Seven Bedale and Aiskew Runners took part in the Fountains 10K last Sunday. Conditions were good, although muddy over the moorland section and through the famous ‘Puddle’. The final section on the road included the ‘Hill of Pain’. It was pertinent of the race organisers to put a sign up just before the climb to remind runners of what was to come. Two category prizes were awarded to Bedale runners with Nicola Simpson, running the race for the first time, finishing 2nd female in the F40 age group in a time of 46 minutes 55 seconds and Paul Berry was 4th in the M50 age group in a time of 44-21. Both then took to the podium for official race photographs.
For the Bedale men, Paul Simpson was next to finish in 53rd overall and a time of 45-45, with Chris Appleton having a strong run to finish 8th out of 15 in the M60s, 26 seconds over the hour. The ladies all had very good runs with Louise Coggrave completing the course in 58-33 in 219th overall, and beating her Lightwater Valley 10K time from earlier this year. Next on the demanding course was Rita Berry with a time of 64-23 and 297th, followed by Karen Bowen in 77-12 and 379th.
Will Retchless tackled the challenging event called the Yorkshire Warrior at Ripley. This is basically an obstacle course of hills, bogs, slides, electric fencing, river and lake crossings, with some running in between. He had increased training for this event and it certainly paid off with a fantastic 12th position out of just over one thousand competitors.
Relatively new member James Bartram was the only club full member taking part in the London marathon and was very pleased to finish in a time of 4 minutes over 4 hours. Meanwhile second claim member, Lena Conlin, who is very used to this sort of distance, having run 20 marathon events last year, ran sensibly to cope with the warm conditions, and finish in just over 4 and half hours. Within a few days she was recovering well to take on another marathon distance 7 days later.
The weekly Parkrun at Catterick saw two of the older members of the club running, with Raymond Lightle recording 22-59, and Paul Bainbridge 23-19, for 1st and 2nd in the M65 age group respectively. Alex McNairn was running with 8 year old granddaughter Lola, crossing the line together in 28-35, in 129th out of 231 taking part. Membership secretary Helen Simpson, who is injured at present, helped out with marshalling on the course.