West Yorkshire League XC Halifax

The opening cross country of the season began with the West Yorkshire League at Roils Head, Halifax.

Previous events at this course had told us it wasn't a place to be in adverse weather conditions being situated on exposed moorland. Yet again we weren't to be disappointed with a very strong wind whipping across the course.

The Spen men were hopeful of finishing a team as a big effort had been made to get as many people as possible pre entered. Something which had not happened for the last few seasons.

On the day 7 runners turned up, so barring a disaster a team finish was going to happen.

The sun was shining as the race started. It was to be a 4 lapper, so as long as you could count there should have been no problems!!

On his first outing in a senior XC Ryan Dransfield got off to a quick start, time would tell if his stamina would hold out or not. He was followed not far behind by 'race machine' Kevin Ogden, still nursing a back injury and not on his favourite surface. The other team members - Chris Jones, Jeff Hornby, Edward Wilkinson, Gerard Skippings, Dean Pearce ( the last two also making their debut at XC ) all decided on a more conservative start.

As the race progressed Kevin slowly hauled in Ryan as his stamina began to fade. From his usual steady start Jeff made progress throughout the race. Chris Jones suffering from a knee injury was going to be in for a long hard afternoon as a shake of the head at the end of lap one clearly indicated he wasn't going to have one of his best races.

Gerard and Dean were running good solid races, backed up by Edward who was still recovering from a nasty chest cold.

There was drama at the end of the race when leading by a substancial margin, Andrew Pearson missed the turn into the finish and ended up doing five laps instead of four. Some how he has been awarded provisonal first place even though he never completed the correct course or passed through the finish - comments please.

Final Spen positions were :

Kevin Ogden 65th 35:00
Ryan Dransfield 73rd 35:36
Jeff Hornby 117th 37:35
Gerard Skippings 127th 38:21
Chris Jones 156th 40:09
Dean Pearce 161st 40:37
Edward Wilkinson 182nd 44:48

194 Finishers

Team Position 14th

Overall a promising start to the season with more runners being able to participate in the next race the future is begining to look a little more rosey. thanks to all who took part.

National Cross Country - Parliament Hill

Frank wouldn't be caught without his Athletics Weekly







A beautiful sunny day in London saw me (Gareth) and Frank Reddington down in London for the National. Good train ride down with Frank dictating his latest Athletics weekly to me for the journey (Some kind of hypnotic learning means I now know the favourite for the East Devon Shot putt pre season warm up event, even though I wasn't listening).

After a warm up on the Friday night is was off for a pint and a meal before an early night. With very blurred memories of more Althetics weekly and radio 3 wafting in my ears I drifted off for a good nights sleep.

Breakfast in the hotel was good with plenty of wholemeal bread and cereal. Me and Frank then went to pass some time at the Imperial War Museum before heading back to prepare.

The 14 degree weather means its 'singlet' only weather. We head for the course. After taking a long way round to get to the course we watched the junior men and the senior ladies. Sadly no spen athletes in evidence. Then the terrible job of finding the spen 'tent' (which was actually a tree) and our numbers. After mild panic we found Amanda and we were ready. U13 boys had a couple of our runners and one finished 7th (Liam).

Last minute toilet stops (yes stops, must be our age) and then to the massive start. Beating Frank is a neccessity to avoid banter in the pub (poor Frank is the milestone to fitness and always everyone's benchmark for a good race). I was OK though as had been 2 mins faster the week before so I was not under pressure.

The start was the usual gallup and it was the last time I saw Frank. Then into the mud and the hills (well hillets). Very muddy as usual but feeling strong I edged up the pace to 7min mile (yes impressive eh!). Passed Liam Spencer of Keighley half way round lap 1 so I knew I was cooking.

Parliment Hill is the hardest of them all I think, and there was no danger of it being short after all the critism in the Athletics weekly (yes I remember that clearly). So after some 57 minutes (57.12) of running I 'sprinted in'. 985th out of 1455. Frank wasn't as far back as I had realised and came in 1083rd in 58.53 (yes 100+ runners in less than 2 minutes).

Then I was up for a KFC and a copy of Cycling Weekly . We then went out for a bite to eat and a gallon of beer. I don't really remember what I was listening to as I fell asleep but I can't find my cycling weekly and even more worrying is I now know that Doris Sweeney (Tiverton Wheelers) is favourite for the East Devon Ladies O55 50 mile Time Trial!

Yorks XC Champs Success!

Spenborough's Liam Stedman and Bethany Ellis scored a historic championship double in the two younger age groups of the county cross-country championships (thus proving to some of the 'slightly elder' members that age is EVERY substitute for experience).

Liam gained a comfortable 20-second victory over local lad - Rotherham's Luke Cotter in the Under-13 Boys section but, although Paul Davis also grabbed a creditable 15th place, Spenborough had no third finisher as the team prize went to Rotherham.

Bethany claimed the gold medal in the Under-13 Girls division by the narrowest one-second margin, ahead of Halifax Harrier's Holly Callagham.Emma Wilkinson (7th) and Katie Byrne (22nd) provided excellent support to enable Spen to grab a set of silver medals in the team competition behind winners Sheffield and Hallamshire.

Full results:
http://www.noeaa-athletics.org.uk/FileUploads/yorkshire_men_x_country_results09.xls
http://www.noeaa-athletics.org.uk/FileUploads/yorkshire_women_x_country_results09.pdf

Yorkshire XC Championships 2009

A freezing cold day in Rotherham welcomed the competitors for the 2009 championship. A small number of entries from Spenborough ensured that a complete team finish was unlikely.

A prior commitment from myself meant that my participation seem impossible but a late cancellation and a quick call to Chris Jones who was already at the course to confirm the start time of the race gave me just enough time to jump in the car and fly down the M1 to arrive with about 20 min to spare.

This may have been a smart move as when I got there Chris was shivering and his teeth were chattering looking like he had little enthusiasm to compete. Frank (Reddington) was there at the course but was nowhere to be seen. A sure sign of his serious intentions as he was off on his own getting himself in the 'zone'.

The only other Spen entrant was Kevin Ogden but he had not arrived. Not surprising as Kevin is not renowned as a cross country specialist.

Lining up at the start the plan was to keep the warm gear on for as long as possible and only remove it at the very last minute. I decided to stick with the plan of keeping warm and kept on the tracksters, hat and gloves (big jessie!). Chris went for the gloves and just to highlight how cold it was Frank wore a long sleeve top under his Spen vest(unheard of).

Just to make sure everybody was chilled to the bone the officials (thanks Gordan) kept everybody on the line a further couple of minutes explaining the rules and regulations.

The course was a 5 lapper with some steep climbs and plenty of switchbacks so you could see your fellow competitors. Great if you are closing on people. Not so great if you are fading. The grass was frozen underfoot to give a hard, fast running surface.

At the gun Chris and myself stayed well to the back of the field with Frank stating his intentions early by pushing up into the pack. Quite quickly Chris chased and caught Frank with myself following not far behind.

After passing Frank, Chris pushed on and it wasn't until the start of the second lap that I was able to to catch up with him. Over the next lap I managed to open up a 40m lead over Chris with Frank bravely hanging on about 100m further back. I knew I would need this advantage as over this sort of distance my stamina was always going to be suspect.

Over the last couple of laps Chris and I fought out a titanic battle with Chris closing on the hills and myself pulling away on the flatter sections. Into the last lap Chris had got the gap down to about 20m but I knew if I could get to the top of the last hill in front my basic speed would carry me home.

Frank's usual mid to late race surge was unfortunately lacking today and into the last lap it looked like he had given up the ghost. To be fair Frank had been suffering with a chesty cough all week and only made a late decision to run.

The final result ended with me being the first Spen home, Chris less than 10sec behind and Frank somewhere in the region of a minute back. Sweet revenge for myself as Frank has beaten me in the last 2 yorkshire XC championships. Chris was well pleased with his performance as he had achieved his goal of beating Frank too.

Overall a good day even though we finished toward the rear of the field. Many thanks to the other Spen runners and spectators who stayed to cheer us old duffers round the course. Always most welcome especially on a day like today.

Results

168 46:05 Michael Dransfield
172 46:16 Chris Jones
186 47:18 Frank Reddington

205 runners

Full results here

Photos

End of 1st lap with Chris just ahead of Michael (behind the K&C runner)

Frank crossing the drainage ditch



Michael in full flight



The three amigos post-race

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

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.

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

View from the middle - W.Y.X-C.L. (meeting 2) Sat 7th Nov. 1992 Northcliffe Park, Shipley

View from the middle - W.Y.X-C.L. (meeting 2) Sat 7th Nov. 1992 Northcliffe Park, Shipley

The second ‘Complete Runner West Yorkshire Cross County League’ was held at Northcliffe park, Shipley on Saturday 7th of November.

The two lap course (about 5 ½ miles in total) included dangerous woodland paths which were steep , narrow and heavily rooted, I slid down a banking and I’m sure there were many more victims.

Once again the senior mens race had a good turn out with 261 finishers, 13 of them coming from Spenborough A.C.. Fell running international John Taylor from Holmfirth Harriers found the undulating course much to his liking and romped home to victory in 27:29 mins.

Also at the sharp end of the race glorious Spenborough packed three runners into the top ten with Jeff Hornby in 7th (28:32) exacting sweet revenge over Paul Dobson (8th in 28:38) and Jamie Warburton (10th in 28:41) who had both taken turns at beating him in his last two races.

The rest of the team scorers performed well with Gary Damiani (who managed to make the start this time) coming home in 28th (30:16), yours truly with a better run in 47th (31:13) and new ‘supervet’ Ray Padgett (53rd in 31:23) bringing the team a superb third place behind Leeds and Rowntrees but ahead of ‘Super Harriers’ Bingley and Longwood Harriers, our nearest and most bitter rivals.

Dave Sunderland had a good run in 68th (31:53) followed by Tony Patchett (80th in 32:08), back to normal after a good run in the first meeting. A tremendous sprint finish took place between Frank Reddington and Mick Dransfield with Mick having to use his famous kick to come home in 94th (32:30), four seconds ahead of veteran Reddington in 95th (32:34).
Other Spenborough finishers were ‘marathon man’ John Swindon (149th in 34:27), ‘erratic’ Graham Pierson (174th in 35:07) and ‘battling’ Derek Robinson (222nd in 37:24). Kevin Ogden disappointed by dropping out after some rather extravagant pre-race boasts.

A very good team effort leaves Spenborough 4th overall in the League with one fixture to go. Individual honours could also be won by club stars Jeff Hornby (4th overall) and Paul Dobson (5th overall) at the last meeting in Nunroyd Park (Guiseley) on December the 5th.

View from the back – W.Y.X-C.L. (meeting 1) Sat 17th Oct. 1992 Carnegie, Leeds

View from the back – W.Y.X-C.L. (meeting 1) Sat 17th Oct. 1992 Carnegie, Leeds

The 1992/3 cross country kicked off for most local runners on Saturday 17th October at Carnegie College playing fields, Leeds.

The meeting was a big success due mainly to the bright Autumn weather and the inclusion of female races for the first time in these ‘Complete Runner West Yorkshire Cross Country League’ events. This year was the last season in which the league comprised of just three races all held before Christmas and provided many runners with an ideal start to the season.

Spenborough had some good performances in the younger age groups, but the main event was the senior men’s race (incorporating vets and juniors) which had 291 finishers, 15 of them coming from Spenborough A.C.

One entrant missing from the starting line up as the gun went was Gary Damiani, out on his warm up, he would have probably been our third counting team member but his costly mistake did not surprise anybody as he has built up a glowing reputation for doing this sort of thing on a regular basis.

Pre-race tension does different things to different people.

The course comprised two laps of three miles and was dry and flat for a West Yorkshire League race, flat apart from the infamous Becketts Bank which seemed much longer and steeper on the second lap (it caused yours truly to lose many a place second time up !).

At the front the in form Darren Spawforth had broken away after one mile and came home a clear winner for local rivals Wakefield, but Spenborough placed two athletes in the top ten, with the ‘emerging’ Paul Dobson beating club star Jeff Hornby for the first time in placing 7th . Jeff came in one place behind (8th) to make this the second race in succession that another Spen athlete has beaten him (Jamie Warburton beat him in the last track meeting of the season). Is Jeff losing it ? I don’t think so yet, he will be back to claim more honours before this winter is over I’m sure.

Solid runs were produced by road men Ray Padgett and Keith Miller who came 42nd and 45th respectively. At the blunt end of the field Spenborough produced a string of placings, Tont Patchett’s 65th was a good run for a near vet., firmly beating yours truly into 87th which was a disgrace. Then came Mick Dransfield (97th), still on the comeback trail (two years is a long time for a comeback).

Just outside the top hundred came newlywed Dave Sunderland (101st) and hardened campaigner Frank Reddington (104th). Other Spenborough runners to get round the tough six mile course were coaching guru Alan Whittaker (123rd), comeback man Dave Baskerville, Kevin ‘the grafter’ Bentley who just made it home before collapsing in the finishing funnel, Geoff Pierce and Harry Machin also finished but first year junior Carl Wolfenden dropped out due to fatigue from lack of sleep (working commitments). Overall it was a good turn out with some encouraging runs at this early season stage. Sceptical road runners and even some of our track stars should try cross country running as it is good and it is hard.

Ranking scorers at Leeds (and overall after 1 race)

1.Paul Dobson (7th) 20pts
2.Jeff Hornby (8th) 15pts
3.Ray Padgett (42nd) 12pts
4.Keith Miller (45th) 10pts
5.Tony Patchett (65th) 8pts
6.Myles Chandler (87th) 6pts
7.Mick Dransfield (97th) 4pts
8.Dave Sunderland (101st) 3pts
9.Frank Reddington (104th) 2pts
10.Alan Whittaker (123rd) 1pt

Y.X-C.L.(meeting 3) - 5.12.92 –Nunroyd park (Guiseley)

The third and final ‘Complete Runner West Yorkshire Cross Country League’ took place at a rain soaked Nunroyd Park, Guiseley on December 5th. The course was three laps of just under two miles and although quite flat, proved to be very testing due to the ankle deep quagmire on most of the course and a dangerous plunge into the parks’ fast flowing brook.

The cross country season is now in full swing and the major championships take place in the next few months (Northern in January, National in February). This meant that the competition between Spenborough runners to establish themselves in the squad for these races was intense.

At the front of the race, Batley based Andrew Pearson of Longwood Harriers made light work of the mud and won easily, while Spenboroughs’ top man Jeff Hornby continued his return to form with an excellent fourth place – this run lifted him to 3rd place overall in the league and gave him his first trophy of the season. Paul Dobson was the second Spen runner home in 11th place and would have had a third consecutive top ten placing but for a recurring stitch problem which forced him to stop with the finish just 400 yards away.


Further down the field, Spenborough runners produced some tremendous packing as less than a minute covered the next nine scorers. Improving Dave Sunderland stormed through the field into 31st, just beating Dave Baskerville who came 33rd and is almost back to his best after a long spell out injured.

Promising Junior Robert Moon in 35th and Alf Wolfenden in 39th had good runs to bring the Spenborough ‘A’ team into a brilliant 2nd place on the day and 3rd overall in the league behind Leeds and Rowntrees, but once again ahead of Longwood.

The Spenborough ‘B’ team which finished 9th on the day, was lead home by Myles Chandler in 46th (your man at the race and in it), then came ‘supervet’ Ray Padgett in 49th and road running ‘ace’ Darren Hanson in 50th, who found it hard to come to grips with the mud on his cross country debut.

Mick Dransfield showed that he is back to form in 55th place by beating below par Gary Damiani into 62nd place, whilst Tony Patchett (90th) and Frank Reddington (94th) don’t look like making the team for the Northern Championships, unless someone drops out between now and January 16th.

Other Spenborough finishers in the field of 238 runners included recently ill Kevin Bentley (174th), Graham Pearce (193rd), Derek Robinson (209th) and Harry Machin (237th). Once again Carl Wolfenden dropped out and needs to finish some races to regain his confidence.