Seven Wharfedalers started the Bank Holiday weekend with this run out over the Cumbrian Mountains. Ian Holmes took first place, followed by Robb Jebb. Ted Mason was not far behind them, having a fine race to finish in fourth place.

Neil Taylor took part in the race and sent in a brief report of the day.

Read Neil's Report of the day

Friday was a day of celebration for Glenn, because, as an independent candidate, he beat off the challenges of the major political parties to become the elected representative for the Craven Ward of Pendle Borough Council.

Neil Bland back out on the fells
A surprisingly large number of Wharfedalers turned out for this mid week event - 22 in all, including a couple of juniors. The race was won by Gary Devine of Pudsey & Bramley in a time of 23:51, but he was chased all the way by Mark Horrocks. On the ascent, those two were way ahead of the rest of the pack, who were led by Ted Mason. However, Ted made up some ground on the descent and finished close behind them. If he hadn't done Coniston at the weekend, it might have been a different story. It was good to see Marcus Rae out on the fells again, with a 6th position place. Young Jack Smith had another excellent run to finish in 7th place and Sam Watson was the 5th Wharfedaler to finish inside the the top ten. Further down the field, Pete Jackson was 2nd Vet50 and Judy Howells was 2nd lady. On the ascent, Neil Taylor was leading Kevin Rogan and it looked like the Nevin Cup might change hands, but the lead was not great enough and Kevin passed him on a small section of uphill on the way back down.

In the junior race, Ben Johnstone was just leading at the turn, but he was being pushed all the way by James Hall. The final places of this race are not yet available.

The event was well organised and marshalled and thanks must go to Brett and Sue Weedon and all the other helpers on the night, who made it go so smoothly.

The full results will be posted shortly. In the meantime, the positions of the Wharfedalers, excluding Neil Bland (pictured above), whose position was not extracted from the results sheet, were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
2	Mark Horrocks	23:55	V40
3	Ted Mason	24:02
6	Marcus Rae	26:05
7	Jack Smith	26:14	U17
8	Sam Watson	26:34
12	Pete Keron	26:59
15	Andy Smith	27:40
17	Paul Halstead	27:52
27	Kevin White	29:03
28	Pete Jackson	29:13	2nd V50
32	Jonathan Gibson	29:51	V40
42	Glenn Whittaker	31:04	V40
44	Kevin Rogan	31:18	V50
45	Neil Taylor	31:24	V40
49	Judy Howells	31:32	2nd Lady
53	Scott Baistow	31:39	U17
68	Pete Metcalfe	34:10	V50
73	Angela Gray	34:38	L
80	Vicky Rae	35:24	L
81	Neil Bland	35:36	V55
86	Dave Ferguson	36:16	V45
90	Lynn Whittaker	36:47	LV45

Most of you will be aware that Owen ran both the London Marathon and then the Three Peaks Race to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. He has written to say thank you as follows:

Thank you for everyone who sponsored me and for everyone's support and good wishes. The Peaks would have been frankly horrendous without the various well wishers and Wharfedale supporters cheering and offering food and drink. So I'd like to say thanks to all of you and too everyone who sponsored me - I raised £944 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and I quite literally couldn't have done it without everyone's help!!

Owen

The results for this race are now available and it is interesting to see that our youngsters have once more done well. In the U8s, Robbie Johnstone ran out the winner in an exciting finish against Georgie Grey of Keighley & Craven. In the same group, Lucy Horrocks came 4th and another Johnstone, younger brother Sam, came 14th.

In the U12s, despite being in the lead at the turn, Ben Johnstone could only manage a second place against James Hall, who was always on his heels. There really is quite keen competition between these two youngsters, but this can only do them both good.

Last Sunday saw 3 Wharfedalers turn out for this event and were led home by Sam Watson. The finishing positions and times were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
29	Sam Watson	44:56
41	Paul Halstead	46:55
94	John Beswick	53:31	V55

It has been a busy week for Lynn Whittaker. She was out on Wednesday at the Lothersdale race and on Monday she entered the Caton Moor race where she came 22nd in the ladies race.

This is mainly a walking event, but there is a race for runners. There are two options. A 23 mile race or a shorter version of 9 miles. Bruce and his girl friend Cathy entered the shorter event. There is no note of finishing positions at the moment, but full results will follow shortly.

Kieran pauses to admire the view	Pat surveys the route ahead

A warm day welcomed the intrepid group of Wharfedalers and Claytoners for this quite unique day out in the Lakes. And what a great day it turned out to be. Everyone met up for a drink in the cafe before going off to get fitted out with their hard hat and harness. After much fun getting into the harnesses, it was ready for the off, The the trip started by walking up the mine road. A tunnel loomed up ahead signifying that the serious stuff was about to start.. Although the temperature inside the tunnel is always a constant 10C, coming from the warmth outside, it felt quite cold. From the tunnel, the group emerged on to the side of Fleetwith Pike itself, high above Honister Pass, to start the ascent of the hill by the old track that was once used by the miners in times gone by. A small climb over fallen rock led to a bridge over a small ravine, made out of old rail track, before the ascent resumed on the old path This was quite narrow in places, but with everyone securely fastened to the metal safety rope, it enabled all to enjoy the views, previously only enjoyed by the birds. Another short tunnel left one last section of ascent, before the end was in sight. It was then a short walk to the the very summit of Fleetwith Pike itself for a group picture and a reflection on the quite exhilarating and unique experience.

At this point, Simon the tour guide set off back down the hill with all the equipment, whilst the fell runners amongst the group set off in the direction of Haystacks, to head into Ennerdale, before skirting Pillar and Kirk Fell on their way to Great Gable.

The more sensible members of the party enjoyed instead a pleasant stroll down the hill back to the mine centre, before having a light lunch and a mine tour. The mine tour complements the via ferrata. Having seen what the miners did on the outside of the hill, you then go inside to see what they did there. The slate is sandwiched between layers of volcanic rock and there are great caverns left where the miners have extracted their prize. The two experiences left you with a tremendous respect for the men who risked life and limb to make a meagre living from extracting the slate from the hills. The mine tour ended just as the runners were returning from their outing, leaving everyone to adjourn to the Sca Fell Hotel for a pint and to reminisce on the day.

It was a great day out and thanks must go to Andy Hirst for organising it. Thanks too must go to the staff at the Honister Mine, who were all very friendly and helpful and contributed so much to making this such a memorable day.

A few pictures are now in the gallery. More will be added shortly.

As usual with Wharfedale, we had runners all over this weekend. A few had gone up to do the Via Ferrata and a social run in the Lakes. A few went up yesterday to do the Buttermere Sailbeck Horseshoe, not to mention those that went out on Friday night for Pinhaw Moor. As a result, we had only one runner in this race, which was Kevin Rogan. He finished in 73rd position and has sent in a report of the day.

Read Kevin's Report

This race saw Kirt Livesey back on the fells, who had a cracking race to finish 4th. Sadly, this is the only position we know. Goldie, Andy Black, Jack Smith and Paul Halstead also went well on what was a very warm night. Kevin Rogan managed to finish in front of Jonathan Gibson! Was this a good run by Kev or a bad run by Jonathan? Well, neither. Jonathan turned up late and missed the start, but thought that he would do the race anyway.

Full results will follow shortly

Judy Howells	Tamara Hird	Kirsty Hall

Not sure at this stage who went up to the Lakes for this one, but certainly the three of our ladies, pictured above. Goldie was also there, as was Sam Watson. No results available yet, but these will be posted shortly.

If you cast your minds back to the Bank Holiday weekend, seven Wharfedalers went up to the Lakes for this event. The times and finishing positions are now in and full results are in the results section. The times and positions of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
4	Ted Mason	1:14:26
54	Pete Keron	1:29:12
103	Andy Hirst	1:35:43	V45
107	Jonathan Gibson	1:36:21	V40
169	Simon Throup	1:43:10	V45
200	Kevin Rogan	1:47:30	V50
213	Neil Taylor	1:49:33	V40

Andy Holden was out with his SLR for this event and kindly re- formatted all the pictures for the web. These were posted to the web during the following week, but without a link, so no one could view them. The link is now belatedly in the gallery. Apolgies to all for this oversight.

Quite a few Wharfedalers turned out for this event, despite the fact that Mearley Clough will also have attracted its fair share of our runners. Because of this, no doubt the evening will have gone to Ilkley in the Mob Match, but we will have to wait and see. Our lead runner was Owen Beilby, who must still be feeling the effects of the London Marathon and the Three Peaks and he was closely followed home by Jason Helmsley.

Our first V40 home was Jonathan Gibson. Just shows what he can do when he gets to a race on time and Neil Bland continued his comeback by coming home our first V50.

The full results are in the results table, but the positions of all our runners were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
18	Owen Bielby	45:02
20	Jason Helmsley	45:05
23	John Perry	45:13
52	Kevin White	48:58
55	Jonathan Gibson	49:11	V40
59	Carl Bradshaw	50:31	V40
82	Simon Throup	53:23	V40
89	Judy Howells	54:03	L
94	Tamara Hird	54:43	L
112	Kirsty Hall	57:49	L
124	Neil Bland	58:42	V50
126	John Thompson	58:47	V50
136	Mark Bennett	61:07
140	Sharon Barker	61:59	L

As the pictures previously posted suggested, the ladies out numbered the men at this race. Goldie led the team home, followed by Sam Watson and then the girls. The full results are in the results section and the individual times and places of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
39	Mark McGoldrick	2:00:34
63	Sam Watson	2:06:44
94	Tamara Hird	2:14:44	L
132	Judy Howells	2:30:19	L
150	Kirsty Hall	2:38:41	L

Team Wharfedale at Fairfield
It was very pleasant in Ambleside before the start of this race, in fact it looked like ideal running conditions. The sky was overcast, but it was bright and there was a gentle breeze. The only ominous sign was that Fairfield itself was covered in mist (as usual). However, once some height was gained, the breeze became much stronger and cooler and Fairfield was not only covered in cloud, but icy cold rain was waiting to greet the runners.

Three Wharfedalers went up for this race. Somewhat surprisingly, Simon Throup was there, but he is hoping to do a few more Lakeland runs this year and he went up on the basis that it was a good run in the Lakes. Sam Wadsworth & Kirsty Hall were going to go for a long(ish) training run, but decided instead to enter this race. This was Kirsty's third race in a week.

Simon led the team home, followed by Sam and then Kirsty. Sam was never going to do well in this race as he is not particularly fit and not race fit, but the run out probably did more good than a training run.

The times and positions for the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
108	Simon Throup	109:38	V40
136	Sam Wadsworth	113:26
202	Kirsty Hall	Time not yet available	L

The opening race of the Bofra season saw a good turnout from Wharfedale. Our juniors did very well with Ben Johnstone winning the U12 race and Jonathan Bradshaw winning the U17 race.

In the seniors, Mark Horrocks must have the elixir of youth, as he came second to Alastair Dunn of Helm Hill, closely followed by Ted Mason. Further down the field, Neil Taylor and Kevin Rogan had a bit of a tussle, with Neil Taylor just managing to beat Kev to the line and regain the Nevin Cup.

Full results are in the results section and thanks must go to Tim Done for getting them out so quickly.

Below is a link to Neil Taylor's inimitable report of the day.

Read Neil Report

Andy Hirst & Pete Jackson after the race
At 37 miles with 10,000 ft of ascent, this is a real test of athleticism and stamina. This year, we had an all Wharfedale team, with Pete Jackson joining the experienced Andy Hirst. Pete was looking forward to this race, but with some trepidation. In the event, they had a great day out and a great result, knocking two hours off Andy's 2007 time and finishing in 19th place. Pete, appears to have been exhilarated rather than exhausted by the event and was up early on Sunday morning typing out a report of the day.

Read Pete's Report

Tamara Hird at the Moel Elio
Tamara obviously did not fancy any of the "local" races and instead, went off this weekend to Wales to have a go in this one. She was the only Wharfedaler there and came home in 184th place with a time of 89:26. Full results are in the results section.

Sam Watson on the final leg
Quite a few fell runners took part in this 110 mile event, including a few from Wharfedale. Jason Hemsley had a brilliant ride to finish in third place, just behind the two leaders. Bob Hamilton also had a great ride, as did Mark Sandamas. Most impressive ride by far was that of young Sam Watson, who is showing himself to be extremely adept at the longer events. Sam has admitted to only riding a maximum of 25 miles at any one time in his short cycling career, so to complete the Etape, which covers 110 miles and several punishing Dales climbs, is an amazing effort. Sam's comments after the race was that it was the longest day in his life. He was just pipped to the post by new member Paul Carmen. Having shown that he has fitness and stamina, we now await to see what Paul can do on the fells.

The full results are in the results section.

The times and positions for the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
3	Jason Hemsley	5:56:24
131	Bob Hamilton	7:08:52
220	Mark Sandamas	7:31:20
437	Paul Carmen	8:31:25
438	Sam Watson	8:31:32

The full results for this race are now out and are in the results section. Tony Walker and his colleagues did a good job in organising this race, but unfortunately, they had a problem when recording the results. Around the two hour mark, the stop watch lost contact with the printer and they lost the times for a number of runners. If any one reading this web site was one of those with a missing time, but has a personal note of their time please contact Tony Walker who hopes to be able to piece together what happened in those missing ten minutes.

The Club Championship kicked off this year with the race at Belmont Winter Hill. Such was the interest in it that only one of our members took part and that was Bruce Elsworth. As a result, Bruce storms into the lead with maximum points.

Ben Johnstone leading home the Under 12s
Full details of this race follow shortly, but the headlines are that there was an excellent turnout from Wharfedale and we probably had more runners in this event than any other club.

Young Ben Johnstone set the tone by winning the U12 race in style, with a good margin over James Hall of Bingley. These two were streets ahead of the rest of the field.

In the seniors, the race was won by Graham Pearce of Pudsey and Bramley followed by our own Ted Mason who had a great run to come second. Third home was Gary Devine, also of Pudsey & Bramley, who was closely followed by Mark Horrocks. There was no actual team prize, but the thought went round as to who would be the first team. This was settled when Jonathan Bradshaw, who had a brilliant run, came home in 6th place. The third counter for Pudsey & Bramley, Steve Bottomley could only manage tenth place, so the evening went to Wharfedale. Once more this shows the club has strength in depth. Also amongst the leaders was Mark McGoldrick who finished in ninth place.

Another runner who had a brilliant run was another of our youngsters, Jack Smith, who finished in 16th place. This was the first time that he had run this race and he feels that had he known the course, he could have done even better. Roll on next year, when not only will he know the course, but he will be one year older.

Sam Watson, still recovering from his race in the Etape du Dales on Sunday, still managed a top twenty finish, closely followed by Andy Hirst in 23rd place.

Further down the field, Kevin Rogan managed to reek revenge in the Nevin Cup, which he has regained at the first attempt. Still, Neil had the pleasure of seeing it on his mantlepiece for three days.

A more detailed report follows, along with the results, shortly.

The results for this event are now available which show that Bruce Elsworth easily won the mini event. However, his girl friend Cathy Bradley is also no slouch, as she finished in fourth place and not all that far off from being second!

Jonathan Bradshaw up with the leaders at Kildwick
No detailed results out yet for this race, but a picture in from Andy Holden shows Jonathan Bradshaw up there with the leaders as they ascend Starkey Lane. It was another good performance from Jonathan, who finished in 6th place and it can only be a matter of time before he is challenging at the very front of the field throughout the whole of the race.

A few more of Andy's pics are now in the gallery.

This Bank Holiday weekend of racing started with this race. Six Wharfedalers turned up for the event of whom, Adam Baker sent in a report, as follows:

It was a warm sunny day and 6 Wharfedalers turned up for this tough little race. The course started with a fast gradual climb, then through a woodland section to a road crossing, then a 2 mile section of undulating terrain to a steep climb, which looked not unlike Pendle Big End with lots of scree and rocks. It was a very tough climb after the fast start. Once at the top, we were back to the undulating stuff, then through a trail through tall limestone rocks and a bit of a climb back down. Very stupidly, I thought we had nearly finished, so put on a big spurt, only to find myself back at the road crossing with the woodland section still to go and the descent to the finish. Other than that, it was a great race. Mark McGoldrick had a good run coming in 16th and so did Sam Watson who came 30th.

Full results are in the results section and thanks must go to John Dickinson for getting these out so quickly and making them freely available.

Our positions were:-

Pos	Name	Time	Other
16	Mark McGoldrick	53:556
30	Sam Watson	57:33
42	Paul Halstead	58:53
94	Barry Scholes	66:04	MV50
154	Adam Baker	72:51
165	John Thomspon	74:27	MV50

The results for this race are now out which show that Wharfedale had an incredible 27 runners in this race. The full results and positions are now in the results section. It was great to see so many Wharfedale vests out on the fells in this interesting local race. Thanks must go to Brett Weedon and his team of helpers, who once more put on a well organised and marshaled race.

Mark McGoldrick	Jonathan Gibson

A windy, but fine day greeted the runners at Austwick Street Fair and eleven Wharfedalers turned up for this event. Of these, four had a top twenty finish including Jonathan Gibson, who had a fine run to finish in 20th place.

Ascending the fell on the way out from the village, Lee Athersmith led the way, but with Ted Mason not far behind him. Goldie and Sam Watson, despite having run on Saturday were in the leading group and looked to be ascending well.

From a spectators point of view, there is a long wait between the runners disappearing from view, as they set off across the fell tops, before they re-appear on the lane coming back into the village. At last, the first runner came into view and in the distance, it had the appearance of a Bingley vest. Bingley it turned out to be, with Lee Athersmith going quite easily with a good lead. Ted then came into sight and looked to be battling in his determination to try and catch the leader. But the gap was too great and Ted had to settle for an excellent second place, with a large lead over third placed Ian Nixon of Pudsey & Bramley.

Goldie had a good run, finishing in 8th place, although he reckons he could have done better, if he had not run in the Hutton Roof race two days before.

Further down the field, Judy appeared to be enjoying her race on the run in and was quite happy with her time. On the other hand Dave Ferguson was not happy with his performance at all and is determined to show everyone what he can do on Thursday night in the bike time trial.

A few pictures will be added to the gallery shortly

Provisional results are in the results section and the times of the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
2	Ted Mason	52:32
8	Mark McGoldrick	56:30
15	Sam Watson	59:22
20	Jonathan Gibson	61:12	V40
47	Barry Scholes	66:35	V55
49	Kevin Rogan	67:15	V50
51	Neil Taylor	68:21	V45
56	Judy Howells	70:53	L
60	Pete Metcalfe	72:20	V50
70	Lynn Whittaker	79:07	lV45
76	Dave Ferguson	81:49	V45

This postponed race took place this weekend and fourteen teams took part. Pudsey & Bramley dominated the event by taking the first team place with their vets team coming second. The Wharfedale team came third. As usual with this event, all sorts of teams took part and anyone interested in how they all went on can do no better than look at the full results which are now in the results section.

A few pictures are now in the gallery. There are more pictures to load from Andy Holden and Pete Keron, so keep coming back, as these should be added shortly.

Three Wharfedalers went over the border for this mid week event, two of them juniors. In the under 9s race, Robbie Johnstone had a great run to come second and was only beaten by a girl who was two years his senior.

His brother Ben, who is only eleven, ran in the under 16s race and won it! This is the third race he has won in under a week and a bit like Kildwick, he won it in style, with almost a two minute lead over nearest opponent. He is really flying at the minute and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the coming Bofra Races.

Our one senior was Bruce Elsworth. As might be expected, Blackburn and Rossendale dominated this race and took six out of the first seven places. The only person to stop them taking the first six places was Bruce, who had a great run to finish in fourth place.

Full results are in the results section.

With more and more members going out and doing some of their training on bikes, it seemed like a good idea to have a bit of a timed run, just for a bit of fun.

The route went from Barnoldswick Social Club and headed east until the turn off for West Marton. From West Marton, it was follow the A59 west until the turn off back to Barnoldswick. This was the timed check point. Everyone was set off at one minute intervals.

The event went very much to form. Pete Keron won it, showing what a good all round athlete he is. Second was Dave Ferguson, who came into his own in this type of race, showing that he can fair move on a bike. Third was Lucas Payne, who again, is no slouch on a bike, as he has shown in some of the Iron Man Events.

The split times again went more or less to form, except Lucas, Kirt and Adam did less well on the second leg compared to the first, whereas with Paul Carmen, Sam Watson, Kev Rogan and Neil Taylor, it was the other way round.

Afterwards, everyone adjourned to the Rolls Royce Social Club for a pint, a bit of food and a chat about the night. The conclusion was that it was a good event and will have to be repeated sometime in the future. Hopefully, Jason Hemsley will be able to make it next time. It will be interesting to see what he can do.

The full times and splits are in the results section.

Tamara Hird at Butteremere
The above picture was sent in by Andy Hirst and in a way encapsulates fell running - the runners pitting themselves against each other, set against a backdrop of magnificent mountain scenery.

Jason Hemsley in a real battle in this race
There was a field of 227 runners for this event and only one Wharfedaler. As the numbers entered seem to suggest, there was some strong competition out there. Our lone representative, Jason Hemsley, had a great run to take 15th place, after a bit of a tussle with Matthew John, pictured above and with whom, he dead heated.

Full results are in the results section.

Kirt Livesey
Kirt kept this one quiet, but once more he went up to Jura for this classic fell race. Maybe at 4:21:39, about 8 minutes slower than last year, he was a bit disappointed, but for 16 miles and 7,500 ft and a finishing place of 49th out of 173 finishers, this does represent a terrific achievement.