The Leeds Abbey Dash races last Sunday had more than 10,000 people running through the city centre for Age UK charity, raising over £250,000. The 10K race attracted more than 8,000 runners from across the UK, with many aiming for a personal best on the flat fast course, which is an out and back route to Kirkstall Abbey from Leeds City Centre.

The atmosphere was great with lots of encouragement from the supporters as you came back into Leeds. Bedale and Aiskew Runners Paul and Nicola Simpson was participating for the club. Paul finished in a top eighth position of 1023, achieving a new PB for a 10K of 43:01, beating his previous best by a massive 45 seconds. Nicola Simpson, who is recovering from a calf injury, was pleased to be back racing and even more so at her first event in her home town. She posted a time of 46:57 for an overall position of 1520th, and 28th out of 638 in the FV40 category.

The previous day several club members were taking part in Parkruns. At Catterick, Anne Johnson reached the milestone of taking part in her 50th Parkrun in a time of 27:07. She is the third member of the club to reach this target. One of those higher is Raymond Lightle finishing 46th in 25:26, with Marian Hunter 92nd in 29:07, and John Hunter 101st in 29:34 out of 188 taking part. At the beautiful Fountains Abbey course Jayne Rosamond, Daren Rosamond and Chris Appleton ran in close formation to record 34 minutes, in the nearly 400 strong field.