Running Log

The tightest finish was reserved for the final race in the JOHN CARR 5K SERIES at Esholt on Wednesday evening.

Four runners were together until the final sprint for the line outside the cricket club pavilion – and all dipped under 16 minutes.

Greg Hull (Leeds City’s coach and top over-40 runner) edged Halifax’s Ben Crowther in the sprint, winning in 15min 46sec, with Bingley’s Chris Edwin a few yards behind.

First-race winner Tim Midgley, also of Bingley, was six seconds back in fourth place, 100 yards ahead of Keighley & Craven’s Stuart Brown.

Mary Wilkinson (Bingley) improved one second on her time last week to win the women’s race in 16:53. She was over a minute ahead of second-placed Rachel Bamford (Otley AC).

As recently as 2005 it was commonplace to have three or four runners under or almost under 15 minutes but, despite this being one of the fastest courses in the country, winning times have dropped significantly since then.

The strength in depth remains, however, with 20 of the 267 runners breaking 17 minutes.

Rob Samuels of Pudsey Pacers is returning to his best after a serious injury, finishing a close second in 17:18 to Holmfirth’s John Ewart as fastest over-50.

Bingley’s Pete Pyrah was a second behind him as fastest over-55, while Spen’s Kevin Ogden (16:10) and Antony Bradford (16:29) were first home as best over-35 and over-45 respectively.

Last night at Bradford City Hall saw a high-powered delegation from England Athletics conduct the WEST YORKSHIRE ROADSHOW.

Over 20 representatives of local clubs – several from Leeds and Kirklees but the majority from Bradford district – met John Graves, chairman of the Board of England Athletics, and Andy Lee, leader of their northern team of staff.

The meeting was chaired by Mike Moss, chairman of St Bede’s AC, and the work of the Bradford Athletics Network was outlined by John Dennis (Keighley & Craven).

The aim was to solicit feedback from clubs about the direction the sport should take after the 2012 Olympics.

Valley Striders’ Bob Jackson called it an “excellent and interesting meeting”.