Otley Athletic Club

Message from Caron Ralph:

Club Hoodies and Fleeces for sale – £20 each.

Hoodies, black with white piping down the sleeve and a kangaroo pocket in the front, sizes small, medium, large and x-large.

If you are normally a medium I would order a large as the neck is quite a tight fit, ladies should be ok with this.

Men’s fleeces, black: small, medium, large and xlarge – these sizes are average.

Ladies’ fleeces, black: small, medium, large and xlarge – these are fitted fleeces (they go in at the side) and are really nice but on the small size so would advise you to order next size up.

All fleeces and hoodies have Otley AC embroidered on the left breast
(very discreetly), see photo and are supplied by Wharfedale Embroidery who are more than happy for anyone to call in if they need to check the size etc.

There is no minimum order but it would be easier if ordered all at once.

Any questions or requests please email me.

Tanya Arnold follows the progress of Yorkshire athletes Jessica Ennis, Sarah Stevenson, and Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (on Otley Chevin) as they prepare for London 2012. The Brownlees will also be featured in this Saturday’s Yorkshire Post magazine.

BBC iPlayer Olympic Dreams – 2012 Yorkshire.

A brief explanation for 2012.

The Runner of the Year (RoY) is an award presented to the best all-round athlete in the Club irrespective of age or sex.

After a more successful 2011 Runner of the Year, it has been decided to keep the format roughly the same.

However it was felt that the Park Runs were having too much influence on the final outcome. It was agreed that instead of there being six races in each category, this year there will only be three.

Races have not been pre-selected so can be planned to suit each individual. An equal emphasis has been adopted for off-road and road races.

Full details from the dedicated Club Runner of the Year page.

Members of a certain age might recall the days when, in the tradition of Alf Tupper, we used to run our track races on grass or cinders.

Phil posed a New Year challenge…. Can anyone correctly name the event, venue, date and all the participants…?

Well here we go….ANSWERS HERE!!!

And of course, it is Eric Smith who is setting off the runners and Eric celebrated his 90th birthday last week….Happy Birthday Eric from all at OAC! There must only be a few select MV90′s who have a Power of 10 ranking!

Report from OAC’s Tom Potter:

I travelled across to the Brass Monkey Half with Karen Potter this morning.

I had a target time of 94 minutes for this prestigious half marathon, and unbeknown to me Karen also had exactly the same target time.

The race was started at 10am by BBC Look North presenter Clare Frisby and as the race started it was soon apparent to me that it would be a real achievement to beat Karen – she was flying – and by about 3.5miles she was clear of me and I didn’t see her until the finish.

A rather poor analogy but the race conditions resembled a pin-ball machine, I was consistently bouncing off other competitors and falling into the potholes at the side of the road but come the end I achieve the ‘score’ I desired (well almost, I was 58 seconds slow but still a big pb).

Karen continued her amazing form throughout the race and finished in 91.16 – well done Karen a stunning performance!

There was a number of other OAC members present as well as Andrew Robertshaw who was supporting from the road side.

The race was won by Yared Hagos (Wallsend Harriers) in 66.42 (all chip times) and the first lady in 29th position overall was Felicity Milton (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) in 77.45.

For OAC, Lloyd Best finished 180th (88.21), Karen Potter 289th (and second FV40 in 91.16 – a pb), Tom Potter 419th (94.58 – a pb), Caron Ralph 849th (107.10 – a pb), Reid Haddow 963rd (110.42) and Sara Richard 987th (110.36 – a pb).

More details from knavesmireharriers.

Results from ukresults.

Report from OAC’s Liam Dunne:

Approx 370 runners gathered on a cold and very windy Penistone Hill, Howarth for the Soreen Stanbury Splash Fell Race (7.5 miles / 1,312′) with more results, report and photos from woodentops.

The start was like a scene from ‘Frozen Planet’ when the penguins huddled together to keep each other warm.

With conditions a bit muddy and slippy under foot and a few steep banks with stream crossings, it was more like a very hilly cross-country race.

Tom Adams (Ilkley) won the race in 45.45 and the first lady was Jo Buckley (Calder Valley) who finished 47th overall (55.36).

For OAC, Matt John was very well placed in ninth position (48.52), as too Liam Dunne 20th (51.21), Chris Stacey 104th (61.54) and Don Buffham 339th (85.19).

Results from woodentops.

Race report in the Telegraph & Argus.

From parkrun, the race was won by Simon Pass (Saltaire Striders) in 17.19 and the first lady was Andrea Dennison (Bingley Harriers) in twelfth position overall (20.26).

For OAC, Tom Paget finished 22nd (22.25) – perhaps more remarkable when considering he was again pushing the “double buggy” and this has the tendency only to get heavier each time! Caroline Marler took part for the first time finishing 47th (25.20).

OAC’s Tom Potter reports on the night’s festivities at Korks,

“Here’s a photograph of Matt Broughton drinking from his Club Handicap Trophy and although he was only ‘joint second’ in the final table, he decided to celebrate in style!

I must add that Caron Ralph, to her credit, also had a ‘portion of ale’ from the joint runners-up trophy…”

Here also is the photo montage of some of the activities OAC’s members took part in during 2011, kindly put together by Simon Anderson.

After a fabulous meal enjoyed by 67 members, OAC’s President, Mick Jeffrey, was also delighted to make presentations for the following:

And finally, two chocolate gold medals (no expense spared) for the undoubted Male and Female ROYs for 2011 with “no age related mularkey” were awarded to Liam Dunne and Racheal Bamford.

A report on OAC members’ recent activities in the Wharfedale Observer.

There is also a feature on Chris Carver’s ultra-running plans for 2012 which includes aiming to break the British 48 hour record in the Yorkshire Evening Post.