Report by Tony Bell

A few words before Tony’s report just to recognise the enormous contribution two people make towards running and athletics in Yorkshire.  The first is Keith Binney, the man to be seen with the gun at the start of so many races in South Yorkshire.  He’ll be there before the start, setting up, and at the end, recording times, as well as organising so many of our local races.  Ok, he’ll also remind you how useless a runner you are (maybe that’s just me?) and tell you how much faster they all were in his day, but I reckon he’s earned the right to do that through his dedication to the local running scene.

The other person is Rob Kersey, the driving force behind Yorkshire Vets and the cross country championships.  Rob puts in so many hours of his time organising veterans events across Yorkshire including cross country, road relays and the grand prix series.  Impressively on Sunday he also managed to fit in a run in the 5k event and lead his Holmfirth team to bronze medals in the M70 category.  We are deeply indebted to both Rob and Keith – athletics in Yorkshire would not be the same without them.

Tony’s report.

I have been living and running with my wife Shelley Walsh since 1996. We have been members of the same running clubs over the years, Shelley has just joined me as a member of Steel City Striders and she made her striders debut at the Yorkshire Veterans championships.

This was Shelley’s first XC race since 2015.  She competed in the over 45 ladies and over 70 mens 5km race proudly wearing her new Striders vest (received 5 minutes before the start!) 7 striders ladies lined up.

After lap 1 I could see that there were two runners in yellow in the lead, one was Sarah Moss of the Striders and the other was Lucy Broom. Louise Rowley also appeared to be well up in her age group. At the end Sarah was first to finish the race and Louise also won her age group. I then saw Shelley walking towards me not following the course. She had to drop out as the sole came off one of her old XC spike shoes!

Then it was time for my 35-44 ladies and 35-69 mens 10km race. 11 striders men and 1 lady lined up. We had 4 laps to do. I followed Brian and Tim from the start but they soon pulled away. By the middle of lap 2 my position had come to some sort of equilibrium in the mens race. However, two F40 ladies were racing each other and I was passing and being passed by these ladies throughout the race. Having run this course several times in the South Yorkshire league in the winter, I was hoping that it would be a bit less muddy at the end of March but there was still lots of mud. It was very hard work at the end but I kept going, finishing between the two F40 ladies.

At the post-race presentation several Striders won prizes. To my great surprise the striders M60 team, me and my much faster club mates Chris and Jed, finished second team. This was the first time I have ever won a prize in a non-handicap running race in the UK.

Striders medalists:

Sarah Moss – 1st F45 and overall winner of the 5k event

Lucy Broom – 3rd F50

Kate Scott – 2nd F60 (first medal in the new age category?)

Louise Rowley – 1st F70

1st F45 Team (Sarah Moss, Lucy Broom, Jacqui Herring)

2nd M50 All to Score Team (Neil Schofield, Rob Dawson, Ian Stinson, Paddy Treehowes, Brian Jenkins)

2nd M60 Team (Chris Ireland, Jed Turner, Tony Bell)

Full Striders results:

Race 1 – 5km – Women 45+ & Men 70+