Sun 4 November 2018
The 33rd Leeds Abbey Dash 10K annually boasts a notoriously strong field at the front end of the men’s and women’s races as well as being a popular choice for club and fun runners with over 10,000 entrants. The course is a quick one; mostly out and back with a few climbs including a little sting in the tail on the slip road approaching the finish line. It was a cool, dry day with a sneaky little breeze which provided some resistance pretty much from half way right to the finish.
Preston Harriers proudly had a strong representation including Lancashire cross country champion Dan Bebbington making his road race debut and recent signing Joe Monk among a group of some of the fastest Harriers present. Paddy Dever was having another impressive run, staying around the top 15 runners after the half way point before injury cruelly ended his race. Bebbington made a hugely impressive debut, finishing in 30:53. Chris Durney and Joe Monk recorded personal bests of 31:29 and 31:38 respectively. Richard Smith was the next Harrier to finish in 34:40 and was followed by Niall Malone (36:14) and Alex Venables (36:32) finishing in quick succession, Andy Whaley (38:01), Chris Wales (38:43) with Dougie Potter (41:10) edging out Alan Metcalf (41:20). There were 8166 finishers with the men’s race won by Adam Craig in 29:08 and Fionnuala Ross taking the women’s title in 33:30.