By Ruth Hancock.
Since our last report, members of Hambleton Athletics and Running Club have been very busy achieving a variety of personal goals and working hard to raise funds for charity.
Phill Heward became HARC’s first recipient of a club place at the London Marathon. Phill was really happy to finish in 4hr 10 min. He said “It was every bit as tough as I expected but even more enjoyable than I’d hoped. Thanks to all for the encouragement and to HARC for the opportunity.”
Graham Finlay achieved a huge milestone of 200 Parkruns in April and chose his favourite at Fountains Abbey to host this momentous occasion. As ever, HARC members turned out in force to support him and celebrated with a special cake in the café afterwards.
At the Kieran Maxwell Memorial event in Middlesbrough, junior shot putter Harvey Wilkinson secured the top spot with a personal best throw of 11.38m and edges closer to the UK top 20 as a result.
Sara Sherwood completed the ‘Jog 100k in April’ Challenge for Diabetes UK and raised an amazing £194 for a cause very close to her heart.
The inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon saw Katy Bamber and Ruth Hancock completing their first marathons with the help of Jo Sinnott, who continues to smash her own endurance running goals she’s set this year in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Jo’s total raised so far stands at a whopping £2,426. All three managed to achieve Ruth’s target of “finishing on both feet with a smile.”
Luke Allen took on the Leeds Half Marathon on the same day and finished in a blistering time of 01:42:00.
HARC had a huge turnout of runners and supporters at the local Northallerton 10K. Chair Gemma Wardle summed up HARC’s ethos entirely when interviewed by the race compère: “We’re not here to beat anybody! Every runner has someone to run with and support them if they want.” Some runners hadn’t raced over that distance before, but everyone managed to finish happy with their achievements.
Phew! I wonder what PBs and medals the summer will bring?
