Smith and Firth are just world class

4:34pm Tuesday 1st April 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Five road and fell races drew thousands out over the weekend - and a contingent from St Bede's visited Edinburgh for the World Cross-Country Championships.

Trip organiser Mick Jones said: "We came away inspired but those Africans - they're a bit fast!"

Skyrac had contingents present at the heather-bash across Midgley Moor and the ten-mile Eskdale Eureka Fell Race at Castleton.

Organiser David Parry has a clever numbering system so, for example, a vet 45 will have a vest number in a range starting with 450. This helps runners know their age-group position during the race.

Knowing they had only finished second in their categories allowed Duncan Asquith and Graham Breeze to avoid the prize-giving and enjoy the steam locomotives on the adjacent North York Moors Railway.

Asquith was 17th overall in 84min 08sec and Breeze 23rd in 89.46. Winner was Andy Hilton (York Acorn) in 69.48.

Almost 1,300 turned out for the Wakefield Hospice 10K.

This too has an ingenious system which correlates finishing times by gender and age group.

While the overall winner was Dominic Bannister (Shaftesbury-Barnet) in a seemingly impressive 30min 51sec, the real performance of the day was by Carole Wolstenholme (Hallamshire) in the F60 category with an incredible 42.22.

No fewer than 15 runners bettered an age-related figure of 82 per cent (compared to the world's best), which is a fair token of high performance.

Among these were Willy Smith of Keighley & Craven, third overall in 32.19, and Bingley's John Firth, M65, in 42.52.

The turnout at the South Leeds 5K Fun Run and five-mile race suffered in numbers and quality, with only 126 finishers.

The winning time of 29min 47sec by the unattached Dean Shepherd would barely have merited a top-20 position in recent years.

Bingley's Tim Midgley opted for the Arkendale 10K, run on quiet country lanes close to Knaresborough, and won easily in 34min 42sec, with Otley's Zach Whitehead fourth (36.39).

Pudsey Pacers were led home by in-form husband and wife team Dave and Jenny Cooper.

Dave finished 40th among the 320 competitors in a fine 43.41, while Jenny was 24th woman in 50.33.