Only one name worthy of going in the hat this month; Ed Davies, for his first place in the Rombalds Stride. He first ran it in 1993 and this year was his. Well done!

But we couldn’t not give a mention to one of our newer members, Robin Outtersides, who has really impressed everyone since he joined the club.

Race 3 of the 2014 Eric Smith Handicap took place at Esholt, a five mile route, a mixture or track, canal towpath and road.  Kath held on to take the win ahead of Andy Webster and Nicola.  Ian recorded the fastest time of the day, on a 24 minute handicap, moving through the field for sixth.  The top three in the overall table is still the three ladies, with Kath now on top of 59 points, 5 ahead of Gemma and Charlotte on 49 points.   See the full handicap table here and some photos here.

Lots of points on offer at next months race at the popular Fewston handicap, so lots of opportunity for others to force their way up the table in April.

Report from Dave Hainsworth: Usual out and back route up the side of Haweswater. Just a little slower than last year - disappointed but not surprised as we made a weekend of it by stopping in the Watermill Inn at Ings for a couple of nights. It’s got it’s own Brewery and just had to check out their full product range – twice, just to be sure. Weather was a bit inclement too. Thanks to all who mucked in (literally) to get everyone off the car park which turned into a skid pan as everyone started leaving.
Winner     Robert Hodgson   Border  1:13:49
1st lady   Catherine Farrow  Ilkley     1:28:30
David Hainsworth                            1:57:30

Report from the Hon. Handicapper

Eight of us took part in the 25th edition of the popular Ilkley moor fell race and it is also 21 years since I did it for the first time, surely not!  The going was generally on the muddy side of soft and there were comments about the head wind on the climb up to the Badgerstone, but I didn’t find that too bad myself.

The clear winner on the day was the host club’s Tom Adams in 36:41 and the 1st lady was Caitlin Rice, Glossopdale H., 47.18.  Matt John was first back for Otley in 8th, 42.18, just one place behind was Sam Stell in 42.39.  I was happy with 12th & 1st old man in 43.05.  Joe Webster and Steve Robinson were next for Otley in 90th & 99th (53.14 & 54.02), followed by Andy Webster 139th, 58.15, and Otley’s only female representative Caron Ralph 159th, 1:01.11 and John Cowan 185th 1:05.13.

And it was good to see some our juniors taking part and doing well in the junior races too, see Hannah’s report on the juniors page.

Full results on the Ilkley moor fell race link above and Woodentops photos here and Jack’s photos here.

Report from Graham Lake: This is the 2nd time I’ve run this race in my Dad’s home village. Part of Esk Valley Fell Club’s NEHRA winter fell running series, the race starts from the pub at the bottom of the village, then rises steeply on the road up to the moors. I finished 16th last year, so was looking for a top ten finish, and felt good on the steep road section sitting in about 8th place. Once on the open moor, there were some route choices, and I think I chose right each time, taking the longer, but faster route. I lost a fair bit of time on the descent into Glaisdale valley as was worried about my recently sprained ankle, and lost 2 or 3 places. There then followed a boggy section with 2 slippery wooden bridges which claimed some victims, with runners, including the winner, grazing their knees after falling on them.The race then climbs sharply up through forestry, and I couldn’t catch the group in front, but there didn’t seem to be anyone behind, so I just relaxed and enjoyed the flattish run over the moors to the road. I clawed back some time on the fast downhill road section, but was too far behind the chap in front to risk anything on the rocky, muddy track down to the finish, so settled for what I later confirmed was 11th place. Pleased with my position, as haven’t done much off-road running lately, need to get some more races booked in!

 http://www.eskvalleyfellclub.org/results/fell/nehra/Glaisdale%20Rigg%202-Mar-2014.pdf

Admin notes that the race was won by Chris Thompson in 65.08, a new course record and first lady was Imogen Keane, Imperial College, in 64.12

Report from Sean O Halloran:  Silverstone Half Marathon is a running landmark for me as I completed this race last year (in a time of 3:03:20) and decided to join OAC a week later. With a great year of regular running with OAC and continuous improvement I decided to enter the  Silverstone Half Marathon again to gauge how much I had improved in a year. Leaving early on Sunday morning I had hoped to arrive in good time but with the endless roadwork’s on the M1 and the volume of traffic 6 miles from the track we made the start line with 15 min to spare. I was hopeful for a good time and went into the 2hr pen to avoid getting held up too much at the start. After a short wait we were soon underway and i soon settled in to a nice pace. The race is on, in and around the race circuit, the first 3 miles is a lap of the track, the middle 9 miles in a mixture of the infield and perimeter service roads and the final 3 miles is back on the track heading back to the start/finish line. The course is slightly undulating and with the weather conditions not being ideal (strong winds and drizzle/rain) it was hard going at times. From about mile 8 my pace was slowing and i was finding it tough to maintain my pre-race determined pace. The final 3 miles were tough but I dug deep and eventually the finish line was in sight and with a final injection of pace I crossed the line. It then hit me, with the final ounces of glucose I managed to calculate that I had achieved a half marathon PB of a massive 49 minutes. As you can imagine i am totally chuffed with my result, I crossed the finish line in 2:14:32. This vast improvement in the space of a year would not had been possible without the great OAC, thank you guys. Paul Clifford also ran this race but due 7000+ runners and supports and corporate persons I did not manage to find him. However Paul put in a good race and managed a great time of 1:39:45, nice one Paul. This is a well organised race with a generous goody bag and well worth the journey down the M1. I plan to make this race an yearly event and I hope a few more OAC members will join me next year.
Report from Elaine  

My daughter and I form the number one fan club for Sean. We wished him well for the race and saw him disappear in the crowds. We went to find a good spot to see the start of the race and could see that a large portion of the track was taken up by runners all attempting to stay warm. First off were the wheelchair users shortly followed by the runners. Niamh knew that the second start gun was the start for Daddy and started shouting “Go go go” and started clapping. Once the race was under way, we moved around various points to gain a track side view and better sight of those taking part (plus attempt to keep warm, as the wind was making the day very cold). We positioned ourselves on the straight between the three to four mile marker,  ten mile marker and the finish line. On the straight between the three to four mile marker we saw the first three or four wheelchair users go past, then the first runner (he set the new course record).  At every location we watched the pack of runners going past as we watched out for Sean and on seeing him we yelled and clapped loudest encouragement than we had been doing for all the other runners. While waiting we were chatting to other supports and learnt that one of the runners was doing the same as Sean and using it as part of training for the London Marathon.  Our loudest encouragement of the day for Sean was seeing him approach and cross the finishing line. We were proud of him for having done the course and a lot faster than previously. As the race progressed so the rain began which started off as drizzle which, with the wind, must have made it interesting for the runners, as for us supporters we got colder and more slightly damp as the day went on. So we were glad to get back to the car when Sean had finished.Getting out of the car park was interesting and our patience was tested but we were eventually heading for home.
Full results here

Results for Leeds parkrun, event number 337, 01/03/2014.
357 participants completed the run today. The first male to finish was Peter Harry BROOKES (M) (Holmfirth Harriers AC) in a time of 00:16:22. The first lady completing the course was Zoe RAYNER (F) in a time of 00:20:53. You can find the full parkrun results for this event here:http://www.parkrun.org.uk/leeds/results/latestresults.
The following club members participated:
20 Jeremy STEWART 00:19:36
32 Christian HOSKER 00:20:24
92 Howard JEFFREY 00:23:20
191 Toni MIDGLEY 00:27:07

Admin notes that the 12-mile race was won by Phil McGeever (Horsforth Harriers) in 1:37:38 and first lady in third place was Teresa Woodford in 1:43:38. For Otley AC Richard Hamer came ninth in 2:09:50 and Stephen Boddy 10th (2:09:55).

The 25-mile was won by Paul Carman (Wharfedale Harriers) in 3:19:00 and first lady in third place overall was Jann Smith (Ilkley Harriers) in 3:27:29. For Otley AC Richard Smith  finished 12th in 3:39:54, actually first in his young persons’ age category! Robin Outtersides was 61st in 4:20:31, although he started the 12-mile.

Report from Richard Hamer: “I ran this as a training run/nice day and was aiming for about two hours; so when you take into account the navigation issues and the overall terrain (it was very boggy on them hills) I was pleased.

“Teamed up with Stephen B after a mile or so and we did think that assuming Robin was high up in the field we’d get the none-existent team prize. Turns out Robin opted to turn right at Rylstone Church where the race splits between the 12 and 25.

“Well and truly cream crackered by the end, those last few metres up the hill from Grassington Bridge were a struggle. So glad I didn’t have to go up Trollers Ghyll; maybe next year?”

Report from Stephen Boddy: This was my first race in the proud colours of Otley AC and I was quite excited by the prospect. My excitement grew when I pulled back the curtains to find that sunshine had replaced the usual rain and wind.

I picked up Robin and we set off driving in very good spirits despite Robin sleeping in and my hangover creeping in. I think we were just past Addingham when Robin uttered the prophetic words: “I just hope I don’t get lost, I’ve got to be at work at 2.”

On arriving at the start it was both heart-warming and disconcerting to find out that none of the Otley ACers present had come prepared with things like rucksacks, water, directions or a compass, but we did have style, and Richard Hamer pulled an OS map from, hopefully, his back pocket.

It seemed to me that Richard, or more pertinently, his map would be a good person to run with and so it proved as we seemed equally paced and passed the time from miles 3-7 reminiscing about old football grounds. The countryside was stunning and there was a really friendly, relaxed vibe amongst all the runners we met.

Richard turned into a regular pied piper with a group of 6 of us following his map up and down dale. When I got back to the school I asked Paul Shack if Robin had won the race and he replied saying he wasn’t back yet. There were three possibilities, he was lost on the moor, he was running the 25miler or he was running back to Otley.

From what I can gather Robin missed the turning at Rysdale and felt the easiest thing to do was to carry on running 19 miles to the finish. He also made it to work a mere 20 minutes late. All in all, it was a fantastic race with the weather, scenery and organisation all on top form.

Full event results here.

A huge thanks to everyone who baked and who joined in with the evening; you did the club proud.

Honourable judges Billy (Paul Hollywood) and Phil R (Mary Berry) had the enviable tasks of sampling all 13 entries before declaring the winner to be Gemma Harrington for her lemon cup cakes, and she won a bottle of top notch cava from the OAC Cellar for her efforts; there’s a video of her tearful acceptance speech on the OAC Runners Facebook page courtesy of Simon A.

Colin Best came second and Caron Ralph third.

The quiz champions were “The Overstayers” of Caron, Andrew R, John Cowan, Nicola Lee and Laura, who took home a bottle of wine each, with the second placed team “The Old Gits” of Phil R, Tom H, and Kath and Jack all getting a bottle of Yorkshire Square Ale.

No President Podd for the evening, but you have a running club to be proud of; or at least a running club that really likes eating cake.

Pictures of the cakes can be seen on the club’s Flickr page, and if you want the quiz questions and answers, here they are.

NB: If anyone has issues with Q31 – read this.

  Gemma Harrington reports:

Scott ran the Tarpley 10 mile race between Bury St. Edmunds & Ipswich and finished first, recording a new PB and also a  course record of 54.29.