Report from Billy R

After getting up in the middle of the night, Ann Y picked me up for the drive over to Dewsbury in time for a 9am start!! Although cool there was little wind and no rain, ideal for running. We didn’t see any other Black & Whites prior to the start.

On arriving at the start area Ann had to seek the assistance of the St Johns Ambulance to treat an injury. After receiving treatment and given the all clear to run we took our places on the start line. A minutes silence was observed prior to the start in memory of a local woman who had been knocked over and killed by a wreckless driver on the course the day before.

The course is a flatish out and back course on the Bradford Road out of Dewsbury. After 2k I suffered from a stitch which was unusual for me and this slowed me down for the next couple of km. Approaching the turnaround point I spotted Andy Webster coming the other way a short distance in front of me. After turning around I also spotted Ann who was not far behind me. Ann also suffered a stitch at this point which hampered her chances of catching me.

I maintained a reasonable pace for the second half to finish in just over 51 mins with Ann, who was running with an injury, approximately 30 secs behind.

On over hearing someone say the course was long we both checked the distances on our watches and mine had the distance at  6.31 miles whilst Ann’s showed 6.32 miles!!

The race was won by Mohammad Abu-Rezeek of Altrincham in 30:43 and first lady was Aly Dixon of Sunderland Strollers in 34:37.

First for Otley was Peter Crowder (37:44 PB) followed by Andy Webster (49:20), Andrew Rayner (51:17) and Ann Yeadon (51:40 and new PB)

An apology was issued by Dewsbury Road Runners on Monday 6th February as the course was long by approximately 200m which makes the runs by Peter and Ann all the more impressive.