Otley Athletic Club

Report from Tom Lynch:

In a busy month for the fell runners, we managed to put together a team for the British Fell relays, after successfully fielding another team 2 weeks earlier for the Hodgson Relays. This years British fell relay championships were held on the flanks of Snowdon, starting out of Llanberis in a well set up base in the old slate tips. The race attracted something like 180 starting teams, with many familiar faces out and about in Caernarfon the night before.The relay format consists of a short(ish) solo Leg 1, a longer paired Leg 2, a long navigational paired Leg 3, and another shorter solo Leg 4. Laura had a good run on Leg 1 (8.9 km /700 m). This leg headed up a steep continuous climbstarting on the road below the race base, all the way to the top of Moel Elio, returning via another ridge, with a small sting in the tail climb thrown in at the end….
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Report from Richard Hamer:

Another year and another trip to Mallorca with six other OACers plus 10 from Wetherby Runners for the Palma 10 (and half-marathon for John Armitstead and the Wetherby group).

The 10 starts at 9:40am next to the cathedral and is an out and back along the bay with a slight climb at the turn point. It’s not the fastest course because there’s about 2,500 others taking part so it’s a bit chaotic, especially during the first mile and at the turn point where it narrows. Read the rest of this entry »

Well done to all those took part in the first cross country race of the season at Thornes Park, including several juniors, more details of there stirling efforts the juniors page. Results…

Senior Ladies: 1st Emma Clayton, Leeds City 20:24, 34th Vicky Stainburn 24:10.

Senior Men: 1st Dan Garbutt, Skyrac 32:40,  189th John Davis 54:08,  192nd Billy Rayner 56:09,  193rd Antonio Cardinale 1:13:43.

Full results here, Woodentops photos: Senior men set 1 here set 2 here, Senior women here.

Tash Whitaker and Edward Davies were chosen as runners of the month for September.  Ed for his 3rd place finish at the Yorkshireman marathon and Tash for her runs at the Great North Run, Wetherby 10k and a Bradford Park Run.

Marathon Report from Andy Webster

My target at the start was to beat 4 hours which I did finishing in 3:57:31.

A little disappointed as hit the wall around mile 22 and could not find anyway to boost my speed up. However another marathon completed and had 4 weeks disrupted training with cricket, holidays, and injury.

At the moment planning on a marathon free year in 2018. But will probably do another one in the future, injury and illness permitting.

PS – Great run by Scott Harrington 3rd 2.30.55

Full OAC results (chip times and positions):

Scott Harrington 3rd in 2.30.55,  Stephen Boddy 701st in 3.39.17  (PB),  Robin Outtersides 769th in 3.41.46,  Nicola Lee 1117th in 3.52.08,  Andy Webster 1375th in 3.57.31,  Billy Rayner 2574th in 4.36.51,  Results

10 Mile Report from Tash Whitaker:

It’s a mostly flat scenic course with a little hill climb at the finish taking in York centre and surrounding countryside and villages.

When I was at 9 miles, I was told by a Marshall that saw my Otley AC top that Scott was coming past in 3rd place for the Marathon so it was good to be able to cheer him on and be joined by other 10 milers shouting “Come on Scott”.

For me it’s the second time I’ve done the race and was pleased to finish over 3 and a half minutes faster than last year.  Well done to all the other Otley runners for achieving some fantastic times!

OAC results (chip times and positions)

Mo Abubakr 151st in 1:10:07,  Sara Elliott 364th in 1:16:41,  Gilly Wight 527th in 1:19:37,  Tony Pfeiffer 541st in 1:19:56

Gavin Burton 871st in 1:25:28,  Natasha Whitaker 2526th in 1:48:08.

A handicap veteran of more than 200 races, Tom easily won his 11th, finishing a couple of minutes clear of Ian.  Inevitably Ian recorded the fastest time of the day, just a little slower than his course record.

With just two races to go, Weeton in November and the December’s Ken Dixon the race for this year’s title looks like a battle between Rob Fearnley, Laura Hind and Antonio on 156, 142 and 138 points respectively.  See the full table here.  ps If you want to here another Monty tale ask Colin 🙂

Report from Tom Lynch:

Such a contrast to last year, this years running of the HBMR, a paired 4 stage mountain relay set in and around Patterdale, was a reduced and re-routed course owing to bad weather on the day, and Saturday’s surface water flooding around Windermere. Heavy rain, mist and wind were all forecast for the day, and at one point the race was nearly cancelled. The altered course followed an out and back route using only Legs 1 and 2. Leg 1 from Patterdale to Hartsop via Angle Tarn was unchanged, Leg 2 did not go via High Street, and followed an initially low level valley route via Threshthwaite Cove, and then rejoined the original route at Threshthwaite Mouth to Kirkstone via Caudale Head. Legs 3 and 4 were more or less a reversal of Legs 1 and 2.

The lack of phone signal, and half the team already being in the Lakes on the day the route changes were announced created a few organisational difficulties in arranging the team, and a few last minute tweaks were made to ensure the runners on each leg had the best chance or using their previous experience to navigate their way round in the inclement weather! Thanks to Caron and those not in the Lakes for coordinating the final team changes. The team fielded was:

Leg1/2 and 3/4 changeover

Leg 1 – Patterdale to Hartsop – approx. 7.3 km – Caron Ralph and Colin Best

Leg 2 – Hartsop to Kirkstone – approx. 7.6 km/700 m Andrew Robertshaw and Tom Lynch

Leg 3 – Kirkstone to Hartsop – approx. 7.6 km/350 m Laura McCabe and Shane Ewen

Leg 4 – Hartsop to Patterdale – approx. 7.3km/430 m Rachael Wright and Steven Boddy

Otley came in 63rd this year in the Open category in a time of 4:11:51. Caron and Colin probably got the best of the weather on leg 1 (which isn’t saying much), completing it in a time of 1:03:22. The handover to Andrew and myself by way of a mass start a handful of seconds before Caron and Colin came in. We completed our leg in 1:00:56, despite a small navigational blip in heavy mist Andrew got us safely to the Caudale checkpoint (I was guilty of leaving all the navigation up to Andrew), and we descended down the extremely slippery route to Kirkstone where we overtook the mass start time and handed over to Laura and Shane. With the weather worsening all the time Shane and Laura had a good leg back over Caudale reversing our route, and navigating the leg untroubled, due to excellent preparation on their part. They came in 1:05:41 later back at Hartsop to handover to Stephen and Rachael. By this time the rain was sheeting down, and everybody waiting at the changeover was drenched, we all headed down to the start line to await the finish and fill up on buttys and cake. Stephen and Rachael completed their leg in a time of 1:01:52, with an excellent formation finish to the line.

Full results here.

Time for a photo opp! Stephen and Rachael descending back to Patterdale

Relieved to be finished!