RACHELLE TASTES AULD REEKIE 10K GLORY

Rachelle celebrates her success in the Edinburgh 10k at Murrayfield Stadium

Travelling to Scotland at the weekend was Rachelle Falloon, who was looking to build on her recent  victory in the Kielder 10k when taking part in the Edinburgh Women’s 10k race.
 
There were well over 1,000 finishers over the highly scenic city centre route that starts on the Royal Mile before taking runners past such sights as the Scottish National Gallery and Arthur’s Seat, through  Princes Street Gardens, past the Scottish Parliament building, through the Grassmarket and on to a grandstand finish in the Murrayfield Stadium.
 
In a leading group of three from the off that included also local runners Amanda Robertson and Natalie Wrangler, Rachelle was able to finally get ahead of the pair towards the end to win the race in an overall time of 37 minutes 24 seconds, a new personal best for the distance by over 10 seconds. Robertson was only 3 seconds behind in 2nd place and Wrangler 3rd in 37:32. The full results are available here.
 
Meanwhile in West Yorkshire there were three Harriers taking part in Sunday’s Abbey Dash 10k in Leeds city centre - which seems to have sneaked into the fixture calendar as an October race these days (some of us are old enough to remember it used to be towards the end of November).
 
With a reputation as one of the fastest courses in the country, the race remains hugely popular with nearly 4,000 entrants covering the out and back course from the Town Hall on the Headrow to Kirkstall Abbey, and 2019's problems of race measurement thankfully now behind it.
 
On a miserably wet morning, Sam Hancox had a tremendous run to come home in 17th place overall with a pb time of 30:17, having been up with the leading group for most of the way out to the Abbey.
 
Morpeth’s other two finishers were Finn Brodie, 27th in 30:37, and Richie Hughes, 216th in 35 minutes.
 
At the front end in  a close race, the winning time of 29:22 was recorded by North Belfast athlete Andrew Milligan, with Bristol and West’s Timothy Lefroy 2nd in 29:24 and Sheffield and Dearne’s Lewis Jagger 3rd in 29:28.  British international Jess Warner-Judd  was 1st female finisher in 32:18 ahead of Ethiopian Atsede Gidey (32:34) and Tonbridge’s Lucy Reid (32:35). The full results are available here.
 
Closer to home,  Dave Stabler was 5th overall and 2nd Over 45 in the Run Northumberland Castles Half Marathon, finishing in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes 37 seconds with the race won by Blyth’s Michael Stott in a time of 1:15:34 and York Knavesmire’s Rose Mather 1st woman home in 1:26:52. The full results are available here.