North of England Road Relay Championships - Sunderland 1st April

Ken Harker

Richmond and Zetland’s senior men were in action at the North Of England Road Relay Championships, held at Silksworth, Sunderland on Sunday 1st April, where the opposition was certainly challenging along with the chance to qualify for the finals at Sutton Park, Birmingham. With 39 teams of 12 competitors each taking part, the competitive spirit was riding high and the Harriers pulled out all the stops to achieve a fantastic result.

Those more suited to distance running took the longer legs of approximately 4 miles each, while those more accustomed to middle distance, ran the shorter 2 mile legs. Jon Orange was first away and managed to pull the team into a great position, being the 15th fastest on his leg and handed over to Ken Harker, also having a fantastic run to take 17th fastest. Nick Zissler was next up and was in excellent form, finishing 13th overall on his leg and allowing the team to climb the leader board. Shaun Purkiss then tackled the next longer stage and ran a consistent pace to keep the team in contention, before handing on to James Wardman, returning in fine form and keeping the team flying.

James Brownfield-Pope was next up and kept his cool to run a fabulous leg and hand over to Rich Hunt, who took another of the longer distances and ran a calculated race. Dougie Roberts added another excellent run on the 8th leg, before Paul Roberts took over and made his way around the course at a great pace, handing on to number 10 runner, Ian Scott. Taking the last of the longer laps, Ian showed some solid form and the chance of qualification was now looking good, going into the last 2 legs. These belonged to Taff Rogers, who gave it his all to leave the finishing touches to Tony Ryder, who put in a strong performance, bringing the team across the line in 21st place overall, with a time of 3.03.34 and a place in the finals.

RZH Individual Relay Results – 1 Jon Orange, 21.18 (15th), 2 Ken Harker 10.57 (17th), 3 Nick Zissler 10.41 (13th), 4 Shaun Purkiss 23.31 (18th), 5 James Wardman 10.41 (16th), 6 James Brownfield-Pope 11.45 (16th), 7 Rich Hunt 22.07 (18th), 8 Doug Roberts 10.32 (16th), 9 Paul Roberts 11.59 (18th), 10 Ian Scott 25.02 (20th), 11 Taff Rogers 12.58 (21st) & 12 Tony Ryder 12.03 (21st).

Bath Half Marathon 25th March 2007

Sprinter Matt Prosser turned his hand to a vastly different event on Sunday 25th March, when he tackled the Bath Half Marathon, something very challenging for someone, who is more accustomed to the 400m hurdles on the track. Matt has been in training for some months and ran an excellent time of 2.08.47 on the day, taking 5620th place from over 8165 competitors and was rightly pleased with his efforts.

Spring Hall Open Track Meeting - Halifax -31st March

Another sprinter, this time back on the track, was Leanne Shaw, who took part in the Spring Hall Open Track Meeting at Halifax on Saturday 31st March. This was to celebrate the opening of the new Sports Stadium and was organised by Halifax Harriers. Leanne was celebrating herself, after taking a fabulous clean sweep of Gold Medals in the Under 17 Women’s sprint events. First was the 100m, which she won in 12.7 seconds, followed by another victory in the 200m in 26.3 and finally in the 300m, which she claimed in 42.5 seconds, rounding off a highly successful and rewarding day’s sprinting.

World Indoor Master's Championships - Helsinki

Ken Harker has now returned from the World Indoor Master’s Championships in Helsinki and has been reflecting on his performance. On the day of the 800m heats he reported that he felt very “flat” warming up, despite being in the best shape for years, prior to flying out. Ken ran in the 3rd and fastest qualifying heat, with the first 3 athletes all running under 2 minutes, meaning that he finished 5th in a time of 2.05. An great result in itself, but unfortunately, it did not allow him to qualify for the final. After a rest day, he then competed in one of the 2 finals for the 1500m and came 11th overall; in his own words, Ken said “I finished in 4.25, which was terrible – I gave it a good go over the first 800m and was doing quite well, but then just felt like stopping.” Following a visit to the physio on his return home, Ken now feels on top form once again and says “it’s full steam ahead in the forthcoming track season” and he is looking forward to breaking that 2 minute barrier once more.