It was another full week of racing for Ilkley Harriers. On Tuesday 32 Harriers travelled to distant Gilling West for the The Pond Dale Five, the third race in the Harrogate Road League.

Jason Hemsley and Jamie Hutchinson were in the top 20, and Alison Bennett was fifth lady. After this race Ilkley Harriers are third team, less than 100 points or so down on the leaders: the ladies and lady vets teams are holding their lead despite a strong Swaledale challenge; and the male vets are a close third.

A few travelled even further, to the Lake District for the Coledale Horseshoe, a nine mile fell race with 3000 feet of climb, and a classic route.

Results were: 40th Ashley Hardwell 1:39:18; 44th, 2nd lady, Heather Dawe 1:40:11; 55th Alison Eagle 1:45:07 1st LV40.

Wednesday, and it was the Badgerstone Relays on Ilkley Moor. The Ilkley A team were fourth - Graham Pearce 17.15, Jim Ryder 17.46, Jason Helmsley 17.47.

The Ilkley B team were 13th - Richard Joel 19.17, Ed Battye 23.33, Ewan Walsh 19.47 and 14th were Ilkley Old Boys - Norman Bush 20.52, Dennis Ackroyd 23.15 and Mike Baldwin 18.31 while 19th, and first ladies team - Ilkley Ladies - Pange Srivastava 23.03, Jo Foster 22.35 and Alison Weston 21.48; and 21st were Ilkley Elite Ashley Hardwell 21.35, Keith Wood 22.39 and Pete Shields 23.22.

Thursday, and there was a choice of races.

Dave Jepson was 25th in 38:16 and John Woodward 81st in 44:04 at Horsforth Harriers new 10k trail race, the Apperley Bridge Canter

Whilst four Harriers made the short trip 'over the hill' on a lovely evening for 'The Full Bronte' a great five mile road race at Haworth which incorporates the Yorkshire Veterans Championships.

First home was Alison Bennett 62nd in 33:50 followed by 72 Pete Shields in 34:48 and 84 Keith Wood in 36:31 (both feeling the effects from the Badger Stone relay the previous evening!). Bernie Gibbons followed in 123rd, 42:10.

There was no racing on Friday, but Saturday was a perfect day for racing: cloudy, dry, no wind not too warm and a very flat and fast 10K route at Wheldrake near York. This was only run for the first time last year with 150 finishers, this year it had obviously got some good reports as the 300 race limit was reached the week before the race, with 250 finishing on the day.

The Ilkley Harriers were represented by Pete Bedwell, Jamie Hutchinson, and Iain Gibbons.

Jamie finished in 11th position with a time of 37.08, Iain 40.00 dead by his watch and Pete was very pleased with a new PB by 24 seconds of 45.40 getting 89th place.

The Ennerdale Horseshoe fell race, 23 miles with 7500 feet of climb, had Ilkley runners finish 40th Eddie Winslow 5h12; 50 Ashley Hardwell 5h25; and 61 Alison Weston 5h39 (7th lady).

Linda and Victoria Wright ran the Swaledale (off road) marathon in 5hrs 11 minutes, and had a wonderful day in a very well-organised and friendly event.

And by way of some cross-training, Amanda Parnaby and Emma Payne participated in the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride - 70 miles from Wetherby to Filey. Emma completed the ride in 5hrs, Amanda's time tbc.

On Sunday the Edale Fell Race, over five miles with 1400 feet of climb, was a counter in the English and British Fell Championships. In the ladies race there were 102 starters and 100 finishers.

Ilkley had a great turn-out of seven ladies. Results: 9th Helen Sedgwick 43.29, 13th Emma Barclay 43.59, 15th Nicky Jaquiery 44.29, 27th Alison Eagle 45.49, 30th Jo Foster 46.05, 37th Sally Malir 46.44, 73 Rachael Gooch 52.11 (5th LV50).

Helen, Emma and Nicky were third team, retaining Ilkley Ladies' lead in both championships.

In the men's race on the same course Ilkley had: 69th Graham Pearce 38.02 100th Jim Ryder 39.28 243 Ken Jaquiery 46.25 with over 350 running.

Closer to home, the Harewood Chase saw Helen Shew 18th in 46:58, and in the men's race Ilkley results were:18, Steve Turland 37:22; 68, Anthony Swanepoel 42:56; 89, Richard Gray 45:16

In the 8km Middleton Trail Race Alison Bennett was first lady, and Elizabeth McCann was second lady. Dennis Ackroyd ran 48.56.

Ilkley Harriers is a very active and a very friendly club, training from Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club every Tuesday at 7pm. Come and run in one of their friendly groups. See their web site:

www.ilkleyharriers.org.uk for more information.

Gold for youngsters

Local athletes were in top form at the West Yorkshire Schools AA Championships, held at Thornes Park Athletics Centre, Wakefield. Seventeen medals were won with at least one from every age group contested.

Many of these athletes will now be selected to represent West Yorkshire in the English Schools AA Championships at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham between July 9-10.

Becoming proud West Yorkshire champions were Ian Clarke of Skyrac AC in the senior boys' 1500 metres in 4.14.0; Nick Howard (Skyrac) in the senior boys' 2000 metres steeplechase in 6.12.5; Guiseley's Emma Moutrie (Leeds City AC) in the senior girls' 100 metres hurdles in 16.1secs and the senior girls' long jump with a leap of 5.50 metres; Cookridge's James Sleigh (Leeds City AC) in the 100 metres hurdles in 15.0 secs; Ilkley's James Heaton (Leeds City) in the intermediate boys' high jump with 1.77 metres; Menston St Mary's pupil Jodie Gregorcyzk (Leeds City AC) in the intermediate girls' 1500 metres in 4.56.3; Laura Flemming (Leeds City AC) in the intermediate girls' high jump with 1.65 metres; Latoya Maynard (Skyrac AC) in the junior girls' 100 metres in 13.0 secs; and Danielle Carr (Leeds City AC) in the junior girls' 200 metres in 26.6 secs.

Other local medal winners were: senior girls 800m silver Guiseley's Laura Kirk (Skyrac) 2.25.5; hammer silver Benton Park's Amy Howard (Bingley), 42.74m.

Intermediate boys 1500m bronze Alex Davy (Leeds City) 4.25.3; pole vault silver Menston St Mary's Tom Wagner (Leeds City) 3m.

Intermediate girls' high jump bronze Addingham's Jennifer Hopkinson (Bingley Harriers) 1.49m.

Junior boys' 800m bronze Otley Prince Henry's Louis Christoforou (Leeds City AC) 2.13.8.

Young Athletes League

While Leeds City AC's seniors battled it out at Gateshead, the club's National Young Athletes League team faced its most difficult fixture of the five match series of the Northern Premier Division against Liverpool and Sale Harriers.

Despite some tremendous performances, the Leeds youngsters finished third behind these two very powerful clubs but well ahead of Wakefield Harriers & AC.

Outstanding for Leeds City was Danielle Carr of Menston St Mary's School. She won the U-15 girls' 300m in the excellent time of 41.9s and then went on to finish second in the 200m in 26.8s.

Schoolmate Jodie Gregorcyzk had a good race in the U-17 girls' 1500m, setting a personal best of 4.51.9 for second place. Louis Christoforou of Prince Henry's School, Otley, made an impressive club debut and duly won the U-15 boys' 800m in 2.15.5.

Other local athletes who competed for Leeds were: U-17 boys 100m hurdles A second James Sleigh 14.7s; high jump A fourth James Sleigh 1.55m; pole vault A third Tom Wagner of Menston St Mary's 3.30m; long jump B second James Sleigh 5.60m.

U-15 boys' 400m A third Louis Christoforou 61.1s; 80m hurdles B third Ben Sleigh 15.6s; high jump B fourth Ben Sleigh 1.25m; javelin B second Ben Sleigh 28.01m.

U-15 girls' 800m B third Jessica Best 2.31.1; javelin B second Jessica Best 15.88m.

U-13 boys' 75m hurdles A second Menston St Mary's Matt Wagner 13.2s; high jump A second Matt Wagner 1.35m; long jump A second Matt Wagner 4.66m.

County call-ups

for Airienteers

Ten junior runners from Airienteers - the orienteering club for Leeds and Bradford - have been called up for the Yorkshire squad to run in the Inter-County championships to be held in the East Midlands on June 25-26.

The event will include individual and relay races and Yorkshire are hoping to better their third place of last year. Joe Mercer, Ben Stevens, and Alistair Everett run at M18 level, Jack Wood and Hector Haines at M16, George Stevens, Sam Brown, and Robert Kelly at M14, Victoria Stevens at W16 and Chloe Haines at W14.

Airienteers have the largest representation of any Yorkshire club - as befitting the national junior club champions.

Meanwhile, Airienteers held their final District event of the season last Sunday at Meanwood and Adel, north Leeds, an event which also incorporated the Yorkshire Schools championships. The first five runners home in the Schools championships were:

White course - Joe Woodley (Guiseley St Oswalds), Michael Adams (Hallam Primary), Daniel Calvert (Calverley School), Tom Stock-Caldwell (Adel St John's), Ben McMurdo (Adel Primary).

Yellow course - Joey Sarfm (Cragg Vale), Cerys Jones (Glenaire Primary), Thomas Clarke, Mark Williams and Harriet Morley (all Thornton Dale).

Orange course - Charlotte Myers (Huntington), Daniel Bennett, Matthew Clark and Matthew Jackson (all Lady Lumley's).

Light Green course - Beth Emberton (Calder High), Ben Scarf (Calder High), Sam Brown (Woodhouse Grove), Keiran Garnett (Brayton College), Amy Brown (Brayton College).

Green course - Stuart Hooton (Joseph Rowntree), Adam Hegarty (Archbishop Holgate), Heather Percy (Lady Lumley's).

Blue course - Alistair Everett (Ermysteds), Oystein Langberg (York College).

In the District event, Ruth Ker (W35) from Airienteers had a great run winning the 4.8km Green course by over four minutes and averaging under eight minutes per km in a tough area with significant climb.

Ruth beat off many men runners including David Alcock (M21), Andy Kelly (M45), Robert Ker (M65), and Robert Kelly (M14) all of whom had top ten finishes for Airienteers out of the 60 runners.

On the 6.4km Blue course, George Stevens (M14) continued his impressive form winning in just over 55 minutes whilst Victoria Stevens (W16), Peter Jones (M45), Frank Kew (M55), Bruce Woodley (M40) and Nicholas Jones (M45) were in the top ten in a field of over 50 runners.

In the longest course (Brown 9.1km), Ian Nixon (M21) - runner-up at Elite level in the recent Scottish championships - cruised round in just over 62mins, a full seven minutes in front of Charlie Adams from Sheffield, and averaging under 7min/km in the process.

Maurice Calvert (M45), Ben Stevens (M18), Steve Watkins (M35) and Ian Marshall (M35) were all prominent for Airienteers.

Details of up-coming events at this friendly club can be found at www.aire.org.uk.