Otley Athletics Club staged their latest monthly Handicap at Weeton last weekend. Conditions were cool with a little drizzle but not much wind, ideal for racing.

It was disappointing therefore that there were only seven participants. Perhaps the start of half-term school holidays had an effect. Nevertheless, Neil Charlton maintained his continuous improvement to win the race of approximately five miles in 44.49 (34.49 net of handicap).

This moved him up to second equal in the Handicap Championship behind Billy Rayner,who finished four4th in 45.55 (39.55 net).

In second and third were Bridget Barr (41.47 net despite going slightly off course) and Tom Hannah (36.54 net). John Dade (38.06 net), Phil Robinson (37.20 net) and Antonio Cardinale (47.26 net) completed the field.

The result leaves Billy Rayner with a handy lead of 29 points in the Championship with two races left.

On Sunday, several Otley AC members competed in the Holmfirth 15, a two-lap hilly course, which also incorporated the Yorkshire 15 mile Championship. The race was won by Stewart McDonald (Bingley Harriers) in 1 hour 24 minutes and 45 seconds. Otley’s Julian Mawson was second in 1.26.24. Completing the Otley contingent were Lloyd Best (1.43.26), Mick Jeffrey (1.46.14) and Howard Jeffrey (1.56.04).

Otley AC welcome runners of all abilities to their training nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.15pm at Otley RUFC. For further details, consult the club website otleyac.co.uk.

Ilkley Harriers

A number of Ilkley Harriers competed in the Original Mountain Marathon (formerly known as the KIMM), two days of navigational running over mountainous terrain and carrying all equipment for an overnight camp.

Ilkley Harriers were amongst the prizes throughout the categories. In the Elite category finishing 23rd in 13h41.13 were Dave Wilby and Adrian Hall with 27th in 13h55.15 Heather Dawe and Andrea Priestley who finished first ladies pair.

In category A Holly Williamson and partner took 48th place in 14h02.33 while in Category B finishing places for Ilkley were 22nd in 9h52.37 Mark and Rebecca Mon-Williams; 45th in 10h34.12 Joyce and Ian Marshall; and 50th in 10h42.11 Peter Jones and Sophie Brown.

In category C finishing 12th in 7h57.43 were Peter and Chloe Haines, who were also second mixed pair, while 119th in 10h05 were Lou Cartledge and partner.

In the Long Score category Jonathan and Helene Whitaker fionished sixth overall and first mixed pair with 670 points.

In the Medium Score event finishing 187th with 309 points were Kelly Harrison and Amanda Newham.

At the Withins Skyline seven mile run on Sunday, a very muddy race over the Bronte Moors, Tom Addison of Helm Hill led in 260 runners in the senior race to win for the third year running in a time of 45.04.

The Under-23 British Champion Emma Clayton won the ladies’ race and plenty of Ilkley Harriers made the trip over to Penistone Hill Country Park and claimed their free Curly Wurly for completing the race!

Ilkley results were: 8, 47.31 Chris Gale; 19, 50.03 Jim Ryder; 26, 50.25 Steve Turland; 32, 51.46 Ian Rowbotham; 52, 53.03 Martin Archer; 67, 55.26 Nick Pearce; 116, 59.59 Paul Stephens; 130, 60.49 Diane Haggar second L40; 163, 63.45 Graham Breeze; 166, 64.06 Chris Oxlade; 186, 66.43 Keith Wood; 191, 67.10 John Pickering; 192, 67.15 Val Kerr; 228, 72.25 Sue Bickerdike; 232, 74.16 Sue Morley; 233, 75.57 Eric Morley; 259, 99.32 Lyn Eden.

Ilkley Harriers is a friendly running club welcoming runners of all abilities and running interests. They organise and encourage training group runs for members and compete in a variety of running events. On Tuesday evenings they meet in the bar at Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club at 7pm.

Anyone interested in joining is encouraged to go along. Membership details can be found on the website ilkleyharriers.org.uk

Orienteering

Over 200 runners competed in the orienteering event at Newmillerdam south of Wakefield last Sunday, including 36 runners from Airienteers, the orienteering club for the Leeds and Bradford area. Run by the East Pennine club, the well-planned courses provided a good technical test in the mixed woodland, with runners having plenty of route choices.

Courses vary in distance and technical difficulty, and David Bowman had a good run on the longest 8.3km Brown course in a rapid 51.23 with Maurice Calvert 13th in 59.59. Veteran international Neil Conway was quick on the 6.6km Blue course finishing third in 44.51, whilst Andis Celinskis also had a good run in 49.12 for 12th place. At junior level Matthew Brown (M14) was runner-up on the 3.1km Orange course, whilst Stanley Conway (M12) was runner-up on the 2.4km Yellow course. Other Airienteer results were (positions in brackets): Blue course (6.6km) - Tony Carlyle (15), Martyn Broadest (18), Frank Kew (22), Rob King (34), Gerry Symes (41), Martyn Gill (49), Ian Hill (50), Fred Ross (67). Green course (5.2km) - Lindsay King (14), Natasha Conway (15), James Avis (20), Michael Rose (21), Lisa Broadest (29), Gill Ross (42), Val Gilleard (54), Nicola Gill (55), Margaret Parker (65). Light Green course (3.8km) - Chris Brown (9), Sam Avis (15), Cam Whitwham (27), Tom Convery (30), Daniel Calvert (48). Orange course (3.1km) - Holly Avis (6), Miles Gilleard (7), Mel Avis (8), Laura King (10), Tom Hardie (15), Liam Hopley (16). Yellow (2.4km) - Alistair Broadest (8). White (1.5km) - Eve Conway (4).

Details of upcoming events at this friendly club can be found at aire.org.uk.