The usual crowd of Bofra fans made their way to South Lakeland for this event and the highlights are that Mark Horrocks was 2nd in the race and 1st Vet 40, his wife Juliet was 1st lady and in the juniors, Lucy Horrocks was 2nd U9 girl. Quite a day for the Horrocks family. Our youngsters were out in force and they all put on a good show. Of particular note was Ben Johnstone in the under 12s, who finished in 2nd place and Emily Throup who was 2nd girl in the U14s.
In the seniors, there was an excellent run from Simon Throup, who finished in 11th place and was 2nd V45.

Neil Taylor sent his usual report of the day

Read Neil's Report

The final positions of the Wharfedale runners were as follows.

Pos	Name	Time	Other
2	Mark Horrocks	31:04	1st V40
11	Simon Throup	40:35	2nd V45
14	Sam Watson	40:45	U23
22	Kevin Rogan	41:26	V45
23	Carl Bradshaw	41:31	V40
25	Neil Taylor	41:52	V45
30	Mark McGoldrick	42:46
35	Juliet Horrocks	48:58	1st Lady
36	Kate Rogan	49:03	2nd Lady
41	Lynn Whittaker	51:04	3rd Lady

Full results are in the results section.

Day one. Race run by Sam Wadsworth and Kirsty Hall (as was). Kirsty was not feeling well and was sick part way round, but they came home in 5th place in their category and were the first mixed team!
Day two. They finished 6th overall and were first mixed team. They were pleased with that. However, they were a little upset with the organisers on the second day. They asked if they could start later than their alloted time and were merely told that it would be to their disadvantage if they did so. However, what they did not say is that their time would be calculated from their actual alloted start time. So the result they achieved was despite the fact that they carried a half hour penalty. We will have to wait for the results to be published before we see what effect that this had on their final position, but they think that they could have been third or fourth overall, based on their actual race times.

A bit late with this one, due to being away, but four Wharfedalers turned out for the event. Special mention should go to Tom Cunningham who finished in overall 32nd place, yet he is still in the under 16 category. He is another of our up and coming stars and is one to watch out for in the future. Sharon Barker also had a good race, being 3rd female finisher. The final positions of the Wharfedale runners were as follows.

Pos	Name	Time	Other
24	Nick Cunningham	22:10	V40
32	Tom Cunningham	24:10	U16
39	Sharon Barker	24:51	3rd F
43	Mark Bennett	25:10

Judy Howells was one of the Wharfedale Women Wonders who entered this race and here is her report of the night.

The Wharfedale Wonders wandered over to Otley Chevin on Wednesday and came away with second prize! This team of Wharfedale ladies braved the showers and took away a nice bottle of white wine each for their efforts. Cheered on only by the original Wharfedale lady (and mentor) Tamara Hird and token Wharfedale man Marcus Rae (both unfortunately unable to run due to 'the lurgy'). With two gardeners on the team, the rain, marshy conditions and midges didn't put the girls off. Angela Gray led the first fast leg with the pack. Judy Howells followed running round the Chevin by herself and Vicky too, had to run the lap of the forest by herself and even took a slight unintentional detour from the route proper. All times were down on last year's warm sunny evening run, as the mud was unusually apparent for this time of year. This team don't think they will be called up for the Olympics,but the bottle of wine will no doubt be finding pride of place in their trophy cabinets - until the following evening maybe.

Full results are in the results section

As this was a Club Championship Event, it was dominated by Wharfedale runners. Full results are in results section and further details follow.
The Club Championship has been updated.

The results are now out for this race and a few Wharfedalers went there as opposed to the Bofra race at Helm Hill. The race was won by Graham Pearce of Ilkley in a time of 52:05 followed by Alex Whittem of Todmorden in a time of 54:53. He was pushed hard by Kirt Livesey who was in 3rd place, just 10 seconds behind him with a time of 55:03. All five Wharfedalers put on a good show with three runners in the top twelve and we very nearly managed to squeeze them all into the top third of all finishers.
The final positions of the Wharfedale runners were as follows.

Pos	Name	Time	Other
3	Kirt Livesey	55:03
5	Mark McGoldrick	56:41
12	Paul Harlowe	59:33	V50
29	Paul Halstead	1:03:42
36	Peter Jackson	1:04:55	V50

A message to all our junior runners. Do not forget the above event at Ilkley on Sunday morning. It is also a junior club championship event.

Full details

We had a few youngsters out for these races, plus Mark Horrocks in the seniors. Sadly we have only sketchy details of the results as one of the officials went home with some of them in his pocket. All we know at this stage is that Lucy Horrocks was 2nd U8 girl in a time of 3:55. Jamie Middleton was 14th U10 boy and Ben Johnstone finished in 8th place in the U12s, with a time of 14:39.
Ilkley said that they would get the results out on the web tonight, but this is now looking less likely. There a few picture of some of our runners in the picture gallery.

The latest stats are now available for the BOFRA Championship and are broken down by each category.

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Owen Bielby prepared for tonight's race at Stirton by competing in this event. He sends this report.

A delayed start due to some person blocking the centre of Hebden Bridge with a removal van meant that 177 starters had the time to find their way to this popular mid week dash up and down the Pike. True to form, I arrived 10 mins before the start, along with my chauffeur for the evening, Steve Oldfield, but we were in good company as Ian Holmes arrived even later!!
The race starts from the field above the Top Brinks Pub and follows a fairly gentle climb up to the top path along to the Pike followed by a short, sharp descent and a long run in. I managed to resist the urge to go off like the clappers, as I was expecting to suffer on the climb. The race was lead out by Messers Holmes and Hare (fresh from his 8th place at the Junior World Mountain running champs) and Jonny managed to beat the 'great one' to the top before being passed on the descent by Holmsey doing his normal impression of a plunging stone. The rest of the places went as follows: 3rd K Grey - making up places on the descent, 4th was Ricky Graham and James Logue 5th (both Horwich) followed by my good self in 6th (after a good climb - would you believe!). Steve Oldfield (first V50) made up the top 7, despite his protestations that this race didn't 'suit him'!! Jo Waites of Calder Valley was first lady home. Thanks go to Tod Harriers for an enjoyable and well organised event; hopefully I'll see everyone this evening at Stirton!

Emily Throup

A few of our youngsters and 23 of our seniors, including 5 of our growing band of women members, entered this event.
Of our youngsters, Ben Johnstone was first Under 12 Boy and Emily Throup was 2nd Under 14 Girl.
In the seniors, the race was won by Rob Shaw of Keighley, Owen Bielby took 2nd place and Mark Horrocks was third. Kirt Livesey also had a good run and was third counter for Wharfedale, finishing in 6th place and making Wharfedale 1st team. Just missing the top ten was Mark McGoldrick in 11th place and Marcus Rae in 13th.
Mention should be also made of new member John Perry, who, in his first outing for Wharfedale, came home in 29th place.
In the ladies race, Sharon Barker developed an injury half way round the course and limped back to the finish. However, it appears that our ladies were also first team, with Keighley & Craven 2nd and Clayton 3rd.
It was a good event and a good evening and it was nice to see so many of the Wharfedalers afterwards in the pub, sharing their experiences of the evening. Thanks should go to the members Keighley and Craven, who did a splendid job putting on this event.

Results are in the results section.

A few pictures are in the gallery

Saturday was not a good day. First of all, I could not upload amendments to the site and then when I did manage to upload them, I could not log on to check that everything was uploaded correctly.

I do not know if anyone else has had problems logging on, but I have taken this matter up with Netpivotal who host our site and they are moving us to another server. Hopefully, this will result in pages downloading more quickly.

However, if anyone experiences continued difficulties logging on to the site, please let me know.

Graham Wadsworth, Webmaster.

Five Wharfedalers turned out for this event, including Kate Rogan, despite the fact that she undertook a "Sam Watson training session" the previous night. Neil Taylor has sent his usual report which is available from the following link.

Neil's Report

The finishing places and times of our runners were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
8	Richard Storr	38:45
23	Kevin Rogan	42:10
27	Neil Taylor	44:17
32	Kate Rogan	45:12
36	Adam Baker	50:34

A couple of our seniors and three of our youngsters made the trip to Scotland for this event.
Youngsters first. All represented the club well. In the under 14s, Kieran Thompson beat some good opposition to finish in fourth place, whilst Emily Throup continued to regain some of her old form and was first girl. In the under 17s, Jonathan Bradshaw had another sound run finishing in 6th place.
In the seniors, the honours went to Helm Hill, who took first three places with Alastair Dunn, Tom Addison and Chris Doyle. What a trio. Good performances by our runners saw a top ten place for Carl Bradshaw, who finished just in front of Simon Throup.

Full results are in the results section.

Where you might ask. Little Stretton near Hay on Wye is the answer. A lovely part of the world and apparently some good fell running too. Paul Harlowe spent a few days there and naturally, he entered the above race if only just to show the locals what real fell runners were like. He finished 8th and was first Vet50, so point made perhaps. Only thing was, he was beaten by a girl! But let him tell it in his own words.

Just back from a few days in Hereford / Shropshire - lovely area, Ludlow, Hay-on- Wye. Encountered a classic fell course at Little Stretton. Imagine the Howgills and you get the picture. This was 2500' in 5 miles. Four steep climbs and descents covering the summits of Ashlet, Yearlet, Grindle and Callow itself - just like up and down the front of Winder four times. Certainly had a touch of the "Watson Wobble" in the legs aka "The Bens". Not my favourite kind of race. Not enough running, but a fantastic race all the same.
Tim Werrett from Mercia won in 59.49. I managed to be 8th in 64.27 and 1st v50, but the performance of the day belonged to Angela Mudge, who was 3rd in 61.02.
Certainly an area to recommend for fell running and a good pint at the Ragleth Inn, along with its roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Full results are in the results section.

Our runners do get all over. Pete Jackson thought that he would have a crack at this one and was our only representative. It sounds a tough race. 105 runners started the race, but only 103 finished. Pete ended up in the middle of the pack in 49th place.

Full results are in the results section.

The latest stats are now available for the BOFRA Championship and are broken down by each category.

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What is a fell race? A race over the fells, is it not? Well, contrast this. On the same day, the fell race from Alva was 1.3 miles with an ascent of 600 feet and the above was 21 miles with an ascent of 9,000 feet. At what point does a fell race become a mountain marathon? You have all probably guessed who took part in the above race. Yes, you are right, Andy Hirst. He just loves those long tortuous runs in the Lakes. Read his story of the day from the link below. As usual, from the detailed description, you will be able to clearly follow the race in your mind's eye, which is certainly much easier than running it.
Well done to Andy for competing in it and completing it.

Andy's Report

The results will posted as soon as they are available.

Another good turn out from Wharfedale for a mid week race and some god performances in what were very muddy and boggy conditions. The race was won by Karl Gray, who can always be counted upon to put in a good performance and he did so again, on this occasion.
First finisher for Wharfedale was Marcus Rae who has been threatening for some time to put in a good performance and he certainly did so tonight by coming home in 4th place. He was chased to the line by Kirt Livesey, who is also flying at the minute. Paul Halstead also had a good race, being our third counter and making Wharfedale 2nd team, only one point behind leading team Calder Valley.
Kevin Rogan also had a good run, finishing before Pete Jackson for the first time in ages and he also beat the current in form Simon Throup.
The ladies race was won by Calder Valley, who with Jo Waites and Jo Buckley in their team made them pretty unbeatable. Sadly, we had only Vicky and Angela out on the night, so we were one lady short of making up a team.
Thanks must go to Calder Valley for organising this race and congratulations must go for getting the results out on the night! This is a rare event in fell running and sets a standard to which we should all aspire.

Results are in the results section.

We had a good group of youngsters out in this event and as usual, represented the club well. In the under 9s, Robbie Johnstone was 5th, in the under 12s, Ben Johnstone was 4th, in the under 14s, Keiran Thompson was 6th and finally in the under 17s, Jonathan Bradshaw was 6th.
In the seniors, Sam Watson produced another good run, coming home in 5th place and Andy Holden also produced a sterling run to finish in 11th place. Mention should be made of yet another new Wharfedale member, Andrew Smith who. for his first run for Wharfedale. finished in 15th place.
As usual, Neil Taylor was quick off the mark with his report and is available from the link below.

Neil's Report

The finishing places and times of our runners were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
5	Sam Watson	12:41	1st U23
11	Andy Holden	13:19	2nd V40
15	Andrew Smith	13:53
18	Karl Bradshaw	14:06	V40
23	Kevin Rogan	14:47	V45
24	Neil Taylor	15:08	V45
26	Mark Bennett	16:34
27	David Hird	16:49	V50
33	Lynn Whittaker	19:02	LV

What a weekend for our youngster Ben Johstone. In this race, he was first under 14 boy and he won the race by a country mile. His time was 28:38, which was two and a half minutes in front of second place Alex Brown of Settle. Well done to Ben, as he also followed this up the next day with coming fourth in the Hawkswick Dash (see below).
There were six seniors out for what is a club championship race and the Championship Tables are now available in excel or web format from the links below.

Club Championship   View       excel

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
22	Marcus Rae	56:16
25	Bruce Elsworth	56:47
98	Glenn Whittaker	65:22	V40
133	Tamara Hird	70:26	L
131	John Beswick	70:33	V50
156	John Thompson	72:38	V40

Maybe it was the weather, maybe there were lots of other races grabbing people's attention or maybe it is the start of the holiday season, but it seems a shame that only 23 people, including one Wharfedaler, entered the race up Lingmell, which nestles beneath the mighty Sca Fell Pike. The race winner was Rob Jebb who set a new course record in what you would think would have been worse conditions than previous years. Judy Howells was our only representative and was rewarded for her efforts by being 2nd lady.
She was a bit disappointed that her prize, a DVD of Wasdale images set to classical music was not drinkable, but perhaps she will settle down to enjoy it, with a glass of wine.
All the weekend results are in the results section.

Emerging from church, a shower of rice greets the couple

Wedding Bells rang on Saturday 21 July for James Wadsworth. He has been living in Italy for a few years in Turin and has married a local Italian girl, Barbara. They were married in the village church in Lothersdale. After spending a few days in England, the are off to Norway for their honeymoon proper.
As James is in the area for the next week, he is talking of coming to the pub run on Wednesday and even having a go in a race at the weekend.
All members at Wharfedale wish James and Barbara all the very best for the future.

Four Wharfedalers went up for this race and three more did the Rydal Round. Neil sent his report in very promptly as usual and is available from the link below. He only mentions three of the runners. I think that Bruce was so far in front of him, he did not realise that he was there.

Neil's Report

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
12	Bruce Elsworth	17:47
20	Andy Holden	18:44	V40
32	Neil Taylor	21:19	V45
43	Lynn Whittaker	25:47	LV

Only six Wharfedale runners turned out for what was a club championship race, but those that did put on a good show for the club. Race winner was Marcus Rae. In 2nd place as unattached runner, Mark Taylor and in 3rd place was the in form Sam Watson. He was just ahead of new member Jason Helmsley. So Wharfedale had three runners out of the top four. Despite having no hills to train on in Egypt, Gareth Hird came home in 6th place. To cap it all, Tamara Hird was first lady and in the juniors, Ben Johnstone was first U12.

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
1	Marcus Rae	19:41
3	Sam Watson	20:43
4	Jason Helmsley	20:45
6	Gareth Hird	21:17
12	Alfie Atkinson	23:39
18	Tamara Hird	25:19	1st Lady
20	Mark Bennett	25:44

After all the recent miserable weather, it was nice to go to a race with a bit of pleasant sunshine and a gentle refreshing breeze, although it felt a bit more than refreshing if you were waiting at the top.
First our youngsters, who always represent the club well. In the under 9s, Robbie Johnstone came 5th, whilst in the under 12s, his brother, Ben came 2nd.
In the under 17s, Jonathan Bradshaw came 4th in a race which was the same as the senior course. Based on his time, he would have come 4th in the senior race, which shows what potential there is here.
Sam Watson really seems to have the bit between his teeth at the minute. After coming third at Cowling yesterday, he turned out again today and was first Wharfedaler home in fourth place. At this rate, how much longer will it be before he actually wins a race? Not far behind him in 6th place was Mark McGoldrick and Andy Holden had a good run coming home in 11th place, although he complained that the climb to the top was hard.
James Wadsworth, still in England after his recent marriage, decided to have a go at this race and despite his lack of fitness and training managed to hold off Kevin Rogan and finish in 25th place. He promised to turn out again for Wharfedale at Christmas when he will run in the Chevin Chase.

A few pictures are now in the gallery

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
4	Sam Watson	24:30	U23
6	Mark McGoldrick	24:40
11	Andy Holden	26:04	V40
18	Karl Bradshaw	27:49	V40
25	James Wadsworth	29:21
27	Kevin Rogan	29:32	V45
34	John Thompson	32:02	V45
40	David Hird	33:52	V50

Tamara Hird went off to run this race on Sunday and sent the following report.

Three Wharfedale Harriers took part in the Round Hill Fell Race, which starts near Timble village about 7 miles from Otley. As described on the Otley AC website - "A tour of Blubberhouses Moor ....... visiting Round Hill and a couple of bogs"! The race is 9 miles with 1200ft of climbing. Out of 98 starters - Jason Hemsley ran well to finish just outside the prizes in 6th place with a time of 1.02:52, Gareth Hird finished 30th in 1:10:19 and Tamara Hird was 52nd and 4th lady in 1:17:35.

Full results are in the results section.

The latest stats are now available for the BOFRA Championship and are broken down by each category.

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Jason & Tamara were recently in Italy and whilst they were there, they took part in a local race. Tamara has sent this report.

Whilst on holiday in the Italian Dolomites, Jason and I happened to stumble across a 10k trail race in the ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio, close to where we were staying, so we thought why not?
Anyway it turned out to be a bigger event than we first thought. We arrived on the day of the race to find a whole host of activities, stands, music and a grand stage. The race itself was a complete tour of the perimeter of the town, on road, track and through woodland - with spectacular rugged scenery to boot.
With temperatures soaring into the 90s, the heat (and the food and wine!) took its toll en route and so Jason and I finished 40th and 80th (6th lady) respectively, out of approx 160 starters. However the biggest surprise of the day came when I was called to the podium for winning first over 30s female and won a hole host of Asics goodies, local cheese and a compass - and this presented by the Italian, Ronald McDonald? To top it all off, everyone in the town was treated to free food and drink and a live band for the rest of the day! Nice one. Arrivederci. Ciao.

Owen Bielby has not run for a couple of weeks after pulling his calf at Stirton. However, he decided to to have a run out last night and seems to have recovered, as he had a storming run, coming 2nd only to Halifax's Jonathan Hare. Here is his report.

A beautiful evening hopefully signified the start of some prolonged decent weather and brought a good turn out to the Crow Hill race organised by Calder Valley. The course starts on the opposite side of the road to the Community Centre and follows a narrow ascent through the woods above Mytholmroyd, before a steep climb up to Hebden Bridge golf course. This is followed by a loop around the moor and then a great descent through the fields, finishing in the woods. With a competition to guess the winner and their time, Halifax's Jonny Hare was very much 'house wife's choice', along with current course record holder Steve Oldfield (who refutes all claims that the record was even his!). However, from the off, it was clear there was only going to be one winner, with Jonny slowly opening a lead that proved to be unassailable, eventually romping home a minute clear of 2nd (me) and smashing the record by around a minute. Former record holder, Steve Oldfield, completed the podium positions in a comfortable third. I didn't hang around for the whole presentation but the first few men were as follows: J Hare, Me, S Oldfield, J Stevens, C Moses, A Grenfell (I think..). Thanks to CVFR and all the marshals - even I couldn't get lost on this one!!

Full results are in the results section.