Ilkley'S Sarah and Florence Haines were among three members of Airienteers, the Airedale and Wharfedale-based orienteering club, who became British champions at last weekend's championships held at Midhurst in Sussex.

Sarah Haines had a brilliant run to win the 8.0km W21 class, whilst Ruth Ker of Headingley was victorious in the 7.4km W35 race. Meanwhile, junior runner Florence Haines won the 3.2km W12 event.

The premier event at the British Championships was the 14.2km M21 Elite event which featured several current GB runners.

Ian Nixon and Neil Conway of Airienteers finished in excellent 17th and 22nd places respectively.

Airienteers also featured prominently in a number of the other age-group races not least being junior international Ben Stevens who had an outstanding run for second place in the 11.1km M20 Elite race, with Joe Mercer of Skipton in fourth position.

As expected, veteran internationals Alistair Wood, of Menston, and Peter Haines, of Ilkley, featured prominently in the 7.8km M50 race finishing in fourth and eighth places respectively in a strong field of over 100 runners.

Joyce Marshall of Burley-in-Wharfedale confirmed her top-flight emergence with fifth place in the 6.2km W40 race, as did Victoria Stevens of Ilkley with sixth place in the 5.5km W18 race.

Other local results were (positions in brackets):

M40 - Steve Webb (25), Ian Marshall (44).

M45 - Nick Jones (55).

M50 - Chris Hardy (88).

M55 - Tony Thornley (6), Tony Carlyle (22), Henk van Rossum (72), Chris Burden (91).

M60 - Ian Hill (48).

M65 - Robert Ker (26).

W21 - Rose Burden (10), Stephanie Gilmour (18).

W50 - Susan Stevens (13), Wendy Carlyle (38).

And for the juniors:

M10 - Joe Woodley (4).

M12 - Davy Ker (16).

M14 - Robert Kelly (13).

M16 - George Stevens (19).

M18 - Hector Haines (8), Alistair Everett (20).

W16 - Chloe Haines (8).

The relays were held on the Sunday and in the Men's Premier event, Ian Nixon, Joe Mercer, and Neil Conway finished fifth out of the 31 teams.

The three runners had to find a total of 72 controls over a distance of 16.1km.

In the women's premier event, (13.7km with 60 controls), Ruth Ker, Rose Burden, and Victoria Stevens finished in eighth place out of the 15 teams which completed.

In the Short courses, Steve Webb, David Alcock, and Ben Stevens achieved a creditable fourth place, whilst Wendy Carlyle, Jo Thornley, and Natasha Conway were 18th in the Women's Short Course.

Next week-end is the Compass Sport Cup, the national club competition at Macclesfield Forest.

l Details of this and other events at this friendly club can be found at www.aire.org.uk.