Social & Information

The Yorkshire Wolds Half Marathon is held in conjunction with the Bishop Wilton Annual Show and Craft Fair, and our attention was drawn to it as it's on the Harriers Road League for the first time this year. Bishop Wilton's a small unassuming yet picturesque village about 3 miles from Pocklington and at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds, which for those not familiar with the area is one of the few hilly parts surrounding the wider area of York.

I'd deliberated whether to take part in the race as it was part of a wider plan for Nick and Jessica to come and meet me later on and take in the show for a bit of a day out. After the week we'd had of rain and high winds, the forecast was mixed to say the least but we thought we'd take the risk and give it a go. To help with the logistics, Sarah and Geoff picked me up at 7:45 and we had a seamless trip over to Bishop Wilton. On the way we discussed what might be on at the show, and Sarah hoped there would be a bearded lady, now having read up a little on the Internet, I knew it wasn't that sort of show, but Sarah decided we could make her dream a reality by getting Geoff, who cannily already has a beard to don a blonde long wig and present himself as such a lady! As Geoff agreed we had a fail safe business on our hands, we just needed a tent to install him in.

On arrival at the showground we were guided into the car park past numerous stern faced officials, who once they were happy with our 'paperwork' (the best we could muster as such was a list of race entrants and a completed entry form) we were allowed in and to park up. The show seemed to be getting into full swing with various horse events already taking place in the three rings, and we managed to find the race entry table so I could get my number - 285 - so it seemed a fair few were running. Geoff and I had assumed there'd be 100 or so max so at least there was a chance of company on the course. After a loo stop and a quick chat with Raymond and Susan we returned to the car to get sorted out.

We gathered at the start on the road and saw Emma too, so that was our full complement of Harriers all present and correct. The starting horn went at 10:00am without much ceremony and we were off. I'd decided that I was going to run within myself and enjoy the race so I was keen to keep at around 8 min/mile, the start was flat if not slightly downhill so while I was aware I that I was going a bit quicker than that, I thought I'd keep with it as I was aware there were a number of hills to come. We headed initially in the direction of Pocklington and had a good view of the church - a familiar site for those of you who have done Snake Lane. Up until the 3 mile mark it was pancake flat and I began to wonder when these hills were going to kick in and there it was, 2 miles of ascent to the top of the Wolds, despite it being hard work, it was very pretty and that helped take my mind off the ascent. I kept with a chap (unaffiliated) and we pushed each other on up the hill and continued to run within a couple of metres of each other for the rest of the race. Once we'd reached the top of the hill we started to see a few cyclists with numbers on their handlebars, there clearly was a race overlapping with the course (a familiar site for those of you who ran Helen Windsor). At 6.5 miles we turned off road and down a steep descent to run through some woods, we then crossed onto more open countryside and a little too close to some Highland cattle for my liking, mind you, it helped lift my pace a little although I added to the distance by dodging fairly substantial cow pats. At about 9 miles we rejoined the road and the cyclists started to become a little more prevalent to the point that I was worried we might have a collision as it was a bit mixed which side of the road was to be used by each party. I was still bang on for 1:45 so I was pleased and felt really good as we headed up a twisting ascent before a longish downhill section, at this point we were at about 11 miles and I knew that we were going to have to climb as there were strong rumours of a downhill finish. I was right in my suspicions and we headed uphill for a mile which hit my legs like a lead weight, it was worth the effort though as it was then a mile steep descent to a drizzly finish.

After a quick change I met my in-laws, Nick and Jessica and aside from dodging incredibly heavy downpours we enjoyed a couple of hours mooching round the show and enjoying a well earned sausage butty and a cup of tea, delicious.

There were some excellent performances from the Harriers, Sarah flew home as 2nd lady and Geoff and Raymond pulled a double header, both beating the course record for MV60.

A thoroughly enjoyable event and it could only have been made better if the weather had been more on our side, mind you, it wouldn't be a British summer if we could guarantee needing to slap on the factor 30.