British Triathlon titles won by three local youngsters

Otley's Oliver Webster won the 9/10 years boys' series. Scott Thwaites of Burley-in-Wharfedale won the 11/12 years boys while Johnny Brownlee of Horsforth was second. His brother Alister Brownlee won the 13/14 years boys series.

Heather Taggert of Otley, Mark Thwaites of Burley-in-Wharfedale, Sam Webster of Otley and James Taggert also put in some strong performances but finished outside the medal placings, though Mark did win the North West regional series for 15/16 years boys.

Most of these youngsters compete for the Triangle Voodoo Tri Team, which is sponsored by the Triangle shop at Horsforth. Scott and Mark actually compete in triathlon for a team called Science-in-sport.com, though they do compete under Triangle in cycling.

Skyrac Fellrunners

Minor ailments amongst those selected for the 16th 24 miles four-leg Ian Hodgson Relay around Patterdale meant that the Skyrac Fellrunners team was reasonably content with their 43rd place out of 60 teams from which the winners were Borrowdale for the 7th consecutive year.

The Skyrac pairs in leg order were Duncan Asquith/ Derek Emsley, Dave Hill/ Max Wood, Andy Brear/ Graham Breeze and John Forsyth/ Graham Grinstead which included those who had taken the top five places in the recently concluded 14th Skyrac Fell Championship.

The Thieveley Pike race held on the previous weekend had produced a unique outcome for the ten race Championship when Graham Breeze in an 'if not now, then when?' performance had claimed maximum points for the fifth time to tie the championship with Derek Emsley who had already won five events.

Derek competed in eight races to achieve the maximum score by finishing first in five races whereas Graham had to run in all ten events to match Derek's performance of five victories.

Given that 2002 is Derek's first full season on the fells his performance is a superb meritorious achievement, although Graham's consistency in winning the trophy for the third consecutive year is unique in the 14 years of the competition.

Recipient of the third place trophy was Graham Grinstead who came second in the five races he contested and thereby scored the highest ever third place points total.

Skyrac AGM

Recent losses in membership and coaches/ committee members plus issues relating to the new ANSA Clubhouse mean that Skyrac AC faces significant hurdles.

These will be debated at the AGM on October 17 and all members and, in particular, the parents of junior members ,are urged to attend.

Skyrac can be contacted on www.skyrac.org.uk or 0113 229 0924.

Young Athletes League

Despite a season of mixed fortunes in the UK Athletics Young Athletes League in 2002, Skyrac AC have eight of their members ranked amongst the country's top 30. These rankings are based on the three girls' league fixtures and the five boys' matches from all regions and divisions, and on the two national finals.

Although their boys' team just escaped relegation from North West Division One, three boys are included in the rankings:-

Boys, U-15: Fraser Davies 7th high jump with 1.73m. U-17: Andrew Staniland 12th long jump with 6.42m and 29th discus (1.5kg), with 37.65m; Damien Hines 15th discus (1.5kg), with 41.82m and 29th= shot (5kg) with 13.08m.

Skyrac's girls were unfortunate not to achieve promotion out of North West Central Division Two, and a little more commitment from certain areas of the club could have assured this in the last fixture. However, five girls find themselves nationally ranked:-

Girls,U-13: Hannah Podlewska 27th shot (2.72kg) with 7.23m; S Shaw 27th= high jump with 1.31m. U-15: Sharlotte Donnelly 15th shot (3.25kg) with 9.81m and 24th javelin (600g) with 26.32m. U-17: Laura Kirk 26th 1500m with 5m.05.9s; Amy Howard 16th discus (1kg) with 31.67m.

Horsforth's Bethany Staniland, whose club Kingston-upon-Hull AC was placed sixth in the National Finals of the UK Young Athletes League, is ranked in the top 20 of three U-15 girls' throwing events: discus (1kg) 6th with 29.75m; shot (3.25kg) 7th with 10.77m; and javelin (600g) 19th with 27.46m.

Schools' Cross-Country

Just as the track and field season ends, the cross-country season begins, and many local runners were in action at the first round of the Leeds Schools' Cross-Country League at Whitkirk School's Temple Newsam course.

The Hall sisters, of Skyrac AC, continued their magnificent early season form that had been seen at Sheffield the week before. Eleanor won the U-13 girls' race and Elizabeth finished in a close second position. Earlier in the morning, Rebecca had come second in the U- 12 girls' event.

Skyrac athletes dominated the U-14 girls' competition with Gabbi Rowell victorious. Guiseley School's Lucy Foxall came fourth and team mate Lindsey Clark finished fifth. with Emma Girt sixth and Emma Connolly ninth to give Guiseley the team prize. Hannah Dennison also ran well finishing a creditable 12th.

In the boys' U-14 race Guiseley School finished second with Robert Hall second, Jack Wood ninth, James Fox 19th and Alaister Hesp 26th.

Benton Park's Alex Davy (Leeds City AC) was fourth in this race with Otley's Bingley Harrier Sam Webster of St Mary's RC School, Menston, tenth.

In the U-12 races, both Guiseley School teams were running for the school for the first time and made a very good start to the season. The girls' team finished in second position to Boston Spa School with Philippa Kelly in sixth place, Laura Grigg seventh, Megan Dennison 28th and Ella Thorpe 30th.

In the boys' team competition, won by Priesthorpe School, there were only four points separating the next four teams with Guiseley finishing in fifth place.

The team was led home by Oliver Catherall in eighth place, with Callum Fraser 11th, Johnnie Baines 12th and the other scoring runner, Richard Marriott 71st, closely followed by Andrew Johnston in 73rd place.

In the U-16 girls' race Jill Harrison (Keighley & Craven AC) was fifth.

Combined events

THE Wharfedale and Airedale regions were incredibly successful at the Yorkshire County AA Combined Events Championships. These were held at Rotherham's Herringthorpe Stadium. The region can now boast seven county champions, four silver medallists and two bronze medal winners in the various multi-events athletics disciplines.

Pride of place went to 15-year-old Horsforth athlete Andrew Staniland. Competing in his last meeting for Skyrac AC before joining Leeds City AC he won the Gordan Agar Trophy for the U-17 men's octathlon.

This was achieved with a points score of 4,957 points, a performance which ranks him second in the UK in this age group for 2002, and is also an AAA Grade One and National Standard.

It is also a new county championship record by over 300 points. This magnificent total was obtained as a result of achieving seven personal best performances out of the eight events of the octathlon.

Day one - 100m hurdles 14.6s, long jump 6.18m, shot (5kg) 13.10m, 400m 54.6s for a score of 2,116 points.

Day two - discus (1.5kg) 38.95m, high jump 1.80m, javelin 47.91m and 1500m 5 mins.08.2s.

Menston's Richard Ettenfield (Leeds City AC) picked up the silver medal in this U-17 men's octathlon with a score of 3,949 points. This was achieved following four personal best performances: the 100m hurdles (15.7s); 400m (57.5s); discus (29.08m); and the 1500m (5 mins.06.2s).

Andrew Staniland's younger sister, Bethany was also crowned county champion. She won the U-15 girls' pentathlon with a personal best score of 2,930 points. This AAA and National Standard performance ranks her fourth in the UK for 2002.

In this competition she set two new individual personal bests in the 75m hurdles (12.6s) and the high jump (1.43m). There were then valuable points additions in the long jump (4.72m), the shot (3.25kg) with 10.70m and the 800m (2 mins.28.1s). medal.

Another Menston athlete was amongst the medals when Skyrac's Fraser Davies who won the U-15 boys' pentathlon with a personal best score of 2,695 points, another AAA Grade One performance.

Individual personal bests in the 80m hurdles (12.3s) and long jump (5.71m) gave him an excellent start; these events were followed by shot (4kg) 12.01m, high jump 1.69m and 800m 2 mins.25.5s.

Skyrac's Matthew Hudson, also in his last competition before joining Leeds City AC, just missed out on the medals finishing fourth with 2,206 points. He achieved personal best performances in the long jump (5.19m) and shot with 10.17m.

By contrast with the U-15 and U- 17 age groups, the junior (U-20) and senior male and female age group competitions were rather poor fare.

Only Skyrac's Matthew Clay looked of any class as he won the junior men's decathlon with 5,984 points.

However, there were only two competitors and Skyrac's Shayne Thomas took the silver medal with 4,399 points.

Darren Thomas, also of Skyrac, won the senior men's decathlon with 4,220 points.

The senior women's heptathlon saw a victory for Skyrac's Danni White who amassed 3,861 points. Her most impressive performances came in the shot (4kg) with 10.79m, the high jump (1.51m) and the long jump (5.05m).

Otley Athletic Club

OTLEY AC took part in the Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay for the first time and acquitted themselves well. The race started and finished at Brothers Water, near Patterdale, and required four pairs of runners to complete a total of 24 miles split between two legs of 7.5 miles and two legs of 4.5 miles.

In ideal sunny conditions the race was won by Borrowdale with Bingley second but Otley's team of Ian Fisher /Andrew Robertshaw, Aidan Smith/ Ray Hawksby, John Armitstead / Dale Foster and Andrew Sumner / Nick Hodgkinson did very well to finish 35th out of 60 teams especially as some team members had not been able to reconnoitre their segment of the route beforehand. All of the Otley runners enjoyed the experience and it is hoped that the club will participate in more fell relays in the future. Thanks are due to Andrew Sumner for organising the club's entry.

Next Saturday sees a further instalment of Otley's Club Handicap Championship at The Duke of Wellington, Darley, at 10.45am.

Otley AC welcome runners of all abilities to training sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.15pm at Otley RUFC, Cross Green, Otley. (tel.0113 2842572 for further details or consult the club website at www.otleyac.co.uk).