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Success at the Gathering Winter Fools Relay – Sat 17th Dec 2016

Bingley Harriers had 3 ladies and 3 mens teams (48 runners) in the 2016 Gathering Winter Fools Relay on Sat 17 Dec.   It is a point to point, mostly off road, relay (4 legs of 9, 9.5, 6 and 7 miles), run in pairs, on paths, tracks & roads across fields, moors and villages on a circular route from Keighley including Kildwick, E Morton and Bingley.   It is a local, informal, fun event open to all abilities. The invitation to run went along the lines of  ‘You will get muddy and the weather can be awful so you must run with full ‘bad weather’ kit  and each team enters on the understanding their runners know the route and can look after themselves, as the route is not marked or marshalled’  with last year’s floods still a strong memory.  Combined with a later date this year (the last Saturday before Christmas) and being the day before the Bingley Harriers Xmas run and dinner Dave Stephenson and I (Becky Weight) were especially pleased with the great response.

The weather was more settled this year with a still cool day although some foggy patches gave their own challenges.  28 teams lined up on the start line

The men’s A team (Bingley A Holes) led all the way and were fastest on L1, 3 and 4 and second fastest on L2, winning in 3.30.49 with over 15 minutes to spare from Keighley & Craven.  Bingley B Stards were 5th in 4.07.17 and Bingley C Rappers 15th in 4.27.27

A Team (Captain: Andy Jebb)
Leg 1 – Ian Holmes,Andy Jebb
Leg 2 – Paul Tiffany, Tom Gomersall
Leg 3 – Andy Brown, Andy Siddle
Leg 4 – Ged Callan, Steve Broadbent)
B Team (Captain: Dave Stephenson)
Leg 1 – Robbie Williams, Steve Fry
Leg 2 – Myles Talbot, Pete Stephens
Leg 3 – James Askew, Carl Hitchens
Leg 4 – Andy Gibbons, Martin Peace
C Team (Captain: Dave Stephenson)
Leg 1 – James Senior, Dave Stephenson
Leg 2 –Gordon Weight, Sam Jackson,
Leg 3 – Richard Murray, Carl O’Mara
Leg 4 – Oliver Cheyne, Graham Watson

Bingley Angels were 2nd ladies in 4.25.34  (35 minutes faster than last year and  beating last year’s winning time), Bingley Babes were 4th in 4.41.20,  and Bingley Belles 6th in 5.19.48 – all good times and results.

Our ladies teams were :

Leg Start Ms Bingley Angels Bingley Babes Bingley Belles
1 Keighley UAK 9 Lesley Watson Sue Becconsall Denise Wright
Cliffe Castle Mary Green Alison Dewhurst Stephanie Robson
2 Kildwick. 9.5 Ruth Whitehead Kate Farley Sue Fulton
White Lion Jo Buckley Sarah Dewhirst Eleanor Brown
3 E Morton. 6 Eliza Findlay Sarah Flaherty Joanne Henry
Busfeild Arms Katie Smith Becky Weight Rachael Sharples
4 Bingley 7 Ellie Kitchen Julie Thornton Meryl Levington
Fisherman’s Shona Stone Marisol Carrera Alison Marks

Full results are at :

http://www.kcac.co.uk/gathering-winter-fools-2016/

Some pictures to tell the ladies story of the day :

Leg 1 runners getting ready at UAK, Keighley.  Denise & Lesely and Stephanie.  Katie & Lesley – photo bombed by Dave Stephenson

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Leg 1 on the start line Sue Becconsall, James Senior, Mary Green, Robbie Williams, Ian Holmes, Stephen Fry, Dave Stephenson, Andy Jebb, Ali Dewhirst, Stephanie Robson (with Neil in the background I think!), Denise Wright and Lesley Watson.  And the ladies in action.  Thanks to Dave Woodhead for the running photos.

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Ready to go on Leg 2 from Kildwick  Kate & Sarah D,  Ruth & Jo, and Sue F & Eleanor B .  Still clean ;-).  Thanks to Barbara Carney for these photos.

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Leg 2 done & muddied – Ruth and Jo – just proving the point.

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Leg 3 ready to go.  Rachael & Joanne, Sarah & Becky, Katie & Eliza

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Eliza & Katie enjoying the downhill on Leg 3 and finishing strongly along the canal.  Thanks to Mark Westman for these photos.

Leg 3 / 4 handover at Dowley Gap.  Becky & Sarah F (decorated with some of the men’s ties) finished, and Meryl and Alison waiting to start.

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Leg 4 finishers happy & smiling – Marisol & Julie, Shona & Ellie K, Alison & Meryl – looking forward to pie & peas.

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A massive thanks to all who put themselves forward to take part – for me as fell team captain it is really important to have pool of runners, with good experience and good relationships with each other.  Busy lives and families mean that some of our ladies don’t see each other very often so local events like GWF present a perfect opportunity to get people together including some of our younger ladies, recceing & route finding, being part of a team and having a good event day out.

A few particular thoughts & thanks from me :
To Mary, Lesley and Ali for taking the last minute Leg 1 changes in their stride to help Sue B.
Welcome to Stephanie – I hope you enjoyed your first off road relay.
Leg 2 navigation across the plantation on top of the moor was a challenge again with thick fog shrouding the route
Great to see Juniors Eliza and Katie running together – good recces and confident.
Sarah (F) is definitely running with someone faster next time –she spent too much time waiting around for me!
Ruth and Sue (B) ran with niggles so as not to let the teams down – I hope they settle soon
Welcome back to running Joanne – still nursing a new baby only 5 months old.  Take care and get some good rests between your runs.
Meryl gets the award for travelling the furthest (Durham) to run with the team.
To Marisol & Julie who wanted to run together on Leg 3.  I left them together but pushed them onto Leg 4 so they learned a new leg.
To those who were going to run but for whom injury prevented  – Sally Robinson (work fall – hope your back is OK now), Lisa Pearson (wood pile fell on her foot), and Polly Green (twisted ankle on a dark road edge).
For Sue F, Joanne, Alison  for late step-ins and Kate for switching teams without a worry.