The weather forecast for this event was not good and for once, the forecasters got it right. Rain greeted the runners, falling on land on which there was already a lot of standing water. Because of the recent heavy rain the rivers and streams were swollen and the organisers, quite rightly, decided that this year, the runners should cross the bridge instead of going through the stream. Seven Wharfedalers turned out for this event. At the stream crossing, Ted was in second place, trailing Thomas Cornthwaite who was going easily out in front. However, he was being chased by Tom and Mark Addison who again looked to be running strongly. With no steep ascent or descent in the second half of the race, would Tom be able to hold them off? At the half way point, Paul Halstead looked to be running well in about 17 place.
In the final field before the last descent down the road into the village, Thomas Cornthwaite was still out in front, but Tom & Mark Addison had passed Ted. He came home in fourth place in exactly the same time as in 2006, but he looked drained on the run in. Paul Halstead also slipped a few places, but still had a good run to finish in 23rd place. Lynn too also came within a few seconds of matching her time from the previous year and both Kevin and Neil improved on their times. Despite the heavy rain, the fields did not look quite so muddy and energy sapping as last year.
Ted has run this race for two years on the trot in a time of 49:52, which coincidentally was also the time he took to complete Rivock Edge last week.

Bolton by Bowland Full Results

The finishing positions and times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
4	Ted Mason	49:52
23	Paul Halstead	58:38
32	Andy Holden	59:56	V40
37	Pete Jackson	60:33	V50
50	Kevin Rogan	62:22	V50
69	Neil Taylor	66:30	V40
102	Lynn Whittaker	74:21	FV40

Tamara Hird did not run in this event because she was full of cold, but she went to watch and sent in a report of the day.

In the juniors, Jamie Middleton was 20th in the U11 Boys, Ben Johnson had a good run to finish 8th in the U13 Boys and Johnny Bradshaw was 9th in the U15 Boys.
In the senior ladies, Judy Howells was 43rd, improving on her position in the race at Bramley Park.
Overall results taking the best 3 races out of 4 are that Jamie finished 17th in the U11 Boys League, Ben finished 7th in the U13 Boys League, Johnny was 9th in the U15 Boys league and Tamara Hird was 14th in the Senior Ladies League.

However the star of the day was Paul Harlowe who finished 66th (his highest position in the league) in the senior mens race, but 1st in the 55-59 age group, which meant that he managed to win the overall 55-59 age group! This was achieved following a titanic struggle with Malcolm Pickering, who had 2 wins over Paul and a second place to Paul going into the final race,which meant that Paul had to beat Malcolm by 4 seconds - also making sure that no one else in that age group beat him. So an interesting final race!
There was a presentaion following the race, for which Paul received a Shield - and a hangover the following morning! Well done Paul.

Adam Baker did not fancy the Bolton by Bowland Race and so he walked and ran the Three Peaks. He sent this report.

I did the 3 peaks despite the pouring rain and very poor visability on the tops. I was on my own as most, I guess, did Bolton by Bowland. I set off at 10.35, put in a good steady pace from the start and reached the top of Pen-y-ghent at 11am. Decending was very tricky due to the mud and raging river washing down behind me and it was difficult staying upright. Never the less I had a good run over to Ribblehead through the deep bogs and even though I went a bit adrift, I reached the viaduct at 12.05. I had my bananna as there was no sandwich van and set off again with a bit of a second wind behind me. The climb up did not seem too difficult and I managed to keep running. The decent was also a good bit firmer than Pen-y-ghent. I got to the Hill Inn at 1.30pm, where I started to feel a bit cold and tired. The climb up Ingleborough was windy and tough and I was starting to slow down, so I ate my fruit cake on the way up in a bid to warm up. I reached the top and forgot to look at my watch. I managed to put in a last spurt back to Horton in Ribblesdale and arrived back at my car at 3.05pm which means I did it in 4 hours 30 minutes. Needless to say, I am over the moon with my time and that does it. No more short trail races. Only proper fell races from now on. I loved the bogs and rivers up to my waist, True fell running terrain.

Adam Baker

Well, some of the anecdotal information in the Narrow Boat turned out to be only partly right. Horwich did narrowly beat Pudsey & Bramley, but by 10 seconds, not 3. They were followed by Salford, Bingley, Dark Peak and Clayton Vets.

Our mixed team finished in 37th place, but were the 3rd mixed team after Rossendale, who were 20th overall and Stainland, who were 33rd overall. A good result for our mixed team.

The first vets team was Clayton. Our vets team ended in 51st place and were the 9th vets team.

Our A team did really well. All members put in splendid performances to finish in 7th place. This is our highest position yet in this event and improves on the previous highest place of 9th, which was achieved in 2004. The fastest legs were our first one, Mark Horrocks and Ted Mason who were third fastest, as were Kirt Livesey and Jason Helmsley, who ran leg three.

Our fastest leg in the mixed team was Andy Smith and Sam Wadsworth who managed the 20th fastest leg and Catherine Wolfenden and Tamara Hird were the fastest all ladies pair in leg five.

It has been a good day for Wharfedale and reflects the growing strength of the club, the growing number of women members and the commitment of all those who took part on the day.

The summary of the progress of our A team was as follows:

Leg 1 - Mark Horrocks & Ted Mason. The team got off to a great start and finished in 3rd place, just behind Horwich.
Leg 2 - James Harrison & Mark Sandamas. We dropped a few places on this leg, with Mark nursing James along to finish in 10th place.
Leg 3 - Kirt Livesey & Jason Helmsley. Kirt & Jason had a good run and managed to pull back a few places. They finished in 7th place.
Leg 4 - Marcus Rae & Ian Taylor. Ian had a cold and Marcus has been plagued with a groin strain. The groin strain did cause a bit of a problem, but they only lost one place to finish in 8th place.
Leg 5 - Bruce Elsworth & Peter Keron. Starting in 8th place, they worked hard together, particularly on the climbs to regain the lost place and finish in 7th place overall.
Leg 6 - Owen Beilby & Steve Oldfield. These two had a good last leg and ran each other ragged to hold on to their 7th place.

Full results are now in the results section.

There was a bitterly cold wind on Haworth Moor, but nine hardy Wharfedalers braved the elements to take part in this race, including Jonathan Bradshaw who had just had a good run, coming 2nd in the junior race.

There was a tremendous battle amongst the first three, who opened up a wide gap on the chasers. First home was Andi Jones of Salford in a time of 29:07, followed by Rob Hope of Pudsey & Bramley, in 29:35 and then Simon Bailey of Mercia in 29:55.

Our first finisher was Ted Mason, who as usual ran in a flamboyant outfit and Santa hat. His position was 7th. Kirt Livesey had a good run and on the track back to Penistone Hill was just behind Ted in eigth place, but he got pipped towards the end to finish in 9th place.

Special mention should be made of Jonathan Bradshaw who was the sixth Wharfedaler to finish, just behind Peter Keron and Paul Halstead.

The finishing positions and times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
7	Ted Mason	32:41
9	Kirt Livesey	33:31
34	Sam Watson	36:25
43	Peter Keron	36:57
44	Paul Halstead	37:08
47	Jonathan Bradshaw	37:20	Junior
52	Kevin White	37:38
104	Simon Throup	42:02	V40
133	Adam Baker	43:48
164	Paul Wilson	46:23	V40

One of our runners at the Stoop, Adam Baker sent in his report of the day. Fellow runners might appreciate what he had to say of the day.

A very cold day and the ice made conditions quite dangerous as I later found out. It was a good field. I set off quite fast along the water board track. When we hit the moor, we took a right turn and this was new to me as the last time I did the race was 6 years ago and the route has changed. As we took the right turn, I fell on some slippy stones and hurt my left knee. I did not realise till I got home that I had a 2" cut. We then hit a track for a mile - oh joy more track. There, one of our lads passed me. I apologise, as I did not know his name, but he knew mine and gave some words of encouragement - thank you. Then a gentle climb to the top. I was just starting to wake up when we hit the decent. I must admit I took it a bit easy as it was very slippy and after my fall, I was taking no chances, so just a good steady pace to the finish cheered on by Pat, Graham and Angela. I think my time was approx 43 mins. A lot of our other guys, including Jonathan Bradshaw did well coming in between 32 and 38 mins - a good effort.

Adam Baker

Ted at The Stoop
After leading the tables for most of the season, Sam Watson found himself pipped at the post by Ted Mason who typically stormed into the lead after the last championship race of the season. By leading the Wharfedalers home at The Stoop, he managed to secure enough points to take the title.

Tamara Hird was our lady champion, followed by Lynn Whittaker.

Final Table

Andy Hirst & Pete Jackson decided to give the usual pre Christmas tour of the pubs a miss and instead went for a half tour round Pendle. They set of from Barley in freezing mist with the ground covered in thick frost. However, as soon as they reached the trig point, they were greeted with sunshine and a clear blue sky, with a sea of mist below stretching out as far as the eye could see. A perfect temperature inversion. As Andy says, "It's things like that that make all the wet miserable days worth while."
They got got back in the pub at 1pm for a bar snack and didn't come out till about 6pm when Pete's wife came to pick them up. To quote Andy again, "That's what I call a good day out on the hills."

Andy Hirst & Pete Jackson decided to give the usual pre Christmas tour of the pubs a miss and instead went for a half tour round Pendle. They set of from Barley in freezing mist with the ground covered in thick frost. However, as soon as they reached the trig point, they were greeted with sunshine and a clear blue sky, with a sea of mist below stretching out as far as the eye could see. A perfect temperature inversion. As Andy says, "It's things like that that make all the wet miserable days worth while."
They got got back in the pub at 1pm for a bar snack and didn't come out till about 6pm when Pete's wife came to pick them up. To quote Andy again, "That's what I call a good day out on the hills."

Kevin Rogan, Pete Jackson, Glenn Whittaker and Neil Taylor did really well and put on an amazing Christmas Show. For those who missed it, you can see a brief excerpt from the link below.

Wharfedale Showbiz Four

Kevin Rogan, Pete Jackson, Glenn Whittaker and Neil Taylor did really well and put on an amazing Christmas Show. For those who missed it, you can see a brief excerpt from the link below.

Wharfedale Showbiz Four

As there is no evening social run this week, Neil Taylor has decided to go for a Boxing Day social run. He is going to run from Nab End, Silsden towards the Cow & Calf and Twelve Apostles Circle at Ilkley. He anticipates that it will be about a 1 hour 30 mins to 2 hour run with cut off points for those who do not want to run so far. One or two members have already indicated that they would like to join him. If anyone else is interested in running off the excesses of Christmas Day, they are welcome to come along. If you are going to do so, or would like exact details of the starting point, please contact Neil on 07872 332020 or email him at hill.runner@btinternet.com

A fell runner was particularly keen on going out training every morning, no matter what the weather was like. One Sunday morning, he got up early and set off for his usual jog up the hillside. It was cold and dark and it was raining hard. For once, he decided that enough was enough and that training in such weather was not worthwhile. So, he returned home, went upstairs and rejoined his wife in bed. As he snuggled up to her he said "The weather is really awful this morning". "Yes", she replied "but luckily for us that idiot husband of mine has still gone out running".

Jason Helmsley	Sam Wadsworth	Tamara Hird

Half a dozen Wharfedalers decided to run off the excesses of Christmas Day in this extremely popular Boxing Day run, which attracted a strong field in addition to the usual "fun run" characters. The first two home were the amazing Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan. These two ex Bradford Grammar School boys were joined by another BGS old boy, David Archer, now running unattached, who had a good run to finish in 5th place.

Of the Wharfedalers, Jason Helmsley had a good run finish in 27th place, shortly followed by Gareth Hird and Sam Wadsworth, with Tamara Hird being our only lady representative. James Wadsworth, who was ill on Christmas Day, decided to give it a go, but only managed 272nd place, behind Simon Throup.

Results are in the results section.

The finishing positions and times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
27	Jason Helmsley	44:33
33	Gareth Hird	45:49
37	Sam Wadsworth	46:30
184	Tamara Hird	53:15	F
226	Simon Throup	55:04	MV
272	James Wadsworth	56:42

This weekend Kevin White did a road race! If anyone is tempted to follow suit, read the report of the experience from the link below.

Ribble Valley 10K Road Race

This popular race has been revived this year and attracted some good runners. Three Wharfedalers went up for this dash up to the top of Wansfell and back.

Results are in the results section.

The finishing positions and times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
12	Sam Watson	24:15
56	Andy Holden	30:01	V40
63	Kevin Rogan	31:18	V50