223 runners stood on Spenborough running track and observed the two minutes silence, before the start. As I looked down at the track, I noticed the man next to me was barefoot and wiggling his toes. It was a bright, but cold frosty morning and one end of the track had been roped-off due to ice. I did not envy him tackling roads, gravel paths, stony paths and muddy fields.
Despite doing 2 laps of the track (cutting out the icy bit by running across the central grass) and maybe a quarter mile road section, most of us had to queue briefly at a narrow gateway and two stiles. A previous year, I had tried running hard to beat the rush, but paid for it later. From then on it was clearer running on tracks, an uphill road section, downhill to cross very muddy fields, paths up and down to an out and back fast tarmac stretch of the Spen Greenway , and more muddy fields plus woodland path back to finish on the track.
65 ladies finished, led by the consistently fast Margaret Sykes, F40 Holmfirth in 34m-18. No Bingley ladies ran.
The men were headed by regular winner David Watson, M40 Holmfirth in 29m-12.
Bingley were represented by –
Bryan Parkinson 37m-44 47th and 1st M60
Peter Ellerton 40m-24 78th and 3rd M65
Peter Covey 40m-28 79th and 1st M70
Spenborough AC marshalled the event and provided tea, sandwiches and cakes. A job well done.
The overall placing for the year were worked out later and put on the YVAA website. For each race, the male winner is awarded 200 points, next man 199 points and so on down to 1 point. Similarly first lady gets 150 points, next woman 149 etc down to 1 point. Best results from 6 races out of 8 count for age group placings. No Bingley lady did enough races to qualify, but Bingley men featured well in the rankings:
Bryan Parkinson 1st M60 (2nd Jim Weldon, Pudsey P, 3rd John Ward, Abbey R.
Peter Ellerton 2nd M65 (1st William Allen, Tadcaster, 3rd Paul Glover, Kirkstall)
Paul Mitchell ran 5 good races, but unfortunately had to miss the last one due to work commitments. He was placed 7th M50, but if his lowest score from 5 races was added to his total, he would have been 2nd M50. (1st Paul Stevenson, Pudsey & B)
The presentations will take place at the YVAA Awards Dinner at Elland Road Hospitality Suite on Saturday 14 December. Guest places are priced at £25, but any runner who has completed one YVAA Grand Prix race this year can attend for a bargain £15, subsidised by YVAA.
That’s great value at £4 per race! The YVAA Committee do an outstanding job organising these races.
Report by Peter Ellerton