Worksop Harriers host their annual Halloween Half Marathon

The ‘mildly-undulating routes’ takes in the autumn colours as runners start with a climb up Sparken Hill from Outward Academy, rolling towards Carburton Lodge before through Clumber and up to Truman’s Lodge and then along old coach and Windmill Lane to head through the grounds of Worksop College.

All that hard work is rewarded with a fast finish back down Sparken Hill.

Many members of Worksop Harriers lined the course, joined by family, friends and a few friendly rivals from Retford AC to host nearly 1400 runners.

These were treated to not only fine morning on a fantastic course but plenty of Halloween dressed marshals, famous ‘motivational’ posters as runners headed down Old Coach Road and a long sleeve finishers tee-shirt to prepare the runners for the winter ahead.

The race was won by Tom Straw in a time of 1:10:10 whilst Hayley Gill won the ladies race in 1:22:01.

Alongside the many members marshalling out on the course there were also had a small number of Harriers out running the course whether they were in their first year as a Harrier or fancied a crack after many years of standing on the side lines.

Dom Fielding was the first Harrier back, finishing seventh overall in 1:17:40.

Jack Hutchinson was next making a return to racing after recent success at the Amsterdam Marathon in 1:29:34.

Chris Bliss and Jordan Shipman followed close together in 1:41:06 and 1:43:58 and then William O’Reilly in 1:49:31.

On the ladies front Cathy Mhembere was back already from her RRR-ultra in 1:52:40 followed by Sam Springthorpe in 2:00:53.

The Harriers were rounded off with Sarah-Jayne Baines running her first half in 2:48:57

Whilst most of the club was fixated on half a marathon, a small contingent was country hopping for an Autumn Marathon as five Harriers took on the Frankfurt Marathon.

Cool conditions and a slight threat of rain meant conditions were ideal for a fast time on the flat course that loops through the German city before heading over the River Main and through the south side of the city – and the times did not disappoint.

A conservative start and a relentless second half paid dividends as Tom Shaw and Matt Daly crossed the line in an unsplittable 2:49:17, with a textbook even split of 1:25:07/1:24:11 to obliterate Matt’s sub-three target, a club silver standard and a whopping 11 minute PB.

The Harriers didn’t have to wait for their next sub-three either as another PB and big milestone hit as Matt Chappell ran 2:58:57 with another superbly paced race, digging in for the last few miles to make sure that sub-three dream remained alive.

The Harriers’ men were rounded out by Henry Brady with a real gutsy performance to run 3:08:48 and one that definitely shows it won’t be long before there is another sub-three addition to the club.

Biggest negative split of the day however belong the sole-female Harrier on tour as Hannah Miller also put in a superb second half to make a great four minute marathon PB to run 3:22:56 with another superb split of 1:43:31/1:39:26

It wasn’t just the seniors on show this week though with another great junior team outing as they took part in the second Sportshall contest of the autumn/winter season.

Full results are still to follow but it was clearly another great team outing with a big turn out taking part in all manner of run, jumps and throws and also a suite of awards to be handed out to Harriers following on from some great performances at the previous indoor mini league meet.

Next week it’s sure to be a mud filled report as Harriers take part in their first cross country (for the seniors at least) of the season at the Berry Hill XC relays.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​