About a thousand runners will take part in the Harrogate 10K on Sunday.

The event, organised by running club Harrogate Harriers, starts and finishes at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Club on Hookstone Road.

Olympic triathlon champion Jonny Brownlee will present medals to the winners of the adult races, which starts at 10am.

The adult event will be preceded by a fun run for children, which includes a 1.3 km route for children in school years 2-5 will and a 2.5 km course for those in years 6-9.

The event, sponsored again by Knaresborough renewable energy firm Harmony Energy, takes runners on around Crimple Valley, finishing with the notorious Crimple killer last uphill kilometre.

A total of 486 adults and 70 children took part last year. This year, more than 800 adults have already registered.

However, local running star Cal Mills, who set a men’s record of 33 minutes and 13 seconds last year, won’t be defending his title.

Cal Mills (green vest) on his way to victory last year.

The women’s race last year saw Emily Gibbins, of Ilkley Harriers, destroy the female record by more than four minutes in a winning time of 38 minutes and 15 seconds.

Entry for the 10k race can be done here https://racebest.com/races/375cy

Online entries, which can be booked here, close at 10am tomorrow. If places remain, you can enter on the day.

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For most people, the Great Knaresborough Bed Race is all about fun and supporting good causes.

But for some, it’s also a highly competitive 2.4-mile mad dash across town and river while pushing a bed.

The elite teams train hard for the glory of arriving back at Conyngham House first and it’s doubtful whether anyone has had more success in the event’s 57-year history than Chris Miller, 41, who led the GH Brooks team to victory in 13 minutes and five seconds last week.

It was Chris’ 12^th success in the race since he first took part in 2003, making him the Novak Djokovic of the bed race. He chalked up nine wins with Harrogate Harriers before having a break and landing three more with GH Brooks.

The GH Brooks team leading with Chris (left)

The GH Brooks team is on a four-race winning streak. Its reserve team even managed third, with Ripon Runners second in the men’s race and first in the women’s.

GH Brooks is a builders’ merchants in Harrogate and although the name conjures up images of guys in high vis jackets with jeans hanging down their backsides beating a load of runners, the truth is more prosaic.

They are the Harlem Globetrotters of the bed race — local running superstars hand-picked for the event thanks to the support of GH Brooks owner Andy Broadwith. Chris confesses:

“We are a team of ringers. We are all mates who race for local clubs.”

Chris represents Wharfedale Harriers, others run for Harrogate Harriers and Leeds City Athletic Club. But nothing on the track or fell compares with the bedlam of bed race, where tens of thousands of people line the midsummer streets.

Running for Wharfedale

He says:

“It’s just mad. When you come by the World’s End pub you are just hit by this wall of noise.”

Elite local runners are queueing up to be part of the GH Brooks success story but Chris, who by day is a scientist, is understandably reluctant to break up a winning team. John Young, with six race wins, is another major part of the success.

Don’t even think of applying if you can’t manage a five-minute mile — and not many can. To maintain that pace while pushing a bed up winding, undulating streets and swimming across the Nidd is extraordinary.

“You have to be a competitive standard because you’re only as fast as your slowest runner. You’ve got to be prepared to be hurt and then hurt again.

“Experience helps but it’s down to having six runners who are all of a similar standard.”

This year’s time was six seconds slower than last year, when GH Brooks became the first to dip below 13 minutes.

But Chris says it was the “hottest and hardest” bed race he’s done.

Winning with Harrogate Harriers

How long will he continue? A couple of years, he says, but admits bed race is addictive. He will send out the call after Christmas to see who wants to enter and doesn’t expect many refusals. He says:

“People say afterwards ‘I think this will be my last one’ but when it rolls round they want to do it again. There’s nothing like it.”

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Harrogate is home to one of Britain’s most famous sporting dynasties — the Mills family.

Dad Danny played football for England and Leeds and while his 19-year-old son Stanley is forging a career with Everton, 23-year-old son George is making a name as an international middle distance runner.

George was 1,500 metre British champion in 2020 and has realistic ambitions of representing the UK at the World Championships in Budapest this year and at the Olympics in Paris next year.

Like most international athletes he lives a nomadic life, spending winter training in South Africa and then alternating between there, Leipzig in Germany and St Moritz in Switzerland during the summer race season.

Training in St Moritz

But his roots are firmly in Harrogate, having lived in the town for most of his childhood when he attended Ashville College, Brackenfield School and St Aidan’s Church of England High School. His youngest brother is still at St Aidan’s. George says:

“St Aidan’s is where I got properly into running. I was in Year 7 and I went to a lunchtime cross-country club every week. I started doing local school races and joined Harrogate Harriers when I was 12 or 13 where I had my first proper coach.”

Under Jo Day’s guidance at Harrogate Harriers, he improved rapidly and became under-18 European 800 metres champion at the age of 17 by running a remarkable 1 minute 48.36 seconds.

Jo recalls:

“Everything I asked George to do he did. I had to pull the reins in on him at times because he wanted to work so hard.

“He was incredibly focused. If you are going to do something in the Mills family, you do it 110%!”

George in a Harrogate Harriers shirt with coach Jo Day

In September 2017 George moved to Brighton to attend university and transferred to Brighton Phoenix, the club 1980 Olympic 800 metres champion Steve Ovett ran for. But injuries kept him off the track for three frustrating years.

He bounced back in 2020 to win British indoor and outdoor titles at 1,500 metres — the distance he now focuses on.

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But international athletics is a brutal and unforgiving sport. His senior British debut at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade last year turned into an “absolute disaster” when he thought he’d recovered from a bug only to fade to seventh in his heat.

He was then tripped in his second senior international appearance at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul this month.

George, however, doesn’t dwell on these disappointments. He says:

“You learn to roll with it. There’s always setbacks in sport. It’s how you deal with them that counts.”

Instead he is focusing on doing everything he can to have the best chance of success in the 18-month run-up to the Olympics. And we mean everything: he runs up to 180 kilometres a week in training, which even by the standards of the Mills family, where everybody exercises at least five times a week, is extreme. He jokes:

“They think I’m a bit of a weirdo because it’s so time consuming.”

Parental support

His parents are, however, totally behind him and occasionally watch him race. George, who is now a member of On Athletics Club Europe’s elite team of young runners, says:

“Having a dad from a high level sporting background was positive. He taught me about discipline and training — how I have to eat, sleep and train right and recover right. Being a professional sportsman is a 24/7 thing.”

Running may have usurped football but the bond remains strong. He grew up kicking a ball and admits he was “an absolute glory hunter as a kid” who supported Chelsea but now just supports his brother, who made his Everton debut last year.

George runs up to 180km a week

Athletes may be the financial poor relations to footballers but the route to the top is every bit as hard.

British middle distance is currently the strongest it’s been since the 1980s golden era of Ovett, Coe and Cram so even qualifying for major championships is tough.

George, however, is up for the challenge of being an Olympian in 2024.

“The level is incredible at the moment but if I said to you ‘I don’t believe I will make it’, I would be lying. It’s my sole focus. Paris next year is the big goal. But it’s way easier said than done.”

One thing is for sure, he won’t shirk the challenge.

“I’m very much a believer in mindset and the people you surround yourself with. Success breeds success.”

Eighteen year old Harrogate student, George Couttie, has been crowned winner of the senior boys race at the English Schools’ AA Cross Country Championships.

The event in Nottingham saw hundreds of sixth form pupils representing both schools and clubs from across the nation.

The races were split into age groups – junior, intermediate, and senior – with 100 boys competing in the senior category.

George, who studies at Harrogate Grammar School, won the senior’s 7km race by a 5-second lead, with a time of 0:19:12.

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George is currently studying for his A-Levels, after which he will study sports science at the University of Charleston, in West Virginia, on a sports scholarship.

He is coached by Joanne Day at Harrogate Harriers and is hoping to run for Great Britain in the future.

Alice Couttie, George’s mother, said he has competed most weekends over the winter:

“George has high hopes for track races over summer.

“He deserves this recognition”.

Eve Whittaker, another member of Harrogate Harriers, also competed and ranked fourth place in the senior girls’ race.

She completed the 5.9km race with a time of 0:16:25.

Harrogate’s Helen Price ran for more than 12 hours in temperatures close to 40 degrees to win a prestigious race in the Pyrenees on Saturday.

Ms Price, 52, set off at 6am and crossed the line at about 6.30pm to win the female over-50s category and finish fourth female overall in the Luchon Aneto 40 mile trail run.

She was one of a team of eight runners representing Harrogate International Partnerships, the charity responsible for Harrogate’s town twinning links around the world.

Luchon, which is among the places twinned with Harrogate, hosts an annual trail run through the French Pyrenees with various distance options.

Competing in the 65 km event, Ms Price set off in darkness in woods but was soon under the non-stop glare of the mountain sun, in temperatures ranging from 35 to 38 degrees centigrade.

There were four water stops but it was so hot she also had to get water from mountain streams to stay hydrated as she climbed over 4,000 metres.

Ms Price, a sports massage therapist who is a member of running club Harrogate Harriers, is one of the best fell and mountain runners in the district but even she found it tough. She said:

“The heat was exhausting. I was a bit shaky at the end.”

Two other members of the Harrogate International Partnerships team also finished on the podium.

Caroline Lambert

Caroline Lambert, a former pupil of St Aidan’s Church of England High School in Harrogate, won the 20km female race in a new course record.

Bianca Dyer was the first over-40s female in the 40km race.

North Leeds Fell Runners‘ athlete Martyn Price, who is married to Helen, was fourth in the 45km men’s race. He said:

“The conditions were absolutely brutal. People were dropping like flies.”

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The men’s and women’s course records were both broken at today’s Run Harrogate 10k.

A total of 486 adults took part in the event, which was organised by Harrogate Harriers. Another 70 children participated in an inaugural kids’ fun run.

Winner Cal Mills, representing Leeds City AC, set a new men’s record of 33 minutes and 13 seconds to finish 32 seconds ahead of Harrogate Harriers’ Jack Kelly.

Emily Gibbins, of Ilkley Harriers, obliterated the female record by more than four minutes in winning in a time of 38 minutes and 15 seconds.

Harrogate Harriers won both the men’s and women’s team events.

Struggling up the ‘Crimple killer’ in the final kilometre of the race.

The race, which was sponsored by Knaresborough renewable energy firm Harmony Energy, started and finished at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre.and took runners around Crimple Valley.

Entrants enjoyed mercifully cool conditions over the multi-terrain course, which finished with the notorious uphill Crimple killer last kilometre.

In line with many running events this year, entries were down on last year. full results are available here.

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Up to 1,000 people are set to take part in the Run Harrogate 10k this weekend.

The annual race, which goes around Crimple Valley, is Harrogate Harriers‘ premier event of the year.

It starts at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre on Hookstone Wood Road at 10am on Sunday and finishes at the same place.

This year’s event, which is sponsored by Knaresborough renewable energy firm Harmony Energy, includes a new kids’ fun run, starting at 9am.

The fun run has a 1.3km run for children in years two to five at school and a 2.6km run for children in years six to nine.

Rudding Lane will be closed from about 9.30am to 11am while the race takes place.

The multi-terrain route is about 70 per cent tarmac road, with the remainder on good footpaths.

The men’s race record is 33 minutes and 29 seconds, set by Marcos Palacios. The women’s record is 42 minutes and 32 seconds, set by local athlete Tam Calder, who has entered this year.

Marcos Palacios

Tam Calder

About 550 people have entered so far. The race capacity is 1,000 so you can enter on the day.

Sue Moul, membership secretary at Harrogate Harriers, said:

“It’s our premier event and we are looking forward to welcoming everybody back to the course.”

All finishers receive a medal and goody bag and there is a £1,500 prize fund.

Entry fee for runners who aren’t affiliated to Harrogate Harriers is £19 if paid in advance.

The kids’ race costs £3 to enter and all proceeds are donated to CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably.

A donation from the adult races will go to Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Further details are available here.

A new trail running group has been formed for people who want to get fit while enjoying some of the best scenery in the Harrogate district.

Pateley Runners will stage free off-road runs three times a week around the fields of Nidderdale.

Si Lawson, who is setting up the venture along with two friends, said he hoped it would appeal to local people as well as tourists.

Mr Lawson, who moved from Harrogate to Pateley Bridge last year, likened the group to the Early Bird Run Crew, which was set up as an informal, free running community in 2019 and now organises regular runs in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Trail running involves being close to nature, so those taking part will face the added challenges of rough terrain, cow pats and low hanging branches but also feel the exhilaration of exercising in spectacular scenery. He said:

“Trail running is a different type of running to road running. It’s much more sociable. The intention is to be totally inclusive. Anyone can run with us.”

A post on the We Love Nidderdale Facebook group announcing the venture has received a large response.

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The group will meet at the bandstand in Pateley Bridge every Tuesday night at 7pm as well as on Thursday nights and during the day on Sunday.

Mr Lawson said the Tuesday group would be aimed at everyone, with a view to getting beginners fitter for longer runs later in the week.

He said other local running clubs, including Harrogate Harriers, Nidd Valley Road Runners, Knaresborough Striders and Ripon Runners provided a great service but Pateley Runners would cater exclusively for trail runners.

A scientist who still runs for Harrogate Harriers, he said he was less minded to travel 70 minutes to Harrogate and back to join fellow runners when there was a public footpath outside his house into the heart of Nidderdale.

He plans to set up a Facebook page called Pateley Runners shortly.

This year the Harrogate Harriers will use money raised to support the cardiac unit at Leeds General Infirmary, which saved the life of club member Rob Athey.

Mr Athey, 48, who lives in Harrogate, survived an alarming chain of events that started with a grazed knee last autumn and resulted in life-saving heart surgery and a two-month hospital stay.

He said:

“I do a lot of off-road running so I picked up a graze on my knee, which caused me to contract a blood infection called endocarditis. That took over my body and damaged my heart valve. Some of the heart valve came away, causing a blood clot, and then I suffered a stroke on the back of that.

“Then it came to light that I needed open-heart surgery to actually replace the heart valve.

“I got tested positive for covid as well, which meant that when they performed the open-heart surgery – because they have to stop your heart to work on it – it was touch and go. Basically, they actually saved my life.”

Harrogate Harriers club member Rob Athey. He will run this summer’s 10k event to raise funds for LGI’s cardiac unit.

Mr Athey, who went back to work for Lloyds Banking Group in March, added:

“It’s life-changing. Life will never be the same again, but I’m so grateful for LGI for treating me. The NHS are fantastic, Harrogate ambulance service were fantastic in getting me there for all my procedures that I needed.

“I’m now recovering and I’m back trying to do a bit of running, although I can’t do too much. Because I’m a member of Harrogate Harriers I’d like to raise money for the cardiac unit at the LGI and (club chair Adam Prentis) said ‘yes, fantastic, we’d love to support that cause’.”

He has been running 5k distances as part of his training and is aiming to get around the 10k route in an hour – but insisted that his main motivation was completing the course and raising money.

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The undulating route in the Crimple Valley, south-east of the town, will start and finish at Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, next to the Great Yorkshire Showground. Although it is described as multi-terrain, 70% of the single lap is on roads.

Runners on the Run Harrogate 10k course through the Crimple Valley in 2019. Photo: Dan Oxtoby Photography

So far the 10k event is only at half capacity, with 428 places out of 1,000 still up for grabs. The entry fee is £17 for UK athletics club members and £19 for non-members.

The Harrogate Harriers is encouraging all local runners to stay active during the colder, darker months by taking part in a festive virtual event.

The ’12ks of Christmas’ challenge will see runners covering a 12km distance during the first 12 days of December – it can be done in one outing or spread over a few.

Due to covid restrictions the group has had to adapt and find new ways to keep its participants exercising. Its annual 10km had to move online in July this year but it hopes the 2021 event can go ahead in line with any covid restrictions.

The group has ran several other virtual events for its members during lockdown but this challenge, it says, is for everyone to get involved in.

For this fun Christmas challenge the group has teamed up with toynado.co.uk – a Tockwith-based toy company which is offering 12 toy prizes to be included in the daily draws.

Nathaniel Southworth, Harrogate Harriers Treasurer, said:

“During lockdown we’ve been using different virtual events to keep the members engaged but also give them something to work towards. We want to open this out to everyone, all ages and all abilities.

“Lockdown encouraged people to get out and about so there is likely more runners out there who would enjoy this challenge.”

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Participants will win other items including a discount for next year’s 10km event.

All the profits from the £6 entry fee go back in the club to help them continue encouraging people to get out and exercise within their local community.

To sign up, click here.