Road Secretary’s Report – May 2026
Welcome to the May report reflecting races held in April 2026. As usual, lets start with the Road Championships.
2026 Road Championships
Two championship races were in the diary this month, the Caldervale 10m and the Halifax 10k. No Harriers were at Caldervale and the Halifax result are
| Halifax 10k – 5 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position * | Chip Time | Notes |
| Helen Haigh | 31/785 | 00:36:27 | 1st FV50 / 3rd lady |
| James Washington | 80 | 00:40:01 | |
| Robert Booth | 88 | 00:39:51 | |
| Helena Croft | 99 | 00:41:21 | 1st FV40 |
| Michael Hall | 308 | 00:49:13 | |
| Heidi O’Shea | 312 | 00:49:26 | |
| Simon Morley | 498 | 00:55:26 | |
| Alison Smith | 586 | 00:59:19 | |
| * positions ranked on gun time. Time shown is chip time |
Great runs from Helen and Helen for their age category positions, and Helen for being 3rd lady overall.
So after eight races in this year’s championships, the early table looks like this.
| 2026 Road Championships – Standings | |||||||||||||||||
| End of April 2026 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2026 Mens | 2026 Ladies | 2026 Age Graded | |||||||||||||||
| 2026 Mens | James Washington | Michael Sanderson | Michael Hall | Ben Jarvis | Robert Booth | Helena Croft | Heidi O’Shea | Michelle Rushby | Helen Haigh | Rachael Mellor | James Washington | Helena Croft | Michael Hall | Michael Sanderson | Michelle Rushby | ||
| No. of races | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Scoring Races | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Central Lancs Half | 25 | 25 | |||||||||||||||
| Meltham 10k | 25 | 25 | |||||||||||||||
| Hale 10k | 23 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 23 | 21 | 20 | |||||||||
| Settle 10m | |||||||||||||||||
| Wakefield 10k | 23 | 25 | 20 | ||||||||||||||
| Wilmslow Half | 25 | 23 | |||||||||||||||
| Caldervale 10m | |||||||||||||||||
| Halifax 10k | 23 | 22 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 25 | 23 | 22 | 20 | ||||||||
| Club 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |||||||||
| Club 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| Club 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Road Relays | 10 | 10 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 51 | 50 | 47 | 30 | 30 | 63 | 52 | 51 | 40 | 35 | 48 | 45 | 45 | 44 | 40 | ||
The only race in May is the Buxton half on 24 May. Open races for the rest of the year have now been agreed and are on the website with a brief summary below.
| MAY | |||
| Buxton Half | 24-May-26 | Half marathon | Long |
| JUNE | |||
| East Yorkshire Half | 21-Jun-26 | Half | Long |
| Greenhead parkrun | 20-Jun-26 | 5k | Short |
| Lindley 10k | 28-Jun-26 | 10k | Short |
| JULY | |||
| Ilkley Half Marathon | 12-Jul-26 | Half marathon | Long |
| South Cave 10k | 26-Jul-26 | 10k | Short |
| AUGUST | |||
| Fylde Windmill Half | 09-Aug-26 | Half | Long |
| Birchwood 10k | 23-Aug-26 | 10k | Short |
| SEPTEMBER | |||
| Sheffield 10k | 27-Sep-26 | 10k | Short |
| Warrington Half | 20-Sep-26 | Half | Long |
| OCTOBER | |||
| Morley 10k (Leeds) | 04-Oct-26 | 10k | Short |
| Yorkshire 10m | 18-Oct-26 | 10m | Long |
| NOVEMBER | |||
| Tadcaster 10 | 22-Nov-26 | 10m | Long |
| Weekend Saunter, Kirkstall, Leeds | 14-Nov-26 | 10k | Short |
| DECEMBER | |||
| Bolsover 10k | 13-Dec-26 | 10k | Short |
| Stockport 10 | 13-Dec-26 | 10m | Long |
Note that the Greenhead parkrun has been moved to 20th June to avoid a clash with a charity 5k that day.
The latest standings are on the website – scroll down to the results links.
Closed Club races (races only open to HHAC members)
The next closed club event is the Past Members Memorial Club 5 on Tuesday 5th May. Entries are now closed for the race and thank you to all those that have signed up to run and to all that are marshalling. Good Luck !
| RACE | DATE | DISTANCE |
| Graham Ellis Club 10 | 07-Jul-26 | 10 miles |
Summer Monthly 5k Series
The first race in the Summer 5k Series was held on Tuesday 14 April 2026 in good conditions given that the forecast was for rain. A fantastic 42 runners competed with many first timers, some of whom graduated from the Zero to Hero course held earlier in the year.
The first race handicaps are based on runner’s personal estimates and most runners smashed those with some excellent times despite a few comments about turning the hairpin corner and going up the hill for the second time. No-one said it was an easy course !
Fastest on the night was Katie Walshaw in 19:30 and fastest man was Brandon Holroyd in 21:07, his new PB on this course.
The next race is on Tuesday 12 May and then 2nd Tuesday of each month until September.
Good luck to all runners.
- 12 May 2026
- 9 June 2026
- 14 July 2026
- 11 August 2026
- 8 September 2026
If you did not run the first race you can still enter the rest of the series. Sign up on the website here and I’d like to stress, these are for ALL senior club members, old and new, young and young at heart.
National Road Relays
The Nationals were held on 11th April and we had one ladies team take part. The team of 6 finished a very respectable 23rd out of 50 against the best in the country. Well done to them.
| National Road Relays – 11 April 2026 | ||
| Ladies Team | Leg Time | Position |
| Ruby Sunman | 00:20:04 | |
| Helen Haigh | 00:19:55 | |
| Julia Jagger | 00:20:58 | |
| Joanne Jones | 00:21:04 | |
| Helena Croft | 00:22:22 | |
| Janet Foreman | 00:27:29 | |
| Total | 02:11:54 | 23/50 |
Other races
Other races I’ve been able to find this month are:
| Leeds Evensplits 5k – 30 March 2026 | |||
| Name | Position * | Chip Time | Notes |
| Steve McCarron | 9/98 | 00:17:00 | 1st MV50 |
| Flat Caps 10k – 12 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Paul Sammonds | 7 | 00:42:16 | 2nd MV40 |
| James Washington | 15 | 00:44:58 | 2nd MV50 |
| Helena Croft | 19 | 00:45:23 | 3rd lady / 1st FV40 |
| Annie Greenwood | 35 | 00:47:31 | 3rd FSEN |
| Andrew Kerry | 126 | 01:00:46 |
Some excellent results here with age category placings and Helena getting 3rd lady at Sowerby Bridge.
And finally, its marathon season. There were several Harriers running the 26.2 miles this month.
| Milan Marathon – 12 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Damian McQueen | 974/11948 | 03:12:23 | |
| Boston (UK) Marathon – 12 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Tim Brook | 95/1020 | 02:59:20 | |
| Simon Platts | 176 | 03:09:38 | |
| Michael Hall | 794 | 04:28:13 | |
| Paris Marathon – 12 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Katie Hollingworth | 36812/57477 | 04:26:01 | |
| Manchester Marathon – 19 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Andy Jones | 3902/27977 | 03:24:45 | |
| Gareth Vickers | 8724 | 03:50:30 | |
| Vicky Noble | 12197 | 04:04:26 | |
| Boston (US) Marathon – 20 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| James Burbidge | 3987/29038 | 02:54:17 | |
| London Marathon – 26 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| Michael Sanderson | 2787/59856 | 02:57:48 | PB |
| Anthony Waring | 6664 | 03:18:30 | PB |
| Blackpool Marathon – 26 April 2026 | |||
| Name | Position | Chip Time | Notes |
| John Field | 420/673 | 04:23:28 |
Some fantastic times here. The internationals (Damo, Katie and James) took the amber vest abroad; Boston UK is a flat course but the head winds off the east coast can be horrific; Blackpool can be just as bad in the west and Manchester is a tough run. Many congratulations to all our marathoners, and in particular Michael and Anthony who were both awarded club places at London this year and both gained PBs.
Congratulations to all our runners this month. As always, if you’d like your races and achievements celebrated in the Road Update, please let me know by finding me at the club or dropping me an email.
Kevin Dessoy / 02May2026