YVAA Grand Prix Race 3 – Mulgrave Castle

The Yorkshire Veterans’ Athletic Association covers the whole of Yorkshire but races in their Grand Prix series have mainly been in West Yorkshire. Recent years have seen these multi-terrain races in Kirkstall, Meanwood, Crossgates, Honley, West Vale, Spenborough, Bingley, Pudsey, West Park Leeds, Horsforth and Otley. The only foray away from the West Riding has been the race on the flat at Knavesmire, York. To address this it was decided to add another race from North Yorkshire and Loftus & Whitby AC proposed putting on a run at Lythe just outside Whitby. A Sunday in June was chosen, so a fun day out at the seaside was on the cards. The only problem for me though was the lack of transport. The race was due to start at 11:15 but the start was a 10 minute walk away from race HQ so it was recommended on getting there at 10:30 at the latest to ensure timely registration. And Whitby is a long way from Leeds – about 80 miles – and public transport on a Sunday couldn’t get me there that early. Fortunately I found out that Horsforth Harriers were putting on a coach to take their runners there and they had a couple of spare seats and even better the club had decided to cover the cost of the coach to encourage participation, so I got a free charabanc outing to the seaside with a friendly bunch of fellow veteran runners.

The race took place in the private grounds of Mulgrave Castle, which according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulgrave_Castle) is leased out for four months of the year to supermodel Elle Macpherson, not apparently in June though. The Vets’ race coincided with the Mulgrave Castle 10K. The course around the estate woods was the same for both races, but the 10K started about five minutes earlier. The Vets’ race was the usual £5 to enter, whereas the 10K was £10 for affiliated athletes, so there was a definite advantage in being a Veteran. We just had to make sure we started in the correct wave. Race HQ was in a smart little Sports Pavilion in the village of Lythe. It had changing rooms and showers and a nice grass track to warm up on and refreshments (tea and bacon butties) were available. The race route was on woodland trails and the race description promised it would go past the old castle with stunning views of the coast and Whitby Abbey. It was seriously undulating with a small ford to cross in the middle and a killer hill to finish. There was also a dark little foot tunnel to go through. The total elevation gain was 525ft according to my Garmin so the hills were tough. The only bad thing about it was the hard core they’d put down on some of the trails through the woods, presumably to make them easier to drive along. Very painful for running on though. The soles of my feet are one big bruised blue and painful mass.

There was a respectable turn out for the Vets’ race with 114 runners finishing (37 women, 74 men and 3 guests). This compared well with the 10K race which had 122 finishers. Most of the usual Leeds based clubs had representatives with Horsforth Harriers, Kirkstall Harriers, Pudsey Pacers, Valley Striders, Saltaire Striders, Leeds City AC, St Teresa’s AC and Baildon Runners all turning out. Good support from the Kirkstall Harriers cheering team as well. I got a great shout out from them a couple of miles from the finish that spurred me on nicely. There was only one other Hyde Park Harrier there – David Womersley who had joined me on the Horsforth Harriers coach trip. We both caught and passed a fair number of runners in the earlier 10K race. It was nice chasing them down. I finished in 25th place in 48:31 just missing out on a prize this time as three quick M55s finished ahead of me. However no problems for David who was 1st M60 home and one place ahead of me in 24th in 48:11. He chose a nice bottle of red wine as his prize. With numbers down a bit on the usual Grand Prix races this ensured a good points haul for both of us. So overall after three races in the Grand Prix series David is now in third place in the M60 category with 470 points, and I’m in top place in the M55 category with 500 points. Full results can be found on the YVAA web site: http://www.yvaa.org/

After the race we had a couple of hours in Whitby before heading home. So time for a quick climb up the 199 steps from the Town up to St Mary’s Church and Whitby Abbey to take in the splendid views from the top. A grand day out.