Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon, 4 June
Report by Colm O’Cofaigh
Saturday June 4th saw the Wharfedale Trail Half Marathon take place once again. This is a great race around Wharfedale, starting and finishing in Threshfield. The course is marked and about 13.3 miles long, mostly on trails and with about 2,000 ft of ascent.
The first section follows the Dales Way for a few miles up Wharfedale along lovely, undulating, grassy tracks before a sharp left and fast descent to Conistone Village. From there runners make their way over Conistone Bridge and then climb up to join Mastiles Lane. There follows a long climb ‘up and over’ before turning off for Boardley Farm, followed (eventually) by Threshfield Moor and the finish back at the Rugby Club in Threshfield.
This is a well organised, relatively low key race; you simply turn up, park in the field beside the start and get your race number from the rugby club-house. Registration was done within 5 minutes with the race starting just outside and there was even a free cup of tea at the start. The weather this year was pretty much perfect. A dry sunny day with a bit of a breeze to cool off.
Three Ripon Runners completed the race: Kate Shaw (02:39:51), Victoria Pang (02:39:06) and Colm O’Cofaigh (02:09:09).