JACK Cummings continued his fine form to win the Up the Odda trail race this week.

This undulating 10km trail race, organised by Baildon Runners and with all proceeds going to Hawksworth school, involves two scenic and challenging loops near Hawksworth school.

Cummings stormed to the finish in a superb time of 37:38 and he was over three minutes ahead of the second finisher. Harrier Rebecca Shaw also completed this race, finishing high up in her age category in a time of 58:23.

On the fells Tom Adams won the Kettlewell Anniversary fell race in a great time of 35:35. This challenging 5.5-mile route, with 1800ft of climbing starts and finishes in Kettlewell and is organised by North Leeds Fell Runners. Ilkley Harrier Dan Dry finished in fourth place in 39:03, with John Pickering being the third Harrier home. Ilkley lady Mary Jeal also ran in this race and finished in a great third place in her age category.

Another win also for Ilkley Harriers with the mixed team taking first place at the Bradford Millennium Way Relay. Organised by Saltaire Striders, this relay consists of five legs with two runners per leg. Starting from and returning to Bingley, taking in Wilsden, Denholme, Oxenhope, Haworth, Oakworth, Steeton, Silsden, Addingham and Ilkley with some stunning scenery en-route. The Ilkley Harriers mixed team consisted of Kay Pearce, Peter Shelley, Laura Dixon, Tom Lally, Brit Tate, Jack Wood, Alison Bennett, Andrew Merrick, Kate Archer and Gavin Lamb.

The popular Otley 10-mile road race also took place this week. Conditions were warm but with a welcome cooling breeze as 20 Ilkley Harriers stood at the start line. This year’s course was slightly modified compared to previous years to include an extra loop to avoid some of the curves on the main road, as well as a different starting point to give all runners more space and a finish that avoided running through the town centre. Some great performances by Ilkley Harriers. Sally Armitage was the second lady to finish in 1:06:19, which also gave her first placing in her age category. Ilkley men Michael Odell, Rob Cunningham and Nick Kealey took the team prize, with Michael taking second MV35 prize and Mike Williams securing the first MV60 prize.

Jane McCarthy had a stunning performance at the Centurion South Downs Way Ultra. This 100-mile race involves running along the South Downs Way National Trail from Winchester to Eastbourne. Jane was the 10th lady to finish and 39th finisher overall out of 301 finishers. Jane also took first place in her age category.

Five Ilkley Harriers took part in the Lakeland Trails Coniston event. Organised by Lakeland Trails this weekend event offered 10km, 15km, half marathon, and a full marathon option, all in the vicinity of Coniston Water in Cumbria. Helen Thurston and Emma Sheppard took part in the half marathon option. Helen was the second lady to finish in a superb time of 1:42:39, finishing in 24th place overall and the first FV40 to finish. Emma finished well under the two-hour mark in 1:56:52.

Catherine Charlton, Becky White and Jill Ezard all opted for the marathon distance option, which involves a circuit around Coniston Water, a lap of ‘Tarn Hows’, a run through Grizedale Forest and a final path along the shore of Coniston Water to the finish line. Charlton and White did the ‘race’ option, with Charlton the eighth lady to finish in a great time of 4:37. White completed this marathon distance in 5:19.

Jill’s challenge’ option involved setting off an hour earlier than Catherine and Becky but followed the same route but with a slightly more generous time limit. Jill had great run, finishing in 4:55 and taking first place in her age category.

This week also saw the staging of the Burton Leonard 10km, a multi-terrain race starting and finishing at Burton Leonard and encompassing the beautiful Mountgarret Estate. Harrier Iain Young finished in an impressive ninth place at this race in a time of 42:32.

Harrier Iain Gibbons undertook another race in the BOFRA (British Open Fell Runners Association) series this weekend. Iain came in tenth position at the Lowgill Sports Fell race and he was the first to finish in his age category. Iain ran this 2.2-mile race with 1000ft of climbing in a time of 18:36.

Ilkley Harriers continued to enjoy the weekly timed 5km parkruns this weekend. Michael Abrams-Cohen was the first finisher at the New Earswick parkrun in North Yorkshire, Michael running this in 18:22. Jack Wood also had a first-place finish at the Myrtle parkrun, Jack finishing in a time of 18:17. Petra Bijsterveld was the first female finisher at the Horton parkrun, Petra running this in 26:49 and Hilda Coulsey was the third lady to finish at The Pastures parkrun. Harriers, John Hayes, Tom Lambe, Michael Lomas, Patrick Wardle, Adam Gerrish, Simon Lorimer and Steven Gott all finished with top ten placings at various parkruns, as did junior Harrier Robert Carter who was fifth finisher at the Skipton parkrun.   REPORT BY: JEAN SULLIVAN