Created by : Thomas Shaw On : Wed, 10/29/2025 - 11:47
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The racing came to Worksop this weekend as Worksop Harriers & AC hosted the annual Worksop Halloween Half Marathon. A cold but sunny Autumnal morning gave runners the perfect start as they headed out of Outwood Academy and straight up Sparken Hill before the rolling course headed down to Carburton crossroads. From here runners headed in to Clumber in its full Autumn Glory as they headed down towards the ornamental bridge, around engine before looping around towards Limetree Crossroads. From here its time for runners to dig in as they head up to Trumans Lodge before catching a bit of speed back down Old Coach Road and Windmill Lane, rolling with the terrain before a fast finish through Worksop College and then a last gasp dash down Sparken hill! Well over 150 Harriers and friends came together to make the event happen starting from early in the year behind the scenes with organising everything from course management, supplies of water, food and of course T-shirts and medals right up to race weekend whether setting up the course, making sure everyone was ready to run come 10:00 am (and dealing with those last minute race enquiries right up to the fun part of being out on the course cheering and guiding over 1200 runners making the event once again a great success for the club! As well the hard work of our club members, the event was once again made possible by some very valuable partnerships.
Chemodex continued to support us again this year, supplying financial support, equipment for the event, social media assistance and many promotional banners which helped to brighten up the race village. Laing 0’Rourke also joined this year as another major sponsor, not only gave us excellent financial support but also contributed a large number of runners from within their workforce. Perry’s, continue to provide the lead car and financial support, as they have done for many year’, and the Lincolnshire Runner continue to support us with prizes. Our medals were also kindly donated by Paving Stones Direct ensuring we were able to once again able to provide finishers with both a medal and T-shirt whilst maintaining excellent value for money for entry.
Other key partners this year include thanks to National Trust for allowing us to run through Clumber Park, Worksop College for allowing us to pass through their grounds and of course, Outwood Academy Portland for providing the location for the Race Village. There was also great support from our new medical provider MK Medical Events and our long standing traffic management company, Chevron, with the Green Toilet Company providing us with the extra necessary facilities, much needed just before the race starts, and Greencore for providing the volunteers with sandwiches on the day. Communications are provided by Notts 4 x 4 out on the course with Oneintent running the Public Address system in the race village. Mick Hall photography is out on the course taking all the memory providing photographs and HS Sports Systems ensure that the runners receive their race times and finishing positions. Nottinghamshire County Council and Bassetlaw District Council also ensure the course is swept of the autumn leaves (preventing hazards), whilst also helping with refuge collection ensuring we can leave the course in the same beautiful conditions year-after-year.
The Worksop Halloween Half Marathon is not just a road race but is also the major fundraiser of the year for Worksop Harriers & AC, which is a charity providing local runners of all ages the opportunity to train and compete in all the athletics disciplines and develop a heathy and social lifestyle. This event also facilitates the raising of money for other charities, with over £270k being raised for various local charities over the past four decades, this year the main beneficiaries being the Lincs. & Notts Air Ambulance, Focus on Young People in Bassetlaw (FoYPiB) and From the Heart.
With just a short summary of the many many hours that go in to making this annual event happen, we move on to the race itself!
This years race winners were Gary Briscoe (Barnsley AC) in 1:11:49 and Emma Pick (Peel Road Runners) in 1:17:25 who also narrowly missed out on setting a new course record by just 15 seconds. The Nottinghamshire County Team Prize was won by Long Eaton AC (6-Men) in a combined time of 7:58:27 and our very own ladies did us proud as they won the Ladies Prize (4-Women) in a combined time of 6:54:53
Our ladies team this year was lead home by Hannah Miller as she made it a trio of prizes as she bagged a PB in 1:22:34 to finish 3rd overall to make for a fantastic days work. PB’s were to become a theme of the day for our ladies as joining Hannah, Darcie Wasnidge made it two big PB’s in just 7 days, coming straight off the back of the Yorkshire Marathon to run 1:41:49 whilst shortly after Claire Allsop shows yet more improvements with a PB of 1:44:15. Recent recruit Louise Morris was well clear of her race targets as she ran 2:06:13 whilst our Harriers ladies finished with 5 out of 5 PB’s as Debbie Lawrence ran with son Joe (and all down to a sprint finish!) in 2:42:30
Not wanting to leave the ladies out there doing all the battling our men made a great account of themselves in a very competitive mens competition as the Harriers looked to retain their county team prize. Tom Shaw led the Harriers team home (9th) in 1:17:03 whilst Henry Brady made it a fantastic day for the Brady-Miller household with a PB in 1:19:08 (13th) followed by Matt Daly (16th – 1:19:26) and Nick Moore (19th – 1:20:59). Aidy Hopkinson ran excellently (1:21:43 – 21st) with Paul Parry being another post-York Marathon veteran with a battling performance (1:24:42 – 36th) for the mens team to run 8:02:54 as the team narrowly finished 2nd. Next up more PB’s incoming as Jake Rice made a club debut in 1:29:33, followed by Nick Mould ran one of his best halfs to date with a well executed 1:37:18, Tom Pettit (PB – 1:41:12) and Adam Turner heading round in 1:44:12.