The Langdale Horseshoe last Saturday (14 miles, 4000 feet) attracted the cream of fellrunning as the final counter in both the English Championship and the Lakeland Classics series, the latter co-sponsored by Skyrac's Graham Breeze.

The weather was poor and when the clouds come down, as night follows day, runners get lost and the familiar sight of runners 'bunching' for security was apparent through the mist.

The organiser took nearly 500 entries and refused a further 100 applications relying on no-shows to bring the number of runners to below the 400 limit and 380 actually started.

Bingley superstars Ian Holmes and Rob Jebb were second (2.04.46) and third (2.04.51) behind a sensational victory by Gavin Bland (2.04.24).

A few years ago Gavin was the outstanding fellrunner of his generation but his interest waned and he disappeared from the front rank. He appears to be back!

Holmes won the English Championship and Jebb won the Lakeland Classics. For those for whom 14 miles is too far the West Yorkshire Cross-Country season got underway at Roils Head, Halifax.

Skyrac's Joel Riley (still under 20) was sixth and other seniors finished 59th Jon Keith, 99th Jonathan Lester, 127th Bob Pritchard, 147th Alan Bye, 149th Malcolm Coles and 163rd Ryan Owen giving 15th place to the team.

Lady finishers were 28th Lisa Dent and 39th Holly Grinstead.

In the junior races results were: U-13 girls Laura Griggs 28th; U-13 boys Aarron Dawskin 18th; U-15 boys Thomas Griggs 36th; U-15 girls Chloe Glover 28th; and U-17 boys Iain Clarke 13th.

Skyrac can be contacted via www.skyrac.org.uk or 0113 229

Leeds City AC

Local junior Leeds City athletes enjoyed tremendous success at the first round of the Complete Runner West Yorkshire Cross-Country League when they helped their club to win three of the four junior team races; under-13 girls, under-15 girls and under-15 boys.

First race off at Halifax's Roils Head course was the under-13 girls and Menston St Mary's pupil Jessica Best came home as Leeds' third counter in sixth place as her team took victory.

The under-15 girls were equally as dominant with former Skyrac twins, Elizabeth and Eleanor Hall, taking second and fourth places respectively. Menston St Mary's Jodie Gregorcyzk, in fifth position, very ably backed them up as Leeds City again won the team event.

A fine run by Robert Hall for tenth place assisted Leeds to another team title and, although out of the team counters, Alex Davy ran well for 18th position in the under-15 boys event.

Not to be outdone by the youngsters, Leeds City's senior men's team were also victorious with Horsforth's Andy Beevers finishing in the 8th individual position. For the senior ladies, Celia de Maria continued her impressive start to the new season, finishing the tough course in fourth place.

Orienteering

Airienteers from Leeds and Bradford travelled to the North Yorkshire Moors to take part in a two-day orienteering competition run by the Cleveland Club.

On Saturday, this long-standing event (the October Odyssey) provided a technical but fast course in Guisborough Forest and around the steep-sided flanks of Roseberry Topping.

The Sunday course was at Scarth Wood Moor on the western edge of the National Park, near Osmotherley and this also incorporated the North-East Championships for 2003.

Three local runners excelled by winning their respective competitions which were made up of the combined times over the two days.

George Stevens, of Ilkley, won the under-14 boys competition by fully 11 minutes, whilst Neil Conway (M35) was first in a time of 1hr 50m 10secs, six minutes in front of second place. Alistair Wood bounced back from a long-term injury to run off with the M50 race in 1hr 55min 16secs, eight minutes ahead of the opposition. These were all high class performances showing the ability to navigate at speed, worthy of winners of the North-East Championships.

Other Airienteers featuring prominently in the overall results included:

M45 Howard Sawyer - 10th; M50 Frank Kew - 3rd; Michael Cox 6th; Gerry Van Hee - 8th; M55 Chris Burden - 15th; M65 Tom Crowther - 3rd; W21 Kathy Van Hee - 7th; W50 Susan Stevens - 4th; W55 Patricia Villiers - 9th.

The annual meeting of Airienteers will be held at 4pm on Saturday, October 12, at the Royalty Public House on Otley Chevin. Details of upcoming events for orienteering can be found on the club's website at www.aire.org.uk.

Otley Athletic Club

BOTH men's and ladies' teams of Otley Athletic Club entered the West Yorkshire Cross-Country race at Halifax on Saturday. The venue was very exposed to the elements and thankfully participants were blessed with mild conditions.

The course was a fast one, broken by a few medium inclines taking four laps to complete for the men and two for the women. It proved to be a very competitive and enjoyable start to the cross-country season.

Ian Fisher, despite a recent cold, began the season well by finishing second to Holmfirth's Dave Watson. Their times were 31min 53sec and 32.14 respectively.

Neil Cayton, crossing the line in 23rd position, finished in a time of 34.21, with Malcolm Court 93rd in 39.11.

John Armitstead finished 112th in 40.06; Mick Jeffrey 116th (40.16); Graham Stead 161st (44.49); Phil Robinson 165th (45.19); Bob Payne 183rd (51.25) and Antonio Cardinale 184th (51.59).

The ladies' race was won by Wakefield's Penny Thackray in a time of 19.34. The first Otley runner to finish was Carol Armitstead in 51st place in a time of 25.34. Bridget Barr finished 57th in 26.33; Jenny McKenzie 60th (26.50); Emma Payne 70th (29.19) and Sharon Driver 75th in 30.03.

Ian Fisher won the Harewood Ten Mile Trail Race the day after the cross-country, despite going wrong at one point on the course, in a time of 56min 55sec.

Also running for Otley were Howard Jeffrey in 72 minutes, Carl Walsh in 73min, David Fox in 74min. Tom Hannah, recovering from an injury, finished in 82.22, with Carol Armitstead finishing close behind in 82.40, Bridget Barr in 83.30, Antonio Cardinale in 85.00 and Emma Payne in 88.00.

Excellent season

ILKLEY Grammar School pupil James Heaton, aged 13, has just completed an excellent season of athletics, competing for his school, Bradford Schools and Bingley Harriers Athletic Club.

Notable highlights of his season were his successes at the Yorkshire Championships held at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, where he became Yorkshire Champion at the high jump for under-15 boys, as well as reaching the finals of the long jump, javelin and 100 metres.

Towards the end of the season James competed in the North of England Combined Events Championships at Hexham.

This was James's first Pentathlon and he was the youngest competitor in this event.

Despite this, he went on to achieve a personal best in the shot and improved on his personal best in the high jump, achieving 1.55 metres.

After a short break James will commence his winter training for the forthcoming indoor season.