Saturday morning 7th January 2016. The scene was set, weather perfect and course conditions the best they have been.
Volunteers had been out since 6am setting up tents, BBQ, drinks then marshals set out to their designated position around the course to make sure all took the right turns and all were okay for the conditions.
Start finish line was beside the Rifle Range Road Carpark for all categories other than the children who ran a 1.5km course along and back the bottom of the Wither Hills.
We had 180 competitors pre-enter online or entered on the day in various categories.
1st came the Walkers who set off at 7.45am. The field favorite was Barry Neal so long as his replacement hips held up. Barry was walking in memory of his late Son who passed away last year and to support Suicide Awareness.
Results for this section was from a field of 25:
Overall: 1 Bary Neal 1.11.55 (1st veteran men); 2 Dave Leahy 1.12.24; 3 Gwen Connor 1.23.44 (1st veteran women); 4 Tracey Bradshaw 1.37.58 (1st senior women).
The time difference in this category for finishers was 1 hour 40 minutes. We thought we had lost 2 special ladies from Holland but then got a message from the top of the course they had stopped for coffee. The writers fault as at registration they were told to have a good look at the views. Did not realize they already had a flask of coffee. Well done Jolanda and Tinele.
Next off was Hybrid which is a mix of walking and running and really these 2 should be of equal parts. We have a rule that if you come in 60 minutes or under you are swapped to the running race. This did happen to only one competitor this year who finished in 59.42.
It came very close for the eventful winner John Urlich in a time of 1 hour 21 seconds. Well done John.
Results were for this section was from a field of 42:
Overall: 1 John Urlich 1.00.21 (1st veteran men); 2 Hugh Benger 1.02.21; 3 Haleigh Rayner 1.06.01 (1st senior women); 4 Jo Fowke 1.06.47 (1st veteran women); 5 Gina Botham 1.09.03; 6 Haydn Mearns 1.09.22; 7 Darren Simpson 1.09.28; 8 Katie Foley-Taylor 1.09.52 (1st junior woman); 9 Andrew Mann 1.10. 25 (1st senior men); 10 Tim Ting (1.10.27)
Next off was the race to decide who the King and Queen 2017 was to be. Favorites were past King Sam Hansby and Queen Megan Craig. There were plenty nipping their heals along the course but both won out in the end.
Results from this section from a field of 87:
Overall: 1 Sam Hansby 41.47 (1st Senior Man and King of the Withers); 2 Stephen Blackwell 43.06 (2nd Senior Man); 3 James Kuegler 45.16 (3rd Senior Man); 4 Jason Hunt 45.38; 5 Megan Craig 47.19 (1st Senior Woman and Queen of the Withers); 6 Stu Cottam 47.47 (1st Veteran Man); 7 Chris Webb 48.31; 8 Grant Beattie 48.35; 9 Mark O’Reilly 48.43 (2nd Veteran Man); 10 Robbie Barnes 48.48 (3rd Veteran Man); 19 George Varney 53.02 (1st Junior Man); 22 Connor McLeod 53.20 (2nd Junior Man; 27 Jack Boon 54.47 (3rd Junior Man); 57 Hannah Barnsley 1.05.01 (1st Junior Woman); 67 Aimee Stuit 1.08.22 (2nd Junior Woman).
For the first time in the race history we had a 1.5km children’s race where we had 24 competitors. The start was the fastest of all the events and good results came in.
Overall results:
Overall: 1 Jorja Bacchus 7.07; 2 Freya Thompson 8.01; 3 Rory Thompson 8.07; 4 Lexi Timpson 8.13.
Business House results (3 to a team):
1 Rose Ag (Haleigh Rayner, Anna Archie, Nick Rayner); 2 Team Yealands (Brian Strong, Darren Simpson, Loren Hickin); 3 The Who Family (Caitlin Morris, Phil Morris, Sarah Morris).
Couples – living together in a partnership or marriage.
1 Andrew Jones 55.25 (Run) Jo Jones 1.02.24 (Run) combined time 1.57.49 1 Haleigh Rayner 1.06.01 (Hybrid) Nick Rayner 53.19 (Run) combined time 1.59.20
Full set of results go here.
