Just 3 Barlickers in this race.  It was a beautiful night for it with great conditions under foot.

9 Sam Horrocks 36.41
13 Andy Berry 37:47 (2nd M45)
27 Mark Horrocks 40:45 (1st M60)

It was a special day at this park run as it marked the 500th occasion when Tony Kingham had been a volunteer.  Tony Kingham is a legend in that along with Selby Brock, they together ran the cross country club at Bradford Grammar School.  In doing so, they introduced the sport of running to thousands of young boys, some of whom went on to be national stars such as Richard Nururker and Alistair & Jonny Brownlee. That was in spite of their attitude that anyone could be a member of the club irrespective of ability, so long as they turned up and trained and turned out for races.  And every week, in the cross country season, they both gave up their Saturdays to take the boys to their cross country races.  Many of those "boys", now middle aged men (and some more) turned out to celebrate his milestone with park running.  It seems that half the world had the same thought too.  Sam Wadsworth was one of those boys who was introduced to running by Tony and Selby.

57 Sam Wadsworth 21:53
555 Graham Wadsworrth 41:40

23 Raymond Banks 26:22

59 Dave Halliday 24:43
61 Emma Pease 24:49
62 Lucy Brown 24:50
147 Stephen Jackson 29:55

22 Lucas Payne 20:07
34 Robert cranham 21:13
66 James Austin 22:31
288 Richard Shilton 29:05

It was perfect conditions for this race.  There had been no recent heavy rain and although there was no moon, it was a clear night with a bit of breeze on the tops.  Andy Berry had a good race and was actually in third place on the descent through Ogden Clough, but when he came to a tricky technical bit, the two chasing runners passed him and although he was in hot pursuit of them all the way to the finish, he could not claw back third place.

3 Andy Berry 47:28 (3rd M40)
19 John Mason 52:45

15 Carl Nevison 2:20:51 (15th M50)
21 Mark Horrocks 2:25:35 (1st M60)
68 Andrew Smith 2:41:48 (4th M60)
137/ 19F Lucy Brown 3:04:26 (6th W40)

3 Sam Horrocks 01:02:29
14 Carl Nevison 01:07:18 (3rd MV50)
31 Andrew Smith 01:19:44 (3rd MV60)

Fiona Hall 03:39:23
Helen Harrison 03:40:06 

2 Barlick ladies were on the podium at the Pendle 5 mile trail race, special mention to Jacq who warmed up with a 5 mile trot up Pendle first!

1 Emma Law 39:14 (13 overall)
3 Jacqueline  Collins 40:34  (19 overall) 

124 Emma Law 02:30:12 (16 lady) 

It was the 7th Hardmoors 55 for John Boothman and this year, he drove his camper van to Helmsley, parked up and rested for the night, ready to get the bus to the start of the race, the following morning.  It was an early start as the coach left at 6:00 am and arrived at 7:15 am leaving plenty of time to get kit checked and fitted up with a tracker ready for the 8:00 am start.

The weather forecast had been for cool weather and rain so John has dressed accordingly.  It was raining for the start of the race, so his choice of clothing looked good.  Early on in the race, John got swept along a bit faster than he had intended and not only that, but the rain stopped and he was getting way too hot.  He rolled up his sleeves and his running tights above his knees  and despite drinking as much as he could, he was dehydrating, resulting in him suffering some serious bouts of cramps.

At Osmotherly CP he saw a runner in the same age category who beat him last year, so he made sure that he got out first and tried to put some distance between them, but after a few miles, that other runner caught him up and passed him.  With about 8 miles to the finish, it started to rain hard and John had to stop to take out his waterproof jacket, hat, gloves and head torch as it was now becoming obvious that he would not finish before nightfall.   Another runner asked John if he could get his head torch out of his bag which saved him taking his bag off and after all this, he set off in pursuit of that elusive other runner.  John finished just over 2 minutes behind his target and the thought went through his mind, "If only I hadn't stopped to help that other runner".  But in actual fact, had he been closer, no doubt it would have spurred the other runner on.

68 John Boothman 11:47:15 (4th V60)

Much Longer Version of the Race, written by John

7 Lucy Brown 24:20
23 Emma Pease 27:34
60 Robert Cranham 39:55

50 Dave Halliday 25:19

54 James Austin 22:33
117 William Catlow 26:16
200 Stephen Jackson 28:48
237 Richard Shilton 29:43

3 Sam Horrocks 1:02:29
14 Carl Nevison 1:07:18 (3rd M50)
31 Andrew Smith 1:19:44 (3rd M60))

442 Robert Cranham 41:02

The Barlick vest has been seen in all four corners of the circular globe thanks to John Boothman who seems intent on completing marathons in every Continent. 

John paints an amazing picture of Japan which is culturally so different to what we are used to.  The Japanese are hospitable, impeccably well mannered and take a great pride in keeping their Country so clean and tidy.  There is no litter anywhere and very few rubbish bins.  People just take their rubbish home.  There is next to no graffiti and crime is near to non existent.  Small children travel on their own on trains in safety, all dressed immaculately and the transport system is outstanding and efficient, timed to within seconds.  John recommends that if the opportunity presents itself, everyone should visit this Country.

The race is held within Japanese cultural norms.  No plastic bottles are allowed in the race and only 250ml x 2 is allowed for fluid in either foil or cardboard cartoons.  You must carry your own litter and you must not relieve yourself  anywhere except in designated toilets.  There are of course drink stations around the course.  The crowds are much different to Western crowds and there is not any screaming and shouting, just polite waves and claps.

John's objective was to finish the race which he did in a time of 3:46.

After the race John and his wife Angela took some time out to explore what he describes as an amazing Country.

30 Emma Pease 28:11

61 Dave Halliday 25:39

91 James Austin 24:43
192 Richard Shilton 28:23

This is the first serious race that Andy Collins has undertaken since making his comeback.  He had not really planned to do it, but Raymond Banks surrendered his entry and in a moment of wild optimism, he took it.  Andy has not done any serious racing, but he has been training, although not for a 31 mile race.  Before the race, his realistic objective was to finish. 

On race day, he went quite well for twenty miles and and then the wheels came off which was a shame as all the big hills are in the second half.  That is when the lack of proper training and preparation hit hard.  During the last ten miles, runners he had overtaken earlier  went passed him and at one point, he wondered if he would ever make it to the finish.  But finish, he did which given his inadequate preparation was a result.

In the ladies race, Lucy Brown had a good race to finish 2th woman.  Katy Potts also took part.  She ran in the pairs race, but ran on her own.  They finished as follows:

48 Andy Collins 5:14:20
191 Lucy Borwn 6:17:53 (24th woman)
433 Katy Potts 7:41:02

76 Graham Wadsworth 40:36
77 Robert Cranham 40:59

58 Sean Fitzpatrick 25:36
64 Dave Halliday 25:55
115 Lucas Payne 28:21

256 Richard Shiton 30:02