IT'S Brass Monkey weather again in York.

Eight hundred competitors will line up tomorrow for the 16th Brass Monkey Run which gets under way at 10am.

The popular half-marathon, organised by Knavesmire Harriers, will start and finish on the city's racecourse.

The flat, rural course is over a slightly different route from previous years to keep runners away from flooding dangers along the banks of the River Ouse.

Runners taking part this year include last year's winner Richard Simpson (Nestl Rowntree), team-mate Alan Beavers, who was third last year and won the race in 1997, and fellow Nestl contender Bob Duncan, who was fourth last year and second in 1997.

Other men expected to be among the front-runners are Michael Pearson (Longwood AC), Ian Fisher (Otley AC) John Convery (Bingley Harriers), Michael Jones (South Shields), Peter Wragg (Thirsk & Sowerby), Joe Gonzalez (Abbey Runners), David Parkin (Loftus AC) and Stuart Backhouse (Scarborough AC).

Neil Allcard (Ackworth AC) will be taking part in his 80th half-marathon while Alan Waterhouse (Elswick Harriers) will perhaps be hoping for a personal best to celebrate his 50th birthday on race day.

Bingley Harrier Sue Carriss will be hoping to emulate her success of last year when she was first woman home and also the first female over 45 to finish.

Other women contenders who should not be far off the pace are last year's runner-up Bridget Coomber (Denby Dale Travellers), Jane Shelmerdine (Knavesmire Harriers), Erika Nutter (Ripon Runners), Janek Popiolek (Leeds City AC), Sue Garrod (Goole Viking Striders) and Susan Hucknall (Nidd Valley).

Former international athlete Angela Tooby-Smith will also be lining up for Knavesmire Harriers.

World-famous yachtswoman Rosie Swale will be taking up the Brass Monkey challenge for Trots/Tenby Turkeys.

Swale, who has sailed round the globe and crossed the Atlantic single-handed, has also made a solo run across Romania in which she covered 700 miles in a month.

She also completed the toughest foot race on earth when she competed in the arduous Sahara Marathon which covers 245km in six days. Her other adventures include a 3,000-mile horseback journey along the length of Chile to Cape Horn.

The limit for race entries has this year been increased by 100 but, as last year, is again over-subscribed.

Club president, Brian Hughes, said: "We are sorry if any runner was not able to get into the race this year, but we have had to send back over 300 entries."

He appealed to runners who did not make it to the starting line this year to submit entries earlier next year.

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