Yesterday, four Harriers took part in the Calderdale Way Ultra 30 mile option. The route, which starts at Brighouse and finishes at Heptonstall, traverses some of Calderdale’s most picturesque, and challenging, scenery. This is a race not for the faint-hearted as it takes in some technical descents and some challenging ascents.
Tom Paget had a superb run finishing in 4th (5.45.00) Sarah Cumber finished 9th and 3rd lady (6.03) and Steve Sladdin finished 10th (6.03). Rob Hick, who made his ultramarathon debut, finished strong to complete the quartet in 26th position (7.28).
Adopting the ethos of the CWR relay race, Steve and Sarah ran it as a pair. This was Steve’s first time racing long distance since Covid, and becoming a dad. Steve said, “Sarah was amazing. There were times in the race she was far stronger than I, equally, there were times in the race I thought I had been overoptimistic that my general fitness would carry me through as the longest run I had done was 15 mile, and that was the recce. Sarah was patient and I think we made a good team although she could have easily been 2nd on the podium. Testament to the person she is.”
It goes without saying, the true star of the day was Geoff Cumber who was at every aid station, and various places around the course, offering his support and encouragement.
The weather was certainly on our side and, perhaps next year, we might all do the 50…..or not.
Today I took part in the Calderdale Way Ultra. A superb race organised by ‘She Strides Events’. The 50 mile route started and finished in Heptonstall and follows the paths and trails of the Calderdale boundary. It has around 9000ft of elevation and takes in the wonderful views of moorland, hills and the local towns and villages, it is dominated by Stoodley pike in the West and Wainhouse tower in the East.
When the race set off, I inadvertently found myself at the front as I knew the way and the other front runners didn’t. I managed to keep the lead for over half the race, but had pushed myself too hard and struggled from Ripponden to Stoodley Pike. I was overtaken by 3 runners who were in a group, running together and suddenly found myself moving from 1st to 4th. I had some encouragement from a fellow ultra runner from Queensbury at Withens Clough (I love the ultra runners of Calderdale, they are wonderful supportive people) and managed to regroup, never give up – I retook 3rd place by Todmorden.
I was able to hold on to this and am absolutely delighted with 3rd place at this event. It was great to have Halifax Harriers support at the finish – from those who had completed and were supporting the 30 mile ultra from Brighouse to Heptonstall. What a great way to spend the day running through wonderful Calderdale. I think that I am ready to lead the recce run for leg 4 of the Calderdale Way Relay (CWR) next weekend. The CWR is a special event and a highlight of the running calendar – 19th May 2024, I am very excited.
The 8th Annual Harriers Quiz was held in the upstairs room of the Kobenhavn bar in the Westgate Arcade. The quiz was totally sold out with 48 quizzers in attendance over 12 teams. The diabolically hard quiz was set by Debbie Kirkbride with Chris as question master.
There was a charity raffle which together with profits from the quiz raised £257 for the Happy Days charity in Halifax. The total raised included a generous donation of £40 from the half time break pizza suppliers, All Pizzetto on Union Street.
The winning team members included Mark Clements and Stewart McConnell and their partners. The runners up were the doctors team of Marc Rocheteau, Annie Killeen and David and Jane Ingle. In third place was Tim Slow, Ellen Limebear, Jack Melia and Amy Radford.
More photos can be found on the Gallery page of this website. https://www.halifaxharriers.co.uk/gallery/harriers-quiz-night-2024/
On a cool evening at Whitworth nr Littleborough, Harry Johnson led from start to finish at the Cowm Reservoir 5k. He shot off and by the end had nearly a 2 1/2 minute winning margin to complete the 5K in 15.52 ahead of 150 runners.
It was a double celebration for Harriers as April Stewart was 1st lady in 11th place overall with a fast time of 19.52. Sandwiched in between in 6th place was husband, Will Stewart, with a time of 19.20.
A fantastic photo from last night's Bunny Relays at Haworth where team Cattermole finished 4th overall and won the Family Team prize. The relay baton is a raw egg, which must survive all 3 legs (each team member runs 1.5 miles), hence the study in concentration on Lee's face. (Will Cattermole, Lee Cattermole and Eli Cattermole.)
Our "senior" ladies also had a team; Jane Hobson, Andrea Ackroyd and Stef Dickinson ran (in Tutus).
A brilliant end to the series ... and lots of age group overall series prizes won: Eli 3rd U17, Will 5th overall senior man, Stef 4th FV40, Andrea 3rd FV50 and yours truly 2nd MV60.
Chocolate, beer and a tremendous time had by all at the presentation.
Four Halifax Harriers were amongst the 50,000 runners at this weekend’s London Marathon. Lucy Quemeneur led the quartet home, finishing in 3:07:26. London regular, Angela Clarke, was just outside the four hour mark in 4:00:33. David Ingle and Martin Haigh completed the 26.2 mile course in 4:33:38 and 5:44:22 respectively.
Further afield, Hanni Maeer, represented the club at the Leipzig Marathon in Germany on Sunday. Hanni, who was using the race as a training run for some upcoming longer distance races, finished in 4:10:18.
Ryan Barker also took on the marathon distance this weekend, but away from the roads. Ryan ran the Tissington Trail Marathon in the Peak District along the dismantled railway, finishing in eighth position in 3:20:17 and was second in the MV50 category.
Meanwhile nine Harriers took part in the Leeds Running Festival at Roundhay Park. Eight were competing in the 5k event and were earning points in the club’s Road Race Championships. Stephen Rainbow took second place overall in 19:43 with James O’Rourke close behind in third (20:00). Steve Fitz-Costa also came in the top ten, taking sixth place in 23:05. All three were first in their age group with Sharon Cousen also winning her age group (F50) in 26:41. Indeed, all eight Harriers finished in the first three in their respective age categories. Other Harriers results; Nigel Jamieson (25:35), Deborah Kirkbride (31:12), Chris Kirkbride (31:12) and Steve Denniss (31:46). Clare Fountain completed the 10k race in 1:17:10.
Last weekend, Will Carver and Rachael Beaumont both put in very strong performances at the Manchester Marathon. Will finished in 3:12:42 whilst Rachael completed in 3:33:42, setting a new club record for the F55 age group.
Congratulations to all our runners!
Photo of Martin Haigh, David Ingle and Angela Clarke at the London Marathon
Unfortunately, until further notice, we are unable to take any new under 11 juniors for the 6pm session on Tuesday evenings due to this session being full. Hopefully we will be able to accept new members in the near future.