Amy makes most of trip to North Yorkshire (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Amy Green makes most of trip to North Yorkshire

4:20pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in Sport By Colin Davidson

In what has been a lean weekend for local races, runners from the Airedale and Wharfedale area have travelled further afield to find competitions.

In North Yorkshire, Dave Kellett, organiser of the Wistow 10k, was expecting good performances in this flat, fast road race.

The man tipped for glory was Darren Bilton of Leeds City AC, and so it proved. In near-perfect running conditions - dry, cool and with little wind - Bilton turned in a time of 33min 23sec to win by 36 seconds. He also took the male over-40 prize.

Airedale athletes also made their presence felt. Marko Gvero, of Keighley & Craven AC, finished fourth overall and third male over-40 in 34:37. James Clark (Pudsey Pacers) took sixth place in 35:22.

Amy Green (Keighley & Craven) was first for the women in 37:54 and in 17th place overall. Baildon Runners' Debbie Bland was second female over-50 in a personal best of 46:16.

Further from home, in the Netherlands, 30 West Yorkshire runners took part in Sunday's Eindhoven Marathon and Half-Marathon.

This urban route, one of the fastest in the world and rated by some as being among the top ten races, attracts around 17,000 participants and 160,000 spectators.

In perfect conditions. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) ran a negative split in the two-lap marathon, winning in 2hr 5min 46sec.

The Bradford and Leeds contingent concentrated on the half marathon, with Valley Striders' Andy May running a remarkable 74min 4sec to finish seventh, barely a fortnight after running 2hr 34 in the Berlin Marathon.

Pudsey resident James Wardman was 25th in 78min 18sec. Training partner, Mick Brearley (Saltaire Striders) was disappointed not to break 80 minutes, finishing 44th of the 6,963 finishers in 81min 45sec. Both felt that they had peaked a few weeks too soon.

Closer to home, Eccleshill Road Runners were focusing their attention on the recently-established Park Run in Roundhay as part of their Club Championship.

Mick Hogan, running as a male over-50, put in a time of 21:40 in the 5K run, while Suzanne Hague (female over-45) finished as 13th woman in 26.24.