Race Date: Saturday 20th July
Report by Jennie Stevens
The Yorkshire Wolds Half Marathon, part of the 2019 Bishop Wilton Show on Saturday 20th July, has just celebrated its 35th year and is a popular scenic and challenging course through the picturesque Yorkshire Wolds.
I decided to enter this one as it’s not too far away from a friend’s farm where I spent a good deal of my childhood, so I planned my whole weekend around it. HM runners also get free entry to the show, so it made for a nice day out too.
The morning of the race did not go to plan. All ready to set off at 6:30 am and a phonecall from my friend informed that the back windscreen of his car had just caved in due to an accident when fitting the bike rack! Survival mode kicked in, and 3 hours, 1 bus ride, 1 train ride and a £40 taxi ride later I arrived at the showground ready to start the race!
The race starts at 10.00am from just outside the Bishop Wilton Show field entrance, and the finish line is within the Show field itself. It’s mostly run on road, though there is one lovely trail section on downhill chalky path. The first water station was at the bottom of this hill and it had just started raining heavily. I smiled sympathetically at the young boy offering wet sponges in the downpour! The sun did come out fairly soon after so hopefully he had some takers later on!
The roads were not closed to traffic but it wasn’t busy, and the route was very well marshalled with plenty of water/sponge stations. The route goes through some lovely scenery, escpecially around Millington Pastures, but there is a long uphill drag for the last few miles – this is not a PB course.
All the same, I found it very enjoyable, well organised and friendly and this is one I would recommend and will do again, especially as all entrants receive a hand thrown pottery mug at the finish line, a lovely memento which now takes pride of place on my desk at work!
Despite the hectic start to the morning, and the undulating course, I ran in 1:53:31 and was the 14th lady. To my knowledge there were no other Striders.
Once finished you can wander around the show itself, which has a beer tent and numerous food options, as well as the usual horse/dog agility classes, and lots of indoor stuff in the event of bad weather.
The race was won by Scott Harrington (Otley AC) in 01:16:11 (coming in more than 5 minutes ahead of the second runner!) The first lady, Alice Smith (Pontefract AC) finished in 01:34.14.
