SKYRAC athlete Jonny Keith has bagged an amazing array of gold medals from the West Yorkshire Track and Field Championships.

The 23 year-old Ilkley Golf Club greenkeeper and personal trainer at Ilkley Tennis Club, has over an 11 year period entered 15 events at the championships and come away with 15 gold medals.

Coach Gordon Agar believes Burley-in-Wharfedale's Jonny is the only athlete to achieve this feat.

Amazingly his medals have not just come in his favoured 800 and 1500 metres for he also picked up a gold for the shot as a 13 year-old.

The 800 metre record of two minutes dead he set in 1995, breaking Mark Sessay's record, still stands.

Jonny is on a comeback after a spell out injured and hopes to do a full cross-country season as well as play some football with Ilkley AFC.

Otley Athletic Club

Otley Athletic Club competed with 28 other teams in the Yorkshire Six Stage Road Relay at Don Valley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Neil Cayton was prominent on the first leg finishing sixth overall in 21.22 over the four mile circuit. Andrew Robertshaw ran a very good time on leg two recording 21.10 which kept the team in the same position.

Ian Fisher ran the second fastest time of the day on leg three improving the team's position to fifth in 19.38. Julian Mawson was overtaken by Leeds City on his leg but was pleased with a time of 21.22. Howard Jeffrey took over on leg five and maintained the team's sixth position with 24.06. Mick Jeffrey had the unenviable last leg and finished in 25.08 which meant that overall the team finished eighth.

Orienteering

Fresh from their success in the inter-club championships, the juniors orienteers from Airienteers have now won the premier relay competition in Britain - the Peter Palmer Relays.

The six-person team of Jack Wood, Hector Haines, Joe Mercer, Victoria Stevens, Chloe Haines, and Ben Stevens scorched round the Sutton Park course to win in 2hr 53m 37s to beat second-placed Deeside Orienteers by over 20minutes, and 30 other teams.

Joe Mercer and Victoria Stevens were the fastest runners on their the third and fourth leg respectively. Airienteers second team also acquitted themselves very well, finishing in 14th place in 4hrs 11m 28s. Team members were Alistair Everett, Elizabeth van Hee, Robert Kelly, Lowri Jones, Cerys Jones, and George Stevens.

Meanwhile runners from Airienteers who have been awarded their Championship Badge for consistently finishing within 25 per cent of the winner's time in major events such as the British Championship, and other National Events are:

Robert Kelly (M12), George Stevens (M14), Hector Haines (M16), Ben Stevens (M18), Neil Conway (M21), Steve Webb (M40), Peter Haines (M45), Victoria Stevens (W16), Ruth Jones (W45), Shirley Wood (W45).

This year, no other orienteering club in Britain has so many orienteers who have achieved this award. The next club event will be a District Event at Bingley St Ives on Sunday, October 3. Starts are from 10.30am to 12.30pm and there will be courses for all levels of ability. Details on the club website at www.aire.org.uk.

Ilkley Harriers

Sunday's Harrogate Theatre Race, organised by Up and Running to raise funds for the Harrogate Theatre restoration fund, was a new race on the calendar.

Although it was a measured 10k, the undulating course meant a PB was unlikely. Mark Iley was 24th in 40:29; Neil Chapman 39th in 42:44; Andy Kitchen 111th in 48.11, and Di Kitchen 114th in 48:19 in a field of over 330.

Junior Ilkley Harriers were well represented in the 2.5km Fun Run: in a field of 150 Ruth Kitchen was 15th (4th girl) in 9.37, followed by Catherine Gibbons 23rd in 10.22; Sam Wood 24th in 10.31; Bradley Chapman 49th in 11.29; Kieran Roebuck 67th in 12.50; Eileen Gibbons 78th in 13.14, Emily Wood 82nd in 13.27 and Lily Kitchen 83rd in 18.28.

The previous day, the Three Shires fell race from Litttle Langdale covered 12 miles with 4000ft of climb. Times are to be confirmed but Heather Dawe was the first Harrier then Ashley Hardwell 2h30, Rachael Gooch 2h40, and Kevin Gooch 3h.

The Junior races were the final counter in the English Junior Fell Championships, and there were four Junior Ilkley Harriers racing in the under-12 race over 1.25 miles with 200 feet of climb.

Harry Liuba-Carmichael was the first Harrier back in 6th (making him 7th U-12 boy in the championship), then Fiona Jordan 5th (4th in the championship), followed in hot pursuit by Emily Kerr 6th (now 8th in the championship) and Poppy Liuba-Carmichael 10th.

The Ilkley Harriers' Runner-of-the- Month for August is Jamie Hutchinson.

Ilkley Harriers are reminded of club training changes with the darker evenings the Tuesday run will be from ILT&SC and Pete's Thursday session will be moving down from the fells onto the grass track at the Tennis Club too. Monday circuit training at Ilkley Grammar School gym is now is full swing too.

Ilkley Harriers is a very friendly club, training from Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club every Tuesday at 7pm. See their web site www.ilkleyharriers.co.uk for more information.

English Schools

TWO local athletes had qualified from the North East Regional Championships to compete for West Yorkshire Schools in the English Schools AA Combined Events Championships and made the long journey to Devon to compete in the Exeter Arena.

In the junior boys' (U-15) pentathlon Ilkley's James Heaton (also of Leeds City) really excelled at this level and finished in an excellent eleventh position following five solid performances.

After 13.44s in the 80m hurdles, he found himself in 34th position, out of the 39 championship qualifiers, but then there was a steady forward progression. An 11.30m shot putt and a 5.28m long jump moved him into 19th position.

His strongest event, the high jump provided a lever for an overall 10th place, following a 1.68m performance, and 2.25.49 for the 800m saw James finish comfortably in the top third of the best junior boys' pentathletes in England.

He was also rewarded with a team championship victory as West Yorkshire also took the U-15 boys' team title.

In the intermediate boys' (U-17) octathlon Menston's Fraser Davies (Leeds City) was always a force to be contended with and after the first three events was in an overall 7th position. The Guiseley School student achieved this with a 5.96m long jump, 33.66m discus and 44.78m javelin.

The final event of day one, the 400m, saw him move down to 12th following a 58.42s run.

He then maintained a top 15 placing with 15.26s for the 100m hurdles, 1.68m for the high jump and 10.87m for the shot.

However, a 5.35.45 for the final event, the 1500m, saw Fraser sink to 24th position; a very respectable position out of the 39 qualifiers.