5k to 52 miles – a weekend with something for every Harrier.
Longest run of the weekend honour goes to Brett Jones who completed the gruelling 52 mile Chester Ultra 50 in 9 hours 9 mins to finish in 13th place. The race takes place on beautiful trails around Chester with the recent snow and rain making the course particularly boggy and tough, which made Brett’s pace incredible, holding a pace in conditions many would be pleased to hold in a 10k trail race.
Not even half as long but tough nonetheless saw the Wrexham Running Festival 20 mile race with 6 Harriers on the start line. Shaun Hughes, continued with his excellent form and with his London marathon training going to plan to finish 4th, just 40 seconds outside of 3rd place, in 2 hours 2 minutes and 9 secs. Also running their last long race before London were Katy Baugh 3:03:19 finishing just ahead of Melina Morris 3:03:59 and Hawys Roberts 3:24:58, all proving the 26.2 marathon course will be conquered. Also on the start line were Alaw Evans 3:14:26 taking 1st place in the FU20 category with an excellent run and Gareth Edwards finishing in 3:11:41.
2 Harriers also took part in 2 10k races. First up new Harrier Steve Gadd with an impressive 40:38 10th and 2nd VM45 at Tatton Park 10k. Steve is also London marathon training and coming back from an injury-hit 2017 so was rightly very pleased with his time, though secretly he’s looking forward to getting back under 40 mins again. No less impressive was David Spencer at the tough Loggerheads trail 10k made all the harder by the seemingly never-ending steps on the course. David finished his first 10k race of the weekend in 66:32.
The Denbigh Harriers Johnson’s Monument 2017 Cross-Country Handicap 10k race was eventually run this weekend after the race was called off due to snow pre-Christmas. The race is handicapped with each participant starting on a different gun time based on their recent performances. The runners then compete against each other, themselves and the handicapper and it makes for an exciting finish as it really is anyone’s race. Winning the 2017 trophy was Glen Price in 44:20, whilst the ladies race was won by Emma Collins 52:40 setting a VF55 course record in the process. Amongst the 17 participants were David Spencer 62:30, Iain McGibbon 59:33, Sali Powell 61:01 and Paul Jones 74:06 all delivering excellent first runs in this event in very muddy energy-sapping conditions.
As always we round up the week with parkrun. Philip Hayes 26:19 and Angela Beedles 33:35 completed Conwy, Sarah Bayliss 29:38 was at Wepre and Elen Baugh 24:13 in Woodhouse Park, Leeds.
Results
Chester Ultra 50 mile
Brett Jones 13th 9hr 09 min
Wrexham Running Festival 20 Mile
Shaun Hughes 4th 2:02:09, Katy Baugh 3:03:19, Melina Morris 3:03:59, Gareth Edwards 3:11:41, Alaw Evans 1st FU20 3:14:26, Hawys Roberts 3:24:58
Tatton Hall 10k
Steve Gadd 10th & 2nd VM45 40:38
Loggerheads 5k & 10k
10k David Spencer 66:32
Johnson’s Monument Club Handicap 10k rescheduled race
1st Glen Price 44m20, 2nd Tony Wood 42m42, 3rd Ieuan Belshaw (guest) 53m53, 4th Vic Belshaw 46m02, 5th Fred Jones 55m17, 6th David Spencer 62m30, 7th Iain McGibbon 59m33, 8th Emma Collins 52m40, 9th Llyr Jones 58m08, 10th Tony Benton 53m31, 11th Ceri Belshaw 55m09, 12th Ian Jones 58m16, 13th Bob Neale 60m22, 14th Sali Powell 61m01, 15th Chris Baldwin 60m27, 16th Paul Jones 74m06, 17th Dan Schraibman 58m45
