A double victory for York Acorn at the Helmsley multi-terrain 10k run on Easter Sunday. Andy Hilton was first male in 36:06 and Becky Penty was first female in 38:48 and well done to all those Acorns who ran this inaugural event. Read Andy Hilton’s full race report here:
Distance: roughly 10k
Weather conditions: Bright, sunny, quite warm when the sun came out!
Results: Andy Hilton : 1st : 36m 07s, Becky Penty : 6th overall (1st lady) : 38m 48s, Chris Judge : 17th : 41m 20s, Matt Rylatt : 50th (5th V45) : 45m 38s, Paul Lewis : 65th : 47m 33s, Gerry Orchard : 137th (10th V50) : 53m 49s and Julie Bushell : 164th (11th L40) : 55m 49s
Seven Acorns formed the 246 runners taking part in the inaugural Helmsley 10km on Easter Sunday and marked it by taking the honours in both the mens and the ladies race.
For a first time race, it’s hard to fault the organisation and the friendliness of the marshals. An Easter Egg and a mug for all finishers was most appreciated and with any luck, this race will become a fixture in the local calendar with its scenic, yet challenging route.
Becky Penty looks to be on course for great London Marathon on the basis of this showing, coming home on this hilly course a mere two and a half minutes behind winner, our own Andy Hilton, himself continuing his steady progress back from the injury set-backs of 2009.
Andy admits to have misread the marker posts as ‘kilometres’ when in fact they were in miles! A nice surprise to find the 5 marker was not an indicator of being halfway but instead a sign the race was nearly done. “I thought those km’s were slow coming round,” said Andy, “but it wasn’t a bad (if accidental) psychological tactic, that last mile flew by.”
Chris Judge produced another solid run for 17th, clearly signalling that his 10km PB should be under threat on more forgiving courses this summer. Regular racers Matt Rylatt and Paul Lewis came home 50th and 65th respectively, benefitted from a calculated choice of off-road footwear which left many of their rivals slipping in their wake in the final miles of the race.
It was also great to see Gerry Orchard and Julie Bushell posting excellent times and showing Acorns support for a promising local event.
Rating out of 5: Let’s go 4.5 out of 5 – can a race be perfect? Maybe next year!
Race report by Andy Hilton
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