Dates and venues now available from harrogate-league.

Series numbers to become available to OAC members from the end of March.

Date for diary, first race at Ilkley on Tuesday 1st May.

Organised by Meltham A.C. with results from ukresults.

The race was won by Dave Watson (Holmfirth) in 34.43 and the first lady in 23rd position was Amy Green (Keighley & Craven) in 40.14.

For OAC, Howard Jeffrey finished 82nd (45.35).

Pictures and race video from flaming photography.

More photos including the picture of Howard (right) courtesy also of Andrew Thrippleton.

The Northern Cross-Country Championships at Pontefract.   Preview in the Yorkshire Post.

Results are available now from northernathletics.  & it seems the honorary handicapper ran with Ian’s chip timer, I’m sure I took the right one??  & the new club flag had it’s first outing.

Steve Vernon, Stockport Harriers took his 4th Northern XC title  in 39:52 in a closely fought race ahead of James Wilkinson, Leeds City & his team mate Patrick Martin in 39:57 & 39:59 respectively.

Just two Otley runners finished with Andrew Robertshaw finishing 167th, 47:37 & Tom Hannah 648th 1:05:42, & due to recent illnesses both Racheal & Richard Hamer had to pull out after starting their respective races.

The high quality of  the races can be seen here on the athleticos www

From parkrun, this week’s race was won by OAC’s Matt John in a very, very quick 16.05.

The first lady was Katie McHale (Wakefield) who finished seventh overall (19.02).

Rport from OAC’s Matt Broughton:

“This morning Ben Cousen and myself competed in the second Harrogate Park Run, which feels more like a cross-country.

I ran it in road shoes and slipped all over. I finished tenth overall in 21.11. Pretty happy, under circumstances. Ben got an impressive third place finish (19.03) and he was also in inappropriate footwear”.

Results from parkrun show the race was won by Mike Appleton (Ripon Runners) in 18.40 and the first lady was Lauren Woodhall (Unattached) who finished 22nd (22.23).

From parkrun, the race was won by John Broom (Barnsley Harriers) in 17.44 and the first lady in twelfth position overall was Caroline Felce (Bingley) in 21.06.

For OAC, Tom Paget finished thirteenth (21.07).

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.

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.

Race report in the Telegraph & Argus.

Results from ukresults.