Over the weekend 23 Hardy Harriers took part in a spur of the moment idea which was an impromptu timed run This was hastily put on last Saturday following the governments latest lockdown.
The event was called the Bingley Harriers Run out to Help out Run scheme, Or as it was Christened by one of our team “Steve’s Pie Run”!
I worked out a possible route, walked and risk assessed it, put a map and route description on the club face book page and invited runners to take part. It was over 3 mile route and was a good old fashioned cross country course with a bit of everything thrown in. It stared from the Band Stand in Myrtle Park to the far end of Cottingley plantation near to Sandybanks at Wilsden. The route back was on a lower path to pick up the outward route near the boundary wall at the Bingley end of the woods. The last mile was over the golf course and back along the outward route and to the Band Stand.
To enter the event each participant had to put a comment on the face book notice that they intended to run. This allowed me to calculate a predicted time for their efforts. They then had to run the route between 7.30 and 12.45 on Saturday specifically so they could then spend £5.00..the entrance fee at a local bakery explaining to the owner that we were Bingley Harriers and we were Running out to Help out.
Runners then had to photograph their purchases and post the picture and time on the face book page so we could calculate a winner.23 people took part including 2 guests from Valley Striders who saw it on social media. Fastest man was Tom Gomersall in 22:20. Fastest lady was Grace Dawson in 24:20, Bryan Parkinson V70 won the prize for the runner beating his predicted time by the largest margin. 3.54. Also I am awarding a special prize to Barbara Carney and Dave Weatherhead who walked round in 47:23 which was almost 9 minutes faster than it took me to recce. Results here.
Bingley Harriers: Run out to Help out event 7/11
Name: My prediction: Actual: Difference:
*********. ****************. *********. ************
B. Parkinson. 34:00. 30:06. 3:54 faster
Andrew Midgley. 35:30. 32.33. 2:57. faster
Grace Dawson. 27:00 24:20. 2:45 faster
Nicola Jones. 27:00. 25:35. 1:25. faster
Steve Webb Guest. 25:30. 24:07. 1:23 faster
Dave Stephenson. 24:20. 23:21. 0:59 faster
Sara Dyer Guest. 40.00. 39:15. 0:45 faster
Robbie Williams. 24:20. 23:45. 0:35 faster
Stephanie Robson. 27:00. 26:29. 0:31 faster
Paul Tiffany. 24:20. 24:37. + 0.17
Tom Gomersall. 22:00. 22:20. + 0.20
Stephen Fry. 30:00. 30:23. + 0.23
Caroline Dawn. 33:00. 33:29. + 0.29
Bruce Duncan. 33:00. 33:33. + 0.33
Emyr Rees. 33:00. 33:39. + 0.39
Shona Stone. 27:00. 28.28. + 1.28.
Paul Lemmon. 25:00. 26.29. + 1.29.
Paul Hellens. 45:00. 48:31. + 3.31
Ben Rees. 23.00. 33.39. +10:39
Winners:
Barbara Carney and David Weatherhead for walking round in 47:23
Almost 9.00 minutes faster than the 57 minutes I was allowing them.
So something suitable will appear on their door step at some point this week.
The feed back from the club was exceptionally positive. All seemed to enjoy the idea and the day with people having the rare opportunity to have some kind of race. It was also nice to feel we had done something to help our local community with a small local business benefiting from having 23 new customers with an average spend I estimate to be around £7.00. The result being Bingley Harriers got some good p.r. In the local community.
All the best and see you on Zoom tomorrow.
Stephen Fry.