Race 1, Thornes Park Wakefield, Sunday 20 October Senior Men & Vets
On arrival at Thornes Park, I found the Club tent thoughtfully laid on the grass so that we could sit on it and get full benefit from the lovely warm weather. The cunning plan was so well executed that race numbers could still be stored in the tent’s internal pockets.
The course was one short and four longer laps, each lap including two uphill efforts close together, which took their toll as the race progressed. From the second climb, it’s a long descent, then a loop of rolling parkland to the start/finish. It is a testing course, but not as difficult as one four years ago with three longer laps taking in the same climbs, but including a woodland section, very steep grass bank descent and quite a lot of running across slopes where you tended to drift down in wet, muddy conditions. On Sunday the route held up well from the previous races and conditions were near perfect.
125 men finished the 10K course, the winner being James Walsh, Leeds City, in 32m-27s.
Bingley were represented by:
Paul Tiffany 12th in 36m-45 third M40 and an outstanding run.
Sean Thompson 45th in 39m-37
John Parkin 71st in 41m-24
Oliver Brewer 99th in 44m-50
Peter Ellerton 108th in 45m-54 third M65.
I thought I had got 2nd M65 and my jaw dropped when I saw the results and discovered Ben Grant of Harrogate had finished 68th in 41m-11s. Oh well, star runners of any age need less able ones to finish to make them look good! I recall Ben Grant putting in an equally impressive performance at the Addingham Gala race.
Simon Johnson ran in Halifax colours , finishing 43rd in 39m-29.
The next League race is on Saturday 2nd November at Bramley.