This is about Ladies Fell, XC and Off-Road activity. I am aiming to do regular reports for general interest and the Committee. If I have missed your race drop me a few lines about it and your results to include in the next one. I have included some references to the older junior ladies also as they are starting to join senior teams when the opportunity arises; their full results will be reported elsewhere. Becky Weight – Ladies Fell Manager.
WYXC Series Oct – Dec 15, 5-6km (4 races – best 3 to count).
Individual entrants and results are as below. Great results for Sue, Lesley and Marisol who had enough races (3) to be placed in their age categories :
Becky Weight
Eleanor Kitchen
Lesley Watson (4th V40)
Marisol Carrera Vivar (4th V45)
Sarah Dewhirst (U20)
Sue Becconsall (1st V55)
Sue Fulton
At the second race in Huddersfield Sue B, Marisol, Lesley and Sarah were 6th team out of 13 – special thanks to Sarah who got the train from Sheffield, where she is at university, to run. At the last race at Guiseley Sue B, Lesley, Marisol and Becky were 9th out of 15 teams. The overall team series (all 4 races) was won by Pudsey & Bramley, followed by Holmfirth.
Great to see some of our U17’s – Vicky & Abigail – do all 4 races. Great running and commitment.
Vicky Merrick (11th U17)
Abigail White (22nd U17)
Gathering Winter Fools – 12 Dec 2015. 32m relay run in pairs over 4 legs
A great turnout of 20 ladies on a seriously wet & cold day. With the help of 4 gents we made two full ladies teams (Bingley Belles & Babes) and a mixed team (Bingley Boys & Girls). Barbara Carney did a fantastic job organising, persuading and re-juggling the teams right up to the last moment for the unavoidable drop-outs, and lots of recces were done in the preceding wet weeks.
BINGLEY BELLES
Leg 1 Joe Buckley/Sue Becconsall
Leg 2 Shona Stone/Eleanor Kitchen
Leg 3 Julie Thornton/Marisol Carrera Vivar
Le g 4 Becky Weight/Mandy Clarke
BINGLEY BABES
Leg 1 Faye Firth/Sue Fulton
Leg 2 Alana Gill/Sally Robinson
Leg 3 Eliza Findlay/Becky Holmes
Leg 4 Meryl Dodd/Ruth Whitehead
BINGLEY BOYS & GIRLS
Leg 1 Kate Farley/Peter Ellerton
Leg 2 Bruce Duncan/Stephen Firth
Leg 3 Eleanor Brown/Phil Hawkswell
Leg 4 Sophie Findley/Jo Sutcliffe
We welcomed 3 ladies to their first senior ladies team event. Julie Thornton enjoyed getting her feet muddy on the Autumn Handicap and Harrier vs Cyclists as her first off-road races, so I was glad when she was available for GWF. Julie and Marisol ran a close race in HvC so seemed a good match to run together. Eliza Findlay, one of our regular junior fell girls, ran with Becky Holmes on Leg 3 the short leg. I recced the leg with Eliza and she was confident with maps and route finding so I knew she and Becky would be able to look after each other. And Eleanor Brown ran with Phil Hawkswell; having survived Harriers vs Cyclists as her first ‘fell’ race with a big smile on her face I knew Leg 3 would seem easy for her. It was also great to see Ruth running her first post baby event with long term friend Meryl Dodd (now Levington) who had made the trip from the north east for the event.
Gathering Winter Fools (GWF) is by invitation only on the basis ‘if you are fool enough to run then you look after yourself’. It starts at Cliff Castle Park, Keighley via Laycock to Kildwick (Leg1 9m), on via the canal, Silsden, and Ilkley Moor to E Morton (Leg2 9.5m), then via Eldwick and Shipley Glen to the Fisherman’s, Bingley (Leg3 6m), and climbing Alter Lane, round to Harden Moor, and along the industrial snickets of Keighley valley bottom (Leg4 7m). The day was very wet & cold with sleet on the early legs and heavy rain later, turning many of the paths into streams and worse (see later!)
Bingley Belles were 3rd ladies team and enjoyed a cheese selection box as a fitting Christmas prize. This was despite adding an extra couple of miles on Leg 2 Ilkley Moor where the newly cleared forestry area and the foul weather conditions conspired to lead our pair astray (we’ve all been there!). Some runners were coming in from Leg 2 close to hypothermic – so the fire at the Busfeild Arms was very welcome. Also Sally & Alana added an extra mile or so by doing their own version of Leg 2. Sally knew she recognised the lane they ran up but it was because she drives it regularly rather than it being the race route!
As far as I know Leg 3 was less eventful and indeed Julie and Marisol were fastest ladies on Leg 3. With a day of rain behind it Leg 4 was more like running in a stream. I remember passing the Brown Cow where the new people were stopping the ‘stream’ running down the road and into the pub, and the rough track down to Keighley where we followed a post office van down what felt like a rolling stream bottom. But nothing compared to reaching the riverside path in Keighley where water was cascading over the wall onto the path and then down into the river making a 10 yard wide ‘water fall’ to traverse. I was familiar with the path so stepped carefully through the fast flowing water hoping Mandy would follow which she did. I think we were one of the last teams to get through as by the time Ruth and Meryl arrived the path started to collapse into the river almost taking Ruth with it as she tried to go across. Fortunately Meryl’s was close and was able to help Ruth back to where they could raise the alarm and find an alternative route. I am sure many other tales of the day have been shared
Chevin Chase – 26 Dec 2015
The Chevin Chase always fills up within a day or so of entries opening so you have to be on the ball to get a place. Fortunately Ann-Marie Roper, Katy Boden, and Lesley Watson were. Lesley had a great run finishing 116th out of 797 runners, 8th lady and 2nd FV40 in 53.04. Ann Marie and Katy had good top half ladies results with 63rd (10th FV45) and 109th (37th Open) respectively out of 270. As everyone knows Boxing Day was very wet so well done for a race that looked like a ‘beck-bottoming’ adventure in places.
Auld Lang Syne – 31 Dec 2015 BS 9.6km, 300m
413 runners gathered on a cold, bright and sunny morning on Penistone Hill many in fancy dress – see the Woodentops site for lots of great photos. Very wet underfoot from the recent heavy rain.
Jo Buckley 69, 53.26
Shone Stone (V40) 152, 59.10
Vicky Merrick (U18) 208, 63.32
Becky Weight (FV55) 253, 67.01
Amanda Dean (FV55) 258, 67.29
Sue Fulton (FV55) 321, 71.50
For Vicky Merrick, 16, this was her longest fell race to date and definitely a tough one; well done Vicky. Amanda is my running friend from West Hull Ladies who was over for friends, fells and hills, the latter two being in short supply in Hull.
Nine Standards Fell Race – 1 Jan 2016 12.9km, 549m
Victoria Wilkinson has had a quiet couple of months on the racing front so was pleased with her result – 3rd overall out of 120 runners in 58.48 taking a couple of minutes off the previous ladies record of 60.55 set by L Jeska and P Maddam in 2012. A great start to 2016.
BH Christmas Handicap Sat 2 Jan 8.6ms over Baildon Moor – twice!
5 club ladies – Ann Marie Roper, Lisa Pearson, Shona Stone, Sue Becconsall, and Sue Fulton – and a lady guest Carol Morgan braved cold, wet & windy weather, a saturated and boggy Baildon Moor, a high stream crossing and the deep mud of Spring Wood to complete the club Xmas handicap. In this instance I am not worried about times and places (available on the Website) as some people paired up for route finding. I am more pleased about ladies being prepared to run in such difficult conditions and maybe on a route they were not sure of – sounds a lot like many fell races! Great to have a club event that helps build such experience and confidence. Well done all.
Shona, Lisa, Ann-Marie and Sue all smiling after the Xmas handicap.
Yorkshire XC Champs – Sun 9 Jan 16 – Lightwater Valley. 7.8km
We had two teams entered but a few had to pull out at the last minute – Lesley W & Aana Gill had bad colds and Ellie Kitchen had an unexpected family commitment. You were missed ladies. Sarah Dewhirst entered as an U20 but as she will be 20 before a certain date she ended up as a Senior counter – running her longest cross country race ever. Sarah was a team counter in her first senior XC, and along with Jo, Sue and Marisol were 7th ladies team out of 20, with 33 clubs represented. Welcome to the senior XC team Sarah.
Becky Weight (V55) 71, 42.57
Jo Buckley 19, 36.19
Marisol Carrera Vivar (V45) 64, 42.22
Sarah Dewhirst (U20) 58, 41.10
Sue Becconsall (V55) 36, 38.24
Thanks to Geoff Thompson for the photos – more on Bingley Harriers Facebook. Again, great to see some of our up & coming juniors running – Vicky Merrick (U17), Eliza Findlay (U15), Katie Smith (U15) and Lucy Miller (U15).
PECO XC League Races 1-3 Nov-Jan
Lesley Watson has been running while her girls, Katie and Lilley, compete in the Junior races. Lesley is having a great series of races and is sitting 8th overall, and 2 FV40 after 3 races.
Stanbury Splash – Sun 17 Jan 2016 Revised Stoop route ~5m 250m
With impeccable timing our first real snow of the winter fell the evening before the Stanbury Splash. Despite restricted parking and a revised route (Stoop) 277 seniors made the event with many, including Bingley ladies Marisol Carrera-Vivar, Becky Weight, Sue Fulton and Shona Stone, parking in Haworth and hiking over a snow covered Penistone Hill to get to the start. Jo Buckley was already there with her girls.
Jo was closely beaten to 2nd place by Helen Croft, in a race won by Helen Berry (FV40, Holmfirth) in 34th place and a record time for the route of 39.03.
Jo Buckley 54, 41.12 3rdF
Shone Stone (V40) 120, 45.21, 11thF
Becky Weight (V55) 160, 48.11, 3rd FV50
Marisol Carrera Vivar (V45) 164, 48.44
Sue Fulton (FV55) 207, 52.29
A number of other Bingley ladies were there supporting the junior races, Julie Thornton, Sophie Findlay, Eva Watson (?) and others I did not see. In warmer times when they are not preventing the juniors freezing after their races, maybe they can run the senior races too. And Vicky Merrick and Eliza Findlay, both older juniors who have already joined senior teams, ran in the junior races.
Vicky & Eliza in action at the Stanbury Splash junior races. Thanks to Dave Woodhead for the photos.