TWENTY ONE members of Richmond and Zetland Harriers flew through various distances at Elvington Airfield's Big Flat Runway Race event on Sunday.

Thankfully the incessant rain from the day before had stopped but left behind a keen wind which was felt by all the runners at the York venue. The airfield, which is 3km long, had race choices of 5k, 10k, ten miles, half marathon and marathon.

The Harriers covered all the different distances, which were set off in small socially distanced groups. First to go and tackling the ten-lap, 26.2 marathon distance, were Carl Jones and Steve Middleton.

Carl finished fifth overall in 2:33:40 followed by Steve, who had an incredible run and finished 32nd and fifth in age category in 2:55:00.

The most popular distance was the 10k and first home for the Harriers was Rob Scott who finished fourth in 32:48 followed by Charlie Stephenson, 24th in 36:54, Tony Lambert 43rd and second V50 in 38:37, Joseph Smith, in his first 10k race, 52nd and straight in for the sub 40 in a time of 39:28, closely followed by Mark Forrest, 54th in 39:35, Paul Simpson 85th in 42:19 (PB) and the first female home for the Harriers was Rebecca Smith who had a great race finishing 92nd in 42:50 (PB), Nicola Simpson 112th, first in age category in 44:36, Rachael Smith, 154th in 48:32, followed by her mum Gail Smith 165th, 50:44. The half marathon had just one red vest racing, with Paul Ellis finishing in 24th in 1:28:08.

In the ten mile race, Ken Harker, who is running very strongly, finished seventh overall in 1:02:22, Laurence Corbett was 15th in 1:06:35, Kimberley Reeve had a great race finishing 36th in 1:18:19 (PB) and Lucy Goundry was 38th in 1:18:55.

The final race of the day was the 5k and there was some cracking times. First back for Richmond and Zetland was Matthew Lambert in fourth in 16:17. Tom O'Mahoney was 20th in 17:05, closely followed by Josh Lincoln, 22nd in 17:14 and Joseph Reeve, 46th in 18:37.

This brought an end to a tremendous day of racing after a difficult few months and many race cancellations.

Last month, Dan Upton was out on the field at the North East Counties Athletics Association (NECAA) open meeting in Morpeth on Sunday, September 27. He had another outstanding day with distances of 13.13m in shotput and 39.16m in the discus, which was not only a PB but a club record.

Because of these incredible performances Dan in now top of the UK rankings in the M40 category in the two disciplines.

Saturday, October 3 saw John Gray head to the Lakes to take part in a weekend of trail running.

Darlington and Stockton Times:

John finished the Lakeland Trails Coniston 15k in fifth place and second V40 in a time of 1hr 15mins. The very wet race with graded runnable climbs and descents, starts and finishes from the shores of Coniston Water and goes through the coppermines valley.

Not deterred by the rain the day before, John was back out the next day to compete in the Lakeland Trails Half Marathon. Said to be the most scenic marathon route in the country, the half marathon utilises the first 17km of the marathon route before heading back to Coniston. John finished fifth and second V40 in 1hr 49mins.

Further information on the club and training nights can be found on the website www.richmondzetlandharriers.co.uk