Gales, torrential rain and an overcrowded race course didn’t stop some of our hardiest Team Blizard athletes from smashing their life time bests at the Leeds Abbey Dash 10km yesterday, with some gritty performances also recorded by those further down the field.

There was also some muddy action down at Canon Hall on Sunday, where plenty of our Blizard runners were braving the bogs of the latest South Yorkshire cross country league.

The Abbey Dash 10km has ballooned in size and popularity over the last 30 years, but particularly so in the past decade, with this year’s entry of 12,000 combined with the atrocious weather forecast causing organisers to trip up with many elements, including water stations, non-existent finish gantries, and overcrowding leading to a number of nasty accidents along the way.

However, glittering PB runs from Matty Smith (33:28), Team Blizard elite Tom Morris (33:50), Chris Prioer (32:44), and Jo Goodier’s fastest time in decades (38:56) proved that even all of those elements couldn't stop some of our athletes from excelling against the odds!

Fellow Team Blizard elite triathlete - and clearly also a decent runner in his own right - Mike ‘High Tower’ Chadwick, wasn’t far off his best ever time with a strong 34:51, while elite team mate Fiona Davies had a gutsy run with a 37:59 clocking.

Blizard’s Ruth Jones had a less than satisfactory time of it, with breathing problems leading to a well below par 43:11 result, but her time was nothing compared to the issues poor Stuart Bartley had, collapsing just metres from the finish line with low blood pressure! Thankfully he is well recovered now, but we wish him a better race at the Percy Pud 10km!

Dan Page was spurred on by his recent national running magazine feature with a superb 34:40, while V40 Peter Tallents was just ahead with an even more stunning 34:26!

Matt Russell clocked a strong 41:18, while Jonathan Drake’s 37:55 was all the more impressive considering he was unhappy with the result - let this spur you on to even greater times Jonathan!

Finally, finishing not far from each other were some Team Blizard gems in the form of Brian Rose (36:50), Peter Twigg (37:20) and Chris Pye (37:56), all of whom should be proud of themselves considering the conditions and the crowds!

Later the same day saw hundreds flocking to stomp around in a muddy field for fun at the South Yorkshire cross country at Canon Hall. There was a strong showing from Doncaster AC as well other local clubs, with the day’s star performers being top V55 Caroline Wheelhouse in 15th
overall, V50 Simon Wright 14th in the men’s race, and our own Owen James in 20th not far behind.

One of our lovely Blizard Towers team members, Liz Jackson, did herself proud in the women’s event, while Martin James, Mark Higham, Brett Daughtrey, Lee Weatherall and Ian Micklethwaite all ran well on a very challenge course!