25/05/15 – Ilkley Trail Race – 7 miles / 700 ft
Bank Holiday Monday drew out a few P&B’ers for the delights of the Ilkley Harriers’ Trail Race, the route of which heads up towards Middleton Moor by way of woodland, fields, and a few short road sections.
The 1 mile Junior race is short & sharp, open to a slightly ‘free-for-all’ age range of 8 to 18. Young Archie Armitage had an absolute corker, finishing in 10th place in a competitive field of 80 runners.
Archie looking strong in the Junior race (Photo c/o Woodentops)
For the Seniors, Graham Pearce and Matt Lockyer both represented well at the sharp end of the race finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively – neither quite able to catch Otley’s Jamil Parapia who took the win.
Upholding the Armitage family name, Neil had a great run with 1st M45 and 9th overall.
I enjoyed the run (abeit a bit tentatively having sustained irreparable toe damage after stubbing it on the road section of the Inter-Counties race in Wales) and trotted in at 44, followed not far behind by Shane Green and Adam Speed.
Rachel Pilling felt a little off the pace, enduring some niggles sustained from the Slateman Triathlon the previous weekend, but still had a decent run finishing in the top-ten ladies. Stainland’s Tanya Seager had an impressive win for the women, a good 3 mins ahead of the next lady.
Men’s top 4: Matt Lockyer, Jamil Parapia, Graham Pearce, and Julian Hood (Photo c/o Woodentops)
Graham in his ‘Official Beer Sponsor’ outfit with Neil, clearly looking forward to necking that later… (Photo c/o Woodentops)
Overall, it was a lovely day out running on t’other side of Ilkley, with some nice craft ale prizes on offer courtesy of Graham’s new beer shop Fuggle & Golding.
Funds from the race also go towards supporting the work of a Centre in Uganda, and each runner received a hand-written card from those who’ve benefitted from the project. A lovely little touch and a reminder of some of the communal good that running does. Jolly good stuff.
Graham Pearce 2nd 41:41. Matt Lockyer 3rd 41:53. Neil Armitage 9th (1st M45) 43:22. Graham Pilling 44th 48:21. Shane Green 59th 49:14. Adam Speed 62nd 49:33. Rachel Pilling 88th 51:58.
JUNIORS (8-18yrs): Archie Armitage 10th 10:06.