Debilitated by injury, Skyrac's fellrunners had to call on their road running chums to make up their 12 man team entry into last Sunday's Calderdale Way Relay only to receive complaints after the event about the excessive mud!

From the team which ran on Sunday only Andy Brear could claim to have been a part of the Skyrac team that some years ago came 4th overall in this magnificent event which remains the biggest relay in the FRA Calendar. To mount an event involving almost 1200 runners running in pairs over a six leg 50 mile cross-country course is a stupendous achievement and Halifax Harriers deserve the highest praise for continuing to organise the annual relay which reached its 17th year last Sunday.

The Calderdale Way was established in 1978 and was Britain's first Recreation Footpath. In 1984 Halifax Harriers established the Relay and the event is now so popular that the cut-off at 100 teams is reached every year.

Overall winners for 2000 were Bingley in 5hr 51 min 38 sec followed by Clayton-le Moors who were ten minutes slower and then Pudsey and Bramley. There was no surprise here because since the mid 1980's the winning team has always come from one of these three major clubs.

The Skyrac team noted ruefully that whilst they had struggled to field a single team the resources of Clayton-le-Moors allowed the club to enter no less than six teams in the event.

Skyrac eventually finished 48th overall in 7.43.06 and the team in leg order was: Derek Emsley/Dave Young; Graham Breeze/Peter Rawnsley; Dave Hill/Max Wood; John Forsyth/Howard Sawyer; Graham Grinstead/Ralph Warman and Andy Brear/Mick Howard.

Skyrac train every Tuesday and Thursday from their Nunroyd Park Clubhouse, at Yeadon. Ring (0113) 229 0924 for a warm welcome.

The first regional representative cross country match of the season was held last weekend and four local girls represented the West Yorkshire League in the Women's Northern Inter League match at Barnsley .

Once again Skyrac A.C's girls were to the fore as Laura Kirk came 8th in the Under 15 Girls' event which was won by West Yorkshire , and Gabbi Rowell was 17th in the Under 13 Girls' race . In this latter competition Keighley and Craven's Jill Harrison was a creditable 15th , although the North East's Under 13's beat West Yorkshire into second place . However pride of place went to Horsforth School student Elizabeth Spencer (Holmfirth Harriers ) who ran excellently on a fast course for 2nd place in the Under 17 Women's category , leading the West Yorkshire team to Victory

The week before, Elizabeth had also been in fine form winning the Under-17's race at the third West Yorkshire Cross-Country League in Bradford's Peel Park. There was also success at this meeting for her brother , Robert Spencer, also of Holmfirth Harriers, who ran a very determined race for fourth position in the Under-17 men's competition.

Wharfedale Harriers

The Calderdale Way Relay proved an eventful day out for Wharefdale Harriers. Our position wasn't as good as hoped but just to get a team round at all was a major achievement, and that was down mostly to the logistical support crew of Keith Holder, son Jack, and David Hird, than the runners - who actually have a rather easy job by comparison.

With the usual last minute reshuffling of pairings, more to cope with the hectic social lives of some of the younger members of the team than colds or injury, Alfie Atkinson became paired with John Wootton on the first leg - a chance, we thought, to set our stall and get off to a flying start.

Unfortunately, Alfie had one of those days when mind and body just didn't want to play. John, expecting to be put under a bit of pressure from Alfie, stormed up the first hill so fast that the younger man was never able to find his stride. At the end of leg one, instead of being placed in the top ten, Wharfedale found themselves in the bottom half of the field in 52nd place with a time of 1.29.

A rather disgruntled Andy Holden and Steve Hounslow, having almost given up the first pairing for lost, at least had the thrill of a good chase. They ran a cracking leg two, clocking the 17th fastest time in 1.07, overtaking no less than 19 teams and bringing Wharfedale up to a rather more respectable 33rd place.

Next up saw the club field possibly the youngest pairing in the whole field, with 16 year-old Martin Hounslow and 18 year-old brother Sam picking up a couple more places with a solid run of 46 minutes on Leg three. At this halfway stage their main ambition was now to catch local rivals Ilkley Harriers, some seven minutes ahead.

The Hounslow boys handed over to Ted Mason and James Wadsworth but again things didn't go quite to plan. A mile into the run and James' shoes fell apart - to the extent that he might as well have been running in a pair of carpet slippers. Despite being seriously

handicapped on the descents, the pair still managed a respectable time of 1.16 (18th fastest) through some strong running on the hills, to pick up eight more places and bring the team up to 24th position.

Following on from these two was the veteran pairing of Paul Rogan and Lionel Sands who run a superb leg five in 1.03, the 22nd fastest time for their section, and bringing Wharfedale up to within three minutes of Ilkley. The chase was on.

On the final leg Bob Hamilton and Sam Wadsworth set off in pursuit of their local rivals but soon came undone when Sam took a bad fall that left him dangling off a greasy wooden footbridge. With a cracked head and a gashed knee things did not look too bright for a while as Sam limped along for half a mile, but a sighting of vests in the distance was like a red rag to a bull.

Sam managed to find a rhythm and the pursuit got going. Ilkley were eventually overtaken with just a couple of miles to go to bring Wharfedale home in 22nd place overall with a leg time of 1.21 (19th fastest) and a race time of 7.03.

So, it made for quite an adventure in the end, and despite all the mud, and all the waiting around in the cold, the irrepressible nature of fell runners ensured that the talk on the drive home turned to the tactics for next year, and aiming for a top ten placing.

This coming Saturday the club is holding an informal junior event, starting at the Millennium Gardens in Ilkley at 2pm. All junior runners are very welcome. Afterwards, weather permitting, it is hoped to have a family run out on the moor.

Wharfedale Harriers is a family oriented club aiming to promote fell running

across all ages and abilities. Senior training takes place on Monday and Tuesday evenings from Silsden, Wednesday evening from Skipton, and Thursday evening from Ilkley at the Grammar School. For more details please contact David Hird on 01535 653826, or visit the website at www.wharfedaleharriers.org.uk.

Ilkley Harriers

A total of 36 Ilkley Harriers competed in the Calderdale Way Relay on Sunday. They were, however, distracted and distressed by the news that Helen Sedgwick had been hospitalised by an accident while driving to the race.

Fortunately, Helen's injuries were later found to be not too serious and she was discharged in the evening. All members will wish Helen a swift recovery from her injuries.

The race comprises six stages run in pairs and follows a cross-country route

of 50 miles around Calderdale with a total climb of 5,000 feet. The event organised by Halifax Harriers attracts 100 teams and Ilkley entered mens, ladies and 'mixed' teams.

With the race starting at 8 am and with Helen due to the run the first leg, it took a number of very early morning telephone calls and lots of good-natured co-operation to re-arrange the teams.

Joyce Marshall gamely took Helen's place and ran with Sally Malir on the long first leg to Cragg Vale where they finished in a very creditable 77th place

(1 hour and 38 minutes). For the men Nick Pearce and Mike Baldwin were as

reliable as ever as they set their team off with a great start, finishing in 23rd place (1.20.30).

Mark Iley and David Matthews maintained the momentum on the leg two run to Todmorden via Stoodley Pike as they also finished 23rd fastest (1.09.09).

Heavy, muddy conditions were experienced throughout which suited Shirley

Wood and Janet Hebbert (1.28.41) of the mixed team as they enjoyed the views from the Pike.

Whereas conditions had been very favourable for the first two legs with warm sunshine and clear visibility things were deteriorating during the, short but steep, third leg climb to Blackshaw Head.

Geoff Howard and Pete Shields (26th place and 45.41) continued the men's progress while Jo Foster and Claire Williams (50.40) and Bridget Doherty and Jill Cooke (55.59) completed the leg for the ladies and mixed teams respectively.

Strong winds and heavy rain showers were experienced and endured, almost stoically, by those waiting to start their fourth leg runs.

This leg is recognised as being the hardest of the race and there were exceptional performances from the pairings of Jim Ryder and Chris Gale (16th overall in 1.15.29) and Andrea Priestley and Emma Barclay (35th overall, 1.23.33).

Janet Souyave received the dreaded telephone call and filled the gap in the

teams by running the fifth leg for the mixed team with Claudia Barjolin. They provided medical assistance and called an ambulance for an injured competitor en-route and on eventful day took 20 minutes off Janet's best time for the leg.

Anchoring the men's and ladies teams home on the last leg there were very good runs from Phil Atkinson and Neil Chapman (25th place in 1.27.27) and Diane Kitchen and Johanne Kerr (1.35.44).

The race finished with Ilkley's men's team finishing a very satisfactory 24th place overall, our best performance for a few years, in 7 hours and 6 minutes with Bingley Harriers the winners in a time of 5 hours and 52 minutes.

In the ladies race Dark Peak edged out Bingley by a single second

after almost eight hours of racing with Ilkley just a few minutes behind in a very creditable fourth.

Ilkley Harriers are a friendly running club, training at 7pm on Tuesdays from Ben Rhydding Sports Club. Thursday speed/stamina sessions with Pete at BRSC are at 7.30pm.

l To find out more about the Harriers, contact our captain Ken Souyave on (01943) 609597, or visit the web site www.ilkleyharriers.co.uk.