Running Log

Stainland Lions turned the screw on their West Yorkshire Winter League rivals as a strong all-round performance in the penultimate race left them in the driving seat.

Victory in all three categories (male, female and veterans) on the day leaves Stainland with a 200-point lead, home advantage in the final race and every chance of progressing to the national finals.

The race for second place and qualification to the national plate event is much closer, with Leeds-Bradford Triathlon (LBT) and Pudsey Pacers separated by just six points.

Idle AC treated a field of 200 to perhaps the toughest course of the series so far, with the temperature hovering near freezing point.

The first quarter mile was a plunge downhill from Thackley Football Club to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, before by a series of sharp climbs and muddy woodland paths weaved along the side of the Aire Valley in a taxing 4.8-mile figure of eight.

With four races to count in the individual championships, Donna Edmondson-Booker made it three out of four victories for LBT to build an unassailable lead.

Stainland duo Mags Beever and Angela Jordan were next home and hold second and third overall.

Dewsbury’s Treena Johnson (fourth) and Stainland’s Aileen Baldwin (12th) look set for overall titles in the over-50 and over-60 categories.

In a closely fought race, LBT and Baildon (led by Emma Stoney and Emma Hinkles in eighth and ninth) tied for second in the team scores with 348 points, leaving Pudsey three points behind having been led home by Michelle Tenwick in fifth.

Ben Mounsey (Stainland) maintained his 100 per cent record to retake the men’s title but was chased hard from the start by Rob Bridges (LBT).

With two fourth places to his credit already, Bridges came his closest to a top-three finish so far but was caught by leading over-40s runner Gav Mulholland (Stainland) within two miles and lost out to a late challenge from Quentin Lewis (Baildon) with 300 metres to go.

Baildon are still in the hunt for individual honours, with John Atkinson’s 26th place bringing him within four points of Dewsbury’s Andrew Meskimmon in the over-45s and Steve Pickard holding a race in hand on current over-50s leader Adrian Shaw (Stainland).

Jim Wheldon (Pudsey) is a strong favourite for the over-55s title, with 45th place his best finish so far.