Midweek League Otley

Shaun Purkiss McEndoo-Flying

Shane Gray probably still had the remains of his first 10K in his legs when he competed in his second, five days later at Otley in the abbreviated Midweek League. The Otley course is a tough 10K, worth about 2 minutes against something flat, and only eight Harriers made the journey. Ian Fisher of Otley made his comeback from injury with a fine win in 33:17 but wasn’t able to relax as Jon Orange’s Peacocks of Richmond vest was never much more than 100 yards adrift. RZH results: 2nd Jon Orange 33:41, 9th Shaun Purkiss 36:02, 12th Scott Wardman 36:35, 33rd (& 2nd MV55) Mike Brooks 39:35, 37th Chris Peacock 40:07, 64th and welcome back Paul O’Mahoney 42:50, 80th Shane Gray 44:37 & 117th Sarah Gregory 48:34. There were a total of 168 finishers and Sarah’s 117th place gave her 14th female out of 42, a fine performance after only six week’s training with the Club. The Open Team Trophy is now out-of-sight as Harrogate and Ilkley have opened-up a margin of more than 1600 points but RZH had three runners in twelve meaning the Elite Team Trophy is still up-for-grabs - Otley are just 30 seconds ahead.

County Schools Track & Field 14th June 2003

The County Schools T&F Championships were on Saturday 14th - North Yorkshire at Huntington Stadium, York and County Durham at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. Again there were many excellent performances from Harriers past and present and the Club now has four Champions - Jessie Roberts NY Junior Girl 1500m, Jason Flannery NY Junior Boy 1500m, Kim Bartram NY Senior Girl 200m and Matt Prosser CD Senior Boy 200m. RZH results at York: Junior Girls - 200m Sophie Broadway 28.4, 800m Jo Adams 2:32.0 & Jessica Gray 2:34.0, 1500m Jessie Roberts 5:03.9 & Scarlett Gray 5: 29.6 & high jump Becky Rennison 1m35; Junior Boys - 75m hurdles James Bell 12.7, 1500m Jason Flannery 4:27.8 & Chris Andrade 5:07.9; Inter Girls - 800m Leah Jackson 2:40.9, discus Laura McLellan 21m43 & shot Amy Poulter 8m07; Inter Boys - 200m Peter Akers 24.4, 1500m Simon Pinkney 4:55.6, triple jump Sam Stanislaus 11m97 & hammer Carl Outhwaite 38m22; Senior Girl - Kim Bartram 200m 27.8 & long jump 4m39; and at Jarrow Georgina Zissler ran a PB 42.7 to place 2nd in the IG 300m, Nick Zissler placed 5th in the IB 1500m and Matt Prosser doubled-up, winning the SB 200m and finished 2nd in the 400m. All those who competed earned their County colours and those who finished in the first two places made the team for their Schools Inter-County matches the following Saturday.

Swaledale Marathon 15th June 2003

Shaun & Katey Purkiss and Ian Hepworth competed in the Swaledale Marathon on Sunday 15th, one of the year’s hottest days of the year, so far! The race is a serious test of strength and stamina for all competitors - up Fremington Edge, through Arkengarthdale and back down Swaledale - 24 miles and a few thousand feet of climbing. Shaun had won this race back in 1986 but this year his intention was to finish inside 3½ hours. First place was a foregone conclusion when last year’s winner took-off from the start. Shaun sat-in and ran steadily for the first half of the race; after Great Punchard Head he started to overtake the over-ambitious and novice runners and by Surrender Bridge there was a group of five which was slowly reducing. Shaun lost the sprint finish back to Reeth but was made-up with 3rd place and a time of 3:17; Ian Hepworth made the top 100 finishing in about 4:45 and Katey Purkiss was 179th in 5:54.

Other RZH Runners Successes June&July 2003

The third NYSD T&F fixture was at Eastbourne Track, Darlington on Tuesday 17th and Shaun Purkiss added the word speed to his other assets with a 4:53.5 clocking for 1500m - his third race in five days - full results next week.

In recent weeks, athletes from Richmond and Zetland Harriers have competed on and off-road and in track and field with great success.