Lothersdale Fell Race - 4 May 2011

Calum Lambert in the senior race.
Picture by Andy Holden
More pictures taken by Andy can be found at:
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wharfee/sets/72157626535195547/show/ 

James Hall & Jack Smith
Picture reproduced by kind permission of  David Brett 

A surprising large number of Wharfedalers turned out for this race, bearing in mind that it was the Three Peaks race at the weekend. Ted Mason, last year's winner, might have been fancying his chances of taking this race again, but if these were his thoughts, he did not take into account coming up against his younger team mates. On the ascent, the fifteen year old James Hall took the lead and was looking strong. Further down the field was Jack Smith. However, Jack has an uncanny knack of knowing how to run a race tactically, and on the return he took the lead. Once he had done so, he managed to keep young James just behind him and this was how it remained until the finish, with Ted Mason having to settle for third place.

Full results, including junior results follow shortly.

Pendle Cloughs Fell Race - 7 May 2011

"Are you trying to get hold of my dibber?" Bev & Pete Thompson at Check Point Nine
Numbers were down in this race this year, which was not helped by the contentious rescheduling of last year's Calderway Relay, but it did create an atmosphere reminiscent of races years ago when all fields tended to be much smaller.

The race was won this year by Andy Brown who set a new course record in the process. He has run this race three times and his position has steadily improved from third to first, reflecting his improving performance.

First lady was Bev Thompson, despite posing for photographs on the way round.

The only Wharfedaler in the race was Simon Franklin who finished in 25th place.

More photographs will follow shortly from Wharfeego.

 Finishing Positions & Times 
 Split Times 
Roll of Honour

First news from this event is as follows:

1 Calder Valley
2 Salford
3 Pudsey & Bramley
4 Wharfedale
5 Bingley

First Ladies Team Val Done, Caroline Pollard (had to go) and Cathy Bradley

Cathy Bradley	Val Done
Sue Narey	Caroline Pollard

No Wharfedale men took part in this race. However, Cathy Bradley led the Wharfedale women home to take the team prize. They finished as follows:

•   68 Cathy Bradley - 2.08 5th lady
•   76 Caroline Pollard - 2.12 8th lady and 1st LV50
• 105 Val Done - 2.28
• ? Sue Narey - 2.35

130 runners in total.

Pendle Cloughs Race - 7 May 2011

Simon Franklin - the lone Wharfedaler
Picture by Wharfeego

More quality race day pictures by Wharfeego can be found at:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wharfee/sets/72157626676717196/show/ 

Kendal Winter League 2011

The final league tables are now out for this competition and our junior boys won every class. Winning the league means not only being a good fell runner, but it also reflects commitment to turning out each week, no matter what the weather. The stars were:

U12	1 Josh Newbold
U14	1 Phil Done
	2 Callum Lambert
U14 Girls	1 Ellie Lambert
U17	1 Declan Bulmer

 Full Final Tables 

Paul Crabtree
This race was won by Graham Pearce of Pudsey & Bramley, just ahead of Tom Adams of Ilkley. First Wharfedaler was Jonathan Bradshaw in 12th place

Mark McGoldrick and Ted Mason thought that they would give this quality race in the Lakes a go today, with most of the club probably racing in the championship race at Mearley. The conditions were nearly perfect, but for the wind on top.

The race was won by Morgan Donnelly of Borrowdale. Mark & Ted had their own little battle. Mark reached the summit first in 5th place, with Ted 2 places back in 7th. This changed on the descent with Ted's renown descending skills taking him away from Mark. However, that was the only place that Mark lost and they finished 5th & 6th respectively. The only other Wharfedaler at this race was Fiona Greening who seemed quite happy with her run.


5 Ted Mason 1:25:41
6 Goldie 1:27:27
206 Fiona Greening 2:03

298 runners

Mearley Clough - 14 May 2011

Simon Bailey leading Ben Abdelnoor out of Mearley Clough Picture courtesy of Wharfeego
More quality race day pictures by Wharfeego featuring just the Wharfedalers:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wharfee/sets/72157626723506426/show/ 

Simon Bailey wins this race ahead of "The Noor" with Rob Hope third.

The Wharfedale ladies made a note of their positions and are shown below.

24 Tamara Hird 40.04
26 Gill Myers 40.52 1st LV50
33 Caroline Pollard 41.41 4th LV50
39 Judy Howells 42.01
43 Cathy Bradley 42.32
63 Val Done 45.15
66 Lynn Whittaker 45.37
75 Kath Kirkham 46.57
81 Sarah Martin 47.57
82 Sue Narey 48.36

Details of the men are:

  52 Johnny Bradshaw 31.45 3rd U23
  53 Nicholas Charlesworth 31.55
  59 Matt Athersmith 32.28 4th U23
  65 Dave Kirkham 32.44
  78 Paul M Crabtree 33.59
  95 Phil Done 35.17 7th U23
  96 Paul Crabtree 35.19
102 Jason Hemsley 35.42
109 Paul Harlowe 36.09 3rd V60
150 Tim Done 41.49
176 Roger Hall 47.42

Mearley Clough - 14 May 2011

Phil Done mixing it with the seniors Picture courtesy of Wharfeego
The whole range of his race day pictures can be found at:

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/wharfee/sets/72157626724428010/ 

Notes on flickr

When you look at the set as it opens from the link, click on any of the thumbnails and that will bring up the full size version of that thumbnail. It will also show details of the photo on the right of the screen (if that takes one's fancy); click on where it says Canon EOS 7D and that will show the 'exif data'. Then clicking back on the photo, brings you back to the previous screen, and double-click on the photo to bring up a manual 'flick-through' slideshow. If you go back to the original set, you can click on 'slideshow' (far right of the screen) and watch a full screen slideshow by clicking on the 'full-screen' icon on the bottom right of the screen.

Blinded by the Night

On a freezing cold night in the middle of the harshest winter for years, a small group of hardy runners tackle Whernside, the highest of the famous 3 Peaks. A snow storm ended all hopes of any decent video footage but it didn't deter the night runners from completing the course...and Wharfeego managed to put together a few of the best video clips of the night and combine them with the Manfred Mann's Earth Band's song.

 Watch Video 

The new Bofra season starts this weekend and once more we take a trip down memory lane to the turn of the century, this time to revisit the race at Ambleside.

He might be over 40, but Lucas Payne can be sure to give anyone a run for their money in a road race, especially, if like this one, there is some serious hill work in it. However, he could not live with young Matthew Athersmith who had a great run to finish third, with Lucas behind him in fourth place. However, he was first V40 and fully eight minutes before the second V40. The finishing times and places for all Wharfedalers were:

  3 Matthew Athersmith 1:02:53
  4 Lucas Payne 1:03:52
23 Josh Pendle 1:14:23
51 Scott Baistow 1:27:26

Louisa Pickles and Tamara Hird took part in the John Carr series from Esholt which covered 3 x 5km road races on consecutive Wednesday nights throughtout May. Louisa's overall finishing time was 59.50mins for the 3 races (20.19, 19.48, 19.43) in 6th place overall and 4th open lady and Tamara finished in 60.02 (21.36, 19.30, 18.59) in 8th place overall and 3rd lady over 35

Etape du Dales - 15 May 2011 Sam Watson on Tan Hill
Picture reproduced by kind permission of   Sport Sunday 

It was a dreadful day for this event this year with wind, hail, a bit more wind and a lot more rain! The results for the Wharfedalers who took part are:

Sam Watson 7 hrs 4 mins 11 secs
Bruce Elsworth 8 hrs 45 mins 57 secs
Ian Page 8 hrs 48 mins 33 secs
Jack Smith 9 hrs 33 mins 14 secs
Mark & Juliet Horrocks 10 hrs 40 mins 45 secs
(On a bicycle made for two?)

Well done to those who took part in extremely bad conditions.

Paul Carman
Based in and around West Craven Sports Centre, Barnoldswick, the Pendle Triathlon is a sprint triathlon, comprising of a 750m swim, 22.4km cycle and 5.4km run, taking in the rolling scenery of the surrounding areas. Paul Carman had a go and he completed the swim without armbands or drowning. He finished 16th overall out of a field of 125.

The Fellsman 14 & 15 May 2011

Raj Madhas
Picture reproduced by kind permission of   Sport Sunday 

Raj has finally got round to writing his report of his experience of this event. It was worth waiting for.

 Read Report 

Sedbergh Bofra - 21 May 2011

Watdog wins Sedbergh

The pictures below were taken by Wharfeego. More pictures of the senior race can be found at:

 Slide Show 

 Set 
Sam Watson with his spoils.

Goldie leads Jonny & Sam	Sam Watson

Sam Watson does the business at Sedbergh Gala. WatDog held back early on, then took the lead on the steep ascent. A fine descent by the big fella saw Sam take a fine win in this, the first BOFRA Championship race for the 2011 season. A great run by Goldie saw him take second, ahead of 2006 race winner Ted Mason. That gave Wharfedale Harriers a 1, 2, 3 in the senior race.

James Hall won the under 17s.

Old County Tops - 21 May 2011

Andy Hirst & Pete Jackson
Pete Jackson and ex Wharfedaler Andy Hirst seem to be the only Wharfedalers with any appetite for this Lakeland epic. At 37 miles with 10,000 feet of ascent, it certainly sorts the men out from the boys. They finished in 27th place out of 85 starters and they were a little bit disappointed with this, as it is a drop of about 11 places since they last run this race in 2009. However, they were second in their class. Pete has put together a report of their day.

 Read Pete's Report 

Race for Life - 29 May 2011

Caroline Harrison, Sharon Newbold, Zoe Baistow, Hannah Newbold, Maryjane Clayton and Linda Hargreaves
All the above Wharfedalers took part in the local girls only race at Ilkley on Sunday morning, in support for Cancer UK.

The race was won by Morgan Donnelly, ahead of Rob Jebb and Chris Steele. The Wharfedalers finished as follows:

•      8 Sam Watson 53:42
•    41 Graham Bird 1:01:17
•    50 Luke Appleyard 1:02:21
• 109 Andy Holden 1:08:25
• 124 John Thompson 1:10:48
• 128 Caroline Pollard 1:11:11
• 143 Val Done 1:13:53
• 154 Lynn Whittaker 1:15:08
• 178 Sue Narey 1:19:02
• 199 James Webb 1:24:02

Wharfedale were 3rd ladies team and 5th men's team.

Helvellyn - 29 May 2011

Mark Palmer won this race with Morgan Donnelly in second place. The three Wharfedalers finished as follows:

• 22 Paul Crabtree 2:47:17
• 60 Tony Guise 3:10:35
• 83 Jim Roberts 3:31:05