Almost 300 orienteers were attracted to Airienteers' first district event of the new year at Buck Wood, near Shipley.

One competitor suffered a broken leg and had to be air-lifted to hospital but otherwise it proved a successful event.

The longest (brown) course of 7.54km was won by junior international Hector Haines (M20), with fellow Airienteer Ben Stevens second.

David Alcock, Rolf Crook, Victoria Stevens (first woman) and Eddie Winslow were also among the top ten finishers for the hosts.

Tim Patterson was the highest-placed local runner round the 5.25km blue course, with Peter Jones, Maurice Calvert, Pete Jones and Frank Kew following their clubmate into the top ten.

Airienteer Tom van Rossum won round the 4.07km green course and veteran Robert Ker (M65) took victory on the 3.19km light green track.

In junior categories, Chris Brown (M14) won round the 2.4km orange course and Stewart Allison (M10) headed the 2.48km yellow course finishers.

Airienteers contest the north-east regional round of the Compass Sport Cup at Hamsterley Forest in County Durham this weekend. This is the major annual inter-club competition in British orienteering.

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