ALL DISTANCES COVERED 7/10/20
RICHMOND & ZETLAND HARRIERS
Harriers ready for take off.....................
Dan Upton was out on the field at the NECAA open meeting in Morpeth on Sunday 27th September, he had another outstanding day with distances of 13.13M in Shotput and 39.16M in the Discus, which was not only a PB but a club record. Because of these incredible performances Dan in now ranked as No.1 in the UK in the M40 category in the two disciplines.
Saturday 3rd October saw John Gray head to the Lakes to take part in a weekend of Trail running. John finished the Lakeland Trails Coniston 15K in 5th place and 2nd V40 in a time of 1hr 15mins. The very wet race with graded, runnable climbs and descents, starts and finishes from the shores of Coniston Water and through the Coppermines valley.
Not deterred by the rain the day before, John was back out the next day to compete in the Lakeland Trails Half Marathon; said to be the most scenic marathon route in the country, the Half marathon utilises the first 17km of the marathon route before heading back to Coniston, John finished 5th and 2nd V40 in 1hr 49mins.
Sunday 4th October saw 21 Harriers head to Elvington Airfield in York for the Big Flat Runway Race event. Thankfully the incessant rain from the day before had stopped, but left behind a keen wind, which was felt by all the runners. The airfield which is 3km long had race choices of 5K, 10k, 10 miles, Half Marathon and Marathon; the Harriers covered all the different distances, which were set off in small socially distanced groups. First to set off and tackling the 26.2 marathon distance, which was 10 laps, were Carl Jones and Steve Middleton. Carl, who always has a fantastic race and today was no different, finished 5th overall in 2:33:40 followed by Steve who had an incredible run and finished 32nd and 5th in age category in 2:55:00.
The most popular distance was the 10K and first home for the Harriers was Rob Scott who had a very impressive run, finishing 4th in 32:48, followed by Charlie Stephenson 24th in 36:54, Tony Lambert 43rd and 2nd V50 38:37, Joseph Smith whose first 10k race this was, 52nd and straight in for the sub 40 in a time of 39:28, closely followed by Mark Forrest 54th 39:35, Paul Simpson 85th 42:19 (PB). The first female home for the Harriers was Rebecca Smith, who had a great race finishing 92nd in 42:50 (PB), Nicola Simpson 112th 1st in age category in 44:36, Rachael Smith 154th in 48:32, followed by her mum Gail Smith 165th 50:44. The Half Marathon has just one red vest racing, Paul Ellis finished in 24th in 1:28:08.
In the 10 mile race, Ken Harker, who is running very strongly, finished 7th overall in 1:02:22, Laurence Corbett 15th 1:06:35, Kimberley Reeve had a great race finishing 36th 1:18:19 (PB) and Lucy Goundry 38th in 1:18:55. The final race of the day was the 5K and there was some cracking times. First back for R&Z was Matthew Lambert in 4th in 16:17, Tom O'Mahoney 20th in 17:05, closely followed by Josh Lincoln 22nd in 17:14 and Joseph Reeve 46th in 18:37. This brought an end to a tremendous day of racing, after a difficult few months and many race cancellations!
Further information on the club and training nights can be found on the website www.richmondzetlandharriers.co.uk
PICTURE 1: Carl Jones and Steve Middleton ready for the start of the Big Flat Runway Marathon Race.