Beverley Athletics Club: 17th March 2023

What a celebration was had as Beverley AC members celebrated their 2022 achievements at the Awards Night at the Beverley Barn. This is the Club’s biggest celebration of its members and their running achievements throughout the year. Over 40 awards and prizes were handed out from fastest runners over a range of distances, handicap series winners, knock-out cup winners and many nominations for more discretionary awards. Many congratulations to all nominees and award winners!

Awards for the fastest runners over a range of distances were – Fastest 5k Ladies – Demi Lidster (Hull Parkrun), Men – James Johnson (KHH Track Championships); Fastest 10k – Ladies – Demi Lidster (Doncaster 10K), Men – James Johnson (Doncaster 10K); Fastest 10 miles – Ladies – Demi Lidster (Gilberdyke 10), Men – Rob Sparkes (Ferriby 10); Fastest Half Marathon Ladies – Demi Lidster (Vale of York), Men – Rob Sparkes (Doncaster); Fastest Marathon – Ladies – Lucy Stamford (Manchester), Men – Ian Boardley (Manchester).

The Club’s Handicap Series is a range of races held over the year. Beverley winners of the individual races are as follows – 1. Ferriby 10 – Billy Pike; 2. Beverley Westwood Parkrun 7 May – Matt Edey; 3. Top of the Wolds 10K – Daniel Waslin; 4. Withernsea 5 – Ben Atkinson; 5. Gilberdyke 10 – Carol Botterill; 6. North Newbald 5 Handicap – Elaine Julian; 7. Dave MacDonald Haltemprice 10k – Chris Gibson; 8. Hornsea Third – Simon Bishop; 9. Walkington 10K reverse handicap – Stephen Hall; 10. Humber Bridge Half Marathon – Stephen Pointon; 11. South Cave 10K – Doug Sharp; 12. Major Stone Half Marathon – Alan Flint; 12. Kilham 10K – Sarah Anderson and 13. Doncaster 10K – Demi Lidster.
5 members ran 10 or more races in the Handicap series, a huge commitment and achievement and congratulations went to Rich Uttley, who raced 12 of the races, Frank Harrison who raced 11 and Matt Edey, Chris Gibson, Martin Greensill who each raced 10 of the races.

The overall series winner was Rich Uttley, with Doug Sharpe and Matt Edey a very close 2nd and 3rd respectively. The 10 km Handicap series, saw Elaine Julien take the coveted prize with Rich Uttley and Frank Harrison taking 2nd and 3rd.

The Knockout Cup winner was Lucy Bishop and the runner-up was Billy Pike.

The winners of the Andy Tate Duathlon, consisting of a 2-mile run/20-mile bike/2-mile run, were Simon Pick (1st male) and Jayne Dale (1st female).

The East Yorkshire Cross Country League Beverley AC Winners 2021/22 were Rob Sparkes (1st male) and Catherine Snowball (1st female) while the East Yorkshire Cross Country League Beverley AC Winners 2022/23 were James Johnson (1st male) and Jenny Rowe (1st female).

Further recognition was made to celebrate individual and team successes in several other categories.
The Team prize was awarded to the Hardmoors 80 Relay Team – Billy Pike, Kobus van der Westhuizen, Paul Duxbury and Nathan Cobb.

The Endurance (Ultra) Performance Award went to Pete Watkinson for his Hardmoors 40.

Female Marathon Performance of the Year was awarded to Valeriya Marshall (Manchester marathon) and the Male Award was presented to Brad Freeman (Yorkshire marathon).

The award for Female Race Performance – non-Marathon went to Demi Lidster (Doncaster 10 km) while the Male Race Performance – non-Marathon was awarded to Mark Dalton (Beverley 10 km).
The Female Most Improved Runner of the Year was awarded to Charlotte Sherman and the Male Award went to Chris Peach.

The Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female went to Jenny Rowe and the Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male went to Nathan Cobb.

The Pacey Pensioner Award is awarded to the member over 65 who has proved that age is no barrier and deservedly went to Pete Watkinson, who has achieved some amazing results over a range of distances during the year.

The Club Committee presents the Committee Recognition Award each year to someone who is deserving of special recognition for serving and representing the Club and this year’s worthy recipient was David Robinson who has done amazing work over many years coordinating and collating race results and statistics for the Club.

The Club Runner of the Year Award is considered to be one of the top two awards of the night and is awarded to the Club member considered to have achieved the most during the year in terms of running results. This year’s worthy recipient was Jody Horth.

The second of these awards is the Members’ Member of the Year and is voted for by the whole Club membership and is awarded in recognition of the recipient’s contribution to the club whether during the year or over a period of time but primarily not for running achievements. This year’s popular winner was Lewis Holloway, Head Coach of the Club’s Junior Section, who dedicated his award to his junior coaching team: “Many thanks to the club for the award of Member of the Year. It is very much appreciated and should really be seen as being for all the juniors coaching and admin team who give a lot of time and effort to making our juniors section successful”.

As if there was not enough to celebrate at the Awards Night, March saw yet more personal achievements of note.

The East Yorkshire Cross Country Season culminated with a fantastic morning in Sewerby on an amazingly calm day on the coast where Beverley AC came away with an excellent chunk of prizes both in the individual and the team categories. James Johnson was first to finish with Linda Rowe securing 2nd female. In the veteran categories, Sam Allen was FV50 2nd, Viv Williamson was FV70 2nd and Pam Atkins was FV75 1st. In the men’s categories, Stephen Walker was MV45 2nd, Billy Pike as MV55 1st, Mark Dalton was MV60 1st and Frank Harrison was MV80 1st. In the team categories Beverley Men were 2nd and Beverley Ladies 3rd.

Snake Lane 10, a local 10-mile race hosted by Pocklington Runners was the Club’s 2nd handicap race of this season and proved to be a popular local choice for 52 of our members, with Mark Dalton securing MV60 3rd place as well as 14 of our runners achieving Personal Best times for this iconic race.

The Golden Fleece circuit is organised by the South Cave Scouts and has two distances – the long route is 27 miles and 2000 feet of elevation, and the short route is 15 miles and 1000 feet of elevation. Beverley AC smashed the long route with Nathan Cobb coming in 1st in 3:45:30 followed by David Meilhan in 2nd place in 3:50:28. Lucy Stamford came in 2nd lady in 4:10:06. Another 4 Beverley runners successfully completed the long route of this challenging local course with a further 32 runners completing the shorter route.

Beverley was delighted to host the Yorkshire Veterans Athletics Association (YVAA) Cross-Country Championships in March, which took place on Beverley Westwood. The YVAA promotes athletics events for over-35s in Track and Field, Road, Multi-terrain, Cross Country and Fell and this prestigious event brought together athletes from across Yorkshire. Beverley AC was delighted with some excellent results, coming away with several of the team prizes – in the Ladies, the F45-F54 team secured a podium place whilst there was also success in the Mens with the M40-M49 and the M50-M59 teams also securing prizes.

Congratulations to Linda Wright who achieved a lifetime goal of running 50 miles in under 11 hours by completing the Chester Ultra 50-mile (actually 51.25 miles) trail run in 11:04:00. Linda is raising money for Stroke after her husband Simon, suffered a stroke in 2021. Whilst supporting Linda with her challenge as he continues his recovery, Simon completed his own challenge of matching Linda’s running miles by completing 5 x 10 km sessions on his static bike as part of his rehabilitation. Linda commented: “This is one of those achievements in life that makes it all worthwhile. Now it’s done how do I feel? Amazing is the answer. Firstly, I could run that far and off-road too. But secondly that I could successfully prepare and train for such an ordeal both physically and mentally. Achievements like this don’t happen without the advice, help, support and commitment from others, so thank you all!”

With the winter xc season now concluded, 40 members have signed up to take part in the prestigious Champagne League, a series of 10 local cross-country races taking place from March until July. The series is organized by the City of Hull AC with local clubs invited to take part racing at venues located throughout the East Riding. The League starts in March with the first race at Newbald.
Beverley AC Juniors continue to go from strength to strength and were well-represented at the last North York South Durham XC race at Whitby producing some great performances on a tough course against good competition.

In the U11 race, Addien ran well in the girls’ event, as did Seb, Xavier and Zach in the boys.
In the U13s, Indie was 2nd girl which was very impressive, alongside Willow, Orlaith, Lorna and Poppy, with Ben representing the boys in this age group. In the U15 boys, Caleb secured a great 3rd place, with Louis also racing in this group, whilst in the girls, Millie, Milla, Harriet, Meisha, Roxie, Lily and Ella produced some great runs. Finally, in the U17 boys’ race, Rob took a strong 3rd place, with Joe also producing a good run.

And finally, some more important dates for your diaries. Beverley’s iconic 10kms race takes place Sunday 14th May 2023. Places sold out quickly on the first batch of places released and now all places released from the second batch have now sold. Walkington 10 km will take place on Friday 14th July 2023.

New members, whatever your age and fitness level, are always welcome and further details about the membership and what the Club has to offer to its members can be found on the Club’s website: www.beverleyathleticclub.co.uk.