City of York Athletic Club

Road Running

The club affiliates to the York and District Road Running League which organises a series of 10k races between May and July. There shoule be 5 races plus a staggered start handicap, but only the first 3 are shown as it is not certain at this stage whether the others will take place.

York & District Road Races League fixtures 2008

6th May	Pocklington
20th May	Tadcaster
3rd June	Easingwold
17th June	Bishop Wilton
1st July	Selby
15th July	Stillington (handicap race)

Road Championships 2008
A high priority is given to road relay championships, the Northern 12 and 6 stage relays and if we qualify the National relays. The mens event has 12 legs, the womens 6 legs.

6th April	Northern 12/6 stage	Catterick
26th April	National 12/6 stage	Sutton Coldfield
September	Yorkshire Road relay
October	Northern 6 stage relay

Open Races
The club takes part in a large number of open road races, some of which are classified as targets. We had a turnout for the Castle Howard trail races in June and won several prizes. Unfortunately there wasn't a team prize or we would have won that. The next race is the James Herriot Country Trail run on Sunday 29th July from Castle Bolton. This is I suppose a fell race for beginners. About 8 miles long it is run over moorland tracks and paths. It has a couple of climbs (not too steep by fell running standards) but is very scenic. WARNING: take care, fell racing can become VERY addictive.

Road Rankings
Mike Raynes has compiled club road rankings. If you have any additions/corrections either contact Mike directly or send an email using the contact us facility of the website.
2007 Road Rankings

The club organises 2 open road races:

Wheldrake 10k and fun runs 23rd June 2007 2006 Photos

Unfortunately, due to problems with the course and new health and safety regulation, the Wheldrake 10k will not be happening in 2008.

Millennium Bridge races - 12th August 2008

Results/Reports

John Schofields Results Website

York 10k Road League
The series got underway at Pocklington on 6th May despite doubts about whether it would happen due to changes in health and safety requirement from the police and local councils. The field was smaller than usual, probably thanks to the uncertainty and many of the faster men seemed to be missing. There was a quality run from Becky Penty to win the ladies race and backed up by Karen Wood, Ingeborg Lind and Sharon McAnaney our ladies won the team race albeit by the skin of our teeth, on countback from Knavesmire Harriers. For the men Iain Lynne who was only treating it as a training run finished 2nd and the team was also 2nd.

Esholt 5k series, 7th, 14th and 21st May The 1st race was again the Yorkshire Veterans Championship, though all our vets who might have figured were unable to run. Mark Metcalf flew the flag with an excellent 3rd place. However he superceded this by winning the 2nd race and must be favourite to take the overall title.

Northern 12 stage Road Relay, 6th April 2008
This race at Catterick started off in sunshine, but before long snow started and was quite heavy for a while. Andy Hilton got us started off an came in 15th, our highest position of the day. While any of the clubs other runners would have been delighted with such a run Andy could have been better were he not recovering from flu. Mike Raynes set off next and dropped quite a few places. His time was our slowest short stage time, when we would have expected his to produce one of our fastst. Mike deserves great credit though for running at all as he was obviously not fit having struggled with a foot injury. Several other runners dropped out, so some rapid reshuffling of the team was necessary.

By about half way we had settled into about 30th place and the chances of getting into the top 25 and qualifying for the National final looked slim. Credit to our later runners then who battled on and gradually pulled back the places to haul us back up to 25th place by the finish.

In the National final at Sutton Coldfield we finished 47th, a creditable result given that several of our better runners were missing.

Esholt 5k, Wednesday 2nd May 2007
Andy Normandale won the Yorkshire veterans gold in the over 50s age group. He was 12th overall with a time of 16m 38s. Andy was backed up by Martin Kirby in 17m 5s and Andy Nesom in 17m 10s, who were 26th and 31st overall, 6th and 7th in the over 40's age group. It seems strange though having 2 Yorkshire championships (the 10k championship was last Sunday at Rothwell) so close together.

Rothwell 10k, Sunday 29th April
With a club turnout of 16, this was another successful target race. The highlight was Mike Hethertons triumph in the over 60's category. Since the race incorporated the Yorkshire Veterans Championship, he also won his 1st Yorkshire title. Other Yorkshire vets medalists were Andy Normandale, silver in the over 50's and Piran White bronze in the over 40's. Andy Hilton was 7th overall. In the team competition we were runners up to Holmfirth. The full results are on John Schofields website - see link above.

London Marathon
Mark Dowson 3h 14m 27, 1,774th
Jo Ellerton 3h 28m 27, 389th lady
Mark Harney 3h 33m 05, 3661st
Angela Peace 3h 33m 31s, 503rd lady, 18th Under 25
Stuart Thomas 4h 34m 30, 13,522nd
Anthony Rouse 4h 35m 37, 13,715th
Peter Murray 4h 37m 32, 14,060th
Dawn Gibbs was unwell in the week up to the race and had to drop out at half way.

National 12 stage Road Relay Saturday 14th April
The team put in another creditable performance to place 42nd in the National Road Relys at Sutton Park Birmingham. The runners all suffered on what was for the middle of April a ridiculously hot day.

The teams highlight was a fine performance from on the first leg from Hywel Care. In his last race for the club he placed 9th on the opening leg, covering the 5.38 mile course in just 26.52. The second leg was always going to be a complete nightmare as the club shot backwards through the field but it was to Jerry Barnes's credit that he took up the challenge at short notice and he gamely battled round in a time of 19.16 for the three mile short leg. Although he did loose 42 places on his leg, which could be a record in this event.

This settled the club into its more natural habitat about 2/3rds of the way down the field and Mike Raynes enjoyed his battles with some of the back markers on leg 3. Although in an event of this standard the back markers are usually capable of breaking the hour for 10 miles. Mike Raynes lost a further 5 places to run a time of 31.36. Martin Kirby consolidated this position with a good run of 17.27 on leg 4 before Mark Metcalfe improved the club 3 places on the next long leg posting a time 2 seconds within the half hour mark. Mark Harney then continued his endless cycle of races by running 17.57 for leg 6 to see the club in 51st place at the halfway stage. Young Phil Graves who is better known as a promising triathlete then bravely tackled the next long stage and although finding the undulations of the long stage tough still went round in a useful time of 31.50.

Dan Isherwood consolidated this position on leg 8, cruising round in 17.47 before we finally unleashed our 2nd big gun, Andy Hilton on leg 9. Andy had by his own admission not the best of runs as he had done both a fell race and a track race the previous week but he still improved the team by 7 places to record 28.18. Steve Simpson tackling a short leg for the first time at Sutton Park ran the team's second fastest time on the 3 mile leg to run 17.13 with super vet Andy Normandale running 30.50 on the final long leg. The final leg was run by Piran White. Normally Piran would run a long leg but he had aggravated a groin injury doing his coast to coast cycle ride with his young son. Enjoying the chance in the mass start on the last leg Piran ran 16.15 on the final leg which was nearly a minute quicker than any of his team mates on this leg.

Northern 12 stage Road Relay Sunday 1st April
York Acorn flew the flag for York clubs at Sunday's North of England road relays held at Sunderland by finishing 17th, the third year running they have finished in the top 20 of this event.

The club's top runner Andy Hilton lead the club of with a very fine 3rd place on the opening leg covering the 4 mile course in a time of 20.17. While there was never any chance of the team maintaining such a lofty position Dan Isherwood and Mark Harney battled gamely to ensure the team remained just inside the top 20. Mark Metcalfe, Andy Burt and Martin Kirby returned to action from various problems to set up the club's other big name, Hywel Care, to storm through the field to record the 5th fastest time on the 7th leg. This was consolidated by club stalwarts Mike Raynes, Steve Simpson and Paul Goble to leave the club in 17th position after leg 10. 50 year old Andy Normandale then ran the fastest short stage, taking just 11.04 for the two mile leg to leave Andy Neesom to anchor the team home on the final leg.

Having comfortably finished in the top 25 teams and therefore qualified for the National final,
attention now switches to Sutton Park on Saturday 14th April.

Results
Andy Hilton 20.17, Dan Isherwood 11.51, Mark Harney 11.57,
Mark Metcalfe 22.31, Andy Burt 11.14, Martin Kirby 11.43,
Hywel Care 20.36, Mike Raynes 11.27, Steve Simpson 11.41,
Paul Goble 23.11, Andy Normandale 11.04, Andy Neesom 11.29

Last updated 17/05/2008