The dedicated web site for this series has not been updated to include the Langdale race, but Andy Hirst has obtained the final positions from Graham Breeze. This trophy consists of the results from six Lakeland races, three super longs and three longs. Your best three perfomances count and to qualify you must complete three super longs or two super longs and one long. Only two Wharfedalers qualified. As you might guess, Andy Hirst did all six races and he finished in 30th position (a PB) out of 83 qualifiers with 190 points. He was 12th V40, although two of the races were run as a V50.

The other Wharfedaler to qualify was Kirsty Hall, who has recently been turning her attention to some of these longer races. She completed three races and came 74th overall with 118 points and 12th lady.

Wharfedale managed to qualify in the teams section by way of Duddon, Wasdale, and Borrowdale, but their position is only available up to Threeshires, which was 11th out of 13 qualifying teams.

Final Tables (excel spreadsheet)

Bruce Elsworth	Neil Eccles
Tamara Hird	Kirsty Hall

Eight Wharfedalers went over for this popular race, with both Bruce Elsworth and Jason Hemsley having top twenty finishes. The final positions for the Wharfedalers were as follows:

•      8 Bruce Elsworth 47:11
•    17 Jason Hemsley 48:36
•    44 Neil Eccles 52:14
•    95 Tamara Hird 58:08
• 184 Val Done 1:06:47
• 209 Sue Narey 1:11:39
• 229 Judy Howells 1:15:22
• 260 Kirsty Hall - retired

More pictures of the day are in the gallery.

Full results are in the results section.

As usual, Todmorden Harriers have excelled in their organisation of this race. The results were up on their web site in less than 2 hours after the last runner had finished and the next day, their web site had over 350 pictures of the race. Well done Todmorden.

James Hall giving chase	Ben Johnstone giving chase

Unfortunately, Todmorden Harriers do not produce the results of the junior races as fast as they do for the seniors. These will therefore be posted shortly.

Tim Done has kindly sent some pictures of the race, including the two above and these, plus a few more have now been added to the gallery of the day.

For those who are wondering what happened to Kirsty Hall, she took a rather nasty fall coming off Stoodley Pike. Everyone thought that she had broken her collar bone. Judy Howells was just behind her and she gave up her race to wait with her until the marshals arrived. At their insistence, Tamara Hird took her to hospital where the diagnosis was that the collar bone was OK and that she had just torn the ligament on her shoulder. She hopes to be running again this week. If Kirsty and Judy had carried on in their respective positions, Wharfedale would have been somewhere in the running for the ladies team prize.

Jonathan Trottman, a Cumbrian artist, is auctioning an original painting of legendary Joss Naylor on his website, with 60% of proceeds going to the same children's hospice Joss also supports. Jonathan did the painting for Keith Richardson's recent book on Joss.

So, if you fancy the above painting gracing your walls, log on to the web site below and put in your bid. You will have to be quick, as the auction closes on 14 November.

http://www.blencathraart.co.uk/jonsartjossauction.html

A word of warning though. You will have to dig deep. On Tuesday 10 November, the highest bid stood at £810. On the other hand, if you think that the figure portrayed above looks nothing like Joss and the background looks nothing like the Lakes, you might be able to get a child to knock up something similar for nothing. If you did, what is the betting that you wouldn't get eight hundred quid for it?

It has been a little while in the making, but well worth waiting for. Well put together, as always, by Wharfeego. It can be viewed from the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O35Vq7WcOPg

A few riders walking up the incline	A quick pause for breath before moving on

This event attracted a good turnout, made up of young and old and mums and dads. Pete Keron came with his sister, Ruth and they went off with Barry Scholes to do the large lap at speed. Expertly shepherded by Mark Horrocks, eveyone else went for a shorter and more leisurely ride, but which included some interesting and demanding technical sections. Conditions were ideal, with the heavy rain just holding off until the ride was completed.

This was a good social event organised by Mark Horrocks and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

A few pictures have been added to the gallery.

What a refreshingly different race. Instead of the usual run of the mill "follow my leader" type fell race, this one relied upon individual route choices. On most of the moors, there were no footpaths, just heather or rough tussocky grass, interdispersed with bogs and streams. One group of runners took a direct line from the valley up towards checkpoint one on Crow Hill, whereas another group, went further up the valley before ascending onto the moors, eventually merging with the first group. After check point one, runners headed off in the general direction of check point two, each one picking their their own individual path through this rough heathland. From check point three, it was any route back to Wycoller, which again produced some varied choices, with runners approaching the finish from both directions. This was a challenging race both from the point of view of the terrain and from the navigational aspect, with route choice making a large contribution towards the final positions.

Of the race itself, Colin Moses led all the way and was chased by the talented young runner, Sam Richards from Pendle. Richard Bellaries from Clayton made up an astonishing 11 places after passing Crow Hill, to finish in fourth place. Another runner to make up ground after check point one was was first lady, Lucy Griffiths from Holmfirth, who gained 8 places.

Special mention should be made of Neil Taylor, who had a cracking run. He topped Crow Hill in 6th place, but lost a place on the return to still finish in a creditable 7th position. This terrain obviously suits him or was it the plate of pasta he enjoyed the previous evening?

There were no prizes as such, but there was a bottle in the "guess your time" competition. An incredible 5 runners had guesses with 60 seconds of their finishing time, with Keith Binns taking the honours for being 5 seconds out.

A very interesting first running of this race and hopefully one which will be put on again next year.

Results

A few riders walking up the incline	A quick pause for breath before moving on

The above size 13 Nike shoes, suitable for a junior, are free to a good home. If you are interested, contact Graham Wadsworth on 07976 794749.

There was a battle at the front of this race, with Tom Addison finishing ahead of Lloyd Taggart and Ricky Lightfoot. Amongst the ladies there was another battle with Jane Reedy finishing just 10 seconds in front of the talented young runner, Melanie Hyder.

There was only one Wharfedaler in the race, Kieron Ashworth who finished in 218th position out of 276 starters.

Full results are in the results section.

The popularity of night time off road running continues to grow, with 38 runners taking part in this event. A few set off early and of these, young Sam Horrocks was the first to the trig point. The fastest time of the evening was set by Steve Brock of Keighley & Craven, closely followed by Jack Dugdale of Clayton and Paul Crabtree of Keighley & Craven.

Jack Smith was the first Wharfedaler in 4th place and another Wharfedaler, Gill Myers was the first lady. In previous years, this event has seen the summit shrouded in mist, but this year, the event was run in almost ideal conditions, with extensive night time views from the top and a tail wind assisting the runners on the ascent. The guess your time competition was won by Peter Dugdale, whose actual time was 8 seconds short of his guess.

Results

Tamara Hird	Andy Hirst
Jonathan Gibson	Judy Howells

There were nine Wharfedalers out of a total of 318 runners in this race. First home was new member Chris Thornton, closely followed by Paul Carman and Andy Hirst. Our first lady home was Tamara Hird. The full list of finishing times and positions are as follows:

•  60 Chris Thornton, M, 3:04:13
•  71 Paul Carman,M, 3:07:52
•  82 Andy Hirst, MV50, 3:10:52
•  99 Tamara Hird, L, 3:14:40
• 167 Jonathan Gibson, V45, 3:34:46
• 198 Judy Howells, L, 3:42:20
• 202 Cathy Bradley, L, 3:44:19
• 225 Neil Eccles, MV40, 3:51:54
• 235 Simon Franklin, MV40, 3:54:44

The full results will follow in due course.

There was a good performance from Gareth Hird, who just couldn't quite close the gap on Lewis Banton, the race winner. A good performance too from Gill Myers, who was our first lady back and 4th lady overall. Neil Taylor continued with his recent good form and it was nice too to see the other Neil (Neil Bland) back out on the hills.

The finishing positions of all the Wharfedalers were as follows:

•    2 Gareth Hird 53:55
• 14 Kevin White 59:58
• 36 Gill Myers 1:03:39 (4th lady)
• 40 Neil Taylor 1:04:38
• 50 Louisa Pickles 1:06:04
• 52 Andy Holden 1:06:15
• 54 Barry Scholes 1:06:21
• 56 Kevin Rogan 1:06:42
• 57 Joanne Middleton 1:06:54
• 95 Lynn Whittaker 1:15:30
• 97 Neil Bland 1:15:59
  
  The full results is in the results section.

Tamara Hird has sent in a report of the day as follows:

In the U11 boys race, Josh Newbold had his best run of the series to finish 2nd. After suffering a bout of flu, Charlie Lowrie finished 11th, followed by Robbie Johnstone in 17th, Simon Rohatynskyi in 23rd and George Muir in 27th. This gave the lads 2nd place in the team competition. In the U11 girls, Ellamae Gibson also had her best run of the series so far to finish 10th.

In the U13 boys Harry Muir finished 18th.

In the U15 boys James Hall finished 9th, Alex Speight 18th and Ben Johnstone 26th. Isabella Ellwood improved on her run in the first race at Halifax to finish 39th.

In the U17 boys, Jonny Bradshaw finished 12th on this tough undulating course.

Finally in the Senior Ladies race, Sue Narey was the sole representative and improved to finish 77th.

Simon Franklin
This was Simon Franklin's first long race and he has sent in a report of what he feels was his worst race of the year.

Simon's Report

A note from Tamara Hird for cross country enthusiasts:

Yorkshire Cross Country Championships 2010
Saturday 9th January 2010 Thornes Park, Wakefield
The youngest age group is U13 Boys and U13 Girls - athletes must be 11 or 12 years at midnight 31 August 2009
Entries are £4 for U13, U15 and U17 - all other entries cost £5.
Entries close Friday 18th December 2009.

Northern Cross Country Championships 2010
Saturday 23rd January 2010
Witton Park, Blackburn
The youngest age group is U13 Boys and U13 Girls - athletes must be 11 or 12 years at midnight 31 August 2009.
Entry fee is £4 per entrant for Senior and U20 age groups and £3.50 per entrant for all other age groups.
Entries close Monday 14th December 2009.

Yorkshire Veterans Cross Country Championships 2010
Saturday 6th February 2010
Graves Park, Sheffield
Any one 35 and over can take part and prizes are in 5 year increments O/35, O/40, O/45, O/50, O/55, O/60, O/65, O/70.
Entries close Saturday 28th January 2010

English National Cross Country Championships 2010
Saturday 27th February 2010
Roundhay Park, Leeds
Entries close Monday 11th January 2010.

If you are interested in taking part in any of these races please can the ladies contact Tamara Hird on 07951129786 and please can the Juniors and Men contact David Hird on 07765792807. Please contact us ASAP and well before the closing dates for entries (as they will need to be posted).

This year, the event was won by a harrier, with Simon Bailey of Mercia running out a comfortable winner. Three Wharfedale members took part. Jason Hemsley was the only runner, coming home in 25th place and 2nd V40. Of those on bikes, Ian Taylor took third place overall and Colin Moses took 35th place.

David Staff
This race is run every year in memory of David Staff, a very promising young runner, who tragically died when the future offered so much.

Nine Wharfedalers went over for this race, with Gareth Hird leading them home, followed by the in form Neil Taylor. Bruce Elsworth started the race, but had to pull out as he crocked his ankle. Scott Baistow was 4th Wharfedaler behind Barry Scholes and he might have done even better if he had not let enthusiasm get the better of him and started the race like he was in a sprint.

The finishing positions and times for all the Wharfedalers were as follows:

•       9 Gareth Hird 36:33
•     58 Neil Taylor 45:17
•     62 Barry Scholes 45:45
•     76 Scott Baistow 47:13
•     81 John Beswick 48:05
•     95 Trevor Metcalfe 50:11
•   104 Lynn Whittaker 51:28
•   113 Pete Metcalfe 53:13

Neil Taylor has written a report of the day

Read Neil's Report

Full Results

Chris Newman	Andy Holden
Kate Rogan	Kevin Rogan

Helm Hill dominated this race with 6 runners in the top 11. It would have been 6 out of the top 10, but for a good run by Chris Newman, who managed to push a couple of their runners down a place. The race was run in near perfect conditions, against the back drop of the snow covered Lakeland Hills, with a clear blue sky and hardly any wind. Such a contrast to the weather they have recently experienced in the Lakes. The finishing times and positions for the Wharfedalers were as follows:

•    9 Chris Newman 57:40
• 32 Andy Holden 68:16
• 42 Kate Rogan 71:52
• 43 Kevin Rogan 71:53

Joanna Pickles
Wharfedale member Joanna Pickles is in the Army and is going on her first tour of duty to Afghanistan this Saturday. Everyone at Wharfedale Harriers wishes her good luck and sends their best wishes.