Northowram Pumas Running Club

Continuing the bank holiday weekend racing we had Natalie Proven at Leeds Running Festival completing the Half Marathon consisting of 4 loops on an undulating course, she was pleased to come away with her second fastest half, although she’s not sure she’d repeat the event. Well Natalie.

🏏 Sunday was local derby day!
Some of our Pumas stepped well outside their comfort zone and took on Northowram Fields Cricket Club for a T20 match and fun day at Northowram Sports Club. Thankfully, the weather gods behaved, meaning everyone could enjoy the BBQ outside 🙌🏻, along with some live music 🎤. Who says runners can’t play cricket?!

🇦🇺 Sydney Marathon
Sunday also saw Dawn Higgins and Mike Farrell take on the Sydney Marathon, and what an experience!

We think Dawna and Mike sum it up perfectly:

“After two packed days exploring and taking in as much of Sydney as possible, it was another early start on Sunday, with a 4am breakfast before heading off for the marathon. Getting to the start was brilliant, with free public transport all weekend and everything incredibly well organised - although, as always with big races, there was the perpetual problem of not enough portaloos! 😂

The course itself was fantastic and so well supported, particularly crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but also along many of the out-and-back sections, through the parks and past Allianz Stadium.

The atmosphere and the support from the volunteers throughout was amazing. Even as the day got hotter and it became more about enjoying the event and soaking up the experience, we both felt the support kept us going.

Mike, all his training paid off with a marathon PB! For me, with injury and inconsistent training, I was absolutely thrilled just to make it to the finish line at the iconic Sydney Opera House and pick up that medal! 🥇

Sydney Marathon was beyond our expectations and a brilliant experience, and a what an excuse for a holiday in Australia!”

We’re super proud of you both. Huge well done! Now it’s time to recover and enjoy the rest of your trip. 🇦🇺

🙌 And finally…Not every celebration is about a race. A huge well done to Joanne Emma, who ran her furthest-ever distance this weekend, hitting double digits with 10 beautiful miles! 👏 Huge well done Joanne, keep up the good work! 🐯

Another busy weekend for the Pumas, and we’ve got a busy week ahead with our vets race this evening and our fun social run Taskmaster on Wednesday.

We hope you’ve all enjoyed the extended weekend, let’s take a look at what’s been happening - starting with Saturday!

Well done to all the Pumas who got their parkrun fix on Saturday, with 45 spotted across 17 different locations, including two in Scotland! 🐯👏

🥇 A special shout-out to Steve Chambers and Jordan Smith, both taking the win at their respective parkruns. 🔥

And a huge thank you to all the volunteers who made Saturday’s events possible. 👏 A special shout-out to Gail Bailey, who earned her 25th volunteer credit! 🙌🏻

🏆 Club Championship

It was the last week to take on the championship action at Oakwell Hall parkrun, so well done to Paul Stockdale, Bryan Schalge, Zoe Inman-Waring, John Williams, Alan Sykes, David Nattrass, Kate Weldon, Sarah De’athe and Louise Nattrass for getting those points in the bag.

Now we sit back and wait to see how everyone has done! 👀

🔥 RED ON 12
We also had a trio of Pumas at Haydock Racecourse over the weekend taking on Redon Events - a 12-hour endurance event where runners take it in turns to complete as many 5km laps as possible.

Well done to our ladies Liz Lund – 4 laps, with Lisa Hirst and Carly Hogg both completing 6 laps each. Covering a total over 50 miles between them. That’s a serious amount of running, well done ladies ! 💪🔥

Keep your eyes peeled for Sundays update 👀

Sunday saw the 8th race in this year’s Yorkshire Veterans’ Athletics Association Grand Prix, with the Pudsey Pacers as hosts.

The course was 5 miles and consists of two-and-a-bit laps, mainly on grass, tracks and field paths, with a small amount of road.

Well done to all the Pumas another great turnout. Congrats and highlights below:

Paul Wilson 🥈M55, Andy Haslam, Steve Chambers, Bryn Barker 🥈M65, Luke Cranfield, David Holder, Ally Canning, Jodie Knowles, Alan Sykes 🥇M75, Andrew Mellor and Gail Bailey

Next event is now next Tuesday 1st September for our very own race which we’ve re-arranged due to the extreme hot weather the other week. With a 6.30pm start It’s not too later to enter.

To register for the event follow the link

https://www.yvaa.org/events/grand-prix/gp-northowram-pumas-entry/

Saturday Round-Up 🏃‍♀️☀️

Let’s see what everyone got up to this weekend, kicking off with Saturday! 👇

First up, Oakwell Hall parkrun was offering a double-scoring opportunity, with the event counting towards both the Club Championship and the Parkrun Club Championship. 🎯

Congrats to 🥇Chris Newton, 🥈Richard Haydock, Paul Wilson, David Holder, Paul Stockdale, Blair Buss, Jason Brown and Andrew Mellor, points in the bag! 💪🏼🏆

Well done to everyone who turned out, with 47 Pumas across 21 different locations! 🙌🏻 And a special shoutout to Halifax parkrun on reaching its 500th event. 🎉
Thanks too to all our Pumas who volunteered and helped make the events happen. 👏🏻

Then it was time to swap the race shoes for something a little more social… still in their running shoes of course.

🍻 Summer Social – The Pumas Running Pub Crawl!

Saturday afternoon saw our first ever running pub crawl, because apparently a normal pub crawl just wasn’t enough!

We combined a little running with plenty of catching up, stopping off at a few pubs along the way, including a very welcomed BBQ at stop number two hosted by Shaun our Chairperson. 🌭🍔🙌🏻

A fab afternoon of running, refreshments, great food and plenty of laughs with fellow Pumas🐯

And that was just Saturday… 👀

Women run ultras, women do hard things 💪🏼🐯

Pumas show determination and camaraderie to complete ultra Five Northowram Pumas runners have completed a challenging 50k ultra-marathon through the Calderdale countryside, with the event providing some memorable firsts and a proud mother-and-daughter finish.

Weekend Racing 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Oakwell Hall cancelled, so no Club Champ points up for grabs. Our Pumas headed elsewhere instead, with 51 Pumas in 28 locations, including three outside the England, with Dan Hill all the way in 🇨🇦

Gemma Louise – Sir Titus Trot 10K, hosted by It's Grim Up North Running, it follows the Leeds & Liverpool Canal around the Bingley area. Great run Gemma 🙌🏻

Here’s what she had to say:
“It was a super grim up north event that took in both Bingley’s 5 Rise and 3 Rise Locks with cake on the finish line, what’s not to love?” 🍰

Sunday we had Carrie and Steve out cheering Eddie Liles on as he took on the Sedbergh Fell Race, 14 miles with around 6,000ft of climbing in the Yorkshire Dales. A seriously tough fell race with plenty of big climbs and challenging terrain! Well done Eddie, only two U23s dared to take on the route! 💪🏼

Oulton Park – hosted by RunThrough

We had three Pumas in attendance as they raced their way around the iconic Oulton Park motor circuit in Cheshire. 🏎️🏃‍♀️

Sarah Hodkinson was a guide runner for Paul, and they did amazingly getting him around with a 10K PB. Great work, Sarah! 👏🏻

In the 20-mile race, we had Stephen Earle crossing the line in P4 and taking the M50 age category win 🥇

Even more inspiring was Lisa Hirst, showing us all how it’s done with an incredible run, taking the win for the females 🥇 and finishing P12 overall.

Finally, Natalie Proven took on the Clacton-on-Sea Half Marathon, a seaside race taking runners along the promenade and coastline. 🌊🏃‍♀️

Well done everyone, another incredible weekend of racing! 🐯

🔥 YVAA Grand Prix Race 7 – Slaithwaite Striders 🔥

Sunday brought the latest round of the YVAA Grand Prix, hosted by Slaithwaite Striders RC and with temperatures more suited to the Sahara than Slaithwaite, it was a tough one! 🥵☀️

A hilly 5.4-mile course but our 12 Pumas dug deep and everyone got round safe and sound 😜

A huge well done to everyone - some fantastic age category performances too 👏🏻

🏃🏻‍♂️ Paul Wilson – 🥈 M55
🏃🏻‍♂️ Paul Stockdale
🏃🏻‍♂️ Jon Ding – 🥉 M60
🏃🏻‍♂️ Luke Cranfield
🏃🏻‍♂️ Steve Chambers
🏃🏻‍♂️ David Holder
🏃🏻‍♂️ James Holmes
🏃🏻‍♀️ Ally Canning – 🥈 M40
🏃🏻‍♂️ Alan Sykes – 🥇 M75
🏃🏻‍♂️ Andy Flynn
🏃🏻‍♀️ Jodie Knowles
🏃🏻‍♂️ Andrew Mellor
🏃🏻‍♀️ Demelza Bottomley

And things are looking very tasty in the team standings 👀 With three potential age category team placings currently in sight if we can hold those positions through the season. Even better, four Pumas are looking strong for individual prizes too! 🏆

Today should have been YVAA Grand Prix Race #8, hosted by us, but with the heatwave and temperatures set to soar, the decision was made to postpone. Safety first! ☀️🥵

Hopefully we can get a new date in the diary soon — keep your eyes peeled! 👀

Thanks again to Slaithwaite Striders for another great race, and well done Pumas!

🏃 Saturday Parkrun Round Up and Club Champs

52 Pumas out at 24 locations across the UK and beyond.

🇩🇪 Outside the UK: Ziegelwiese, Germany – Andy Flynn & Rob Bowman collecting their alphabet letter Z.

Highlights:
🥇 Paul Wilson – 1st at Oakwell Hall.
🥇 Chris Newton – 1st at The Cinder Track.
👏 Big thanks to all the volunteers who help make Parkrun happen.

Shout out to the Oakwell Hall attendees with their first stab at earning points for the Champs race: Paul Wilson 🥇, Richard Haydock 🥈, Mark Dickinson, Paul Stockdale, Darren Attwood, John Williams.

Mark was too fast for the 📸😜

That’s week 2 of Oakwell Hall flexi parkrun for both champs. Three more weekends left to get your points in. Well done team 🐯

JOGLE complete ✅

On the 18th June, two of our members, Shaun Casey, Chairperson for NPRC, and his good friend Grant McConnell, set off on a huge adventure. To run the length of Britain, John o’ Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE), all self-supported.

Carrying everything, including their tents, sleeping kit, clothes and snacks. Stopping off at cafes, shops and pubs for their main meals. They were wild camping wherever they could but would allow themselves to stay in a B&B every now and then for a treat, and spent most of their time on trails rather than roads.

They’ve had an epic adventure, which we could write about for days. They captured the adventure through a daily blog on Britain End to End page if you want to have a read.

After running 475 miles through Scotland together and then Grant having the disappointment of getting injured and having to go home. Shaun continued his journey while Grant got sorted. Turns out it was an infected insect bite, and after two lots of antibiotics, his determination made him return to Carlisle (where he left) and finish the journey by bike.

The plan was to catch Shaun and finish together, unfortunately, the bike was simply too quick and Grant finished his journey alone on the 28th July after cycling 515 miles. 19 days running and 8 days cycling. Simply brilliant Grant, be proud.

Shaun continued on his way on foot and reached the end Tuesday 4th, a week after Grant. Having run for 48 days, covering a total of 1183 miles (hitting 1000 miles on day 40). What an incredible achievement.

Both raised money for a charity very close to their hearts and raised over £12k (with gift aid), which is phenomenal, thanks to the donations from family, friends and strangers they’ve met along the way.

Truly inspiring, gents. The Puma family and wider community can’t put into words how proud we are of you both. Now rest up and enjoy some time off.

On Sunday we had two Pumas take on Jane Tomlinson's Run For All York 10K 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

A fast and flat city-centre race taking in some of York’s best-known sights, including the Minster, Clifford’s Tower and the historic city walls.

Huge well done to Sarah De’Athe, who ran with her sister, Gordon Brown, who is on a mission to run a race every month this year, and Anthony Wardle, who volunteered and was at the finish handing out medals. Well done, you three! 👏

Then a little closer to home, we had Nicola Flanagan and Lee Cousen take on the Leeds Half Marathon organised by The Fix Events which was actually Saturday not Sunday, sorry guys🙈. Both had a great run and enjoyed themselves - huge well done to you both! 👏

A great end to a fabulous weekend of racing. And the weather behaved too! ☀️🙌