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03
May
Why is there no public athletics track in the Harrogate district?
The Harrogate district has a vibrant running scene.
Former Harrogate schoolboy and Olympian George Mills recently broke the 3,000m British record, whilst 20-year-old George Couttie won silver at last year’s European Cross Country Championships in Turkey.
The Stray Ferret’s recent Guide to Running highlighted the wide range of running clubs in the district, while weekly park runs in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough attract hundreds of entrants.
But despite the enthusiasm and wide array of opportunities, there is no public track and field facility in the region.
How damaging to the district is this? Are aspiring athletes having to travel away from the area to succeed, and are some talented individuals missing an opportunity entirely?
'Amazing facilities' in Leeds
The Stray Ferret recently spoke to Adam Prentis, former chairman of Harrogate Harriers and founder of Harrogate Parkrun, to find out why the district has not invested in a track.
He first told me the benefits an athletics track can have on an area:
Athlete development, athlete training, community cohesion, inclusivity. These are all things that having a running track can bring to an area.
I go to the track in Leeds to train and you see elite athletes training there like the Brownlees alongside club runners, and people who are just trying to get fit. They’re amazing facilities.
Inclusivity is a major issue in sport. Disabilities can make competitive sport extremely difficult for aspiring athletes and facilities and opportunities to tackle this have long been below par.
Athletics tracks can help to tackle this while also providing facilities that help elite athletes to thrive.
Adam competing for Great Britain.
Disadvantages of its absence
The Harrogate district had five Olympians competing last year in Paris.
But Georgie Brayshaw, Jacob Fincham-Dukes, Harry Hepworth and George Mills all had to move away from the town to professionally develop their talents.
Although Mills started his athletic career at Harrogate Harriers, the 3,000m British record holder moved to Brighton in 2017 to be professionally coached.
Springboard diver Jack Laugher trained in his early days at the Harrogate Hydro but relocated to Leeds as he became more serious.
This situation does not reflect well on Harrogate.
Mr Prentis said:
One of the drains on Harrogate for young athletes is that if they are good, maybe at high jump or pole vault etc., they tend to get dragged off to York or Leeds.
If a kid loves sport, then them and their parents have a decision about where that sport is going to take place and how much that is going to impact their life outside of work.
So, if the facility isn’t on your doorstep and a kid is quite keen, their parents are going to have to drive them somewhere else. In athletics terms that’s Leeds, York, or Keighley, which are all a considerable distance away.
So, either your parents take you to one of those locations or you give up.
The absence of an athletics track also has economic consequences.
Sports facilities host community events, which attract visitors, who in turn boost the local economy.
Harrogate Harriers on the Run Harrogate 10k course through the Crimple Valley in 2019. Photo: Dan Oxtoby Photography
Why don’t we have a track?
So why don’t we have an athletics facility in the area?
Technically, we do. Harrogate’s Army Foundation College and RAF Menwith Hill both have athletics facilities. However, they are both difficult, if not impossible, to access for members of the public.
Mr Prentis said:
The triathlon club sometimes trains at the army college. We can get into it, but it isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t advance all the things we just talked about – inclusivity, community athletics, development of elite athletes and junior development.
The governing bodies Sport England and England Athletics invest millions of pounds annually into sport initiatives across the country.
However, Mr Prentis believes that because of the two existing tracks in the area, the district is not seen as a priority for these governing bodies to invest in, as other places have no facilities at all.
Is it viable?
Mr Prentis said that, surprisingly, funding athletics projects is usually the easiest bit.
He said Sport England, England Athletics and North Yorkshire Council all had allocated funding pots for this kind of projects but finding land and securing planning permission was the most difficult.
He said whe he was chairman of Harrogate Harriers, there were talks with Ashville College to establish a running track on the school's premises, but they came to a halt.
The Stray Ferret contacted Anna Rakusen-Guy, events and lettings manager at Ashville, for an update. She said
We’re still in talks with the running club. The proposals are ongoing and it’s in the three-year plan.
It’s always residents that halt the progress. They don’t want the added noise. We’ve been working with them and the council, though.
We also asked Harrogate Harriers chairman, Ben Shadlock, for his views. He said:
I do believe it’s viable. The club has some funds available, and we’d be willing to contribute towards upkeep, but for a project like this to succeed, it needs to be led by an organisation that can take on the planning and long-term management – most likely a school or another institution with the infrastructure to support it.
There’s definitely potential for it to happen, but it needs a proper push. Without strong backing from a large organisation, it’s always going to be hard to get things off the ground – but with the right partners, it’s absolutely achievable.
We also contacted Ripon Runners, which also thought it could be viable. A spokesperson said:
I think that an athletics track would be a viable proposition; there's a lot of sporting space in Ripon and a lot of clubs, not just running, and local initiatives that would benefit.
Athletics tracks are versatile and can be used by all age groups and a range of sports clubs to improve overall fitness and an athletics track in Ripon would massively increase sporting culture too. Not to mention an increase in business for the inevitable post-race/ run/ track coffees!
Few would doubt the benefits a track could bring. But there still appears no clear way forward.
Mr Prentis said he accepted that land in Harrogate is expensive and hard to come by, but said he would like to see what North Yorkshire Council’s vision is for Harrogate, and urged it to give the thousands of children in the district the best possible chance.
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