Results update 3 June 2019 – Huddersfield / Humber Bridge Half, Escape from GB, Calderdale Way Ultra and parkruns

Top of the Wolds 10k

Well done to Paul who won his age group and well done Claire.

Paul finished in 25th place with a time of 47:38. Claire Sayles finished in 195th place with a time of 1:07:35.

Hull Half Marathon – 2 June 2019

Rebecca wrote ” It was ok! I’m pleased with my time! Just wanted sub 2 hours and got 1:53:47.. last year I did it in 2:02:19 so shaved a bit off my time!

PosTimeNameCat
2621:43:09Rafal WojciechowiczSM
3381:47:22Milena DunskaSL
4841:53:47Rebecca CoatsSL

Huddersfield Half Marathon – 2 June 2019

Words by Mark Kenworthy:

Sharron Wood Female 32nd 02:01:42
MarkKenworthyMale100th02:36:07

The feeling of exhilaration and joy of completing any race seems to always seems to make you forget about the run itself whether it was the run you planned for and delivered or the run from hell where everything that could go wrong did!

Huddersfield Half Marathon is not a race that I will easily forget. 

Located towards the West North West of Huddersfield Town, in an area known as Salendine Nook, the start finish area is set up within the grounds of Huddersfield YMCA rugby club.  Plenty of parking but there was a charge of £3 to park.  Fair enough, this is a low cost race, with a club feel about and clubs need to maximise income where they can.  The clubhouse and its kitchen were open and the volunteers very friendly.  I collected my race number, went to the loos for the umpteenth time (as you do) and started to prepare for the race, bumping into Shaz Wood in the process.  We chatted about the race which Shaz had completed several times before and she warned me that the race is challenging but added that the scenery is stunning.  After posing for the pre start photo, we wished each other a good race and good luck and we joined the starting throng of around 200 fellow Spartans, me towards the back and Shaz further forward. 

Th gun was fired and off we went, turning left out of the rugby club, left again and though a housing estate and up Laund Road towards Lindley Moor before turning left again, passing underneath the M62 and onto quite country lanes.  The route ok but after a steady downhill section we encountered our first proper hill on Old Lindley Road. 

Although I have a history of being overtaken by the unusual and unexpected, including buggy pushers, eight year olds and once a three legged dog, I did not expect to overtaken by a runner juggling oranges!  But there we are, humbled again.  I wished the multitasking wizard good luck, gritted me teeth and dug in.  Expecting that some sections would have to be walked, I part walked and part ran up Old Lindley Road and onto New Road.  New Road climbed steadily but I was able to run most of it and was rewarded with a downhill section into Outlane.  It was a short lived respite and the road soon started to climb again as we ran through Outlane.  As I ran I could hear the tolling of a solitary bell and was relieved that it was the bell of St Mary Magdalene and not the grim riper coming to collect my soul as I had first thought. 

Opposite the Waggon and Horses, we beared right, onto a flattish road, before taking the left onto Forest Hill Road.  We climbed for a while before the road started to fall away, and we had a nice steady downhill section as we went past the Dog and Partridge and our first water station.  The runners were quite spread out but a few of us congregated at the water station and half joking/half serious all agreed that this was tough and questioned why had we done it.  I had drunk around 300ml of electrolyte charged water to that stage, so topped up my bottle and added another tab to last until the next station.

Off I went again, and as I was reaching the bottom of the first prolonged downhill section, I noticed runners ascending a very steep bank in the distance “Steele Lane”.  At Stainland Dean I was offered and accepted jelly baby from the son of a local family and they wished me good luck for what was to come.

I don’t think any amount of superlatives can adequately describe Steel Lane so I will just say bloody tough.  Steep, twisting and cobbled is Steele Lane but it is soo much more.  This is the toughest climb I have ever experienced and it went on and on and on and on.  2 miles of climb with short period of level took us through Scammonden and Krumlin towards the six mile water station.  This station was the only manned water point on the route and it was blessed with friendly faces, fresh fruit, water and sweets.  This was really a great sight and I readily took advantage of the break to replenish my water bottle and thank the volunteers.

Off I went again and I followed the footpath adjacent to the M62 with Scammonden Dam on the other side.  If you regularly travel the M62 you will recognise this area as the one where the lorry trailers, now converted into advertising hoardings are placed and several of them have shop mannequins sat on top of them, waving at the passing traffic.

Half way along the path the incline started again and went on for around ¾ of a mile, under the M62, until we reached the A640 New Hay Road.  A lady offered me sweets and water (I think she was a friendly local as this wasn’t a signed water station, I took a bottle and poured in over my head.  Flat with slight downhills for around half a mile before we turned right onto Quebec Road just after the Royal George pub.  It wasn’t a surprise to see the road climb in front of me. 

I was now no longer disappointed when the roads started to climb again as I had resigned myself that every road in Huddersfield was a hill, and that they only went up and never down.  Another mile of climb and finally as I crossed a busy junction at Slaithwaite Gate did I see Huddersfield town centre in the distance and it looked downhill all the way.  Blessed relief at last.  I ran down Pike Law Road, passing runners that had previously passed me.  My pace now at sub 9 minute mile for the next two, beautiful miles.  The roads were not closed and the pavement very narrow with cars parked half on/off so you had to run down the road which was dicey at times.

This section turned left just after the Commerical Inn on Swallow Lane and we entered a housing estate and found out last water station.  A final top up and electrolyte tab and I was on my way again.  As the route was unmanned in most part and only little A4 signs with an arrow the only guide and this had worked well till this point but there were few and not easily seen and I nearly took a wrong turn here.  But back onto Leymoor Road and past the Percy Vears Old Cask Inn, still going downhill, great I thought downhill back to the rugby club.  But my good mood was short lived and as we approached Longwood the climbing started again

Up Church Street to the War Memorial a sharp left onto Longwood Gate and the hill continued until we turned left onto Lamb Hall Road.  Lamb Hall was a gently incline but the last half mile turned into a very nasty little hill. nearly as bad, but not quite as Steel Lane.  I was very nearly broken at this point.  But I was moving and power walking, which was taking me past other runners so I just thought of the extra points I could earn in the Club Championship and soldiered on.  We passed under the A640 New Hey Road and started the last half mile to the finish.  Other runners were appearing in front of me and becoming my rabbits, I increased my pace and took more and more places.  Also I could feel a couple of other runners who were also sensing the finish and pushing behind me.  So with rabbits in front, the fear of being overtaken and the road starting to fall downhill I pushed on.  Left onto Hadrian’s Close, I could see the rugby club house, 250 metres to go, I floored it, sprinting into the car park, past the club house and through the finish line, stop my watch, 2 hours 36 minutes and 7 seconds.  Finisher 100 out of 130.   No bad I thought, I had promised myself and Shaz 2:30 but that was without knowing the course so pleased with that and also with the fact it was finally over.  Shaz had posted a similar time to her previous finishes with a fantastic 32 place and a time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 7 seconds.

I queued to collect my medal, an extra that if you didn’t select when you entered, you don’t get!  Likewise the tech tee shirt.  The finish area was a bit of a damp squib, no water station, no music, a medal that looked like if had jest been picked at random from a local trophy shop, no nothing really.  I had promised myself a pint in the rugby club bar but the atmosphere was soo poor, I left feeling proud that I had completed the race but disappointed that there was no celebration to remember it by. 

Would I run it again? possibly, do I need to run it again? No!  But if you are looking for a race that will challenge you in terms of physical and mental effort, will try to destroy you, will lead you to believe that the hills have finally finished and then round the corner another one appears, then this is the run for you and I would encourage you to enter.  Just add 20 minutes to your standard road half marathon finishing time and you’ll be about right, good luck.

Escape from GB – 31 May 2019

The aim is to get as far from the start as possible in 48 hours (as the crow flies).

Becky wrote “Wow! What can I say I feel so emotional reading all your supportive posts. The guys read a lot to me when out on the road.
I’m elated but disappointed I stopped when I did but sadly the feet & blisters won. On a positive note my injections to my feet did work – ironic!!
MASSIVE thank you to my support crew Angie Clarke, Marie Louise, Rose James Was Thompson, and Darren Smith without whom I could not have attempted this challenge.  Martin Hookway Thank you for helping me plan a route and believing in me it means a lot. I now need to believe in my own ability a bit more. My planning paid off & everything came together. I can do this , I will do these things again only better!
I’ve learnt so much from this & yes already thinking what next! Lol”

Angie Clarke wrote “Escape GB update. Becky HB has stopped at just over 100 miles !! The blisters have the same surface area as her toes. Normally she doesn’t suffer from blisters but for some reason this weekend was the time for them to make a grand appearance !! She has been, and still is in high spirits, it’s been a tough challenge with all the ascents/descents & weather etc.. only the first 21 miles were without blisters so there has been a lot of pain !! It’s been a great experience crewing for her again.. although minor operations to feet & toes was not what I was expecting!!”

Calderdale Way Ultra – 1 June 2019

I only found out about this race a couple of weeks ago, I was looking at routes around where I work and my boss said I should look at the Calderdale Way. I googled it and the first result was the Calderdale Way Ultra.

It was two weeks away. I could register after work on Friday and drive over first thing on Saturday morning, so I got signed up right away.

The Calderdale Way Ultras was going to be my 7th Ultra Marathon.

Ideally, it would have been nice to have at least another week to recover after the Windermere Marathon, but nothing is perfect. Apart from that, the race fitted into my training for the Beacons Way Ultra 100 really well.

I had two goals for this race. Firstly I wanted to finish feeling strong. With my first 100 mile race only a month and a half away, I wanted to use this race as training/practice for that. Every ultra I’ve done so far has taken everything out of me to complete, which is the way it should be. But this time around I wanted to be crossing the finish line knowing that if I needed to, I could carry on.

Secondly, and this is only because I’m just a little competitive, I was looking at the results from last year’s race and the finishing times for the top 10 didn’t look that crazy and seemed very doable.

But this wasn’t my main goal (honestly it wasn’t), my first priority was to finish strong.

On Friday I popped over to the Belholme Sports Park after work and picked up my race number. The race started at 6.00am, so that meant I had to be up at 3.30am to get sorted and drive to the start line on time.

I’d had a sore throat for the past few days so I had my fingers crossed it didn’t develop into a full blown cold. However, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I wasn’t feeling that great. So I made myself a Lemsip to have in the car and implemented a good amount of mind over matter, “I was feeling fine, nothing was wrong at all.”

I pulled into the car park feeling a bit better, the pre-race adrenaline was starting to kick in and I headed for the kit check. I had hoped that we would be able to drop some of the required kit with the weather looking good for the day, unfortunately, we still had to carry everything.

After the race briefing, we headed to the start line and at 6:00 am on the dot, the race started. 52.8 miles and 7500ft of climbing to go.

Now, because I didn’t find out about this race until a few weeks before, I didn’t do any of the recce runs and stupidly I didn’t really take a good look at the map.

I had the route on my watch, it’s not perfect but I usually only make a few mistakes. Well, that wasn’t the case this time around and it was completely my own fault.

Anyway, back to the start. The first section was along the canals and the first climb was around the 2 mile mark, everyone had said the worst climb was right at the beginning just after mile 4, so I was looking forward to seeing what I had let myself in for.

I completed the first two hills without any issues, long(ish) climbs but nothing technical and easy if you’re taking your time. My legs felt good and I was in a good position.

The views were amazing and definitely made it worth getting up so early in the morning

Over the next 10 miles, I ran with a few different groups of runners. The route wasn’t flat by any means, we were constantly going up and down, but the advantage of this is that your legs get a little rest and you could push on the downhill sections.

I made a few wrong turns before checkpoint 1 but I was redirected by other runners so it didn’t cause too many issues.

I ran into checkpoint 1 feeling good, the other runners I was with ran on but I needed to refill my bottles so I stopped for a minute. I got my bottles refilled, had an energy gel and headed out.

Now on my own, I started making a few small mistakes with the route (even with the GPX) I missed a few signposts, got lost in a wood and took a few wrong turns. This started to get a little frustrating.

I eventually caught up with one of the runners I’d been with previously, Lynne Berbatiotis, she had ran the part of the route a few weeks before and knew the way, so my goal was to stick with her for as long as possible.

We ended up running together until around mile 17/18. Around this point we headed out over moorland and after a few miles, Lynne was flying, I decided that I had to drop the pace a little if I wanted to keep enough for the end, so I slowed down to 9 minute miles and Lynne slowly ran off into the distance.

Lynne ended up finishing 3rd (overall), an amazing run.

I was on my own again for the next few miles, I had spotted a group of 7 or 8 runners a little behind me, I knew the next check point wasn’t too far ahead and I didn’t want to get delayed in a big group so I kept up the pace, but they eventually caught me up after I made a few wrong turns.

I just couldn’t seem to get my navigation right, the route was tricky, the signs for the Calderdale way were only very small so it was easy to miss them and sometimes the directions were very confusing.

Frustratingly, the next 10 miles went like this, I kept pulling ahead of the group, I’d make a wrong turn, hear a shout, turn round, run back up to the group and go the correct way.

I’d pull ahead again, make another wrong turn, hear them shout again, turn around, run back and go the correct way. I’d pull ahead again and so on.

As you can imagine this really started to piss me off.

But even with all that going on, I got to checkpoint 2 feeling good.

I kept pushing and the main group got smaller and smaller. At about half the distance to checkpoint 3, the group had shrunk down to just two other runners and I was making fewer and fewer mistakes. Checkpoint 3 came and went without any problems.

Usually, around this point in a race, I’d have a bit of a bad patch but that wasn’t the case this time around. I was in good shape, physically and mentally, my legs felt ok, nothing was cramping up and my feet felt fine. I was as close to ok as is possible after running for over 6 hours.

I was also getting better at spotting the Calderdale Way signs, which gave me a lot more confidence.

The next 10 miles went without big incidents, we did get completely lost at one point in a wooded area, the GPX wasn’t picking up a route and there was no clear signs showing which way to go. This got us turning around in circles for a good 5 minutes. We eventually figured it out though and got back on track.

There was now only one person left from the original group, Andrew, who was running his first ultra. We worked well together and between the two of us, we had the navigation issues sorted.

Checkpoint 4 was at mile 41 and as we ran in my watch was saying I’d run 44 miles. So that was at least 3 extra miles of getting lost.

At this checkpoint, we met up with a guy called Dean, he’d also got completely lost (I’m not going to lie, it was good to know it wasn’t just me) and he ended up having to double back on himself to get back to the checkpoint, as you can imagine he wasn’t too happy about that.

The three of us headed out of the checkpoint together, the race was 52.8 miles so we had about 12 miles to go.

The next 12 miles went pretty much to plan, between Dean, Andrew and myself we figured out the rest of the route, I felt strong, I had the route on my watch so I took point most of the time and managed to pick up the pace a little, there were some great descents, but it was still really hilly so we took our time.

The last checkpoint came and went and we were on the home stretch. We climb the last few hills and then it was just about downhill into the finish line.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 10:53:30 and ran 55.73 miles (my longest ever run) and came 6th in the individual result.

My first ever top 10 result.

But, more importantly, I came across the finish line feeling strong. I wasn’t completely wiped out, if I needed to I could have carried on. Don’t get me wrong though, I was pleased I didn’t have to.

This has definitely given me the confidence to know that the Beacons Way Ultra 100 is looking more then possible.

RACE VERDICT

I made a massive mistake with this race and didn’t give it the preparation it needed, if I had I wouldn’t have made the errors that I did and I could have probably knocked about an hour off my time.

But, that didn’t change the fact that I had a fantastic run.

It was well organised, everyone at the checkpoints was super helpful and there was more than enough to eat and drink at them all.

The Calderdale way is a tough but beautiful route. There are no technical or overly long climbs but you are constantly going up and down for the full race which you’ve got to be prepared for.

I’ll be back again next year and this time around I make sure I run a few recce runs beforehand.

I will not be making the same mistake twice.

Parkruns – 1 June 2019

A win for Shaz WOOD at Scunthorpe. At Doncaster Joe PHILLIPS was 1st to finish running a PB. Dawn GOODINGS was 1st DAC lady to finish. Simon WRIGHT was 1st age grade athlete and Simon set a new age group record V55-V59.

Durham

176Kelsey WILSON25:09SW20-2458.85 %F31Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:24:4119

Barnsley

230Gill PICK42:19VW50-5441.16 %F88Doncaster ACFirst Timer!32

Peterborough

344Jody BREEZE30:52VW45-4951.94 %F97Doncaster ACFirst Timer!60

Maldon

28Jane PURCHASE22:04VW55-5980.97 %F2Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:21:147

Normanby

2Henry CULLEN18:19JM15-1775.98 %M2Doncaster ACNew PB!26
32Hugo CULLEN22:31JM11-1467.95 %M30Doncaster ACNew PB!15
129Tammy CULLEN29:41VW40-4452.22 %F30Doncaster ACNew PB!10

Brandon

93Laura FRASER32:28VW40-4447.74 %F35Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:30:5047

Scunthorpe

33Shaz WOOD21:17VW35-3970.48 %F1Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:21:1525

Rother Valley

8Connor ANDERSON18:08JM15-1775.55 %M8Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:17:4936
256Kevin BRENNAN29:07VM60-6456.04 %M181Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:28:2223
287Jeannette WALTERS30:13VW60-6466.08 %F91Doncaster ACNew PB!43

Clumber Park

8Tom CHISHOLM19:34VM35-3967.38 %M8Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:19:2534
107Grace THOMAS26:37JW15-1758.23 %F19Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:23:474

Nostell

184Ian FLEETON35:39VM35-3937.21 %M110Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:24:4236

Bakewell

78Nick NEWMAN23:29VM55-5967.71 %M66Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:22:39140

Conyngham Hall

108Bill TOPPING28:08VM70-7463.45 %M84Doncaster ACFirst Timer!214

Doncaster

1Joe PHILLIPS17:12JM15-1778.49 %M1Doncaster ACNew PB!90
2Peter BADGER17:26VM40-4480.69 %M2Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:17:21134
3Simon WRIGHT17:29VM55-5987.89 %M3Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:17:0741
5James OSBORNE18:01SM30-3472.43 %M5Doncaster ACNew PB!103
7Jack PELL19:03JM15-1773.05 %M7Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:18:1651
18Phil BUSSEY20:29VM70-7486.09 %M18Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:20:0287
29George LAING21:15VM55-5974.20 %M29Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:19:45101
31Niall HORSTEAD21:19SM25-2960.52 %M30Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:19:1169
33Paul Anthony BOND21:24VM60-6474.92 %M32Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:19:5810
34Peter OLIVER21:29VM60-6474.63 %M33Doncaster ACNew PB!67
46Matthew HARVEY22:26SM30-3457.65 %M45Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:20:134
49Andrew TEASDALE22:33SM25-2957.21 %M48Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:18:2758
51Peter FORRESTER22:40VM60-6470.74 %M50Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:21:10167
114Michael FORRESTER26:06SM18-1950.51 %M104Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:21:0061
118Dawn GOODINGS26:23VW50-5463.55 %F11Doncaster ACNew PB!67
146Harry FLINT27:22JM11-1452.98 %M126Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:23:5625
162Alan THIMBLEBY28:12VM55-5956.38 %M137Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:24:018
176Peter BUTLER28:38VM60-6458.03 %M144Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:28:0264
183Wayne BRETT28:50VM40-4447.34 %M149Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:24:0612
218Julie GUEST30:07VW55-5960.10 %F47Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:28:39128
223Julie CULL30:16VW60-6464.10 %F52Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:27:0774
224Marc PELL30:16VM40-4446.48 %M172Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:26:4456
235Keith LAWRENCE30:43VM60-6453.12 %M175Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:30:4228
248Tony O’CONNOR31:43VM70-7457.02 %M180Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:24:4025
275Lynette JENKINS34:03VW55-5952.47 %F83Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:33:3771
276Mark KENWORTHY34:03VM50-5444.74 %M193Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:26:3169
278Amber HAWKES34:17SW20-2443.17 %F85Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:32:4013
290Sue GREAVES35:13VW70-7464.27 %F92Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:31:5343
300Samantha HILL36:07VW40-4442.92 %F98Doncaster ACNew PB!4
303Lynn OLSEN36:59VW45-4944.79 %F100Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:36:2210
314Yvonne GIBBON38:10VW45-4942.45 %F107Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:32:1633
315Michelle GUEST38:10VW55-5947.42 %F108Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:34:0863
317Vicky KEVERNE38:13VW45-4941.56 %F110Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:38:054
328Kris CALVERT39:24VM35-3934.14 %M213Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:25:109
347Lilly SMITH42:56JW1042.20 %F130Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:40:444
348David SMITH42:57VM35-3931.55 %M218Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:32:106
349Sarah SMITH43:02VW40-4436.29 %F131Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:33:548
351Mark CAWOOD43:18VM45-4932.99 %M219Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:40:1067
357Joanne REYNOLDS46:21VW35-3932.25 %F137Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:34:1424
360Sinead HARRIS46:37SW25-2931.75 %F139Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:32:078
384Vic HASSALL55:04VW45-4929.12 %F159Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:27:3817
386Diane RISLEY55:11VW55-5932.38 %F161Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:29:463
391Rebecca COATES1:05:09SW25-2922.72 %F165Doncaster ACPB stays at 00:23:0226