Well Done to Cameron Bell and Tilly Simpson for getting selected to run for England (North) at the U20 International. Cameron finished 7th in his race with a time of 1.57.39 and Tilly came 1st in a close race in 2.10.17.

HALLAM CHASE (Sheffield)

THE RACE

The “Hallam Chase” is a Handicap Fell race open to runners from South Yorkshire that has been going since 1862, and is well organised by Hallamshire Harriers.

The course is only 3¼ mls long but has a total climb of 800ft, and is an out and back run, starting at the top of the hill at one side of the valley, down into the valley, up to the top of the other side, and then returning.

The surfaces you run on are, road, grass fields with stiles, tracks and a steep rocky path call Den Bank. The field before Den Bank on the return leg produces some interesting running (walking) styles which can be seen on “YouTube Hallam Chase 2007”

MY RACE

As I live in Nottingham, I ran this race as a Special Guest by the permission of Hallamshire Harriers, as it was the 90th anniversary of my father (who was a member of Hallamshire Harriers) winning this race in 1926, and for this I thank Steve Moran and Carol Varns.

I gave the organisers details of my recent races and was given a start time of 50secs. The last man started at 16m 40s!!!!

There were 63 runners this years and I started 5th and took it easy down the hill to Den Bank, overtaking 3 but being overtaken by 2 runners (who finished 1st & 2nd).

The fields and stiles to the stream in the valley went well, as did the start of the climb up the other side, as I moved into 3rd place!!!

The rest of the climb up the hill was good and I turned only about 150yds behind the leading two.

Returning to the valley was interesting, for as I ran down the field, runners were coming up, which presented difficult situations at stiles, small gaps and stone steps!!!

After the stream, I switched into Crawler gear, and started the climb up the fields. Unfortunately the field before Den Bank proved too much and I started to walk (see YouTube).

At the bottom of Den bank I was still 3rd, but a look over my shoulder showed a line of runners close behind. Den Bank was hard, and on the only flat piece of the course (50yds) I could not get my legs to run again and was overtaken by3 runners, but I got them going and ran up final part of the hill into the sports field, but was overtaken by more runners. The legs were still working, but 2 more runners went past me on the final run in and I finally finished in 20th place.

On actual running time I was 57th out of 63, but as the only one over 70yrs I collected the prize for the Oldest Runner (2 bottles of Beer).

It was a very special and emotional occasion for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it especially as I was allowed to run in a Hallamshire Harriers vest.

The meeting today was so close we still haven’t had confirmation who has won.  With just the relays to go we were only 2 points behind Middlesbrough!!!!!

Whatever the final result the athletes put in a stunning effort today and again were the noisiest club giving loads of cheers and applause to their fellow athletes.

Well done everyone (including the officials who had a lot to contend with).

The Yorkshire Championships was a very successful weekend for Hallamshire, with many medals won from all age groups.

In the U13B 100m final Hallamshire claimed all 3 medals with Joel Vernon finishing 1st in 13:31, Kayden James coming 2nd with a PB of 13.47 and Nathaniel Dyas in 3rd with 13.93. For the U17 Women Alicia Littlejohn finished 5th in Heat 2 with a PB of 13.54. In the U15G final, Acacia Williams-Hewitt came 2nd in 12.61, Lucy Revitt finished 6th with a PB of 13.08 and Nicole Hague came 8th also with a PB of 13.31. Freya Sedgewick came 6th in Heat 2 of the U15G 100m with a time of 14.20. Ben Kelly came 5th in Heat 1 of the U17M 100m in 12.20.

In the 200m, Hermione Archer came 2nd in the U20W final in a time of 27.32 and Acacia Williams-Hewitt finished 1st in the U15G final with a PB of 25.50.

Lucy Revitt came 3rd in the U15G 300m final with a Seasons best of 43.08, after winning her Heat in 44.07. Ryan Selman finished 6th in the U17M 400m final with a PB of 62.46. Caitlin Tevendale came 3rd running 66.29 in the U20W 400m. Charlotte Slack came 4th in a strong Senior womens 400m race in a time of 59.70.

In the U17M 800m, Joshua Francis came 5th in Heat 2 with a PB of 2:21.21. Saskia Huxham won the U17 Womens race with a PB of 2:14.66. Alex Durant finished 6th in Heat 1 of the U15B race with a time of 2:23.18. In the U15G Tati Wilson finished 7th in the 800m final in 2:36.85. Earlier in the day, Tati had won her heat in 2:30.09 with Ellie Rogers running a PB of 2:35.97 for 4th place in Heat 1. Sophie Oliver came 8th in Heat 2 with a PB of 2:55.20 and Holly Booker finished 5th in Heat 3 in 2:35.56.  In the U13G 800m, Ruby Simpson won Heat 1 in 2:30.73 and Emily Hunter came 3rd with a PB of 2:37.70. In Heat 2, Zena Hartley won in 2:31.26, Summer Ludlam finished 7th in 2:49.92 and Georgia Robertson came 3rd in Heat 3 with a PB of 2:39.11. The U13G final was a high quality race with Ruby Simpson taking the gold medal with a PB of  2:22.95, Zena Hartley had a strong race to finish 2nd also with a PB of 2:26.58 and Emily Hunter came 6th gaining another PB of 2:35.14. Charlotte Slack took the bronze medal in the senior women’s 800m in 2:18.41 (with the first 4 women all on 2:18).

Connor Milnes dominated the senior men’s 1500m, leading from the gun in a strong wind to win in 4:04.49. Josh Walton was 5th in the U20M 1500m (the official time has not been included in the published results). David Lewis was 12th in the U17M 1500m in 4:39.39. In  the U15G 1500m, Jodie Hill finished 2nd in a high quality race with a PB of 4:56.32. Laura Trask and May Quinn both ran pbs, with Laura finishing 6th in 5:11.48 and May 10th in 5:28.48. Taylor Hill was involved in a fast U15B 1500m, eventually taking 5th with a new PB of 4:36.88. Ben Shaw ran well to finish 13th and improve his pb to 4:57.92.

Hannah Fletcher won the senior women’s 3k, running a new pb to take the gold in 10:00.29. Imani Wilson also ran a pb to win the U20W 3k in 10:54.52 with Lilly Fletcher taking the silver medal in 11:01.24.

In the 75m Hurdles final, Lucy Revitt (U15G) came 5th with a PB of 12.86 and Nicole Hague after a bad fall at the start, showed her determination and got up to finish 8th in 19.33. In the 80m Hurdles, Gabby Craft (U17W) finished 4th in 13.05. Ben Kelly came 1st in the U17M 100m Hurdles in 17.54 and Saskia Huxham also came 1st in the U17W 300m Hurdles with a PB of 45.79.

In the High Jump, Ayman El-Amrani (U17M) came 3rd with 1.70m. For the U20W, Hermione Archer came 5th with a seasons best jump of 1.40m. James Lee won the U20 Mens with a seasons best of 1.90m. In the U15G, Ellie Rogers came 9th with 1.30m, Sophie Oliver came 11th with 1.25m and Freya Sedgewick finished 12th with a jump of 1.15m. Sam Kelly came 6th in the U13 Boys with 1.20m and Erin Lobley finished 2nd in the U13G with a PB jump of 1.48m.

Nathanial Dyas came 7th in the U13 Boys Long Jump with a PB of 3.61m and Erin Lobley (U13G) won gold with 4.72m. Nicole Hague finished 2nd in the U15G also with a PB jump of 4.90m. For the Under 17s, Alicia Littlejohn came 8th with 4.66m and Ryan Selman came 5th with a jump of 4.71m. Elaine Williams finished 3rd in the U20 Womens long jump with 4.87m and Heermione Archer came 4th with 4.53m.

In the Shot Putt, Nathanial Dyas (U13B) came 4th with 5.84m and Erin Lobley (U13G) won another gold medal with a PB throw of 8.76m. Alicia Littlejohn (U17W) finished 11th with 8.59m and Nathanial Thompson (U20M) came 2nd with 11.32m.

In the Discus, Joshua Francis (U17M) finished 1st with 22.70m, Charlotte Mather (U20W) came 4th with a Seasons best throw of 29.61m and Sophie Oliver (U15G) came 7th with 13.71m.

George Perkins came 4th in the Senior mens Hammer throw with 43.05m.

In the Javelin, Lauren Foletti (U15G) got gold with a PB throw of 28.04m. For the Under 17s, Saskia Huxham came 3rd with a seasons best throw of 28.91m and Joshua Francis came 2nd with 27.71m. Charlotte Mather (U20W) finished 4th with another seasons best throw of 22.66m.

Well Done to all Athletes that competed, it’s great to see so many Medals being won and Personal bests being achieved.

Steve Bayton produced a fine performance in his debut at the marathon to win the Manchester marathon in 2:22:34. Steve was in a chasing group for the early part of the race, before coming through to take the lead in the latter stages to win in convincing style.

Pete Hodges hopes of running a PB were frustrated by a hip injury in the opening miles. Pete still managed to finish 111th in 2:50:52.