s fifth time doing this race and she achieved a PB, finishing an impressive four minutes faster than her previous attempt and also taking fourth place in her age category.

Also in Eryri, the weekend saw the staging of the 54th Original Mountain Marathon (OMM).

This two-day event is the UK’s biggest mountain race and has shaped the UK outdoor running community since 1968.

There are six courses in total, depending on the scale of difficulty and nature of the challenge wanted. 

This year’s event started in Bethseda, with the overnight camp in the Ogwen Valley.

John Hayes and partner Martyn Pegg had a great performance in the medium score event coming eighth veteran pair and 36th overall.

Alison Weston and partner Alison Wainwright also ran in the medium score event, coming an impressive 13th place overall in the veteran’s team and they were the first female veterans home, finishing in 77th place overall.

Mark and Rebecca Mon-Williams tackled the very long and onerous A course option, with an incredible 10 hours of running on day one.

The weekend also saw the staging of the second race in the West Yorkshire Cross Country League.

The 5.25km senior ladies race was hosted by Wakefield District Harriers & AC and took place in Thornes Park in Wakefield.

Rachel Carter flew for the flag for the Ilkley ladies, completing the course in a great time of 23:09, finishing in 25th place overall and taking fourth prize in her age category.

Ilkley Gazette: Rachel Carter (left) fights for places in Wakefield.Rachel Carter (left) fights for places in Wakefield. (Image: Geoff Thompson.)

In the men’s 9.8km men’s race, Steven Gott led the Ilkley men home in a great time of 37:36, with Stephen Coy hot on his heels to finish in 38:32, with both taking second place in their respective age categories.

Tim Ashelford was the third Harrier over the line in 39:48, taking first prize in his age category.  Andrew Overend, Mark Iley, Iain Young and Rob Budding also had great runs at this event. 

In the Under-17 men’s race, Harrier Archie Budding finished in third place overall, with Oscar Shinn and Alexander Wolfenden both finishing with top-10 placings.

In the U17 ladies race, Helena Coy finished in an impressive sixth place overall.

There was more success for the Ilkley Harriers juniors section when Robert Carter won the U13 boys’ race outright.

The ninth race in the Leeds Evensplits series took place this week, with Harriers Harry Sime and Rachel Barnicoat having great runs at this event.

These 5km races are held monthly from February to November each year at the University of Leeds Brownlee Centre.

The races are chip timed and allow runners to strive to improve their 5km time on a monthly basis over a 10-month period.

Sime finished first in his age category in a superb time of 22:44, with Barnicoat also having a great run at this event.

A total of 26 Harriers took part in various parkruns around the UK at the weekend, with a few notable course personal best times.

These included Tom Lambe at the Leicester Victoria parkrun, Fay Walsh at the Chevin Forest parkrun and Jo Foster at the Roberts Park parkrun.

There were also lots of top-10 finishing places for the Ilkley Harriers.

That included James Horrex at the Roundhay parkrun and Mark Hall at the Lister Park parkrun, while Lambe’s speedy run placed him as seventh finisher at the Leicester Victoria parkrun.

Ilkley Harriers is a friendly welcoming club, open to all.

If you would like to try their training sessions, please come along to their main club night on Tuesdays.

Please register first on the training page at www.ilkleyharriers.org.ukthen come along to that main club night at 6.45pm on Tuesdays, where members meet upstairs at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club.