Tom Adams of Ilkley continued his blistering form in this race The 2010 winner ran away from a good quality field to set a new course record of 39 minutes 31 seconds. The ladies race was won by Jo Buckley of Calder Valley. Jo also set a course record of 45 minutes 40 seconds on a fast day for racing.

The Wharfedalers finished as follows:

•   16 Jason Hemsley 45:54
•   49 Tamara Hird 50:04
• 159 Karen Gorman 61:12
• 174 Joh Laurie 62:34

Mark Nutter of Clayton, after spotting 10p on the river bed
It is a strange old world. In 2007, when the club had about 35 to 40 active members, 16 of them turned up for this race. Since that time, the club membership must have quadrupled and yet only three turned up this year for what must be one of the best fell races in the calendar. Those Wharfedalers finished as follows:

•   7 Chris Newman 1:11:25
• 18 Paul Crabtree 1:19:27
• 94 Kate Rogan 1:42:25

As always, thanks to Eden Runners for a friendly and well organised race.

Duddon Valley Fell Race 18 miles / 6000ft - English Championship Counter (AL)

• 112 Tamara Hird 3.49.36 - 9th lady
• 166 Judy Howells 4.16.41 - 21st lady
• 174 Cathy Bradley 4.20.33 - 23rd lady
• 185 Caroline Pollard 4.24.06 - 30th lady - 3rd LV50

Wharfedale were 4th ladies team.

Duddon Valley Short Race 10 miles / 3000ft

•   5 Jason Hemsley 1.54.16 - 3rd V40
• 13 Gill Myers 2.08.08 - 3rd lady - 1st LV40 - 1st LV50.

Completing the full marathon were:-

Kirsty Hall 4hours 13 mins 6th lady and 1st local lady
Raj Madhas 4 hours 49 mins

Completing the half marathon: -

Adam Drury 10th 1 hour 39 minutes 1st local man
David Ashby 23rd 1 hour 43 minutes
Rob Shaw 25th 1 hour 44 mins
Jonathon Gibson (Thod) 32nd 1 hour 50 minutes
Xavier Chaduc 47th 1 hour 55 minutes
Brian Hugill 2 hours 8 minutes
Val Done 2 hours 13 minutes
Tim Done 2 hours 13 minutes

Four more men are still required for this race. Please can you let David Hird know ASAP on 07765 792807 if you would like to run. The cost is £3.50 each.

Also, a social curry has been booked after the relay at Deshi (formerly Lazeez) in Silsden at 6.30pm - the cost is £7.95 for 4 courses - the food is delicious! Please let Tamara know on 07951 129786 by Wednesday if you would like to come.

There were lots of Wharfedalers out at this race and they occupied 7 out of the top ten places. The race was won by "Top Dog" Sam Watson, but only just. He finished just 2 seconds in front of Sean Carey of Todmorden. It was nice to see Declan Bulmer out in a senior race with him finishing in 15th place out of over 100 starters.

Martin Roberts
New member Martin Roberts was the only Wharfedaler at this race which was won by Simon Bailey of Mercia. Martin was 49th in a time of 49:49. The race is 5.5 miles and 1000ft through lots of woods, a bit of moor and a river crossing. It started at the village fete with jars of jam, a bbq, real ale, a jazz band, a dog show and stock and chickens! To cap it all, every finisher got a trout-dead.

Ted Mason	Mark McGoldrick

Craig Roberts of Kendal won this race with Ted Mason of Wharfedale in third place. The Wharfees finished as follows:

•     3 Ted Mason 50:40
•     7 Mark McGoldrick 51:40
•   36 A Wood 1:01:15
•   59 Andy Holden 1:07:24
•   78 John Thompson 1:10:08
•   89 Lynn Whittaker 1:12:19
•   99 John Laurie 1:15:23
• 111 James Webb 1:21:54
• 117 Sharon Newbold 1:36:54
• 118 Caren Crabtree 1:36:54

It is a long drive to the Lakes for a fifteen minute race, but Wharfedalers were out in numbers for this race, with good performances from Sam Watson, Mark McGoldrick and Jack Smith. Watto had a good race, but his legs were probably feeling the effects from his win on the previous day at Kelbrook and Alastair Dunn drew away from him at the top and he subsequently went on to win the race, with Watto second and Goldie third.

The Wharfedale junior "stars" have all moved up an age group this year and once more they showed their class by taking the first four places in the U17 race.

This was the year that Lynn Whittaker won the ladies race and team mates Rob Hudson and Ted Mason battled it out in the men's race.

Mark McGoldrick
The reintroduction of junior races for the 40th anniversary of the Weets race was enthusiastically embraced by Bingley Harriers, Clayton le Moors and Calder Valley with Bingley making it a junior club championship race. The winners in each class were:

U9
• 1 Millie Stubbs, Clayton, 2:47
• 2 William Moorhouse, Bingley, 2:47
• 3 Jay Nelson, Calder Valley, 2:56

U12
• 1 Joshua Boyle, Hyndburn, 8:03
• 2 Alex Stuart, Bingley, 8:10
• 3 Mathew Merrick, Bingley, 8:32

U14
• 1 Luke Strause, Bingley, 14:33
• 2 Katy Boden, Bingley, 14:44
• 3 May Nichol, Bingley, 14:56

Although it was nice to see so many youngsters for this new set of races, moving the event to a Saturday had an adverse effect on the number of seniors. The race was won by Mark McGoldrick, who has been running well recently and he gradually stretched out his lead as the race progressed. Had there been a bit more pressure on him, he would have easily recorded a sub forty minute time. Second in the race was young James Craig, a young local runner from Hellifield. Third was Lee Morley of Ilkley Harriers.

Being the fortieth Weets race, it attracted many runners who had taken part in earlier Weets races and they all commented how the present race is much more challenging than the old race which merely went up Weets and back from Barnoldswick town centre.

Full Results

A full set of photographs will be available shortly.

Wharfedale Harriers Men - 7th in 6.22.34
Wharfedale Harriers Ladies A Team 22nd and 2nd ladies team
Wharfedale Harriers Ladies B team 41st and 8th ladies team

The Wharfedale Ladies A team - 2nd (22nd overall) :-

Leg 1 - Katherine Kirkham and Fiona Greening 1.39.38
Leg 2 - Gill Myers and Caroline Pollard 1.29.25
Leg 3 - Kirsty Hall and Sally Bisset 1.16.21
Leg 4 - Judy Howells and Cathy Bradley 1.21.14
Leg 5 - Tamara Hird and Looie Pickles 1.25.25

The Wharfedale Ladies B Team - 8th (41st overall) :-

Leg 1 - Emma Dodd and Jean Powell 1.48.17
Leg 2 - Helen Shaw and Jill Feenan 1.45.21
Leg 3 - Diane Broadhead and Bridget Thompson 1.24.25
Leg 4 - Karen Gorman and Joy Sammel 1.39.35
Leg 5 - Madeleine Watson and Angela Donlan 1.41.24

The Wharfedale Mens Team - 7th

Leg 1 - Lucas Payne and David Kirkham 1.19.04
Leg 2 - Owen Beilby and Adam Drury 1.17.50
Leg 3 - Dave Spencer and Graham Bird 1.00.26
Leg 4 - Carl Bradshaw and Simon Throup 1.24.47
Leg 5 - Jason Hemsley and Shaun Chew 1.20.27

Val Done Picture courtesy of Andy Holden
The championship race is wide open this year with no one yet dominating first place. This week, it was the turn of Ted Mason to take the honours, ahead of Alastair Dunn and Ian Nixon. They were followed home by Wharfedalers, Sam Watson, Mark McGoldrick and Jack Smith. Just behind them was the talented young runner from Hellifield, James Craig, who was second at Weets.

In the junior races, James Hall is in scintillating form and he easily won the U17 race ahead of Ben Johnstone.

In the U14 race, Ellie Lambert was first girl, whilst Harry Muir and Lloyd Davies were pushed into 2nd & 3rd places respectively by Neil Orr of Border Harriers.

The U12 race saw Charlie Lowrie take the honours with team mate Josh Newbold in 3rd place.

Buckden Pike Fell Race - 18 June 2011

Karl Gray

Sam & Karl Gray on the ascent	Sarah Wilson enjoying her climb

Pictures by Andy Holden
 More Race Day Pictures - Set 
 More Race Day Pictures - Slideshow 

It was raining in the morning and it looked like being a miserable day, but the rain stopped and left ideal running conditions, although it was a bit cold for the marshals on top. After the initial steep ascent, it was nip and tuck between Sam Watson & Karl Gray, with the lead frequently changing. However, as they approached the memorial, Karl put on a bit of a spurt and Sam failed to match it, allowing Karl to take a lead as they ran across the top of the hill towards Buckden Gavel. As they started their descent from the summit, Ted Mason was lying in third place and he must have fancied his chances, bearing in mind his descending skills. He managed to catch Sam by the fell gate, just before they came into view of the crowd on the gala field. He then set off down the final steep descent toward the beck at a furious pace and was closing on Karl, but he had left it a bit too late and Karl Gray crossed the line just 7 seconds before him. It was however, a great race between the first three.

The ladies race was won by Aly Raw of Bingley Harriers and Scott Baistow was the first junior home.

The first men's team was Wharfedale Harriers.

2 Ted Mason, 3 Sam Watson, 7 Jack Smith = 12 pts

The first ladies team was also Wharfedale Harriers

69 Fiona Greening, 81 Jean Powell, 93 Sue Narey = 243 pts

 Full Results 

Only three Wharfedalers turned up for this race, yet they managed to sneak the team prize. Carl Bell from Howgill Harriers won by just over three minutes in 51.32. The Wharfedalers finished as follows:

•   2 Mark McGoldrick 54:36
• 19 Pete Jackson 1.06.05
• 29 Andy Holden 1.08.40

Nidd Valley had a fairly large contingent of runners and Wharfedale only pipped them by two points.

Quote of the day by Mark McGoldrick, just as the organiser was about to deliver the men's team prize. "If you two had shaped yourselves, we might've won the team prize"!!!

U16s
Junior Wharfedalers are back on top! Wharfedale regained the lead in the race to be top English junior club after the third race in the championship series at Clougha Pike. The full results of all races are on the FRA website.

Settle Hills - 19 June 2011

There seems to be a problem with the Settle web site at the moment. In the meantime, the results are below.

 Full Results 

Simon Frankin made a trip up to the Lakes for this 13 mile / 7,000 ft classic. Here is what he had to say about his day.

I made the trip up to the Lakes for the Great Lakes Run, despite the terrible forecast.

It turned out to be not as bad as promised, as it wasn't too windy and the rain stopped soon after the start. However, the cloud hung over the tops and navigation was very difficult (for me at least) and I strayed off the best lines between checkpoints for large parts of the race. As well as the proper checkpoints at Bowfell, Esk Pike, Great End, Scafell Pike, Scafell, Slight Side and (2 hours later) Pike O'Blisco, I also managed to accidentally fit in another top at Broad Crag. The highlight of the race was the scramble up a stream which had sprung up in the gully below Foxes Tarn on the steep haul up to Scafell.

I really enjoyed the whole experience, despite being disappointed with my time of 5hr 30min (finishing 70th of 84 starters), and would like to try this again when the visibility is better. If anyone fancies trying this if it is ever a Championship race, I'd definitely recommend a recce or two.

Beamsley - 22 June 2011

Sam Watson Leading Lee Athersmith at the Beacon Picture by Andy Holden
Lee Athersmith of Bingley Harriers wins the race, with Matt Lockyer of Pudsey & Bramley second and Sam Watson third.

 Full Results 

Eleven years ago and Ted Mason, Mark Horrocks and Andy Holden were all up there battling it out. Kate Rogan was out running everyday and building up a big lead in the ladies championship. Guess who was 3rd? None other than Lynn Whittaker.

Beamsley Beacon - 22 June 2011

Andy Holden was out and about with his camera on the night and he as put a few of his pictures on flickr. However, keep going back to look at them as he is still adding them.

 Set 
 Slide Show 

Mark McGoldrick has been running well recently and he continued his current good form by winning this race in a time of 56:40. The conditions were tricky. It was wet and misty meaning the ticker tape was really hard to pick out and a lack of marshals had him worried a few times. Second was Paul Dugdale in 57:52

An amazing run by James Hall, an U16 runner, saw him take second place in this race. This together with Graham Bird (15th) and Martin Roberts (36th) made Wharfedale 3rd team.

The only other Wharfedale junior to take part in these races was Logan Hargreaves-Madhas who was first U10.

As this was an English Championship Race, our ladies were in attendance and they finished as follows:

12 Tamara Hird 1:37:52
13 Gill Myers 1:37:55 1st V50
15 Judy Howells 1:40:18
45 Val Done 1:51:58
60 Sue Narey 1:59:58
71 Emma Dodd 2.10.31

Wharfedale were 3rd ladies team (Tamara, Gill and Judy) behind Calder Valley and Todmorden and 2nd LV40 team (Gill, Judy and Val) behind Clayton.

In the mens race:

37 Matthew Athersmith 1.17
47 Nick Charlesworth 1.19
87 Paul Crabtree 1.29.50

Unfortunately - no team position for the men as five are required to make up a team.

Junior English Championship Race

U10 boys
1st Logan Hargreaves-Madhas 2:47
3rd Richard Done 3:07

U12 boys
6th Josh Newbold 8:19
9th Herbie Davies 8:43
20th Charlie Lowrie 14:06 (fell)

U14 boys
5th Lloyd Davies 12:56
7th Phil Done 13:01

U16 boys
4th James Hall 15:34
10th Sam Haggar 18:46

Seniors
19th Scott Davies 20:05
25th Barry Scholes 20:48
48th Roger Hall 25:20

No Wharfedale girls ran!

Pub Run - 29 June 2011

Wharfedalers leaping into the Wharfe

Barry Scholes

Shaun Chew	Sam Watson

Pictures by Andy Holden
 More Pictures - Set 
 More Pictures - Slideshow