With the dearth of races at the moment, Andy Hirst, Glen Whittaker and Pete Jackson went for a 10 mile run up Buckden Pike. Starting from Kettlewell, they went up the track to Cam Head, continuing along to the memorial cairn and the trig point. They then went back to the ladder stile and dropped down to the lead mines, using the Buckden Pike Fell Race route, but instead of dropping down to into Buckden, continued on to Starbotton, then followed the Dalesway along the river back to Kettlewell.

This race, from Langsett Barn, covers 13.8 miles with 1980 ft of ascent and also requires some navigation skills. Adam Baker had a go at it and here is his report.

Well, a nice day for it, 2 degrees and a cold wind. The start was a woodland, man made, hardcore track which reminded me of the M1. I decided to just keep a steady pace all the way round and treat it as a distance training run, as I have not done a race this long for over 5 years. Once off the track, it was on to the snow covered fells for the next few miles - very good terrain. I did not realise there were decent hills down here and they have some big climbs. There was another track just over half way round, which went on for about a mile and a half, then into the another climb. I actually found this quite easy as I was so busy concentrating on the ground in front of me, I did not realise that I had had done the climbs. Before I knew it, I was back near the track at the start, but then I took a wrong turn. I soon realised and had to go back, but I lost 4 places and a couple of minutes in the process. I finished in about 2h 28 mins with loads left in the tank . My GPS said 14.2 miles 2928ft of ascent. A great race well organised, plenty of marshals. Thanks to Denbydale Travellers.

Despite that modest account of his run, Adam finished 75th out of 140 starters. Full results are now in the results section.

The highlight of this event was yet another good run by Ben Johnstone in the U12s. Once more he showed what a fine runner he is by powering up the hill and opening up a good lead, followed by an excellent descent. Well done Ben.

Four Wharfedalers turned out for the seniors race and thanks must go once again to Neil Taylor for this excellent report.

Read Neil's Report.

Judy Howells brought a snowy white Wharfedale vest to the snow covered slopes of Blake Fell in West Cumbria on Saturday, at the Blake's Heaven Fell Race 4.5m (1700ft). Judy came 58th out of of 93 and in doing so, she beat a large number of Cumbrian ladies and a handful of men under 40! Judy said "It was a really great race with fabulous runnable terrain - even on the downhill!".

Full results are in the results section.

Andy Holden was out on the fells, braving the cold and the high winds with his camera. He has also got to grips with the new technology and emailed a few over, so here they are.

Pete Metcalfe	Lynn Whittaker	Neil Taylor	Kevin Rogan

Clayton held an orienteering event on Tuesday night and Andy Hirst took part. It was a timed event, with contestants setting off at intervals, either in pairs or solo and you had to get as many checkpoints as possible within an hour. There were 20pts for the two furthest away, both in opposite directions and 10pts for the rest with a 5pt penalty for every 30 seconds over the allotted time. He managed to get 13 of the checkpoints and 140pts with 3 minutes to spare, putting him in joint third place with Peter Thompson. That was according to the results sheet, but they awarded him third and a bottle of wine at the presentation in the Pendle Inn after. The highest scorer in 1st place being Mark Nutter who got 170pts but with a 15pt time penalty, giving him 155pts and Tim Edwards in second place with 150pts.

The word on the fells is that if you had watched News at Ten on Thursday, you would have seen none other than our own Mark Horrocks. Apparently, there was an item on about interest rates and the economy and it showed Hope Technology, who might benefit from greater exports, if the pound weakens against other currencies. They then showed a clip of Mark working at his machine.

Maybe, it will be beers all round next Wednesday night, paid for out of his fee.

James & Lucas	James & Lucas	Pete Jackson

Four Wharfedalers did the full Trog, Andy Hirst, Pete Jackson, Lucas Payne and James Harrison. This was quite a challenge for James as it is the longest race he has undertaken. Lucas has sent in the following report of the day.

There are two things in my life that are certain
1) Death
2) I will never do this fell race again!

It is a test of determination, in that twenty miles is a long way in anybody's book with 4700 ft of climbing, but the bogs, oh the bogs!!! There were two Wharfedale runners doing the half Trog and 4 of us doing the full Trog. I cannot speak for the other runners, but I did the race with James and we crossed the line together. I stayed with him because he had never run this distance before. We both were totally overdressed, full leg cover, two tee-shirts, a vest and a camelback each, the weather was glorious so we sweated our bits off!

Had fun really on reflection.

Ben Johnstone

Neil has sent in his usual excellent report of the day.   Read Neil's Report.

Young Ben is certainly putting a bit of pressure on the seniors in the club with his performances in the Kendal Winter League. He set off with grit and determination, being in close contention for the lead up the first small ascent. The runners disappeared from sight, but when they returned, Ben was leading them home. As he approached the last quarter of a mile, he glanced over his shoulder, upped the pace and widened the gap on his chaser. His pursuer tried to catch him, but it was too late, Ben had both the momentum and the stamina left to hold him off and comfortably take another win in this league and maintain his position at the top of the U12 table.

Mention should also be made of Ben's brother Robbie. He is U7 and ran in the U12s race. He is not fazed by running amongst much older boys and finished about 23rd. Give him a year or two and he will certainly be emulating his brother.

Whilst on the subject of juniors, Jonathan Bradshaw had another fine run in the U17s to come 4th.

Ten Wharfedalers turned out in the seniors, including new member, Sheryl Slater. What a contrast with last week, where everyone was complaining about the cold. This week, everyone was complaining about the heat! In February! Andy Holden decided not to run, making the excuse that he had been for a bike ride that morning, whereas Pete Keron cycled to the race and cycled home again. However, the real reason for him not running was that he now has two new cameras. A video cam and a new SLR camera. He was all over the course shooting lots of pics and movie footage, which hopefully will be added to the web shortly.

On the subject of the race, Ted Mason led the Wharfedalers out settling down into fourth place. However, he struggled to keep this position and had to settle for a 5th place finish. However, still a good run from Ted. Second for Wharfedale was Bruce Elsworth, who had a good run and looked to be going comfortably all the way round. He finished in 10th place. It was nice to see Mark McGoldrick back on the fells for his first race of the year, following an injury which he picked up last year. To say that he was only going out for a gentle run, he managed a top twenty place, finishing in 17th place ahead of Pete Keron, in 22nd place. The good news is that Mark had no adverse reaction to his run and it is now just a matter of getting back to race fitness again.

The full results will be posted in due course of time. In the meantime, the Wharfedalers finished in the following order, with the appropriate places shown, where known.

Pos	Name	Time	Other
5	Ted Mason
10	Bruce Elsworth
17	Mark McGoldrick
22	Pete Keron
	Kevin Rogan
	Neil Taylor
	Carl Bradshaw
	Peter Metcalfe
	Lynn Whittaker
	Sheryl Slater

Judy Howells was a bit put out that Lucas Payne thought that only two Wharfedalers did the Half Trog. In actual fact, four took part and the boys managed second team place. Judy was sixth lady. Judy found the race very tiring and has vowed never to do it again. Well the Full Trog anyway. However, she did think that it was a great race.

There was apparently some confusion all round about how many runners we had in the Half Trog, as Adam Baker thought that we only had three, including Judy. She thought that Kevin White had run, but his name does not appear on the list of finishers and we seem to have acquired a new runner called Stewart McConnell. Adam was too tired to send in a report after the race, but after a night's rest sent the following:

It was a beautiful day for the race; warm and sunny. There were 3 of us doing the half trog, Owen, Judy and myself. I set off feeling fine, but after a couple of minutes, it was clear that I was not fine. I was sweating and the salt was stinging my eyes. After only half a mile, I was sick and at the top of the first climb at cp1, I was ready to retire. I stopped for a moment and the next stage was down hill so I carried on. I got to cp2 OK, but could only walk up the climb. I was shattered when I got to the top. Even the bogs I love so much were hard work. I saw Cock Hill in the distance, which gave me a bit of a lift and I managed to up the pace a bit. I just managed to keep a steady pace all the way back. I did not stick around, so I can't even guess my time. I went to bed at 1pm and woke on Sunday at 11:30am

Full results are now in the results section.

As you know, Andy Holden was at the race with his new SLR camera and a few of his pictures are now in the gallery.

Ben & Robbie Johnstone	Jonathan Bradshaw	Bruce Elsworth & Ted Mason

When you arrive at this race, you are struck by the steep ascent and descent that the runners have to undertake. However, this sort of terrain suits our youngsters and once more they set a standard for the seniors to follow.

First off were Ben & Robbie Johnstone in the U12s. Once the field spread out, Ben settled into second place, but was always pressurising the leader and by the turn was into first place. He descended magnificently and opened up a good lead on the rest of the field to once more take first place. His brother, Robbie, also had a good run and put up a good show against a field that is by and large much older than him. Give him a year or two and he will be emulating his brother.

In the U17s, Jonathan Bradshaw was in his element, as this was his sort of race. He coped with the steep ascent very well and when he disappeared out of sight over the top, he was in fourth place. Once the runners came into view again, he had gained another place and like Ben before him, his descent was top class. The second place runner was not very sure footed on the descent and took a couple of tumbles, but Jonathan kept going, soon passing him to take second place with a good margin.

We had ten runners in the senior's race. Bruce Elsworth and Ted Mason led the Wharfedalers up the hill, followed by Andy Holden, who despite not having run for a few weeks, put in a good performance.. Kevin Rogan ascended surprisingly well and descended even better, picking up a few places in the process. Bruce Elsworth led the Wharfedalers home in 5th place, followed by Ted in 7th. Full results will follow in a few days. For a runners perspective of the race, see Neil Taylor's report below. In the meantime, the finishing positions of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Read Neil's Report.

• Bruce Elsworth 5th
• Ted Mason 7th
• Andy Holden
• Kevin Rogan
• Carl Bradshaw
• Neil Taylor
• Pete Metcalfe
• Barry Scholes
• Kate Rogan 3rd lady
• Lynn Whittaker 4th lady

Ben Johnstone	Jonathan Bradshaw
Neil Taylor, Carl Bradshaw & Barry Scholes	Bruce Elsworth

Ilkley Harriers have proposed a series of friendly inter club mob matches between our two clubs with the view point of adding a bit more interest and maybe a higher attendance to some of the local races. Points will be awarded based on finishing positions, but they will also be weighted to take account of age and sex, so everyone will count. There will also be an extra weighting for the club with the most entrants.

So, are we up for the challenge? This Sunday, we will probably have a number of Kendal Winter League stalwarts going up to Cautley Spout, but if you do not fancy the long outing up to the Howgills, why not turn out at Ilkley and give this mob match a go? Everyone will count, regardless of ability.

Race details

Other proposed races in the series are:

• Dick Hudsons
• Jack Bloor
• White Wells
• Beamsley Beacons

It is also proposed that points will be accumulative over the series.

It was a great night at Skipton on Friday, when 29 Wharfedalers and their friends and family turned out for a bit of ten pin bowling fun. It was also great to see the wide age range of everyone there, from the youngsters of Kirsty Hall and Mark Horrocks, to the not so young. It was an evening of fun, which saw Ted Mason whirling the ball round windmill style before releasing it, to Andy Holden, like a member of the paparazzi, suddenly appearing from behind the pillars to take some pictures. Talking of which, below are the first of these. A few more are promised for later and will probably appear in the gallery. Thanks from everyone to Neil Taylor for organising the evening.

Neil's Report           Results (Web Format)           Results (Excel)

Lynn Whittaker	Lucas Payne
Dave Ferguson	Graham Wadsworth

Pete & Glenn on the old Tramway	Black Sail Hut

Andy Hirst went up to the Lakes on Friday with Glenn Whittaker and Pete Jackson to have a bit of a training run and do a recce of a possible run on the day of the proposed trip to the Via Ferrata and Honister Slate Mines.

He has sent a report of the day. Read Andy's Report

More pictures of the day are in the gallery

Another picture from Andy.


Lucy Horrocks

Ben Johnstone	Jonathan Bradshaw

Once more the youngsters did us proud. In the under 12s, Ben Johnstone led them out and then he led them back, to take another first place. Another superb race from this promising youngster. In the U17s, Jonathan was 4th at the turn, but on the descent, where he is normally very good, he went over on his ankle and as a result, made a steady descent to finish in 5th place.

In the seniors, Kevin Rogan led the Wharfedalers home, followed by Neil Taylor. It must be a long time since that happened. For a runner's perspective of the senior's race, see Neil Taylor's excellent report below.

Neil's Report

First of all, congratulations to Ilkley Harriers in organising this race. There were 266 finishers and yet the results were out on the web, on the day of the race,in double quick time. Well done Ilkley.

Six Wharfedalers turned out for this event. Ted had his usual good race to finish in 4th place and Paul Harlowe had an excellent run to be second Wharfedaler home in 30th place. The results are in the results section. The finishing positions of our runners were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
4	Ted Mason	40:43
30	Paul Harlowe	45:33	V50
34	Mark McGoldrick	45:57
48	Paul Halstead	46;55
212	Angela Gray	62:07	L
220	Matthew Hird	63:23

Having previously won this race, Andy Holden had nothing to prove, so he went around the course with his SLR camera taking some pics. He has sent a few through and these are now in the gallery.

Ten Pin Bowling Night - The Gang

A few more pictures of the night are now in the gallery.

Whilst a lot of members and their friends were having fun at the bowling alley at Skipton, Judy Howells was contemplating some serious running in the North Pennines. She has sent the following report:

Where Waterfalls Flow Uphill

As Judy had missed out on the amazing Ten Pin Bowling Event on Friday, she thought she better make up for it with some serious tough, north pennine fell running. She entered the 9m 1500ft High Cup Nick race on Saturday and experienced the strange phenomena of 'uphill waterfalls'. Add to this treat, being blown up the climb and being unable to put one foot in front of the other on the perfectly flat ridge, this place is truly mythical! You can read a great report from northumberland fellrunners here (with photos) proving no one else seemed to have a problem with the conditions!

http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/html/racereports/2008/2008racereports1.html#highcup

A few Wharfedalers met up with a few of the KACAC lads on Monday for a bike and run training session up Farnhill and our roving photographer was there.

Neil Taylor	Kevin Rogan

A few more pics are now in the gallery.

The above is the title of a new book by Teresa Belgrove. It is written by a woman and is solely designed to appeal to a female readership. The idea is to give some motivation and inspiration to either start, get back to or keep running. So girls, check this book out at:

http://www.trafford.com/07-1280

Jack Smith	Emily Whitehead

First of all, apologies for the delay in getting the report and results out, but our web host had problems which persisted all day

It was great to see a record number of 37 runners turn out for an Owl Event and to be able to welcome runners from so many other clubs. It was nice to see four juniors take part and we hope that they all enjoyed their night out fell running in the dark. It was nice too, to welcome back Emily Whitehead, who previously ran in the Pendle Owl Event and we were pleased to see that this time, she completed the course.
This was not a race as such and each person ran the event in their own way. However, first back was Robin Lawrence of Bingley, followed very closely by Mark Horrocks and Mike Fanning.
There was only one biker, Pete Keron, who finished in 4th place, making up a few places on his return, after being 12th at the top of Rough Haw.
First Junior home was Jack Smith, who enjoyed showing his dad how to run a fell race and he finished in a very creditable 8th place.
Three ladies too took part and were led home by Christine Preston of Todmorden, followed by our own Judy Howells and then Emily Whitehead of Keighley & Craven.
The bottle of bubbly was won by Steve Fry of Bingley, who managed to guess his time to the second!

Full Results

A few pictures are now in the gallery.