LAST week was one of the busiest of the season for members of Otley AC. On Sunday the popular Melmerby 10k attracted five Otley runners, best placed being Julian Mawson, who finished an excellent 14th out of 283 finishers in 36.16.

Mick Jeffrey was 22nd in 37.11, Tom Hannah 51st in 39.13 and David Fox achieved a personal best of 39.56 in 62nd place.

Otley ladies were represented by Veronica Vasylenko who managed 45.24. Later the same day, Ian Fisher produced another excellent performance to finish second in the Thirsk 10-mile race in 50.53. He was supported by Phil Robinson, who finished in 69 minutes.

Wet conditions did not prevent seven Otley AC members taking part in the Chevin Fell Race last Wednesday.

Neil Cayton finished 17th in a field of 117 to be first local runner, with a time of 19.18. Unfortunately, the slippery conditions caused him to fall and injure his leg.

John Armitstead maintained his excellent recent form to finish 25th in 20.09 whilst Ray Hawksby was three places behind in 20.24. Mick Jeffrey's second race of the week produced another good performance, 31st in 21.02, whilst Chris Carver managed 49th place in 22.13. Colin Best coped well with the conditions to achieve 67th place in 23.00 and David Fox, recovering from his Melmerby effort, brought up the rear in 91st place with a time of 24.49.

On Thursday it was Otley's turn to stage a race in the Harrogate and District Summer League. Resources were stretched to the limit as Otley fielded 16 runners as well as providing marshals, timekeepers and recorders. In addition, injuries depleted Otley's team but those who did run produced another excellent performance to enable the club to extend its lead at the top of the league. Ian Fisher won yet again in 31.58 with Julian Mawson 10th in 36.14 and Chris Carver 11th in 36.17. John Armitstead, Andrew Robertshaw and Mick Jeffrey packed well in 22nd, 23rd and 24th places with times of 37.56, 37.58 and 38.08 respectively. Reliable Jack Robertshaw managed 39.06 and another pack of three, namely John Straiton, newcomer Duncan Burgess and Pete McGouran completed Otley's 10 scoring runners with 39.33, 39.39 and 39.48 respectively. Among the ladies, Kath Robertshaw and Linda Land were engaged in their own personal dual, the former finishing in 44.45, just seven seconds ahead of her rival.

Otley AC are a competitive but very friendly club who welcome runners of all abilities at their training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Otley RUFC (tel 01943 863606).

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