Members of Otley AC were disappointed to have made the journey to Richmond for the third race in the Harrogate League series only to find that the race had been called off due to unforeseen circumstances. It remains to be seen whether the race will be re-organised.

Meanwhile, Julian Mawson took part in the Askern 10k near Doncaster and finished 9th in an excellent time of 33 minutes 22 seconds. Ironically, he then participated in the Melmerby 10k last Sunday and produced a slightly slower time of 33.29 but improved his position to fourth. This could have been a result of the prevailing monsoon conditions at Melmerby where six other members of Otley AC also braved the elements.

Mick Jeffrey, with an eye on the V50 prize for the Harrogate Grand Prix series, finished in 38.22 followed by Nick Hodgkinson, who had recovered from his exertions at the Leeds Marathon sufficiently to record 41.05. The ever-consistent Phil Robinson managed 42.05 which enabled him to secure second place in the V60 category. Tom Hannah gave Phil a run for his money by finishing in 42.15, his best 10k time for nine months, and David Hainsworth was pleased to achieve 43.57. Antonio Cardinale completed the Otley contingent in a time of 46.30.

This year's Otley Ten Mile Road Race, sponsored by Otley Motors, will take place on Wednesday, June 25, and entry forms are now available from the club at their training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7.15pm at Otley RUFC. Entry forms are also to be found at local sports centres and sports shops.

Young Athletes League

Local athletes again provided the victorious Leeds City AC with plenty of points at the second round of Northern Premier meeting of UK Athletics' Young Athletes League at Stockport's Woodbank Park.

The victory over Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton AC, Southport/Waterloo AC and Stockport Harriers was all the more impressive considering the wet and windy weather and the rather shabby setting for a match of such stature.

Four athletes gained maximum points from each of their three permitted events (12 points max) - all of them from the under-17 age group.

Bethany Staniland of Horsforth started the points flowing with first place in the A 300m hurdles in a comfortable 49.2s. She then won the A string javelin with 29.80m and the B string discus with 29.10m, although she was very disappointed with both performances.

For the under-17 men Andrew Staniland (Horsforth), Fraser Davies and Richard Ettenfield (both Menston) ensured a further maximum 36 points for their club.

How much sweeter would their victories have been if they could have been joined by the fourth member of this multi-eventing group, Matthew Hudson, who has recently suffered a broken arm?

Staniland kicked off with a personal best in the A long jump with 6.94m. He was also first in both the A javelin and discus before leading out the winning Leeds 4 x 400m relay team (3.47.7) with a personal best split of 52.7s. Ettenfield was again impressive in the pole vault - first with 3.40m, while winning the A 100m hurdles (in mid vaulting competition) with 16.5s. He then took the A shot and ran a well paced second leg for the 4 x 400m quartet.

Fifteen year-old Davies provided Leeds with a hat-trick of B string victories. These were achieved in the 100m, the high jump and the pole vault.

In the under-15 boys' both Alex Davy (Guiseley) and Robert Hall (Menston) set massive personal bests in their middle distance events. Hall knocked four seconds off his 3000m PB with 10.48.0 for second place in the B event, while Davy improved his 1500m by some seven seconds for third place in the A string in 4.50.45.

Menston's Chris Ettenfield also provided valuable points with second place in the B 80m hurdles in 16.9s.

Two Menston St. Mary's under-13 girls also played a massive part towards the team's success. Danielle Carr won the A 150m (21.9s), came second in the A 75m (11.1s) and achieved third in the A long jump (3.91m).

Meanwhile Jessica Best was most impressive for second place in the A 800m in the fine time of 2.35.6. She was also third in the B long jump with 3.04m.

Andrew's four medals

Sixteen year-old Andrew Staniland of Horsforth added to his Yorkshire Championships' haul of five gold medals by winning another four medals at the North of England AA Championships at Wavertree Stadium, Livcerpool.

He won two golds, one silver and one bronze. The Leeds City athlete's weekend got off to a rather below par start with a third place in the Under-17 men's high jump with 1.80m, some 12 centimetres below his best. However, the second day was begun in magnificent form with a victory in the Under-17 men's javelin (700g) with a second best ever throw of 49.15m.

No sooner had the Javelin finished than Andrew was off to the long jump where a leap of 6.63m gave him another gold medal in the same age group. Finally, only being allowed to compete in three events on any one day, Andrew then had to decide whether to contest the discus (1.5kg) or the shot (5kg). He opted for the latter and duly picked up the silver medal with a personal best putt of 13.57m.

Two other gold medals came the district's way in the Under-17 women's age group as two Skyrac AC girls (both of Guiseley School) excelled.

Emma Moutrie's triple jumping goes from to strength to strength and a magnificent personal best of 11.10m gave her the Northern title. In the 800m, Laura Kirk confirmed her position as one of the country's leading middle distance runners with a superb 2 mins.14.99s for victory.

The Under-17 women's age group also saw some pleasing throwing performances from two local athletes. Rawdon's Amy Howard, (Skyrac AC), threw back into form for the silver medal in the discus (1kg) with 33.91m. She was also fourth in the shot (4kg) with a personal best putt of 10.05m. In this latter event, Horsforth's Bethany Staniland (Leeds City AC), who was competing one year under age, was fifth with an outdoor personal putt of 10.02m. Bethany made it through to the finals of both the discus and the javelin (600g). In the former she finished sixth with 30.52m and in the latter eighth with 30.09m.

Open Meetings

Three local athletes have enjoyed considerable success at various open meetings in the region. The day after her North of England throwing achievements, multi-eventer, Bethany Staniland, went in search of some competitive practice in her weaker Heptathlon events at the Warrington AC Open Meeting at Victoria Park Arena.

It proved to be a worthwhile exercise as she came home with three gold medals and one silver. She set a personal best in winning the U-17 women's high jump with 1.45m and went on to win both the same age group's long jump (4.66m) and 200m (28.0s). She was also second in her first ever 80m hurdles.

At the same meeting Skyrac AC's Bill Wheeler set a season's best in the senior men's shot with 11.11m. He was also second in the discus with 26.07m.

Bramhope's Georgina Ablett (Skyrac AC) gained a medal hat-trick at the Cleethorpes AC Open Medal Meeting.

A magnificent PB of 29.18m saw her win the U-15 girls' discus and in the shot 8.27m gave her the silver medal. To round off a fine day, she ran 28.7s for third place in the 200m.