Jason Helmsley	Adam Baker	Glenn & Kevin

More pictures in the gallery

It was a lovely Autumn day and ideal running conditions which saw 9 Wharfedalers take to the fells. The race was won by Ian Holmes in a new record time! He was followed by Karl Gray and Ben Mounsey of Calder Valley.
The first Wharfedaler home was Jason Helmsley who finished in 18th place, followed by Mark McGoldrick in 31st place, who struggled a bit, this being his first race since the Ian Hodgson. Adam Baker continued his improvement in form, finishing in 116th place, not far behind Kevin Rogan.
Amongst our ladies, Tamara Hird finished in 108th place and Judy Howells finished in 141st place.

The race was very well organised, the course well marked and marshalled and not only that, the results were posted on the Internet very shortly after the finish of the race. Thanks must therefore go to Todmorden Harriers for putting on such a splendid event. It is also very refreshing in fell running to see results posted so promptly. Well done Todmorden.

The full results are in the results section and the times and positions of all our runners were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
18	Jason Helmsley	46:25
31	Mark McGoldrick	49:03
60	Andy Hirst	52:12	V40
89	Pete Jackson	55:51	V50
105	Glenn Whittaker	56:51	V40
108	Tamara Hird	57:01	L
110	Kevin Rogan	57:29	V50
116	Adam Baker	57:58
141	Judy Howells	59:12	L
188	Paul Wilson	64:31	V40

It was a quiet weekend for fell running and you had to travel some distance to find a race. Adam and Bruce went over to the North Yorkshire Moors for this one and Adam sent in the following report of this 8.7 mile, 1800 ft race:

I saw Bruce at the race and we were the only Wharfedale runners there. It was cold, only 7 degrees. I was well up for the race. Just as well, because the anticipation was the best bit. I set off in my new style, like a rocket, and after 200 yds I was finished. I don't know what happened, I felt terrible, so bad that I could not run any of the climbs and I never overtook another runner. I just got overtaken by everyone, so I decided to just try get round, but even this was a struggle. I finished in about 1hr 27mins (almost last). I feel a bit disappointed, a far cry from Cock Howe and Saltergate, but I'll be back! as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in The Terminator. Bruce seemed to do OK, although he said he was sick of getting lost.

The full results will be posted as soon as they are available.

When Adam sent in his report of his run in this event, he seemed pretty depressed with his performance to the point where he described himself as finishing almost last and Bruce's run as OK. Well, the results are now out and Bruce finished in 8th place. Good run seems more appropriate, especially as Bruce complained on the day of being fed up of getting lost. Getting lost seems to have been the order of the day as it appears that 20% of the runners failed to visit the final checkpoint.
Adam's run too was not as bad as he painted it either, finishing 59th out of 89 finishers.

The full results are in the results section.

Neil Taylor
It was a bit better weather for this year's full tour of Pendle and it attracted a very large and strong field of 287 runners. Lloyd Taggert led early on and looked very strong throughout, even on his run back down to Barley village. He certainly did not look like he had run 17 gruelling miles. His time of two hours and eleven minutes exactly was a new course record. He was followed home by Thomas Cornthwaite in 2:15:08, followed by John Brown, Karl Gray and Mike Fanning.
The first Wharfedaler home was Mark Horrocks followed by Lucas Payne who knocked 18 minutes off his last year's time. Andy Hirst and Kevin White also managed to improved on their times last year. Judy Howells had a good race and managed to beat a very tired Neil Taylor who, at the end of the race, looked like he might benefit from a large plate of steak and chips.

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
8	Mark Horrocks	2:24:55	V40
65	Lucas Payne	2:51:54
100	Andy Hirst	3:01:02	V45
103	James Harrison	3:01:56
124	Kevin White	3:05:16
167	Pete Jackson	3:20:33	V50
187	Judy Howells	3:26:02	L
230	Neil Taylor	3:39:30	V45

Not many of our runners made the trip to York for this event. Maybe the thought of running on the flat put them off. It was therefore good to see that Under 11 Boy Jamie Middleton turned out and was rewarded by coming home in 14th place on a course that probably does not suit Wharfedalers.
In the Under 15 Boys, Jonathan Bradshaw also made the trip. Jonathan also likes a good climb in his races, so again, he must have found it hard running fast on the level. He came home in 14th place.
The only senior woman to turn out was Tamara Hird who finished in 27th place and Paul Harlowe, finishing in 88th place was our only senior man.

Full results are in the results section.

A few of the pictures taken by Andy Holden are now in the gallery and full results are in the results section.

Kevin Rogan, Glenn Whittaker, Kate Rogan and Neil Taylor went to this event and although Sam Watson was injured, he came along to support. Neil sent in his usual report shortly after the event which is below.

Neil's Report

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
35	Kevin Rogan	43:26
36	Glenn Whittaker	43:29
46	Neil Taylor	45:13
57	Kate Rogan	47:45	3rd Lady

John Perry	Sam Wadsworth	Catherine Wolfenden

Ten Wharfedalers took part in this race, including three of our lady runners. This year attracted a strong field of 123 contestants. On the ascent, Ted Mason was in 4th place when they were out on the fells proper and was working hard to keep up with the leaders. If he could keep in touch, perhaps he would get them on the descent. And this is how things turned out. On the descent from the summit, Ted lead the way, but was being chased hard by Chris Loftus. If the finish had been at the bottom of the descent, Ted would have probably had it, but there is a long run in along the canal bank and Chris managed to snatch victory over Ted by one second.
The third runner home was Graham Pearce of the Pudsey and Bramley Club, who put in a strong showing with three finishers in the top ten, which would have made them the winning team, had this been a team event.
Owen Bielby had a good race and was our second finisher in sixth place and Sam Wadsworth continued his comeback by being our third finisher in fourteenth place.
There was an outstanding run from Emma Clayton of Scunthorpe and District who finished in overall twelfth place. Our first female was Catherine Wolfenden who finished in forty fifth place and it was nice to see Louisa Pickles back out on the fells again, who came home on ninety third place.
Special mention should be made of Lynn Whittaker, who was first lady vet 45 and just beat Chris Whitaker to take this prize.
Lastly, we should not forget Lucas Payne, who was obviously in some pain as he battled his way to the top. On the ascent, he had torn a calf muscle and he decided to pull up, much to his own disappointment, as he had a top ten place when he decided to do so. Let us hope that his injury soon heals.

The full results are in the results section.

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

Pos	Name	Time	Other
2	Ted Mason	49:52
6	Owen Beilby	51:34
14	Sam Wadsworth	56:08
17	John Perry	56:56
21	Kevin White	58:01
39	Andy Holden	60:12	V40
45	Catherine Wolfenden	62:15	F
93	Louisa Pickles	72:14	F
100	Lynn Whittaker	74:06	First FV45
DNF	Lucas Payne

Again, it was over to the North Yorkshire Moors for Adam Baker this weekend to have a go in another of their Winter Series Races. Again, he has struggled to emulate his success in the Saltergate Gallows, but here it is in his own words

Here is my report for Clay Bank West fell race, 4.2miles 1020ft. The weather was good, cold but fine. I was the only Wharfedale member running and did not perform very well again for some reason. I could not get going and only seemed to wake up 1/2 mile from the finish, where I managed to put in a small spurt. I think maybe the fast starts don't agree with me. Other than that it was all very pleasant with good terrain and nice surroundings and well worth the trip. See you all at the Pendle Owl Event.
Adam Baker.

The annual contest between cyclists and harriers took place on Saturday and the harriers won it, despite cyclist, Andy Peace winning the race. Graham Pearce of Pudsey & Bramley was the first runner home. First lady home was Ruth Whitehead of Bingley Harriers and second lady was our own Tamara Hird.
Jason Helmsley was the other Wharfedaler in the race and he finished amongst the top ten runners, with only about three cyclists in front of him.

Full results and positions will be posted when they are available.

A bit late with this one, but there was a bit of confusion with the results, which have now been more or less sorted out. Andy Holden and Lynn Whittaker went up for this one. Andy had a good run and finished in 15th place out of 117 entrants and Lynn finished in 71st place overall, but was 8th lady and 4th Lady Vet 40. They were both quitely pleased with their day out.

Full results and times are in the results section.

Another good Owl Event evening, despite the fact that we had no bikes. The bikes though do give these events that little bit of extra interest. These events are not races, but are basically timed training runs and are open to all runners. It was therefore nice to welcome runners from Bowland, Clayton and Keighley & Craven, in addition to the usual enthusiasts from Wharfedale.
As it was not a race, there were no prizes for winners, but Kevin Rogan kindly donated a bottle of champagne to the person who could make the nearest guess to their finishing time.
Mark Horrocks had easily the fastest time and was never really pushed for this, in fact, when he passed the trig point on the top, you could not even see the lights of the next runner, who was Sean Clare of Clayton.
Andy Hirst, put in a particularly good run on the night to obtain the third fastest time.
When it came to guessing times, Mark Horrocks was third, over estimating his time by 9 seconds. Brett Weedon of Keighley & Craven was second, who was 8 seconds out from guessing his actual time. However first was Kevin Rogan, who was 4 seconds out from his estimated time and before anyone cries "fix", he did this without a watch to check on his progress, so he is either very lucky or he has mystical powers which we have never previously appreciated.
Everyone had a good get together afterwards in the Pendle Inn and an enjoyable night was had by all. The only sad aspect of the evening was that Emily Whitehead of Keighley & Craven dropped out, because she felt that she was holding up the "sweeper", who was following everyone to make sure that no one got into difficulties or got lost. These are fun events, they are held in the dark and time is not the over riding factor of the evening. So, we hope that Emily will come to future Owl events and enjoy the evening for what it is and not feel that she is under presssure to keep up with rest.

Full Results

A few pictures taken by Paul Rogan at the first checkpoint are now in the gallery.