January 2008

I am trying to generate interest (and keep myself motivated throughout winter) in off road running, with the aim of targeting a few hill races in the spring and attempting to get a WOMEN’S  team out on the hills for the English championship races. 

You need no experience, just warm clothing, a sense of humour and a willingness to get muddy. You will also need a torch of some sort (doesn’t have to be a specialist head torch) as each of the Thursday sessions will involve some running off road – in the pine woods, around the ring road, the gorge and eventually some hills … yes in the dark!! 

Here is the plan: 

Meet at the club on a Thursday night for 7pm start; bring a torch. I anticipate it will be a hill repetition/session run every week with the warm up/run to hill done as much off road as I can devise. Hence chunky road shoes will be fine, fell shoes would not be good at all given the amount of tarmac locally. 

In the spring there is an active series of races in the north york moors which are flat-ish in that they are runnable hills, marked courses so you can’t get lost, and can be done in trail/road shoes if needed. They make an excellent introduction to hill running. The local races on the likely moors can be rougher, steeper but are also excellent events to try out your confidence.  

The English fell running championship is run locally with a mix of 2 of each of the short, medium and long distances. Some of the races are more serious than others and I hope to organise a rekky of any that may pose difficulties for navigation or route choice. If navigation is an area that people need / want to work on, we can sort a day out on the fells with a map and compass to practice/learn too. 

INTERESTED? Then here are some dates for your diary: 

Local spring evening races: 

Are in the fell running calendar (see website http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/ ) or the club that organises the event is North York Moors A.C. (website: http://www.nym.ac/ ) and they have weekend and winter series races too.

However, here are some dates for you: 

Tuesday April 22nd Carlton challenge 7pm start, 5 miles, 850m climb

Tuesday May 20th fox and hounds chase, 7.15pm start, 9miles, 1,500m climb

Tuesday June 3rd ossy oiks, 7.15pm start, 8.5 miles, 1,800m climb 

English championship races: 

Short:           Blackstone edge 28th june,        Dufton 30th August

Medim:          Black coombe 8th march,           Kentmere 20th July

Long: 3 peaks 26th april,                      Borrowdale 2nd August 

All are pre-entry but the 3 peaks has closed already as it is full. See me for further deatails of the races or the Fell runners website: http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/ 

As there is so much going on in the hill scene, let me know what suits you and I should be able to suggest a race that would fit with children/weekends away/village fairs/local and short/ mountainous and long…. We can find one for you. 

Hope to see you on Thursday nights, if you cant make it but are still interested in taking part in a ‘Harrogate hill thing’ then contact me on this email and I will try to get teams out if possible …wow wouldn’t that be nice? 

Helene Whitaker

familywhitaker@ntlworld.com