Race Date: Sunday 27th October 2019

What makes for a good race? T-shirt and goodies? Number of competitors? Scenery? Flat and fast or even particularly arduous? Fair price? Good organisation? The chance to wave at your mates or even get on the telly? We run for different reasons and at some stage or another, all of these might influence the judges but if quality is your bottom line then this event has got to be the best race in Yorkshire. Won in 28:38 (Omar Ahmed, Birchfield), there were 29 men who ran under 30 minutes. The women’s event was won in 31.35 (Charlotte Arter, Cardiff) with 27 women under 35 minutes. Club athletes and burgeoning Internationals and a throwback to the olden days of road running, if you’re a serious athlete then this is the race for you but be prepared to discover your true place in the scheme of things.

Whilst definitely having a fast track the event does have it’s disadvantages. With 6738 finishers it’s difficult to find your racing line if not at the sharp end of the field (similar to London and the Great North Run perhaps) whilst with Leeds Station closed for most of the morning, getting there by public transport was as difficult as getting to Loxley by the same means.

Nine Striders made the trip to Leeds with Carol Beattie first F65 in the clubhouse although with the vagaries of chip timing she ended up in second place.