Guiseley's Woodley wins British title for Airienteers (From Wharfedale Observer)

Guiseley's Woodley wins British title for Airienteers

8:18pm Thursday 10th May 2012 in Sport

Three of the area’s finest orienteers showed their class in the Lake District on Saturday as they conquered all in their age group to become British Champions.

Joe Woodley (Guiseley), Graham Watson (Baildon) and Alistair Wood (Leathley) all secured victories by comfort- able margins to position them at the very top of their sport.

The competition area, Dalegarth, is a classic area of the Lakes with a mixture of open fell, rocky terrain and mature woodland, all great ingredients for a race.

Woodley showed his true class which has seen him running for England in the recent weeks.

He led from the start of the race and hardly made any mistakes as he maintained his lead throughout to win by nearly two minutes on the men’s under 16 course.

Watson had a tougher time of it in the over 45 age category.

A slow start saw him struggling in 12th place after the first three controls but he kept a cool head and posted fastest time on five of the next six legs to pull himself up to second.

After that it was nip and tuck between Watson and Sheffield’s Charlie Adams until a costly mistake by Adams allowed Watson to seize the lead with three controls to go and hang on to this slender chance to win by 42 seconds.

Another strong perform- ance from Wood follows on from his fine year which has seen him win at major events and run for England.

He demonstrated this class by taking an early lead and never looking vulnerable as he stormed through to win by the considerable margin of over two minutes in the men’s over 60 category.

Other strong performances at the British Championships saw second places for Baildon’s Steve Watkins, Ilkley’s Lucy and Florence Haines and the relay teams of Joe Woodley, David Alcock and Neil Conway and Sarah Haines, Lindsey King and Joyce Marshall.