Running Log

Pudsey Pacers and Pudsey & Bramley fought like tigers for final positions in the Yorkshire Over-35s League at Cleckheaton.

The Pacers had huge turn-outs throughout the ten-race grand prix series and won the ‘all-to-count’ league by a massive margin, logging 26,677 points to Horsforth’s 17,879.

But Pudsey & Bramley were victorious in the classification counting the first four club finishers in each race. They depended heavily on Richard Pattinson, Jon Holah, Brian Stevenson, Neil Armitage and Boff Whalley.

Pacers’ James Kovacs was first home on Sunday, supported by Darren Burnley, Paul Gaile and Nigel Armitage. Only Pete Pyrah, Tim Midgley (both Bingley) and Will Kerr (guesting from Airedale) broke into a top 11 dominated by the two Pudsey clubs.

In the women’s grand prix, Horsforth just held off Pudsey Pacers and York Knavesmire but the story of the season was the outstanding performance of Eccleshill Ladies.

New to the event, they finished sixth with consistent turn-outs by Hazel Maddocks, Helen Freeman, Julie Steele, Alison Hartley, Susan Birbeck, Dawn Hogan and Gill Jones.

In the individual rankings, there were prizes for locals Marisol Carrera Vivar (Bingley, third over-35), Denise Johnson (Baildon, second over-45), Helen Love (Airedale, second over-50), and Joy Good (Pudsey Pacers, third over-55).

Pacers’ Richard Gibson just missed winning the men’s over-35s but Richard Pattinson (P&B) beat Sean Cotter (Leeds City) and Paul Gaile (Pudsey Pacers) to the honours in the highly competitive over-40 age group.

Airedale’s Adrian Worger was a complete newcomer yet finished seventh in the over-45s, while Pete Pyrah and Pete Hughes (Queensbury) had to give way to Horsforth’s Marc Springer in the over-50s.

Evergreen Eccleshill duo Derek Mitchell and Arthur James were second in the over-65s and over-70s respectively.

The season starts again in February.

FINAL TABLES – Men (top 12 of 34 in league, local teams in bold): 1 Pudsey & Bramley 7629pts, 2 Pudsey Pacers 7459, 3 Horsforth 7299, 4 York Knavesmire 6651, 5 Airedale Athletics 6139, 6 Leeds St Theresa’s 5990, 7 Holmfirth 5857, 8 Kirkstall 5031, 9 Eccleshill 4271, 10 Leeds City 4226, 11 Queensbury 4184, 12 Bingley 3823.

Ladies (top 12 of 25): 1 Horsforth 3661pts, 2 Pudsey Pacers 3266, 3 Knavesmire 3218, 4 Holmfirth 2963, 5 St Theresa’s 2859, 6 Eccleshill 2055, 7 Kirkstall 1716, 8 Airedale 1016, 9 Spenborough 846, 10 Stainland 823, 11 Crossgates 817, 12 Bingley 768.