October 1st, Bedale and Aiskew Runners (BAR) enter its fifteenth year as a club. To celebrate this milestone the club has planned a series of events throughout the year, the first being a social run using the Wensleydale Railway. Catching the train from Bedale members had the choice to either run or cycle back to Bedale Athletic and Sports Association (BASA) from Leyburn. Thirteen members ran the 21km trail route whilst three cycled 30km. This being the weekend of the iconic London Marathon, Lena Conlin chose to run the route as her virtual race. Starting out from BASA and accompanied by Stuart Black, she ran to Leyburn Station meeting up with the runners to then run back to BASA. She completed her “trail” marathon in 06:11:00.
Racing continues with members representing the club in a variety of events. The Great North Run is a very popular race with first timers, seasoned runners, and fund raisers. David Fox ran the Half Marathon route in a time of 02:57:58 raising £364 for the charity Bladder Cancer UK.
The Grim up North Black Sheep is a 3hr or 6hr challenge where participants run a 3.35mile course as many times as possible in the time slot chosen. Five members took on the challenge with Matt Randall managing a staggering eleven laps of the course earning him 1st male in a time of 05:55:06.
Further afield Karen Alford took part in the Berlin Marathon finishing the race in a time of 04:04:26 and in Scotland Andy Young ran the Great Scottish Run Half Marathon in a time of 02:08:09.
As the local Snape 10km race is part of the club championships and seven members took part to gain valuable points. Will Retchless was first BAR male home in overall 6th place with a course PB time of 00:39:34 whilst Steve Singleton, second BAR male home took 1st place in the M60+ Cat. in a time of 00:47:42. Ann Harrington was first BAR female home in overall 6th place with a course PB time of 00:54:05.