The latest race in the East Yorkshire Cross Country League took place last Sunday, a 6.6 mile route through the Drewton Estate near South Cave. The weather was good for running, cool and calm, although predictably lacking in sunshine and very muddy underfoot. There was 870 feet of elevation throughout this mainly gently undulating route through woodland and farmland with a massive, quad busting climb in the middle. Josie Rawes ran a brilliant race, her time of 46 minutes 8 seconds earned her the place for 1st female and 16th overall out of 284 competitors, an amazing achievement. Mike Richmond wasn’t far behind in 47 minutes 40 seconds and Simon Jones was 3rd M55 clocking 48 minutes 56 seconds. Next came Richard Robinson in 50 minutes 12 seconds, Kelly Richmond in 51 minutes 32 seconds, Kirsty Brown in 52 minutes 41 seconds, Paul Smith in 58 minutes 23 seconds, Rich Johnson in 59 minutes 36 seconds and David Owuor in 59 minutes 59 seconds. Karen Framer-Scott’s time of 60 minutes 54 seconds placed her 3rd F60. Andrew Garside was next in 61 minutes 2 seconds, followed by Jo Towler in 65 minutes 59 seconds and Serena Partridge in 68 minutes 4 seconds. Jenny Richards was 2nd F65 with her time of 71 minutes 27 seconds. Karen Harper crossed the finish line in 75 minutes 44 seconds, followed by Martin Sunley in 76 minutes 4 seconds, Sally Brown in 80 minutes 7 seconds, Shirley Tyrrell in 83 minutes 20 seconds, Mike Punchard in 83 minutes 30 seconds and Nicola Wise in 85 minutes 51 seconds. Dean Wise was 3rd M70 with his time of 92 minutes 3 seconds.

Suzy Hodgson certainly found some sunshine for her weekend running, probably more than ideal for competing! Suzy ran the Burj2Burj Half Marathon in Dubai. The fast, flat course takes runners across the cityscape of Dubai, passing by the landmarks that make the city famous and supported along the route by cheer zones and live entertainment. Suzy’s time of 2 hours 11 minutes placed her in the top quarter of over 11,000 runners

Back to drizzle and mud, Andrew Bates ran the Hardwick Hobble, a 3.5 mile lapped course through the beautiful Hardwick Hall gardens and grounds. The challenge was to see how many laps competitors could run within 6 hours and with oodles of sticky mud and over 300 feet of elevation per lap, this was tough both physically and mentally. Andrew was pleased to complete 5 laps totalling 17.5 miles.