Athletics round-up

Temple Park, South Shields, hosted this year's North of England Cross-Country Championship - an annual fixture in the cross-country calendar which has been held at a variety of venues throughout the North for more than 100 years.

The facilities provided at South Shields were of high quality and had the added bonus of being close to the races.

The course included several climbs each lap with a difficult section traversing sloping ground. The gale provided a challenge, particularly when head on climbing one of the hills.

The competitors tried hard not to be pushed sidewards down the sloping ground further on. Despite the very strong wind the competitors found the three-lap course quite fast. The underfoot conditions were good given the number of runners in each of the races.

The winner of the senior men's race was John Wild, of Sale Harriers. At the time of writing official results are not available however, the first Otley runner home was Neil Cayton.

Andrew Robertshaw was next in what he thought was 199th position. Dale Foster completed the course in a time of 45.47, Ray Hawksby 47.49, Chris Carver 48.15 and Tom Hannah 55.45. The individual and team positions are awaited with interest.

On the Sunday morning a large number of runners gathered at York Racecourse to compete in the curiously named Brass Monkey Half Marathon. Light drizzle and a wind, which was not as strong as the previous day, greeted the competitors.

The wind was much in evidence on the outward part of the race. Soon after the start the runners pass through Bishopthorpe and head south for six miles or so. The second half of the race provides long views down the mainly straight country lanes back to the Knavesmire racecourse. A couple of bridges in the final two miles or so provide the only climbs in the otherwise flat course.

Ian Fisher, defending his Yorkshire Half Marathon title, was soon in the lead. He was closely tracked by Rob Holliday, of Morpeth Harriers. Eventually the latter dropped away to leave Ian on his own.

Back in the mass of following runners Steve Mann and Neil O'Brien were having their own little battle. They were followed by new member Andrew Sumner who was doing his first half marathon.

With a couple of miles to go it appeared that Fisher's old course record of 66.36 was to fall easily. He retained the Yorkshire title and set a new course record but by only one second.

The Otley AC times were Ian Fisher 66.35, Steve Mann 91.00, Neil O'Brien 91.15, Andrew Sumner 116.00.

This Friday Otley AC has its annual dinner and prize presentation evening. Julian Mawson has won the Runner-of-the-Year Award for 1999 and the Eric Smith Handicap Series for 1999 has joint winners in Graham Stead and John Straiton.

This weekend members are sampling the delights of the Rombalds Stride, starting from Guiseley, or the Ogden Fell Race on the Denholme to Halifax road.

Potential new members are invited to join the club on a Tuesday or Thursday evening at 7.15pm. You will be made most welcome. The club has gained a number of new members in recent months. They meet at Otley Rugby Club, next to Otley Motors, on Pool Road, Otley.

Fellrunning is a

noble pastime

FELLRUNNING: the noble pastime, is increasingly elitist is a truism. What were once pastimes are now dominated by professionalism and big money.

One attraction of the FA Cup is when the part-time amateurs of the humble leagues take on the rich clubs of the Premier League. In athletics few runners have lined up with, say, Linford Christie.

With the marathons, although the London Marathon is publicised as a people's marathon and TV coverage emphasises the 'fun' elements of the race, in reality the organisers ensure that the fun runners are kept away from the start line for the elite competitors.

Fellrunning is different. All competitors are equal at the start and even Yorkshire's Three Peaks Race with 500 entrants or English Championship events let the race itself decide the pecking order.

At the Stanbury Splash Race near Haworth Skyrac's humblest runners stood shoulder to shoulder with Borrowdale's Gavin Bland. Gavin is currently the outstanding fellrunner in Britain and worthy holder of both the English and British Fellrunning Championships yet any competitor with the speed and a sense of lese-majesty could have led him up the first climb.

Carol Greenwood, of Bingley Harriers, when still in her teens won the gold medal in the World Mountain Running Championships at Morbegno, in Northern Italy. Even after victory over athletes from 15 counties Carol did not presume superstar status, depart to Colorado for altitude training and descend for a handful of races each year against lesser mortals.

Instead she retained her love of the sport, remained modestly approachable and continued to compete every weekend on the fells she loves. And this weekend she will be helping her husband Allan organise the Ogden Moors Fell Race so as to put something back into the sport and Skyrac fellrunners will be there in support.

Fellrunners remain amateur in the most noble sense. If this appeals to you call Neil or Sue of Skyrac Athletic Club on 0113 2290924.

Skyrac youngsters

in good form

WHITKIRK School played host to the fourth Leeds Schools' Cross-Country League last Saturday and several Skyrac AC runners enjoyed some top positions.

Robert Spencer, of Horsforth School, was victorious in the Intermediate Boy's Race whilst sister Elizabeth made it a family double when she won the Intermediate Girl's event. Laura Kirk, of Guiseley School, and Elizabeth Kendall-Smith, of Wetherby HS, were also successful winner in the Under-13 and Under-12 Girl's categories respectively.

Once again Kath Davey, of Benton Park School ran well for third place in the Senior Girl's race.

Excellent displays

by Guiseley

School runners

AT the fourth Leeds Schools Cross-Country League races, which took place at Whitkirk, runners from Guiseley School continued to turn in some excellent performances with an individual and two team wins.

The Under-12 girls' team got back to their winning ways to come first with all the girls finishing in the first ten places. Emma Moutrie, again Guiseley's best runner, was fourth, Samantha Drake sixth, Rebecca Shaw eighth and Charlotte Gibson 10th. The Under-12 boys finished a creditable second for the second time this season and were led home by Gordon Lazenby, who finished sixth. Other team runners were Andrew Stead 15th, Chris Noble 16th and Nick Howell 26th, with Mark Richards 34th and Alex Smith 41st.

The Under-13 girls' race was once again won by Laura Kirk, who continues to have an outstanding season for both her school and club, with Alice Dowhji finishing a strong fifth.

The team also came first, despite missing two of the regular runners with Rosanne Olley, running for the first time, coming in sixth, and Frances Peterson 13th.

The Under-13 boys again had some very good individual results with Philip Bott eighth, Ian Wakefield 15th and Andy Russell 16th, and if only they could get all their runners together could do well in the team event.

In the Under-14 age group races Leah Fisher finished eight, her highest position of the season so far and Daniel Saunders took fifth place for the third time. At Under-16 level Jocelyn Shaw was third, again for the third time this season, and Camile Metcalfe recorded her best performance so far to come seventh.

Following the trials which took place at Leeds Grammar School a number of runners have been selected to represent Leeds at the West Yorkshire Cross-Country Championships which take place at Hipperholme and Lightcliffe School, near Halifax, on February 5. Laura Kirk will run in the junior girls' event with Raine Ellis reserve, Daniel Saunders in the junior boys and Joscelyn and Rebecca Shaw in the intermediate girls.

Ilkley Harriers

THERE were excellent performances from the few Ilkley Harriers runners out racing at the weekend.

In the Brass Monkey Half Marathon in York, Eddie Irving, veteran over 40, was 8th overall in an outstanding 71.21.

Andrew Wade was only marginally outside his personal best with a time of 77.49. Nick Mapshone ran 89.39 to beat his target of 1hr 30 minutes. In windy conditions these were excellent performances.

In the coming weekend there is the Sport Direct cross-country at Ackworth. Those not going direct can meet at the club by 8.40am on Sunday.

The following weekend is the Dewsbury 10K, and runners are reminded this is usually pre-entry.

Anyone interested in helping on the day at the Ilkley Fell Race on February 27 should contact a member of the committee.

The new Thursday sessions are proving successful, and have catered well for runners of all standards by working within the club grounds.

The monthly Curry Run is on Friday February 4 in Keighley, meeting first at the Roebuck, Utley at around 8pm.

New members are welcome, and the club run on Tuesday and Thursday nights from Ben Rhydding Sports Club is at 7pm.

If you wish to know more about the club, contact Ken Souyave on (01943) 862096.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.