THE Burton Leonard 10K is a regular and popular event on the local running circuit.

The Bedale and Aiskew club had nominated this as a club championship event and six members of the club took advantage.

The course is a combination of road and cross country with a couple of tough uphill sections.

It was a hot day with no breeze and little shade, and so was a stern test for all the 321 runners in the race.

The first Bedale runner to finish was Paul Simpson in 54th overall and a time of 46 minutes 58 seconds. Close behind was new member Ben Smith who is getting faster with every race. He finished 59th in 47.34. Will Retchless and James Bartram motivated each other most of the way round to finish 75th and 76th, posting times of 48.36 and 48.37 respectively.

Nicola Simpson had an impressive run to finish 5th woman out of 130 in the field, with an overall position of 79th and a time of 48.51. Rebecca Smith raced well in the tough conditions to record 57.54 and position 177th. Paul, Ben and Will's combined times represented the Bedale team finishing 14th out of 34 male teams.

Louise Coggrave travelled over to Helmsley to run in the Duncombe Park 10K in the 'It's Grim Up North' festival weekend. It was another hot day and turned out to be interesting with the race setting off on an incorrect route turning it into 14K, which she completed in 1-42.35. Meanwhile Raymond Lightle was running a fast 5K Parkrun at Catterick in 22.36, to be followed the next day taking on the Billingham Ray Harrison Memorial 10K. Raymond again felt good and finished in 48.02 for 55th overall out of 148, and 2nd in his M60 age category.

Nicola Simpson also ran the Catterick Parkrun the day before her 10K event and finished just behind Raymond in 22.43 to be 3rd woman, followed by Nicky Watkinson in 25.47, Peter Bridgstock in 27.55 and Anne Johnson in 30.08.

If you are interested in finding out more about joining Bedale and Aiskew Runners please email: info@bedaleandaiskewrunners.org.uk or check the website.