Competition is tight for the team prizes in the Harrogate & District Summer Race League following the penultimate race last week at Nidd Valley.

Ilkley Harriers are currently in first place in the male veterans (over-40) and mixed super-vets (over-55) categories, second in the ladies veterans, third in the ladies open and a close third in the main team (just a few points behind Harrogate Harriers and Otley AC).

Twelve clubs from North and West Yorkshire compete in the league, with the final race in the series on July 1 at Richmond.

Local medal winners from the recent British Masters 5K at Horwich were Fred Gibbs (Bingley Harriers) as first over-70, Sally Morley (Ilkley Harriers) second over-35, Geoff Howard (Ilkley) third over-65, and Peter Pyrah (Bingley) third over-55. Bingley also won the men’s team gold medals for over-35s and silver for over-40s.

Special mention goes to Brian Sweet, who celebrated his 80th birthday this week. Brian still races regularly, including completing the Nidd Valley race last Thursday. He is also one of the leaders of Ilkley Harriers’ weekly club runs.

Bingley Harriers’ junior track and field team made the most of the excellent conditions and superb facilities at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan, coming second in Round Three of the National Young Athletes League.

Sprinters Rebeka Tyler, Amy Pollard, Sam Allan, Sam Afari, Holly Postlethwaite, Mark Charlseworth and Demetric Nelson all ran personal bests.

For Nelson, it was his third personal best in three 200m races. Last weekend, he ran 22.6 seconds, which ranks him 19th in the country for his age group.

He has been picked to represent West Yorkshire at the National Schools Championships in Birmingham on July 9-10.

Other Bingley athletes representing West Yorkshire are Carly Robertson (1500m), Jessica Mayho (hammer), Adanna Okeahialam (hammer) and Andrew Russell (pole vault).

HDSRL team positions after four of five events: 1 Harrogate 3591pts; 2 Otley 3587; 3 Ilkley 3554; 4 Wetherby 3174; 5 Richmond & Zetland 2982; 6 Ripon 2905; 7 Nidd Valley 2759; 8 Thirsk 2531; 9 Swaledale 2445; 10 Leeds-Bradford Triathlon 1662; 11 Dragons (Yeadon) 1611; 12 Vocalink 902.

CLAIRE MABEY