Club Championship 2020 – COVID Update and Virtual Races

Posted on by April 10, 2020

Hi all,

Those of you on Facebook have seen that the races that make up the Club Championship in 2020 have been rightly postponed to a later date. This means that we’re in a bit of a limbo! But no more! We’ve created a couple of Kirkstall Harrier only Virtual events recently, including a 10k (completed) and now a 5k. See Facebook or the 2020 Races page for more information.

The aim of these virtual races is to allow you to continue to exercise, but in a safe environment. I appreciate not everyone is able to participate as they are isolating themselves, for those in that situation, I hope you’re well and staying sane! I hope to see you soon.

The rules are fairly simple, run a set distance in a loop (or several or on a treadmill), starting and finishing at the same spot (to avoid downhill routes) and no more than 15 minutes away from your home. Entries are to be either from a watch or a strava/garmin page showing your time and route.

The Virtual 10k has taken place over the past two weeks, with the 5k in full swing now. For the 10k, we had 24 members submit a time. As it wasn’t “race” conditions, a suitable consistent difficulty score has been applied to your handicap time. The top 3 times against their handicaps are as follows:

Position Name H’cap Time Diff Time Points
1 Hannah Claire 01:02:59 15.27% 00:53:22 50
2 Mark Phillipson 00:49:44 13.94% 00:42:48 49
3 Nick Child 00:56:54 12.72% 00:49:40 48

The full race results, and all results from this years championship can be found below.

2020 Race Results

The table has also been updated, with Alan O’Brien continuing to lead the way. The bonuses for parkrun (also been postponed) so far have been updated. The table can be found here.

2020 League Table

 

5k Winter TT Results – February

Posted on by February 27, 2020
FEB TIME TRIAL
 
On a cold – about 3 degrees but dry and fairly still night, we had 12 brave souls out for the 5k time trial. It was
also the start of 5K Club Championship races at the Brownlee centre and we had a couple doing the XO race in town. There were 2 new faces, Anna and Mats (who is now a fully paid up member of our great club), and 2 other relatively new members, Caroline and Jonathan. These 4 happened to be the first 4 over the line too – so are now beginning to show their true colours – or we still need to work on their start times. It was going to be a choose your route night but with the 4 relatively new runners may have been confusing – so hopefully we can do that in March. We stayed with the original route of up Queenswood Drive and down Spen Lane.
 
First over the line – just, was Anna – with a run time of 24.27, and was the fastest lady on the night. Closely followed 17 seconds later by Caroline with a run time of 24.44 and getting her course pb. Third was Jonathan also getting his course pb with a run time of 20.11. Just behind by 4 seconds was Mats with a run time of 20.15. Just missing out on a podium place was Carol with a run time of 27.04, her pb for this winter. Eleven seconds behind Carol was Alan in 5th place who came from the rear and nearly 18 minutes after the first one to set off and created another course pb for himself with a time of 18.15. Sadly, bringing up the rear was Malcolm, despite the assistance of Alistair in the buggy.
 
Overall there were 3 minutes and 18 seconds between 1st and last despite a time lag of 17 minutes 45 seconds from the first and last setting off.
 
We were without our ever reliable Jemma and Adam on the night due to their other circumstances, but Chris our Chairman stood in and did a superb job on starting and timing – thankfully for me he had done a day of hard work (now he is retired) and was feeling too tired to run. Also helping out and looking after the royal mail post box – to ensure no cheating or unintentional short cuts, was Catherine and Lucy.
 
The last one will be at the end of March and then hopefully the lighter nights mean we can start running off road With 8 members having done 4 races and 5 having done 3 – we could be in for a tight finish for the best of 4 races.
 
Peter.

Club Championship 2020 Race 3 – Liversedge Half Marathon

Posted on by February 16, 2020

3 Harriers took part on the hilly Liversedge Half Marathon route, with Storm Dennis raging around the rest of the UK, it seems hail only struck in the later stages of the race! Well done you three!

Name Time
Alan O’Brien 01:27:04
Adam Moger 01:30:57
Liz Walker 02:05:55

A minimum of 48 points were handed to individuals today! Club Championship points were handed out in reverse order, with Liz Walker bettering her handicap more than the 2 guys! Must have been the hail she endured towards the end, it must have made her run faster. The latest set of results can be found below.

2020 Race Results

After 3 races, there are 3 people with 100 or more points. There’s still a lot to play for! parkrun bonuses have been added for the month of January, as have the marathon bonuses for you harder lot that have done one so far. Alan O’Brien takes up the lead, being the only one to do all 3 races so far! Can anyone keep up with him?

2020 League Table

 

Race 4 is the start of the year long Even Splits 5k series at the Brownlee Center – if you miss the first one, don’t worry, there’s still 9 more to do! March sees marathon trainee’s taken on the annual pre-London/Manchester 20 mile events, if you’re doing any 20 mile even within that period, I will count you to Club Championship points. The full list of events, with the majority OPEN for entries now are here!

Your friendly Club Championship rep,

Malcolm Taylor

 

 

 

5k Time Trial Jan 20 – Results

Posted on by January 28, 2020
5K TIME TRIAL – WED 27th JAN
 
We had 15 runners on a cold but dry and still night with the temp about 4 degrees. We did have 16 but Patrick declined to race the route having done another marathon on the Saturday just gone, so jogged around the route at his own pace instead.
 
We had two new faces showing up on the night, they either had not seen the training schedule or were completely unaware of what we ha planned, Lizzie Warham and Phil Tarbutt. Similarly we had 3 newish members taking part for the first time, Caroline Smelt-Webb, Jonathan Spink and Mark Phillipson the latter had already enjoyed the fun of his first Peco at Harrogate. Hopefully all 5 enjoyed the event and will return again for another.
 
First over the line was half marathon lover, Lizzie with a run time of  23.09 the fastest lady on the night and just 3 seconds behind the fastest ladies time so far this year of Theresse. No doubt her start time will be adjusted for her next run? Just 33 seconds behind with a run time of 18.27 was Alan, coming from the very back of the field, and creating a new pb for him for the course. Just behind, being pipped at the post was Carol with her best run time for the year of 27.16 In close procession behind Carol came Catherine, Caroline, Mark and Phil – all just separated by 20 seconds – which was a bit scary for Jemma taking the names and times when they all swept around the corner at the bottom of the finish straight. Also recording his fastest time this year was Alistair – sorry Malcolm who had the (dis)advantage of pushing the go faster buggy. Bringing up the rear was Jonathan who must have been a bit too generous in his predicted time – we will change that on his next run. Finally came Paul Chapman who was quite a lot slower then usual – could he have had problems with his (Nora Batty) florescent leggings?
 
In total only 2 minutes 58 seconds separated all 15 runners, 77 seconds the first 13 and 44 seconds from 2nd to 13th – one day they may all finish over the line at the same time – which will make Jemma’s night. Thanks again for Jemma doing all the hard work and Gary for looking after the royal mail postbox to ensure all runners did the same start and finish.
 
Peter

Club Championship 2020 – Race 1 (TNT) and Race 2 (PECO XC) update

Posted on by January 25, 2020

Double whammy of updates from me today! Temple Newsam 10 table and race results have been up for a couple of weeks – I’ve just not written a report, now’s the time!

2019 is done and dusted, the overall winners, and slightly smaller prizes will be announced at the Kirkstall Harriers AGM later in the year.

Who asked for Tough Mudder to be on the Club Championship this year? No one, us Harriers aren’t bothered about the obstacles when there’s a large muddy bath to run through! Harriers at both Temple Newsam 10 and Peco XC at Harrogate had to endure several deep muddy puddles on their way around the courses. Says a lot that we have 33 brave Harriers already with an entry this early in the Club Championship!

Safe to say Ian Taylor has had a bumper start to the year, taking a maximum of 100 points from two races! Can he keep up with his fast decreasing handicap to remain with a shot of the 2020 title? Or will someone beat him to it?

The race results can be found here:

2020 Race Results

For those that have completed 4 parkruns already, well done! The bonus points will be added in the February release to allow the slightly slower coaches to get the 4 (I’m not one of them!). Alongside Ian as the front runner, Andy Pullan and Catherine Barrett make up the top three after competing in both races. The league table after two races can be found here:

2020 League Table

 

Any questions, updates or concerns, please speak to your friendly Club Championship representative – who’s decision is final!

Regards,

Malcolm Taylor

Winter 5k Time Trial 11th Dec 2019 – Results

Posted on by December 15, 2019
5K WINTER TIME TRIAL – 11TH DEC 2019
 
Well done to the brave 14 runners who came down for the time trial on a cold but dry night. We may have lost a few as it was the Christmas meal the night before – but we are told that you have to run for 21 minutes to burn off each mince pie you eat. We had 2 new faces to the time trial – Yekanth Venkiteela (who arrived a little later then usual and missed his steady jog with Paul Glover) and Jo Mingham. Also making their debut to this seasons series of runs were Malcolm Taylor (or should we say Alistair) and Simon Hands.
 
Needless to say it was the two new faces who like most “nice runners” have a complete lack of knowledge to how fast they normally run when predicting times for handicap races, and also myself for being gullible and believing them, who were in the first 3. Also given a slight better then expected time, mainly because we felt sorry for him pushing Alastair and the pram up Spen Lane, but he obviously made Alistair get out and push – or stood on the pram and glided down Queenswood and Kirkstall Lane, burning some tyre tread.
 
First over the line with a run (or pram ride) time of 29.25 was Malcolm, closely followed by Yekanth in 29.29 and third was Jo with 27.36 edging Randolph (who never runs fast in winter) into 4th with 22.52, beating his November time by 40 seconds. Fastest runner on the night was Adam Moger with a run time 19.53, slightly slower then his last two runs, and fastest lady was Vicki with a run time of 27.10, also slightly slower then her two last runs. Bringing up the rear with a run time of 38.44 was Patrick, but he had done two marathons on the Saturday and Sunday just gone.
 
Overall the time difference was 6 minutes 19 seconds, but taking out the first and last two, the time difference was 2 minutes 3 seconds. Many thanks again to Jemma for doing an excellent job in getting them all started in the right order and times, and ensuring they are all recorded in the right order when they do the “photo finishes” on the line. Thanks also to Alan and Ben for braving the cold conditions and helping “marshal” the runners around the correct route.
 
Peter Hey