Mark Sandemas & Kirt Livesey	Martyn Speight & Pete Keron

Wharfedale have not taken part in this event for a few years, but this year, we entered two teams, one of which was an all ladies team. The men came home in tenth place overall. They both started and finished strongly with Kirt Livsey and Mark Sandemas getting the team off to a flying start by finishing in 5th place. Gareth Hird and Ian Taylor also put in strong performances with the third fastest last leg.

The first ever Wharfedale ladies team in this event featured a few new faces and was 69th overall and 8th ladies team. This is a brilliant result and once more, illustrates the growing strength and enthusiasm of our lady members.

Tamara Hird sent in a report about the ladies team. Read Tamara's report

Full results are in the results section.

Due to trips abroad, the Kendal Winter League has received scant coverage on the web site so far this year, yet it has produced some interesting results such as Judy Howells coming home as second lady and Kate Rogan finishing as first lady.

A few of the KWL stalwarts were there at Fairmile and were led home by Chris Newman, followed by Kevin White. It was nice to see Stuart Johnstone out on the fells again and he finished just 3 seconds behind Pete Metcalfe.

In the ladies race, Catherine Wolfenden finished in 5th place, just ahead of Kate Rogan. Lynn Whittaker came home in 12th place.

The results for the seniors are now in the results section.

The results for the juniors are now available and it is great to see that we had almost as many juniors out on the fells as seniors. In the U12 girls, Zoe Baistow finished in 8th, position followed by Ella Mae Gibson in 13th place.
In the U12 boys, Adam Gibson was 20th and Sam Johnstone was 31st. The U14 boys saw Ben Johnstone finish in 2nd place, followed by Will Smith in 3rd. Finally, in the U17 boys race, Jonathan Bradshaw finished 3rd, followed by Will Marshall in 11th place and Scott Baistow in 16th place.

Well done to all our juniors

With the race cancelled at Fell End Clouds, it is perhaps time to take stock and look at some of the league tables. At the moment, these are only available for the first four races, but they show some interesting results. In the seniors mens races, Chris Newman is 4th and Sam Watson is 5th, although both have the same number of points.

In the seniors ladies races, Kate Rogan is in 2nd place followed by Cathy Bradley in 3rd.

In respect of the juniors, Zoe Baistow is lying 4th in the U12 girls races and her brother Scott is the leading Wharfedaler in the U17s races.

Of course, we have many other runners, both juniors and seniors, who are keen competitors in this league and are too numerous to mention individually. However, the current league tables are available below.

League Tables After Four Races

Gareth Hird	Tamara Hird

Three Wharfedalers took part in this race. The results out of 461 finishers was as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
4	Gareth Hird	3:24:46
53	Tamara Hird	4:10:19
73	Kirsty Hall	4:18:00

Full results are in the results section.

This is not a race in which would normally expect to find a Wharfedaler, but there again, Tim Stedman, based in Belgium, is no ordinary fell runner. He came over for this 13.7 mile / 1200ft race and found himself pitted against England Olympic Triathlon runner Will Clarke. Will won the race, but only just. He was pushed all the way to the finish by Leicestershire runner Mark Powell, who was just four seconds behind him.

Against such competition, Tim came a creditable 22nd out of 403 finishers, although he was a little bit disappointed with his run.

Full results are in the results section.

Pete Keron and Angela Gray went off today for a time trial, which Angela described as good fun on a difficult course. Pete finished in 4th place with a time of 25:33 and Angela, who is new to biking, finished in 25th place, with a time of 36:55.

After the break last week caused by the weather, the league has resumed and once more brought a number of Wharfedalers, both juniors and seniors, back out onto the fells. In the junior races, Zoe Baistow had a good race and showed great skill and determination on the descent to take back three places on the final run in.

Elsewhere in the junior races, Ben Johnstone finished second in the U14s race and Jonathan Bradshaw was also second in the U17s race, whilst Jack Smith came home around 6th or 7th.

In the senior race, Sam Watson had a good run to lead the team home in 4th place, just ahead of Chris Newman in 5th. The next finisher for Wharfedale was Kevin White in about 13th place.

Our ladies put on a particularly good show to take the first three places. First home was Catherine Wolfenden, who had a fine all round race. She was followed by Judy Howells who always puts in a good sound, unpretentious performance and the last of the three was Kate Rogan, who was actually in 5th place before the final descent. However, like Zoe Baistow, she put in a real determined effort and made up the two places on the run in.

Full results are now in the results section.

This weekend, Lucas Payne decided to have a go at this race. Never having done it before, he did not know what to expect and the course was more hilly than he anticipated. In addition, he developed rather a bad blister on his foot with about four miles to go. Having said all that, he was rather pleased with his performance. He finished in 17th place, out of 436 finishers, in a time of 1:23:10, compared to the winning time of 1:17:57.

Full results are in the results section

Will Marshall on his way back at Carnethy
Will Marshall was up in Scotland and entered the junior race which he thought was class. Well, as 2nd boy to finish and first U16 back, no wonder he enjoyed this event.

This week, there is a choice of venues for the mid week run. For those who like off road running with head torches, there is an "Owl Event" up to the top of Beamsley Beacon. For those who prefer the traditional Wednesday dark night training run round Skipton, this will also take place. As usual, meet at the top of Skipton High Street on the cobbles at 6:45 pm for 7:00 pm start. Irrespective of other events, these will continue to take place every week until the clocks go on and the mid week pub runs recommence.

This year, we had only two members out in this event. Keiron Ashworth did the Half Trog and came 38th in a time of 2:31:18.

Pete Jackson entered the Full Trog, which seemed to be a tough challenge, when you are coming back from injury. He pulled out of the race, but let him explain it in his own words.

"I pulled out of the Trog at 16 mile mark in a self preservation exercise. It wasn't through burn-out or anything. I did the race as a stamina builder and it worked a treat, I was chuffed with my fitness levels at this point. Just felt an odd tweak in my stomach caused by the poor underfoot conditions, snow and ice etc. I showed an unusually high level of judgement and did the right thing. I was running again 2 days later and now I'm feeling great!"

Scott Baistow at Beamsley Beacon Summit
Yet again, it was another very pleasant night for the 33 runners who turned out for this run up Beamsley Beacon. The 33 included 3 juniors, all from Wharfedale, and 5 ladies.

Fastest time of the evening went to Steve Brock of Keighley & Craven, followed by Tom Adams of Ilkley and Paul Crabtree, also of Keighley. Sam Watson might have done better, but the headtorch which he had borrowed was very dim, to say the least, and he was relying on the light of other runners.

First lady home was Heather Dawe of Ilkley. Jack Smith was the first junior home followed by Ben Johnstone and Scott Baistow.

Another good winter night on the fells.

The results are in the results section and a few pictures have been added to the gallery.

Several Wharfedalers went down to London for this event and what a tough contest it appears to have been. In the U13s boys James Knox of Helm Hill won the race and our Will Smith had a good run to finish 62nd.

In the U17s Jonathan Bradshaw came 87th and Tom Cunningham finished 219th.

In the ladies race, Tamara Hird had a good run to finish 169th.

In the senior mens race, Gareth Hird finished 330th, Jason Hemsley was 836th and Nick Cunningham was 956th. How tough must that have been?

Those are brief details of the races. A full report follows shortly.

Full results are in the results section.

Zoe Baistow	Jonathan Bradshaw
Jack Smith	Will Marshall

As usual, a good number of Wharfedalers turned out for this event, including four ladies. In the U12 girls, Zoe Baistow had another good run although she seemed to battle with the very steep ascent this week.

The U12 boys saw Phil Done take another first place and he must now be certain to take the title. In the same race, we had Robbie and Sam Johnstone, who are both following on in Ben's footsteps. Talking of which, Ben Johnstone came third in the U14s.

We had four runners out in the U17 boys. Following his run out yesterday at Parliament Hill, Jonathan Bradshaw had a good run, including an exciting sprint finish, to come second, followed by Jack Smith who finished around 7th place. These two were followed home by Will Marshall and Scott Baistow.

In the seniors, Sam Watson had another good race to finish 4th and he was followed by Chris Newman in 6th place. Further down the field, Barry Scholes had a good run and looks to be getting back to form.

It was good to see that we had four ladies out on the fells and they all did well. They were led home by Catherine Wolfenden, who is starting to look more and more at home on the fells. She was followed by Kate Rogan, Cathy Bradley & Lynn Whittaker. All our ladies are doing well in this league and we certainly have the makings of a good ladies fell running team.

More pictures of the day are in the gallery.

It does appear that this was quite an event and Tamara Hird has sent in a report of the day.

Read Tamara's Report

Tim Stedman at Ilkley
It was quite a day on Ilkley Moor. As spring approaches, many runners take the opportunity of this race to get back out on the fells and get some race fitness. It therefore attracted large numbers (390 finishers) and a lot of top runners. Eleven Wharfedalers turned out for the race, including Des O'Regan, and it is good to see him back out on the fells.

The race was won by the Peter Pan of fell running, Ian Holmes, who was followed home by three lads from Pudsey & Bramley. Our first runner home was Ted Mason in 7th place, followed by Tim Stedman in 15th place, although maybe all his thoughts were not on the running, but more of that later.

We had two lady runners at this event, with Judy Howells finishing in 210th place and Angela Gray coming home in 322nd place.

At the end of the race, there was no sign of Tim Stedman. He had hit the deck half way round and maybe he had gone off to nurse his wounds. In actual fact, he had gone off to propose to his fiancee and had carried the ring all the way round the course. Luckily for Tim, she said "yes", so he might not have won the race, but he won the heart of a young lady.

Her name is Hannah and everyone at Wharfedale Harriers wishes them both all the best for the future.

Full results are in the results section.

A few pictures will be added to the gallery shortly.

The results for Cautley Spout are now out and are in the results section. The tables have also been updated following the Barbon results and these can be accessed from the link below.

Our leading male runner is Chris Newman who is lying in 4th place, followed by Sam Watson in 9th.

In the ladies section, it is very pleasing to see that we have four ladies in the top ten, including Kate Rogan who is leading the table. Judy Howells would also have joined them, had she chosen to enter more of these races.

We have now reached the point in the season where it gets interesting. Those runners who have completed seven races can now only add to their points score by improving on their worse positions, whereas those with less than the maximum seven races under their belt, will continue to pile on the points. The next three races could see a few changes, depending on who turns up on the day.

Kendal Winter League Tables

Jason Hemsley	Keiron Ashworth

Whilst a group of Wharfedalers had an afternoon out going over the Half Tour of Pendle route, others went over to Lumbutts to do this 9 mile /2300 ft race instead, a race which Judy Howells describes as "mostly boggy, a little bit contrived and quite challenging run". We had six members shown as having taken part and their finishing times are below. Colin Moses also ran, but he missed the start, having ridden over from Oakworth. The results show that Jason is getting back to form and Adam Baker is also on an upward trend. Judy Howells had a good run, being fifth lady.

The full results for the Wharfedalers were as follows:

Pos	Name	Time	Other
29	Jason Hemsley	1:23:21
108	Adam Baker	1:33:59
129	Judy Howells	1:36:44	5th lady
160	Richard Noon	1:43:17	V45
222	Raj Madhas	2:00:26	V40
232	Keiron Ashworth	2:06:38	V40

Full results are in the results section.

As you will all know by now, Andy Hirst is to attempt the Joss Naylor Challenge in September and on Saturday, he went with Pete Jackson to recce the first leg.

Pete has sent in a report of the day. Read Pete's Report