Race Date: Wednesday 18th August 2025

Race Report by Jamie Manton

A race where the start line is less than a 4 minute jog from the front door of my house? Yes please. An ideal warm-up.

Wednesday 18th August. I set off on the very short distance towards Whiston Parish Church Cricket Club for a 19:00 start and collected my race number. Along with fellow Striders; Ash Mellors, Martin Downham, Sarah Percival and Simon Gleadhall we’d all turned up in blistering heat to run the latest in the 12-race KMR series. The KMR series for those unfamiliar are a series of small and locally organised races by Kimberworth Striders, Rotherham Harriers and Maltby Running Club. This was the fourth race in this year’s series and was superbly hosted by Rotherham Harriers. Complete with beige buffet for all finishers at the end of the race.

In previous years, I am led to believe that the course has taken in a loop (or part loop) of the Ulley Reservoir. This year however, the course stayed within the boundaries of Whiston (and Upper Whiston) and thereby aptly named the ‘NOT Ulley Res’ and was described as having a total distance of approximately 3.5 miles.

Like a lot of the KMR races, the course is not without its challenges (especially in this heat!) Taking in a mixture of terrain; gravel, concrete paths and ‘tough mud’ caused by tractor tyres leaving large tread marks which had since dried leaving a kind of terrain where a foot or ankle injury would be almost certain if you approached it too carelessly.

The race began with a lap around half of the cricket pitch before heading up into a large field, around the perimeter of said field, up and out towards Upper Whiston, briefly crossing over the M1 before looping back down from the turnaround point, over the M1 again and back around the field a second time. Then, a small descent back down the trail path before finally crossing the finish line and picking up a much needed bottle of water.

The race was won by Luke Davis of Maltby RC in a time of 21.55 and the first lady to cross the line was a name familiar to many Striders; Natalie Neville of Killamarsh Kestrels in a time of 27.01. The first Strider to finish was Martin Downham (A man whose fitness levels I aspire to still be able to reach when I am the same age as him) in a time of 29.42. The next race in the KMR series is the Maltby Memorial hosted by Maltby Running Club and this takes place next Wednesday 2nd July. Entries are still open for this event.

Five Striders were among 121 runners who lined up for Not The Ulley Res.

Striders Results