THIS week had Richmonds athletes taking on the whole of Yorkshire in the road relays held at the Brownlee triathlon centre in Leeds, half marathons in Sheffield, duathlons in Washington, Thirsk 10 mile and even track meetings in Darlington and Wakefield.

Richmond and Zetland Harriers took 4 squads to the prestigious Yorkshire road relays in Leeds. With Yorkshire having a population bigger than 3 out of the 4 home nations in the Commonwealth games it gives you an idea of the talent in this running club that we can compete with bigger clubs and areas, but not just compete but were on the podium with every single team is an outstanding achievement. First up were the U13 girls trio of Shannon Robinson, Holly McCowie and Alana Teasdale who stormed round the course to take the bronze medal. They were then followed by the flying U13 boys squad of Joshua Hammett, Thomas O’Mahoney and Joe Reeve who finished top of the pile to take gold for Richmond and Zetland. The club wasn’t finished there as the U15 boys team of Kyle Rabjohn, Daniel Francis and Charlie Stephenson added the double by taking the title and the gold medal. Kyle Rabjohn also was the 3rd quickest runner in this age group to take home an individual bronze. The pressure was then on the senior mens team to take on the other 37 teams in this event. They didn’t disappoint with Reece Dalton, Carl Jones, Rob Scott and Liam Rabjohn each scorching round the 4800m track to bring home the team in silver medal position, another outstanding performance. Liam Rabjohn was also the 2nd quickest runner around the course to take the silver individual medal. Garry Malton smashed his pb at the Sheffield half marathon by 8 minutes (01:50:21). Harry Robson combined his running and biking skills to finish an excellent 4th overall at the Washington sprint duathlon. Up across the border Mark Crawford ran the Grangemouth Roond tha’Hooses 10k (39:12). At the Kieran Maxwell Memorial track meeting at Darlington, Ken Harker took 5th in the 1500m (04:51) and then followed this up with 8th in the 3000m (10:28). Josh Hammett was also in action in the U13’s taking 1st in the 800m (2:29, pb), 2nd in the 200m (29:6, pb) and also 2nd in the long jump (3:78, pb). Tom O’Mahoney and Joe Reeve ran in the U15’s 1500m both recording new pb’s with Tom in 7th (5:10, pb) and Joe taking 11 seconds of his previous best. At Wakefield, Kyle Rabjohn took the win in the U15 boys 800m in another big pb (2:08:05, pb). The Thirsk 10 miler had been postponed due to the Beast from the East, but the delay didn’t stop our athletes with Carl Jones storming round the course to take 2nd overall and the 1st V40 athlete (54:15:33). David Hack was next for the club, followed by Kevin Bond taking a big chunk off his pb in 151st (71:57, pb), Ryan Greer was next in 316th and another massive pb (81:07, pb), then it was Kiska Wilson (78:08), Pauline Whittaker (85:38), Diane Adkins (90:16) and Karen Greer with a huge pb in 632nd (01:48:05, pb). The mens squad also was the 1st team home.

Steve Middleton was 1st at Catterick parkrun (16:50), followed by Garry Malton in 30th (22:31) and Thomas Greer in 76th (26:35). At Sedgefield parkrun Mike Jefferies was 2nd (17:47) and Deb Pennick finished in 242nd (37:18).