The Bofra races come thick and fast at this time of the year, this being the third one in eight days. As always, it is nice to see a few of our juniors taking part in this series, with Robbie Johnstone coming third in the U9s, followed by Adam Gibson in 5th place.

In the U12s, Ben Johnstone continues with his unbeaten run although Will Smith of Skipton was close behind him at the end of this race.

Higher up the age groups, Ellamae Gibson was 4th girl in the U14s. Ellamae is having a good season and is leading girl in her group, after counting the Ambleside results.

Jonathan Bradshaw was again a close second and he is another one who is leading the table at this stage.

In the seniors, Bruce Elsworth came home in 6th place followed by Goldie in 7th. Sam Watson could only manage 13th place, but he had had a 17 mile run out on the previous day in the Borrowdale race.

Full results are in the results section.

Kirsty Hall at Borrowdale
There was a large and strong field entered in this race and amongst them seven Wharfedalers. The men were were led home by Ted Mason, who finished in 19th place in a time of 3:15:07 and Tamara Hird led home the ladies in a time of 4:13:41.

Tamara Hird sent in a report of the day. Read Tamara's Report

A few pictures are in the gallery including some post race pics from Tamara.

The full results are in the results section and finishing times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
19	Ted Mason	3:15:07
168	Sam Watson	4:06:41
194	Andy Hirst	4:12:48	V45
196	Tamara Hird	4:13:41	L
342	Kirsty Hall	4:55:21	L
373	Judy Howells	5:11:58	L
402	Keiran Ashworth	5:32:09	V40

There were two Wharfedalers in this race, John Beswick and Keiron Ashworth. Keiron had run in the Borrowdale race the day before and Andy Hirst thinks that he did not try hard enough in that race, as he could hardly walk the day after, let alone run.

The full results are in the results section and finishing times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
50	John Beswick	43:42	M55
84	Keiron Ashworth	49:47	M40

There were quite a few Wharfedalers at this event, both seniors and juniors. Mark Wilson of Cowlingweb has kindly made these results available and they are now in the results section.

A wet and windy day made this race an extra challenge, but it also put some people off and numbers were down on last year. First home amongst the men was Ted Mason, who managed to wrest the lead during the descent from Lee Pascoe of Blackburn. Third was Sam Watson followed by Ian Ferguson

The weather did not put the ladies off and we fielded one more than last year, in fact the only ladies to turn out were Wharfedalers. Tamara Hird led them home, followed by Judy Howells, Kate Rogan and Lynn Whittaker.

Amongst the juniors, Ben Johnstone maintained his unbeaten record this season with yet another win. He was pushed on the ascent by his team mate Will Smith, but once he turned, he managed to open up a good lead on his pursuer.

Lynn Whittaker has kindly typed up the results and these are now in the results section. David Hird was out on the course with his camera, so hopefully a few pics will follow shortly

Jason Hemsley has sent in a report about this race as follows:

Two Wharfedalers, Jason Hemsley and Gareth Hird, travelled to Mytholmroyd to compete in the Crow Hill race, on a very wet night, last Tuesday. Over familiar terrain, such as leg 4 of the Calderdale and other races, the route is essentially out and back, over steep paths and rough moorland, approximately 5.5 miles. Both members had good runs, finishing 7th and 10th respectively. Race winner was Calder Valley's Karl Gray, with second claim Wharfedaler Steve Oldfield in 4th place.

Results are in the results section.

The fell race had to be cancelled due to the state of the showfield, but John Thompson kindly put on an alternative race on his farm. The weather smiled kindly on the event and it was good to see all the youngsters out and about in this very picturesque setting. In fact, the whole event had a very nice atmosphere about it.

The leading U9s came in quite close together with Charley Lowrie of Wharfedale, just beating Charles Smith of Ilkley to the post.

The U12s was won by Will Smith of Wharfedale, ahead of Sam Convery of Bingley and James Broughton of Blackburn. Sally Handford was first girl, ahead of Ellamae Gibson of Wharfedale.

James Hall of Bingley took the U14s race ahead of Declan Bulmer of Pendle. Third place went to Pippa Barrett of Keighley & Craven, who was also first girl.

Jonathan Bradshaw had a comfortable win in the U17s ahead of Will Marshall and Ed Newbould.

The senior race was won by that remarkable athlete Gary Devine with a good lead on the chasers. Second place went to Lucas Payne, but with Sam Watson on his shoulder.

Cathy Bradley had a good run to finish first lady.

Full results and times are in the results section. David Hird was on the course with his camera and some pictures may follow.

Owen Beilby had a good run in this race, in fact, none ran it better. He finished in first place in a time of 31:12. His report of the night is below.

Read Owen's Report

The under nines enjoying a run in the meadows at Gargrave
As well as having a run out, David Hird was out and about with his camera and like the one above, he has taken a few pictures of the juniors having a great day out. He has also taken a few of the seniors. They are all now available for viewing in the gallery.

Alistair Brownlee seemed to receive little coverage in the Press leading up to the Olympics, with all the emphasis being on Will Clarke and Tim Don. In the event, he was up there for most of the race. In the swim, be beat Jan Frodeno, the eventual winner by three seconds. By the end of the bike section, he was trailing him by five seconds. In the final section, the run, he was in the top six until he had run 7 out of the 10 kilometres, when he ran out of energy and slipped down the field.

Having said all that, it was a great performance for this brilliant local athlete who did not even expect to go to these Olympics and it augurs well for the Olympics in London

Another mid week run out for Owen Beilby. This is what he had to say about it.

Another midweek sojourn this week to Meltham for the Cinnamon Lodge Chase, not a fell race more of a trail / cross country type around the paths, fields and bridleways surrounding Meltham. Conditions were fine on the evening, although it was heavy going underfoot. The course is quite contrived in sections, but is still a nice run and was well marshalled by a friendly bunch from host club Meltham AC.

Holmfirth's Dave Watson was the clear winner, finishing over a minute ahead of myself in second (36.33) with Andy Whitworth of Meltham AC a further 2 min back in 3rd. First lady was from Penistone, who also won the ladies team prize with the men's prize going to Holmfirth. Overall a nice evening and a good midweek bash, made all the better by the fact that all the prizes were sponsored by the local Curry House (Cinnamon Lodge - hence the name!) No prizes for guessing where I'm heading this weekend!

Brian Hugill	Lynn Whittaker

Good performances from the Wharfedalers who turned out for this event, taking second, third and fourth places. Andy Holden was out and about with his camera and so there are a few pictures in the gallery. He also sent in a brief report of the day as follows:

A brilliant run from Brucey to finish 2nd to the winner, Harry Coates of SkiptonAC. Ted 3rd, suffering from a cold...he tried his "incredible 'ulk" tactics on the descent but it wasn't to be today. Goldie had a solid run to finish one place behind Ted. Barry geed himself on the descent. Good runs from Cathy 'n Lynn, 3rd 'n 4th respectively in the ladies section. As always Brian Hugill smiled his way around the course and Stu Johnston can only keep on improving his fitness by taking on courses like Malham...good run lads.

In the junior section Ben Johnston cruised the under 14's...nice run Ben. (Malham Show rules stipulate running as "age on the day"). (I haven't got details of other juniors. Apologies to any others I've missed mentioning).

Results follow when available.

Sam Watson had a cracking run against some big names and led our team home by finishing in eleventh place. Teams were four to count and Wharfedale were third after Pudsey & Bramley and Bingley

The positions of all our runners was as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
11	Sam Watson	16:41
17	Pete Keron	17:11
23	Jason Hemsley	17:55
28	Paul Carmen	18:12
32	Shaun Chew	18:49
57	Kevin White	20:58

The full results are in the results table.

This event was an English Junior Championship Counter and our youngsters did us proud. Robbie Johnstone was 2nd in the U8s, Ben Johnstone was 1st in the U12s and Jonathan Bradshaw was 1st in the U16s.

Well done lads

Full results are in the results section.

Owen Beilby and Gareth Hird decided to have a go at this one. Owen did his usual party trick of going wrong, but he had a good excuse this time. Despite that, he came second and Gareth sixth. Owen's report of the day is below

Read Owen's Report

Full results are in the results section

Last week Tamara Hird, Jason Hemsley and Judy Howells took part in this new race which was a 10km race over a 2 lap course around Esholt Woods. The race turned out to be a fast affair and was won by Jamie Hutchinson of Ilkley Harriers in 39.00. Jason finished a good 4th in 41.46. Tamara was first lady in 46.58 followed by Judy who was third lady in 50.20.

Results are in the results section.

Whilst most people were back to work, a few Wharfedalers went up to Reeth. However, this was only a championship race for the juniors. In the U17s, Jonathan Bradshaw led the field home. This gives him valuable championship points and everything is now to play for in this category. If he can emulate this performance in the last three races, he has the possibility of taking the championship. In the same race, Jack Smith came 4th and Scott Baistow came 9th. They are currently lying in 4th and 5th positions respectively in the championship, reflecting the commitment they have both given to this competition.

Ben Johnstone came first again in the U12s. He is already the champion in this category. The thing is; can he go through the season and be and become an unbeaten champion? Only time will tell and he has three more races to achieve this remarkable feat. In the same race, Will Smith was 4th and Robbie Johnstone,who was running way out of his age group, came 15th. In the same age group, Ellamae Gibson was 4th girl. She is now lying 3rd in the championship, just one place in front of Zoe Baistow.

Results are in the results section.

The first of these took place three months ago and it is interesting to compare performances between the two events. Pete Keron set off determined to beat his previous record and managed to do so, but only by two seconds. Similarly, Lucas Payne and Sam Watson all finished within seconds of their previous times, although all three had slower first leg times. This must say something about the conditions.

Adam Baker improved his time all round and Kevin managed go slower all round. James Wadsworth was in England on a flying visit from Italy and had a go on an old bike out of the shed. He was a bit more on the pace in the second half of the race, but was a bit slow in the first half when he was cycling on his own.

Angela Gray is not a cyclist but had a go on a borrowed bike. Unfortunately in the second half, she came off and found herself in the nettles at the side of the road. Fortunately, no damage was done, apart from a few minor scratches and she remounted and finished the course.

Another good evening and a pleasant change from the usual training events.