James Dawson Runs 214 Miles to London and Then Runs the Marathon!

Last weekend was a “big” weekend for the Harriers. Saturday saw 15 of our members running in the “The Yorkshire Three Peaks”. Then Sunday saw Harriers running in the London Marathon.

Over to Yorkshire first for the Three Peaks Race, which starts and finishes in Horton in Ribblesdale, 24.2 miles in length, with 5,336ft of ascent. The route goes over Pen y Ghent, down the valley to summit Great Whernside, before finally heading up Ingleborough. It essentially follows the walking route with a few modifications, the main one being the runners go under the Ribblehead Viaduct, before climbing up the steep grassy slope to the summit. Walkers have to follow the track via the Blea Moor tunnel. It’s a race where strategy and tactics are important, because runners have to ensure that they have plenty of “gas” left in the tank, after reaching the summit of Ingleborough. From the summit, there is a six mile, high speed descent back to the finish at Horton, with no respite. So depending on how much “gas” you have left, it’s where runners can make up both time and position, overtaking those who have run out of energy, or suffer the opposite.

One innovation recently introduced into the race, is that of a relay race, consisting of three legs (one mountain each), each leg being run by two team members. The Harriers had two teams of 6 in the Y3P relay. On a boiling hot day, the conditions were tough. Sadly RHAC Team 2, Leg 1, was forced to retire when one of our athletes injured an ankle coming off Pen y Ghent (after the hard work had been done!). The results for RHAC’s relay teams at the Yorkshire Three Peaks fell Race were as follows:

RHAC Y3P Relay Team 1: (5hr 09 min 46 sec)

Leg	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3
RHAC Athlete	Jake Warwick and Jennie Ransome	Chris Ransome and Chris Gee	Pete Butterworth and David Bull
Time	2:17:01	1:22:18	1:30:27

RHAC Y3P Relay Team 2: (DNF due to injury on Leg 1)

Leg	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3
RHAC Athlete	Craig Howell, Neil Eaton	Jill Barton, Nicholas Barton	Mark Walker, Nicholas Walsh
Time	DNF due to injury	1:28:16	1:30:59

Three Rochdale Harriers competed in the full Y3P Race. First back, and struggling with the heat, was Kay Welsby. She posted 4hrs, 54m, 17s to finish as 18th WV40. Next to finish was Jonny Lawlor (M),
315th, in 5hrs, 4m, 25s. John Bramwell (MV50) was Harriers third runner, After just making the final checkpoint at Hill Inn in time, John suffered in the hear but completed the race in 5hrs, 58m, 14s finishing 538th.

Now down to London, most Harriers took the train to the capital, except for James Dawson and his friend Alex Haddock. Alex’s dad sadly died in Springhill Hospice aged 45 years from Motor Neurone Disease. So Alex and James decided to raise money for the hospice by running in the London Marathon. But, instead of taking the train, they set off from the hospice in Rochdale on Tuesday 21 April, running all the way to London, arriving on Saturday, then lined up for the marathon on Sunday. To say they had ran 214 miles prior to the race, their times were very good. James finished in a time of 4hrs, 56m, 25s and Alex 4hrs, 55m, 31s. So far they have raised £38,900 for the hospice, a fantastic reward for their efforts.

Of the Harriers running in the London Marathon without a 214 mile warm-up, Abdul Shahid finished in a superb time of 3hrs, 29m, 8s. Followed by men’s captain Kevin Holland in 3hrs, 53m, 4s. Next was Ruth Fearn, raising money for Bowel Cancer UK, in 4hrs, 38m, 53s. Followed by Abdul Wadud in 5hrs, 16m, 52s.

Foreign adventure story No 6. One Harrier enjoying the sunny climes of Crete, saw it was the 10th Anniversary of the Crete Marathon, so decided to run it, as you do when on holiday. Hollie Green was the lucky Harrier enjoying the Crete sunshine, finishing in 4hrs, 54m, 53s.