The full results for this race are not yet available, but we have some brief details thanks to Tamara Hird. The race was won by Matt Whitfield from Bingley in 46.53, Kirt Livesey was 5th in 52.35, Goldie was 7th in 53.31 and Jason Hemsley 11th in 54.52 - possibly first team! There was also Andy Smith, Pete Metcalfe, Cathy Bradley, John Perry and possibly a few others. The U16 boys also had a team with Jonny Bradshaw, Jack Smith and Scott Baistow all performing well. Full results follow, plus a few pictures to go in the gallery.

Sam Watson
This was an English Championship Race and attracted over 500 runners. It was a bit breezy on the tops, but otherwise ideal running conditions. This is a tough race, with a lot of steep ascent at the begining. Not only that, but once the runners leaves the the bridleway, the track they follow is not only relentlessly uphill, but there is little opportunity for passing and it is just a matter of settling in and following the flow.

Sam Watson became Wharfedale's lead runner on the long drag up to Ill Bell, but he was eventually passed by Jason Hemsley before they reached Thornthwaite Beacon. Chris Newman was having a good run, just behind Sam and Kev seemed to be enjoying his day out, having enough breath on the ascent to have a chat about the weather.

Once more, we had a ladies team out in a Championship Race. Tamara Hird was having a good run and looked to be going well as she led the team out. The rest of the team came through very much together in the middle of the field. We will have to wait to see how they have fared as a team, as there was not enough time on the day to work out team positions.

We had another Wharfedaler out at Kentmere today and that was new member Keiran Ashworth, but he was down as being unattached, possible due to the race being pre-entry.

Finally, a big thanks to Pete Bland and his group of helpers for all the time and effort they put into organising this race. They did a great job.

The finishing times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
56	Jason Hemsley	1:43:57
95	Sam Watson	1:49:04
96	Chris Newman	1:49:09
181	Tamara Hird	1:59:58	L
275	Kevin Rogan	2:12:58	V50
293	Judy Howells	2:15:11	L
302	Kate Rogan	2:17:36	L
328	Kirsty Hall	2:21:22	L
331	Keiran Ashworth	2:23:47	V40

A good crowd of Wharfedalers throughout all age groups turned out for this event. Neil Taylor has sent in his report of the day as follows:

Another cracking race today with the Wharfedale crowd turning out in numbers and running in style! Good wins today for both Ted in the Seniors and Ben in the U12s; a terrific U17s race with Johnny just getting pipped to the line by Ashley Kay and William Smith securing 2nd in the U12s. Fine runs also for Goldie (4th or 5th I think), Jack (6th or 7th) and Scott just a couple or so places behind Jack. Loads of us Wharfedalers here today throughout the age groups. The usual Senior gang (excepting Kevin, Sam, Kate and Chris who were Kentmere bound were here...Carl, Thod and Andy all hareing away from the start; Baz, Simon and I bunching up together with Tim Done, Thomas and Paul Wilson, Pete, John, Lynn and Nicole all hot on our heels. I had a good climb today and got to the top just ahead of Baz and Simon and Wharfeego-Andy {...great to see you back racing and heel recovered (?) Andy - hope it did hold up!} Mind, Andy was aiming on videoing his run around and that would have made a fine posting, but for the shower of rain which turned up just before the senior start! (...so the camcorder was rested!).

Baz quickly reeled me in on the descent (no news there then! ) as did an in-disguise Simon (it wasn't that sunny Sime! ) and I think, crossing the line, I must just about have "exactly" matched my time for last year (...he said eagerly awaiting the results hoping that a second or two was shaved off! )

A really good day for running (temperature ideal!), a super little course (the shortest of the Bofra's I reckon..?) and the toughest 15 minutes I've had since...oh...the last Bofra race I guess!! All in all a great dayout! Next week...Cracoe!

It was quite a good night for Wharfedale at this race. Not very many of our members turned up, in fact there were only four Wharfedalers there. Despite this, we had the race winner, Owen Beilby and 2nd team, thanks to good performances by Owen, Kirt Livesey and Paul Carmen. Our other runner, John Thompson, as a V50, was perhaps not expected to be a team counter, but knowing John, he no doubt enjoyed his run out.

Owen has sent in his report of the day from a runner's perspective. Owen's Report

The positions of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
1	Owen Beilby	52:06
4	Kirt Livesey	52:57
18	Paul Carmen	59:38
53	John Thompson	1:08:37	V50

Full results and team positions are in the results section

Kevin White and Catherine Wolfenden decided to have a run out in this local race this weekend with excellent results. Kevin had a top ten finish, coming home in tenth place, whilst Catherine was 2nd lady, beating Jo Buckley in the process, who is herself a force to be reckoned with in ladies fell racing

Full results are now available.

This does seem to be a popular sport with the above event attracting over 400 entrants, including two from Wharfedale. Nice does not seem to have put off Lucas Payne from competing in these events, although perhaps in future, he will confine himself to those that are based in the more temperate parts of the world. He managed to persuade James Harrison to join him and he did very well, finishing just nine minutes behind the experienced Lucas, in a time of 2:39, with Lucas finishing in 2:30.

Full results are now available which give the breakdowns for the various disciplines.

First brief details from this race. First Wharfedaler back was Pete Keron with a sub five hour time of 4:58. Andy Hirst continued with his fine form this year in these long Lakeland runs, being the next home for Wharfedale, with a time of 5:13 and a new PB. Pete Jackson was the last finisher for Wharfedale at 5:43, which was just two minutes inside Andy Hirst's time for last year.

You may remember that last year, Scafell was in mist and Andy followed the wrong runner off the top, the man, instead of the woman. This resulted in him losing quite a bit of time, but having said that, his time this year, was still better than his time of two years ago and should help his standings in the Lakeland Classics Series, where, at the moment, he is 35th out of 75 qualifiers.

Once again, Pete Keron has shown what an all round athlete he is, completing such a demanding course in under five hours. Not only that, but on his return home, he found the energy to write a report of the day. This is available from the link below.

Read Pete's Report

Neil Taylor retired at Pillar, but was not timed out, he just felt ill.

Full results are now in the results section.

Eighteen Wharfedalers turned out for the senior's race with three in the junior races, on what was a wet and miserable night. The senior course was, this year, slightly different from previous years.

The juniors first. In the U8s, Robbie Johnstone had a good race to take 2nd place. In the U12s, Ben Johnstone continued his fine form this year with another first place and in the U16s, Scott Baistow came third.

In the seniors, the Wharfedalers dominated the race, with Owen Beilby winning the race outright, ahead of Martin Peace of Bingley. Kirt Livesey was third, ahead of Mark Horrocks and Mark McGoldrick.

There was a tussle for 10th place, with Sam Watson getting home just in front of Jason Hemsley. Seventh Wharfedaler inside the top fifteen was young Jack Smith, who had another fine run.

In the ladies race, first home for Wharfedale was Tamara Hird, who was also third lady and finishing just in front of Jenny Dybeck, that fine young runner from Ilkley.

Full results are in the results section.

Lizzy Mason took a few pics of the afternoon out and these are now in the gallery

Cathy Bradley
Two Wharfedalers went over for this mid week event. Cathy Bradley, pictured above and Barry Scholes. Cathy had a good run finishing 158th out of 216 starters, in a time of 28:20. She was also 12th lady, out of 30. Barry finished 126th in a time of 27 minutes exactly.

There is a video of the race on U Tube. If anyone is interested, the link is:Video

Full results are in the results section and as usual with Todmorden Harriers, these were posted in double quick time.

Bruce Elsworth	Sam Watson	Tim Stedman

There were a lot of good runners in the field of 150 who turned up for this race. Surprisingly, there were only four Wharfedalers, Bruce Elsworth, Sam Watson, Adam Baker and new member Tim Stedman. All had good performances against the strong opposition, with finishing times and positions as shown below. Tim Stedman in his first UK race for Wharfedale was a counter for the team place, with Wharfedale finishing as 5th team, being just two points behind 4th team Chorley.

A few more pictures are in the gallery

The full results are in the results section.

Pos	Name	Time	Other
15	Bruce Elsworth	1:15:28
24	Sam Watson	1:20:40
32	Tim Stedman	1:22:52
123	Adam Baker	1:47:29

There was actually another Wharfedaler out in this event, which we had not previously spotted and that was Des O'Regan, a previous winner of the Elite Class. He was running in the Bowfell Class with Rob Bailey and ended up 18th at the end day one. Word is that Des dragged his team mate round during the second day to finish 17th overall.

Before the event, Kevin Rogan was trying to persuade Kirsty and Sam to switch from the Harter Fell to the Carrock Fell class, so all the Wharfedalers could compete together. By the end of the first day, it sounds like he might have welcomed a switch the other way round.

Chris Newman and John Hutchinson had the best and most consistent performances to come 2nd in their class. They finished the first day in 2nd place and only 3 minutes behind the leaders. On the second day, they also finished in 2nd place and only half a minute behind the overall winning team, so after eight and a half hours they were only just over 3 minutes behind the winners, which was a great performance.

Kevin & Kate finished the first day in 13th place, but slipped to 32nd place on the second day to end up 16th overall.

Sam & Kirsty were again fairly consistent in their performance, finishing the first day in 7th position and the second day in 8th position, to end up 5th overall.

A full breakdown of times and splits are in the results section.

Race Winner Ted Mason
The contemporary style picture above was produced from a video of the race by Andy Holden. For more pictures in the same vein, see the picture gallery.

It was good to see that 8 of our juniors made the trip to Kirby for this event. We had three runners in the U9s. Robbie Johnstone led them home, finishing in 4th place, just ahead of Adam Gibson. Sam Johnstone was 12th.

In the U12s, Ben Johnstone once again won the race and he is taking this group by storm, being unbeaten so far this season. Further down the field, Ellamae Gibson was 6th girl.

In the U17s, Jonathan Bradshaw continued his tussle with Tom Sessford and this time got the better of him, but they were both beaten by Ashley Kay of Rossendale. Competition is certainly tough in this age group. This is shown by the fact that Jack Smith, who has been doing well in some senior races, finished in 5th place. Scott Baistow came home in 14th place.

In the seniors, Ted Mason had another fine run to hold off Alastair Dunn of Helm Hill and Lee Athersmith of Bingley to take the honours. Mark McGoldrick continued his return to form by finishing in 5th place, ahead of Adrian Pickles of Settle. Paul Harlowe was another Wharfedaler to have a fine run, finishing in 8th place, yet was unbelievably 3rd Vet 50. All the training and running that Jonathan Gibson has been doing is now showing through with him finishing in 14th place.

Thanks must go to all the helpers and officials at Bofra and to Tim Done who, as always, get the results out in double quick time. These are now in the results section.

We have five Wharfedalers out in this event over the weekend. Sam Wadsworth & Kirsty Hall are doing the "Harter Fell" Class, whilst Kevin and Kate Rogan and Chris Newman, together with his partner for the event, John Hutchinson are in the "Carrock Fell" Class.

Any news of their progress will be posted as soon as it is available.

Owen Beilby and Barry Scholes went across for this race. Owen came 4th behind some very good runners and Barry was 3rd Vet 50.

Owen sent in a report of the race.

Read Owen's Report

Full results are in the results section

Wharfedale managed to put two ladies teams out last night, although it involved Tamara Hird running in both teams. The A Team came 2nd to Ilkley

In the men's team, Jason Hemsley also ran two legs and the team finished in 5th place overall.

Tamara Hird has written a report of the night - Read Tamara's Report

• Saturday 26 July. Pendle Cloughs Race, 2:00 pm

Page last updated 24 July 2008