Complete Runner West Yorkshire X-C league meeting1 West Bowling, Bradford - Saturday 23rd October 1993

‘SPEN SURPRISINGLY CLOSE TO LEEDS’

The cross-country season is back and it is clear already that the fleet footed men in red and yellow are set for their finest season ever!

The traditional season opener was the first race in a series of four ‘Complete Runner West Yorkshire Cross Country League’ meetings, which have been re-vamped to include all age groups, male and female as well as extending over the whole season with the final meeting in February. It was held at St Blaise School in West Bowling, Bradford on Saturday the 23rd of October.

The senior men’s race had a turnout of just under 200 runners, lower than in previous years due to pre-entry requirements but Spenborough A.C. turned out 15 starters which included all but a few of our very best runners.

Former National junior champion Richard Findlow sped around the 6 mile, 5 lap course (made up of woods and playing fields) to win easily in 31.48, while club star Jeff Hornby put himself in the early running for the overall title by beating defending league champion John Taylor into 4th with an excellent 3rd in 32.12.

Jeff was backed up with some awesome Spen packing with Lee Warburton in 7th (33.05), Paul Dobson (9th in 33.36), Gary Damiani (14th in 34.13), Mick Dransfield (23rd in 34.59) and Alf Wolfenden (27th in 35.04). That gave the team an excellent second place, just 13 points behind defending league champions Leeds City A.C.
This provoked Grandville Beckett into stating that Spenborough had come ‘surprisingly close to Leeds’, but with the likes of Jamie Warburton and Darren Hanson not in our team I think we have the potential to win the league or at least one of the remaining three fixtures which would leave Leeds’ team manager John Lunn / Rumplestiltskin quaking in his tights!

Michael Sykes made a fine cross-country debut in 31st (35.36) while Myles Chandler (your man at the race and in it) faded a little on the last lap to come home in 37th (35.56). First year junior Simon Brooksbank finished 85th (37.57), he was the 8th junior home whilst our other junior entrant Robert Moon did not finish after a very fast start. ‘The Spen’ editor Douglas Grubb got some good distance work in, ready for his move up to 800m by punishing himself for 38.58 minutes and was rewarded with 101st place. (The real rewards WILL come during the track season, won’t they Doug!).

Frank Reddington was pleased to stage a mini comeback in 116th (29.32), while John Swinden, 125th, brought the B team home in 15th (2nd B team). Other Spen finishers were Geoff Pearce in 152nd and star Spen decathlete Jon Wilkinson who added another discipline to his vast range with a brave 176th place, to say he looked slightly knackered at the finish would be a massive understatement but any extra stamina gained by Jon will come in handy when he once again becomes Spen’s ‘one man track and field team’ next season.

Ranking scorers at Bradford (and overall after 1 race)

1.Jeff Hornby (3rd) 20pts
2.Lee Warburton (7th) 15pts
3.Paul Dobson (9th) 12pts
4.Gary Damiani (14th) 10pts
5.Mick Dransfield (23rd) 8pts
6.Alf Wolfenden (27th) 6pts
7.Michael Sykes (31st) 4pts
8.Myles Chandler (37th) 3pts
9.Simon Brooksbank (85th) 2pts
10.Douglas Grubb (101st) 1pt

INJURIES with Myles Chandler

Trusty tips / catchphrases which have kept me clear of injury over the years include: ’Warm ups? - It’s a mugs game’, ’Cool downs? - It’s for wimps’ and ’Stretching? - Get out of my face’. I find that this attitude combined with a very tough training regime will always see you at the sharp end of good class races.

The one time I did get injured it was more due to accident than anything else. It was the Yorkshire steeplechase championships and my bold front running tactics were stretching defending champion Mick Hawkins to the limit. Then disaster struck at the penultimate water jump, I slipped on the barrier and went plunging into the freezing wetness, twisting my ankle and breaking my leg as I landed. Then I felt Hawkins’ spike plant squarely into my back, tearing the skin and dislocating several vertebrae. After a few seconds of nauseating pain, I managed to will myself to my feet but in my pained efforts to regain the lead I lost direction slightly and found myself in the hammer throwing sector……………….I came round a few seconds later and realised that I had helped to create a new stadium hammer record by adding an extra few metres to the throw, staggering backwards with the hammer embedded in my face. Fully blinded by the impact but still with thoughts of glory filling my mind, I used my acute hearing to get myself back onto Hawkins’ shoulder in the ideal attacking position (by sheer luck I had come back onto the track where I had left it, hence avoiding disqualification). The rest of the race is a pained blur but the gold medal above my mantelpiece is a tribute to my ability to shrug off minor injuries.

Within a few days of discharging myself from hospital I was back into my special training regime involving cold baths at 4 a.m. every morning, rubbing hot gravel into my bare chest and running a barefoot marathon (usually the three peaks) all before breakfast.

TOP 20 EXCUSES FOR …….producing a poor performance

- I’ve tried to come back from injury too quickly
- I haven’t been doing enough mileage
- I’ve been doing too much mileage
- I was just using it as training
- I wore a brand new pair of shoes
- I still had Thursdays track session in my legs
- I just had nothing in my legs
- I felt something twinge just after the start
- I didn’t put long enough spikes in
- I fell in that ditch
- My shoe came off in that sticky muddy bit
- I had about five too many ales last night
- I got spiked
- I hate cross country racing in these conditions
- I got off to a bad start and lost interest
- I was just doing it for the team
- It was longer than I expected
- It was not as far as I thought it was going to be
- I didn’t get any sleep last night
- I never really expected to finish anyway



"I hate cross country running"

World Javelin Record attempt by Jon Wilkinson (written by Ron ‘funny man’ Stones)

On 5th June 1993 in our home Northern men’s league match at Spenborough, Jon Wilkinson will attempt a world record in the javelin. The current WR of 91.46 by Steve Backley is well within his reach.

To help Jon the club has been rallying round members & supporters to turn up and provide vocal & physical assistance. Two groups of helpers are needed, one group is to gather outside the fence in line with the start of the run up. The other group will be at the opposite end of the stadium – again outside the fence (we do not want to get Jon disqualified). The first group will be organised by ‘Big Pete’ Crampton (the blowers). The second group at the far side will be the suckers.

The idea is that when Jon releases his spear, the two groups will ‘explode’ into action and cause a movement of air that will carry the javelin those few extra meters needed to create a new World Record !.

Leading up to the big day, Pete’s group which includes other sprinters and some of his big meaty rugby mates will be in strict training culminating, so I’ve heard , with extra portions of beans, gassy ‘pop’ and lashings of boiled egg on the eve of the competition. This will create extra ‘puff’ by way of ‘farting’ and ‘belching’ to blast the javelin on its way.

The other group, as yet without a leader, is a little less organised and in fact is one or two members short . We actually need the same number of suckers as blowers in order to set up an equilibrium. If you wish to become a sucker, would you please contact Jon as soon as possible.

VII CROSS - Subida a la ’Fatima’ - 9200m(road) - 8th May 1993 - Pinoso, SPAIN.

The evening was hot for the Pinoso hill race on May 8th but the Spen warm weather training squad was out in force. Entered for the mighty Spen were Jeff Hornby, Paul Dobson, Richard Lee and myself, Myles Chandler. The gun went at 7.15 p.m. and Jeff soon placed himself in the leading pack on the opening road laps, before the two main laps which went up a hill and back down. To quote Jeff. “the start was not very fast”. Well it was fast enough for me and I soon realized that a prize was out of the question as I felt very sluggish.

At the top of the first climb the battle to be ’champion’ had become a two horse race, with local star Juan Sanchez providing a stiff challenge to Spen hero Jeff Hornby.
Paul Dobson was well placed in 5th which was good to say his decision to run was left until that afternoon. ’Prize hunting’ Richard Lee was in about 25th, but with juniors in front that final 15th place senior trophy was still within his grasp! I was out of the reckoning in about 30th place. Things stayed like that on the second lap and on the sprint in, Hornby was beaten by Sanchez and had to settle for the title of ‘sub-champion’ but his trophy took up half of his return luggage capacity - It’s that BIG - honest. In 4th was Paco, who is in John Rawlins’ training group and in 5th was Spen’s Paul Dobson, also gaining a massive prize. Just out of the prizes (16th senior and 19th overall) was Richard “I just missed out on a trophy by one b****** place” Lee and he was gutted / suicidal after the race. I came about 27th and was surprised to get a goody bag containing wine, water and salt!

At the end of the day fun was had by all and I must say that the Spanish know how to lay on an enjoyable road race. If it was like that here (free entry, big crowds, loads of prizes, smaller fields) I could even get to like ’mind numbing’ road racing. The holiday was better than expected and I think we all returned fitter and browner than when we went, except Gary who remained drip white despite constant sunbathing and contracted some kind of mild disease, ’feared leprosy’ to quote Richard!

View from….BENIDORM - Wine(beer), Women(not really) and Spen!

A large section of Spenborough’s star distance running squad got together to organise a two week training/drinking/sunbathing holiday in Spain. The self funded package holiday destination was still undecided as we walked into Lunn Poly, lead by Richard Lee who said “we want somewhere hot and cheap”. Where else but sunny Benidorm! Five of us went on a Thomson Square Deal, 2 week, self catering holiday at £165 each - cheap, even for May 1st to May 15th. Here is a profile of the famous five:-

Jeff Hornby - Age 31 - Single



Running achievements:- Yorkshire 10k Track Champion, England vests for cross country and fell.
A good laugh, gets serious about training and can be fussy about detail






Gary Damiani - Age 30 - Single



Running achievements:- 7th in Tour of Tameside, prolific fell racer.
‘The club nutter’ - often has a different perspective on life to everyone else, his approaches to women can often cause one to cringe with embarrassment.






Myles ‘Shafter’ Chandler - Age 22 - Single



Running achievements:- Yorkshire silver medal in junior steeplechase.
Likes to joke and mouth off, his acting around often descends into utter stupidity.







Paul ‘Dobber’ Dobson - Age 24 - Single








Running achievements:- Recently won Spencer’s Arms Dash, 109th in National cross country championships.
Good natured and easy going, often has to turn women away!








Richard Lee - Age 31 Single / divorced








Running achievements:- 1min 56sec for 800m as a 16 year old!
Charismatic beer monster, will have a good time anywhere where they serve BOOZE!
Always joking, likes one liners and innuendoes



On arrival in Benidorm we met some runners on our first outing into town. These were British people who lived in Benidorm, Mick and Vic, veteran runners capable of doing 1 hr 35 min for a half marathon. Mick owned a British bar, which could at best be described as tacky (the sort of place where ‘Aggado’ goes down well). Richard soon found the bar with the cheapest ale - 100pts (70p) per pint - but sadly this closed at 10 p.m., as it was mainly a food bar.

At the market Gary got the price of a leather watch strap down to 300pts from 500pts, then took 500pts change back from a 1000pts note without argument. Examples of Gary’s ‘uniqueness’ cropped up daily and included suggesting that we use a fishing line to retrieve Paul’s trunks after they went over the apartment balcony - we were 23 floors up! And coming home with 15 condoms after taking 12.

The nightlife was good and it did go on all night, we usually lasted ‘til about 3 a.m. (Richard 5 a.m.). This was late enough to take in a few of the weird and wonderful ‘shows’ which went on in the clubs, namely:- Sticky Vicky, Raunchy Barbara and Sexy Sapphire! - these are a must if you ever visit Benidorm.

On the second day we met some proper runners, including a fellow track star from the world famous Spenborough A.C. - Richard Sykes, formerly coached by international coaching guru Tim Hepworth, is living in Benidorm for a year. He trains with Johnny Rawlins, another British Citizen, capable of 14min for 5000m (he was better than Jeff anyway).Johnny’s dad was coach to these two and some locals, we also joined in for some very high quality sessions as well as running up to twice a day on other days. (Jeff turned into a training monster and Richard thought he may ruin the ’holiday’ - a clash of priorities there I think).

The running peak of the holiday was Spenborough’s participation in a local road race, proving that Spen A.C. is an international racing club, which gets fear and respect the world over! The race entry was free and the people were very friendly, prizes went down to 15th and the trophies were massive. The athletics scene in Spain is quite impressive. A race report follows:-

View from Parliament Hill - The Men’s National X-C Championships Parliament Hill, London - 27th February 1993

The National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill fields on Hampstead Heath in London proved to be the ultimate test of cross-country running. The course had everything:- plenty of hills (the start was straight up a huge hill!), ditches, woods, fast stretches and of course knee deep bogs which claimed literally hundreds of victims. The three lap ordeal was an advertised 9 miles but most runner were grateful that it was nearer 8.5 miles, still the longest hardest race of the year.



As international superstar Richard Nerurkar lead Bingley to the team title with a fine win in 42.52, Spenborough had two in the top 100, great running at this level considering most of the 2156 finishers would call themselves athletes (not joggers who make up the numbers in large road race fields). The finishing order of these two Spen stars was a shock to everyone as Lee Warburton reached heights thought beyond his grasp with a mind blowing 44th place in 45.32, while previously established Spen No.1 Jeff Hornby failed by his own high standards in a nevertheless excellent 67th place in 45.32. Jeff was hoping for a top 20 place as his phenomenal training sessions may have indicated, but he didn’t peak and will have to wait another year.

nother disappointed Spen athlete was Alf Wolfenden, who was running very well in the 200’s when he fell into a deadly clay bog and later lost a shoe, taking about three minutes to find it and put it back on again, he bravely carried on to finish outside the scoring team (625th in 51.28). This was the second time this season that Alf has finished a cross country race smeared head to toe in mud and it is not difficult to see why he prefers road running.

The third Spen runner was Dave Sunderland (288th in 48.50), who peaked magnificently here and has produced the goods in all the big races this season. Then came Darren Hanson (405th in 50.16) enjoying his first National and having a tremendous battle with Mick Dransfield (467th in 50.23). Darren pulled away in the second half of the race, enough to hold off Mick’s finishing kick on the fast run in to the finishing funnels.



The scoring team was completed by Dave Baskerville (561st in 51.08) to give Spenborough a glorious 29th team from 238 scoring clubs, the best National performance in Spenborough history. The battle not to be last man in (for Spen) was fierce ans was only resolved in the last mile as your ’scoop’ Myles Chandler (636th in 51.34) pulled away from Tony Patchett (659th in 51.42), decent performances which meant that all 9 of the Spen squad finished in the top third of the field.

With Spenboroughs’ best ever team performance clearly having room for improvement (Alf’s disaster and Paul Dobson’s injury cost us hundreds of points), Spenborough A.C. proved that petty minded tent deprivation (’you can’t put tents up on the Heath, you’re breaking a 400 year old by-law! - quote, obnoxious park keeper) and a 400 mile coach trip can not stop our progress, and I look forward to next season with anticipation.

View from the medal rostrum - Halifax and District X-C Championships Low Moor, Bradford 20th February 1993

Just a week before the National Cross Country Championships, the be all and end all of the club cross country season, Spenborough turned out five members of the by now established squad and promptly came away with team Bronze medals in this annually held Championships, which although not too meaningful is a good warm up for ‘The National’.

The 7.5 mile course was very dry but the three large laps, which crossed the open hillside, were exposed to blasting winds, made the running slow and hard. Individual star of the day for Spenborough was Lee Warburton, who gave his mounting confidence another boost by adding the individual Bronze medal to his team Bronze by finishing 20 seconds behind winner John Taylor of Holmfirth (41.38) in a time of 41.58.

With teams requiring five scorers the rest of the squad packed into the top 30 (out of over 70 finishers) and all ran to recent form with Alf Wolfenden (13th in 44.49), Dave Baskerville (17th in 45.49), Dave Sunderland (20th in 46.09) and your ‘scoop’ (Myles Chandler - 30th in 47.32) taking the almost worthless, sorry I mean priceless team medals.

Also placing highly for Spenborough were Keith Miller (32nd in 48.03) coming back from injury well and the ‘ageless’ Frank Reddington (36th in 48.38), the cross country team manager who has sadly been forced to leave himself out of the National team.

Yorkshire CCA X-C Championships Millnerfield farm - Bingley - 23rd January 1993

Just a week after the Northern Championships the hardcore of the Spenborough cross country squad were back in action in the Yorkshire Team Championships. With the dismal weather turning the four laps of farmers fields into a 7 mile mud bath, incorporating long hills, ditches and a great pile of festering manure to run through, the course was a real treat!.

With none of our ‘big guns’ competing, the opportunity to be the first Spen runner home was there for the taking and this turned into a fierce three way battle between Darren Hanson, Alf Wolfenden and Dave Sunderland, who all excelled to place in the top 45 of 248 finishers. Longwood International Andrew Pearson eased round the difficult course to win in a time of 36.12.

Dave Sunderland stormed through as usual, but Darren Hanson and Alf Wolfenden responded with Alf pulling away until the treacherous downhill section took his leg from under him leaving him rolling about in the freezing mud, winded and gasping for air for a few vital seconds. This was enough for Darren to pull away and hold his advantage to the finish with Alf’s brave attempt to pull him back failing by just one second.

Darren was 37th in 40.51, Alf was 38th in 40.52, Dave Sunderland was 44th in 41.07 and Mick Dransfield had another superb run to come 59th in 41.58. After dropping out last week Myles Chandler just wanted to finish in the scoring team but Frank Reddington was having a blinding run and he was drawn into a last lap battle with the former veteran ace just beating him inti 91st place (43.24), Myles Chandler was 90th in 43.18.

Other Spenborough finishers were:- Last minute entry using Ray Padgett’s number, Kevin Bentley (196th in 48.09) and bringing up the rear ‘father to be’ Alan Whittaker (230th in 52.27) perhaps suffering the effects of a phantom pregnancy? However, credit must go to him for finishing because Dave Baskerville-’fear of injury’, Tony Patchett-’I just felt nothing in my legs’














and Graham Pearson-’I never really expected to finish anyway’ all found the going too tough. What was almost a Spenborough ’B’ team did well to place 6th of 48 complete teams.

Ranking scorers at Bingley

1.Darren Hanson (37th) 20pts
2.Alf Wolfenden (38th) 15pts
3.Dave Sunderland (44th) 12pts
4.Mick Dransfield (59th) 10pts
5.Myles Chandler (90th) 8pts
6.Frank Reddington (91st) 6pts
7.Kevin Bentley (196th) 4pts
8.Alan Whittaker (230th) 3pts

Northern X-C Championships Pontefract Racecourse – 16.1.93

By the time the ‘Northerns’ came around the sharp end of the Spenborough squad had been hit hard with injuries. Out of action on the day were Paul Dobson (stress fracture), Lee Warburton (bad knee injury) and Gary Damiani (knee injury). All three would have scored highly in the team but their absence provided a chance for some of the lesser lights (including me) to stake their claim for a National team place as Spenborough still turned out the full quota of ten starters.

The Pontefract racecourse was exposed to the gale force winds which battered the North of England all weekend, making the muddy 7 mile, 3 lap course very tough indeed. Despite the injuries the Spen team still performed with the scoring six packing into the top third of the 970 finishers to give Spenborough A.C. 20th place out of 101 clubs. Club star Jeff Hornby displayed his best form of the season so far with an excellent 17th place in a time of 36.02 (Stockport’s Bashir Hussain beat Longwood’s Andrew Pearson by one second to win in 34.39). Jeff himself was disappointed as he was in the top ten on the second lap but this performance gave a good indication that better things might come in the National Championships on the 27th of February in London.

The next four Spenborough runners finished within 30 seconds of each other as ever improving Dave Sunderland stormed through the field into 191st (39.05). Super vet Ray Padgett had a good run in 206th (39.13), while Darren Hanson got to grips with the mud in only his second cross country race ever as he came 215th (39.21) just ahead of consistent Alf Wolfenden in 227th (39.29).

The team was completed by Mick Dransfield (327th in 40.31) whose increasing fitness level this winter has seen him lose almost all of his ’five bellies’. Tony Patchett (388th in 41.11) and Frank Reddington (457th) were next, both still with hopes of getting into the National squad, but ‘prize hunting’ Richard Lee (575th) was just using this race as a warm up for the much more important Woodkirk Valley 10k ’Invitation International’ road race the day after was ’overwhelmed’ to receive a commemorative centenary championship medal given to all finishers, and described by Richard as “rather gorgeous”.

Missing from the list of finishers and without a gorgeous medal was your flagging reporter Myles Chandler with a sad excuse about a shoe coming off in the mud. But coming in behind ’former veteran ace’ Frank Reddington has signalled the end of many a running career before now. A special mention must be made of Jamie Warburton’s stupendous 9th place in the junior men’s race as it was probably the best Spen performance of the day. Next year he will be a senior and could combine with brother Lee, Paul Dobson and Jeff Hornby to make Spenborough a team to fear.


Ranking scorers at Pontefract

1.Jeff Hornby (17th) 20pts
2.Dave Sunderland (191st) 15pts
3.Ray Padgett (206th) 12pts
4.Darren Hanson (215th) 10pts
5.Alf Wolfenden (227th) 8pts
6.Mick Dransfield (327th) 6pts
7.Tony Patchett (388th) 4pts
8.Frank Reddington (457th) 3pts
9.Richard Lee (575th) 2pts