The senior race saw Cathy Bradley win the ladies race, with Jean Powell third and first LV40. In the men's race, Ted Mason was second behind Alastair Dunn of Helm Hill. As usual, the Wharfedale juniors put on a good show and finished as follows:

U17
• 1 James Hall 11:38
• 2 Declan Bulmer 13:04
• 4 Nicole Narey 16:18 1st Girl

U14
•   2 Phil Done 8:12
•   3 Callum Lambert 8:18
•   4 Alex Speight 8:37
•   5 Lloyd Davies 8:39
• 12 Odin Hargreaves-Madhas 12:22
• 15 Hannah Newbold 12:42

U12
•   2 Josh Newbold 5:13
•   4 Logan Hargreaves-Madhas 5:52
•   6 Ellie Lambert 6:12 1st Girl
•   7 Oliver Spencer 6:24
• 13 Richard Done 7:19

First U14 - Phil Done
Brilliant performances from our juniors once more with James Hall winning the Under 17 race, Phil Done winning the Under 14 Race and Charlie Lowrie winning the U12 Race, with Josh Newbold coming second. Also in the U12s, Ellie Lambert was first girl.

In the senior race, Ted Mason was 2nd and was closely followed by Jonny Bradshaw in 4th place, Mark McGoldrick in 5th and Bruce Elsworth in 7th.

Gill Myers has been on fire this year and she continued this form by finishing first lady, followed by Tamara Hird as 2nd lady and Cathy Bradley 3rd.

Results of sorts are in the results section.

John Thompson & Jim Webb (Supporter)
Ben Nevis in the Background
Wharfedalers are now arriving in Fort William ready for the race. The weather is set fair and conditions today were described as Mediterranean.

This year the BBC will be filming the race again. The last time they did this, Sam Watson was definitely the star of the show. Surely the presence of the cameras is not why so many Wharfedalers are making the trip this year. This year's runners are:

577 ASHWORTH KIERON
578 BRADLEY CATHERINE
579 BRADLEY GARY
580 CARMAN PAUL J
581 ELSWORTH BRUCE
582 GIBSON JONATHAN
583 MCGOLDRICK MARK
584 MOSES COLIN
585 NEWMAN CHRIS
586 PAGE IAN
587 PLUMMER STEVEN
588 ROGAN KATE
589 ROGAN KEVIN
590 TAYLOR NEIL R
591 THOMPSON JOHN
592 TREITL NICHOLAS
593 WATSON SAM

This will be race no 17 for Kevin Rogan and no 11 for Neil Taylor. The results for the Wharfedalers will appear on the web site shortly after the finish of the race.

Bright sunny start to the day, warm, but with a nice little breeze, which should give some cooling at height. Maybe a few too many beers sunk by some last night, no doubt to ease various injuries .. ankles, knees and backs included.

Will Paul's ankle anchor his first Ben? Will Sam's knee let him knock off another one? Will Kev's back let him come back to the field sprinting? The next few hours will tell.

It is now all over and this year produced some outstanding performances. Chris Newman had a cracking run to improve on last year's time to lead the Wharfedalers home and along with Colin Moses and Mark McGoldrick helped Wharfedale achieve a 3rd team place behind Lochaber and Eyrie. Sam Watson had a good climb, but aggravated his leg injury in the process and elected to make a steady return.

Cathy Bradley was another Wharfedaler to have a cracking run, improving on her time of last year by 19 minutes and finishing 11th lady.

The other Wharfedaler to dramatically improve on last year's time was Neil Taylor, who completed the course 12 minutes faster. Has he become a secret meat eater? The times and places for all Wharfedalers were as follows:

•   17 Chris Newman 1:49:47
•   29 Colin Moses 1:52:28
•   34 Mark McGoldrick 1:53:36
•   74 Sam Watson 2:01:37
• 123 Nick Treitl 2:09:31
• 137 Steve Plummer 2:11:01
• 143 Ian Page 2:11:24
• 202 Jonathan Gibson 2:20:34
• 214 Cathy Bradley 2:22:20 11th lady
• 219 Paul Carman 2:23:13
• 254 Neil Taylor 2:28:05
• 345 Kate Rogan 2:40:57
• 393 John Thompson 2:48:26
• 404 Kevin Rogan 2:50:03
• 412 Keiron Ashworth 2:52:10

The master was out again with his video camera at this event and his polished production can be viewed from the link below.

Wharfee's Video

Gill Myers LV50 Champion
This was the final race in the English Championship and Gill Myers is now the English Champion for the Lady Vet 50 Category. She had maximum points with wins at Noonstone (Medium) Sedbergh Three Peaks (Short), Holme Moss (Long) and Shelf (Short).

Emma Spencer finished 26th lady and 2nd Under 23. At the end of the season, our ladies team finished 5th.

The Wharfedale finishing positions were as follows:

Men
• 39 Nick Charlesworth - 47.21
• 52 Matthew Athersmith - 49.20

Ladies
• 14 Gill Myers - 55.27 1st LV50
• 21 Tamara Hird - 57.40
• 26 Emma Spencer - 58.49
• 35 Juliet Horrocks 1:00:02 (Clayton)
• 70 Sally Bisset - 1.10.35
• 74 Sarah Martin - 1.11.19

Catherine White 3rd Lady
Marriage is obviously suiting Catherine. She returned from her honeymoon in Hawaii and still looking radiant, she finished 3rd lady in her first race since her return.

In the men's race, Christian Holmes led home the Wharfedalers in 8th place, closely followed by David Kirkham and Paul Crabtree.

The Wharfedale juniors made a clean sweep of each category, winning all classes, with Charlie Lowrie and Logan Hargreaves-Madhas setting new records in their age groups.The finishing positions for all Wharfedale juniors were as follows:

U17
• 1 James Hall 23:47
• 2 Ben Johnstone 23:47
• 4 Declan Bulmer 24:48
• 6 Sam Haggar 26:58
• 9 Holly Crabtree 33:00 2nd Girl

U14
•   1 Phil Done 11:02 1st Local
•   3 Harry Muir 12:01
• 13 Hannah Newbold 16:09
• 14 Zoe Baistow 16:56

U12
•   1 Charlie Lowrie 6:28 New Record
•   2 Josh Newbold 6:41

U9
•   1 Logan Hargreaves-Madhas 3:08 New Record
•   2 Jack Muir 3:11
•   5 Richard Done 3:25 1st Local Boy
• 12 Ciaren Crabtree 3:39
• 21 Tommy Lowrie 4:07

The Winning Team
First bit of news from this event is that the 11-14's race was won by four Wharfedalers: "Team Talon and Dec", comprising, James Hall, Phil Done, Ben Johnstone and Declan Bulmer. In the process they smashed the existing record set in 2006 by more than 2 minutes. Absolutely outstanding! The second team was was Josh Newbold, Robbie Johnstone, Charlie Lowrie and Logan Hargreaves-Madhas.

Futher details follow shortly.

Lothersdale fell race is one of the oldest in the country dating back to 1859 and is run in conjunction with the Lothersdale Young Farmers Show. It is one of the few races where everyone, young and old set off together in a fast and furious manner. Measuring just one mile in distance, there is also opportunity for anyone to take the prizes. Today was no exception with Wharfedale's U17 Ben Johnstone taking the honours in his local show in 8:28, just 4 seconds ahead of team-mate James Hall. Third place went to Halifax Harrier Bradley Chapman, also an under 17. Indeed the first 7 places went to juniors with Phil Done and Harry Muir finishing in 4th and 6th places as 1st and 2nd under 14 boys. Josh Newbold was 7th and 1st under 12 ahead of Thomas Nelson and Robbie Johnstone in 10th and 12th.

First Man was Matthew Hird from Wharfedale who finished 8th in 9:47, finishing neck and neck with Gary Travis of Calder Valley. Tim Done of Wharfedale was 3rd man

First girl back was under 14 Ellie Child in 15th with 1st U12 Shona Hastings in 23rd. First Lady was Val Done finishing in 27th, a few seconds behind 2nd under 9, Richard Done. Jack Muir was first under 9 back in 19th place.Sam Johnstone was 3rd Under 9 back in 28th. To round up the next female runners, we had Hannah Newbold in 31st and 2nd under 14 girl, Sarah Wilson in 34th as 2nd Lady, then Keera Nelson as 2nd under 12 girl. 1st under 9 girl was local Phoebe Tidswell

First news from this race is that Mark McGoldrick secured 3rd place and first local. The race was won by the in form Tom Adams, who managed to beat Bingley's Matty Whitfield to the line by a few seconds.

Ted Mason was in second place at the summit of Burnsall Fell, but living up to his reputation as the best descender bar none, he closed the gap to finish in first place ahead of Neil Crampton. In the ladies race, Cathy Bradley ran out a comfortable winner over Judith Marshall of Settle. Colin Moses was first V40 and Jonathan Bradshaw was 2nd U23, being narrowly beaten by Tom Doyle of Helm Hill.

In the U17s, another runner to turn in 2nd place behind Alex Brown of Helm Hill, was James Hall. However, he too showed good skill and determination in the descent to take first place and poor old Alex got knocked back a further place in a sprint finish with Daniel Walsh of Rossendale. Another runner to look good on the descent was 4th place Declan Bulmer who went through the fell gate like a rocket. Emma Spencer put in a very polished and accomplished performance to finish first girl.

The U14s saw Ben Johnstone and Phil Done at the front of the pack finishing in 1st and 2nd places respectively, whilst in the U12s, Chris Richards of Helm Hill managed to beat Josh Newbold (2nd) and Charlie Lowrie (3rd) to the line. Also in the U12s, the girls were led home by Ellie Lambert with Ellamae Gibson finishing 3rd girl. `

Having sustained a shoulder injury earlier in the week, Logan Hargreaves-Madhas was advised by his doctor not to run, but he ignored this advice and showed no ill effects as he took first place in the U9s, 6 seconds in front of Jack Muir.

Full results are in the results section.

David Ashby & Rob Shaw
Wharfedale vests were on display in Italy this weekend as David Ashby and Rob Shaw took part in the above race. Here is their report of the day.

A two and half hour journey from Venice, a cheap Jet2 destination from Leeds, this is highly recommended for anyone also keen on climbing, as the Dolomites are a playground.

This excellently organised and breathtaking race starts in Sexten/Sesto and is 17.5 km and 1,350 metres of ascent, finishing up top, with clothing lifted by helicopter to meet you at the finish. The Drei Zinnen, or Three Peaks, are a fan of mountains that tower above the finish, where a vast spread of drinks, fruits and cakes awaits.

The day held perfect conditions of sunshine, blue skies and a slight cooling breeze. A truly international field of nearly 800 runners set off with a lap of the town, followed by a gradual start up through alpine meadows, then shaded woods, before a steep lung bursting rocky ascent in the full glare of the sun and very thin air.

The race for us was of two halves, the first belonging to Rob, having thought that David was well beaten, but David's tenacity and strong finish was enough to retake control just below the last summit and we bizarrely finished 11 seconds apart in 91st & 92nd places in 1 hour 59 minutes, just edging inside our pre-race target. Only 3 Brits this year. Perhaps more next??

A few Wharfedalers took part in this event and finished as follows:

Full Marathon - solo results

1st - Gareth Hird - 3.22.54

Full marathon - pairs results

4th - Nick Treitl and Steve Plummer - 4.18.50

Half marathon results

    6 - Christian Holmes - 1.46.53
  15 - David Kirkham - 1.50.53
  39 - Tamara Hird - 2.04.07 - 3rd lady
  50 - Gill Myers - 2.07.15 - 6th lady - 1st LV50
  99 - Katherine Kirkham - 2.40.45 - 16th lady
160 - Emma Dodd - 2.35.14 - 35th lady
161 - Sally Bisset - 2.35.15 - 36th lady
183 - Karen Gorman - 2.40.40 - 42nd lady
200 - Lisa McKevitt - 2.46.03 - 49th lady

Tamara Hird has written a  report  of the day.

The club lent the print out timer to the committee for their use with this event and they have just written a  letter  to the club expressing their thanks for our help.

The Bofra Season is now drawing to a close, with only one more race to come. In the senior race, Ted Mason had to make do with second place this week, finishing behind Chris Birchall of Leeds City. Young Jack Smith finished 4th with Bruce Elsworth 5th.

In the ladies race, Cathy Bradley was first lady for the second consecutive week with Cath White third. It is a close competition in the LV40 class with Lynn Whittaker taking the honours this week ahead of her close rivals and team mates Val Done and Jean Powell. It will be down to the final race to decide the champion in this class.

As usual, there were lots of Wharfedale Juniors out on the fells and they finished as follows:

U17
•   2 Declan Bulmer 20:10
•   3 Sam Haggar 20:30
•   5 David Wilson 21:32
•   7 Scott Baistow 24:02
• 11 Nicole Narey 27:02 4th Girl

U14
•   1 Ben Johnstone 13:32
•   2 Phil Done 13:40
•   3 Lloyd Davies 13:57
•   4 Callum Lambert 14:31
•   5 Alex Speight 15:15
• 11 Hannah Newbold 18:50 4th Girl
• 12 Zoe Baistow 19:55 5th Girl

U12
•   2 Josh Newbold 9:03
•   3 Robbie Johnstone 9:11
•   8 Ellie Lambert 9:41 1st Girl
• 12 Herbie Davies 10:23
• 13 Ellamae Gibson 10:27 3rd Girl
• 14 Oliver Spencer 10:36

U9
•   1 Jack Muir 4:01
•   2 Adam Gibson 4:03
•   4 Ciaren Crabtree 4:24
•   8 Sam Johnstone 4:46
• 15 Thomas Edward 5:30

Ian Newbold was mixing with the stars yesterday in the race. It was his 3rd half Marathon and 2nd Great North Run. He set a personal best knocking 15 minutes off his time from 2 years ago, doing it in 1 hour 43.

Charlie Lowrie
Whilst the focus at the weekend was on the Great North Run, a junior event also took place. Tommy Lowrie ran in the Mini run, which is over one mile. He did really well, but his final position is unknown as the results are not published.

His brother Charlie took part in the Junior North Run, which is over three miles and came second out of over 1,000 runners - a truly magnificent result. Well done to both these youngsters.

Sarah Martin, Nick Charlesworth & Carol Young
Four Wharfedalers turned out for this race and finished as follows:

•   2 Nick Charlesworth 46.59 - 1st MV40
• 15 Paul Harlowe 54.06 - 4th MV50
• 54 Carol Young 1.06.55
• 65 Sarah Martin 1.10.07

Emma Spencer
Emma Spencer gained her second England vest this weekend by taking part in this competition in Ireland. Emma was selected to run following a great performance at the uphill only trial race from Llanberis which ran part of the way up Snowdon.

In this weekend's race which covered 4.7km, Emma set off well and was in a good position, however two thirds of the way up the climb, Emma went over on her bad ankle which she damaged at Burnsall a couple of weeks before. The pain caused Emma to slow down and reluctantly to pull out of the race on the descent - on the advice of the England Girls manager. Here's wishing Emma a speedy recovery.

Still catching up with the results from last weekend. Only four Wharfedalers entered this race and they were led home this year by Ian Page. It was good to see Pete Jackson back out on the fells. Andy Hirst finished as third Wharfedaler as his long working hours and lack of training took their toll.

• 109 Ian Page 2:36:40
• 153 Pete Jackson 2:46:29
• 187 Andy Hirst 2:52:38
• 288 Keiron Ashworth 3:42:48

2010 King of the Mountains - Mark McGoldrick
Bruce Elsworth held the title "King of the Mountains" for the past two years. This year, it has passed to another Wharfedaler, Mark McGoldrick. Cathy Bradley has retained her title of "Princess of the Mountains"

Lynn Whittaker was our only lady representative at this race, despite the fact that it was a club championship race. The race winner was Tom Adams from Ilkley Harriers. The winning lady was Lauren Jeska from Todmorden Harriers. First Wharfedaler home was Luke Appleyard. The finishing positions for all the Wharfedalers are shown below. Sorry that we do not have times and places for everyone. Lynn has written a  report  of the day.

The master was out and about and produced a  video  of the race.

•   68 Luke Appleyard 42.24
•   78 Scott Davis 43.53
• 112 Lynn Whittaker 47.53
• 119 Roger Hall 49.16
• 134 Keiron Ashworth 52.32

Gill Myers
The men’s race was won by Tim Davies after the early leader Morgan Donnelly took a wrong turn after checkpoint 4, taking the chasing pack deep into the bracken and undergrowth! In the ladies race Helen Fines had a great victory over the favourite and reigning British Champion - Pippa Maddams.

For the Wharfedale ladies, Gill Myers led them home and finished in 9th place, which gave her maximum points in the LV50 League Table. Tamara Hird was 17th and Judy Howells was 23rd. Unfortunately, Kirsty Hall was not feeling well and had to pull out just before half way.

Tamara Hird has written a more detailed  report  of the day.

It seems that Lucas Payne is getting over his injury and he writes about this race as follows:

During our works party last xmas, a colleague decided that 4 of us should enter this race! We all turned up to a most splendid scene in Langdale and there was hardly a cloud in site. The race itself was very hilly indeed (for a road race anyway). The last 3 miles were murder, I ran alongside a fellow who kept me going, only he went on to complete another lap!

The organizers did a super job, you could have a free massage after the race and the t-shirts all had the competitors’ names on the back. Well done to them.

Just for the record, Lucas (who is a V40) came home in 9th position out of 385 finishers with an average speed of 6:39 min per mile.

A number of Wharfedalers competed in this race, some of them riding under their cycling club names. The list includes Ian Taylor, Jason Hemsley, Colin Moses, Paul Carman, Graham Bird, Bruce Elsworth, Ian Page and Mark Horrocks. Pete Keron and Kevin White started but didn't finish.

Ian Taylor had a particularly good performance to finish 3rd.

Wharfeego made a video of the day and Tamara Hird has written a report. 

Ten Wharfedalers turned out for this race, with four of them, led by Nick Charlesworth finishing in the top ten. Jean Powell led home our ladies.

•     5 Nick Charlesworth 1:41:18
•     7 Paul Crabtree 1:41:29
•     9 David Kirkham 1:42:27
•   10 Christian Holmes 1:43:09
•   42 Jonathan Gibson 1:59:34
•   78 John Thompson 2:11:45
•   91 Jean Powell 2:17:33
•   98 Katherine Kirkham 2:19:45
• 117 Sarah Martin 2:38:13
• 121 Lisa McKevitt 2:46:50

This race takes place this weekend and the teams are as follows:

Ladies
Leg One - Kirsty Hall & Kate Rogan
Leg Two - Judy Howells & Louisa Pickles
Leg Three - Cathy Bradley & Cath White
Leg Four - Tamara Hird & Gill Myers

Men
Leg One - Ted Mason & Chris Newman
Leg Two - Gareth Hird & Nick Charlesworth
Leg Three - Colin Moses & Jonny Bradshaw
Leg Four - Christian Holmes & Paul Crabtree