The final West Yorkshire League race of the Winter took place at Oulton Cricket Club, Rothwell and the weather on the day was ok, but the underfoot conditions were horrific after all the rain we’d had, thick mud for at least 1800 of the 2000 metres of the lap. We were afraid that the clash with the Winter Fools relay the previous day might affect our chances and sadly we were right, though unexpectedly more for the men than for the women, indeed the main problem for the women turned out to be the illness that prevented Yas from taking part. Although 7 was comfortably the lowest turnout of Bingley women of the season it was more than enough to get a decent result, especially as Emma was there to lead the team from start to finish. She appeared to have a dodgy spell in mid-race, I’m not sure if she fell or just slowed down for a while, but soon got firing on all cylinders again to finish an excellent 8th. Jo was one of the few to do the weekend double and after a steady start the previous day’s exertions seemed to do her no harm as she had an excellent run to be 2nd Bingley finisher. Sophie and Nic both kept going wonderfully in the awful conditions to complete the scoring team in top 30 positions. Trish and Mary had a club battle a bit further back with Trish just holding on for the victory while Ceri completed her 4th race of the series, one of the few Bingley runners to do so. Results as follows:
West Yorkshire League race 4, Rothwell, 10/12/2023 – 5.4k approx:
1st Katie Walshaw (Holmfirth) 21m 46s
8th Emma Clayton 23m 51s
11th Jo Buckley 24m 05s
23rd Sophie Thackray 25m 40s
30th Nicola Jones 26m 53s
43rd Trish Emery 30m 32s
44th Mary Green 30m 46s
51st Ceri Griffiths 35m 43s
53 finishers in all

Team Results:
1st Knavesmire 27
2nd Holmfirth 43
3rd Vale of York 69
4th Bingley 72

As mentioned before it was the men who suffered more from the fixture clash and only 7 of us started with 6 needed to complete a team. Even worse Stephen Fry dropped out early on, not feeling great, so we down to a bare 6. Fortunately the rest of us survived and, as was often the case during the season, the youngsters were the stars with Alistair and Ben the first two home, as usual being caught all the way by the steadier starting John. Next home was Quentin, though Nick (another steady starter) had him in his sights but just ran out of time. I completed the 6, for the first time this season feeling reasonably fit but ruining it by not doing my laces up properly and having to stop regularly to slide my shoes back on! Results as follows:
West Yorkshire League race 4, Rothwell 10/12/2023 – 9.5k approx.:
1st Ben Rothery (Ilkley) 34m 42s
20th Alistair Trusselle 39m 54s
31st Ben Cooper 41m 30s
36th John Convery 42m 20s
56th Quentin Emery 46m 03s
63rd Nick Chapman 46m 40s
75th Paul Lemmon 49m 05s
103 finishers in all
Team Results:
1st Leeds 48
2nd Vale of York 143
3rd Wakefield 173
6th Bingley 282

The final league tables for the season saw Bingley’s women narrowly beaten into 3rd place on countback by Holmfirth behind the winners Knavesmire. Individually overall Yas came 6th= and Jo was 13th=. 19th – 29th was totally dominated by Ilkley with Sarah Pickering, Ruth Thackray, Sophie, Nic, Stephanie Robson and Sue Cordingley all in a pack. Trish and Ceri made it 10 Bingley runners amongst the 54 from all clubs who did at least 3 of the 4 races.
The men didn’t do quite as well, but finishing 5th overall wasn’t a bad result at all, especially as we never finished that high in any of the 4 races. Individually Alistair was 25th, James Hargreaves 32nd and John Convery 35th. Quentin, Paul Tiffany, Nick, Rob Thomas, Paul Lemmon, Scott Prince, Andrew Coulton and Simon Blake were also amongst the 104 men from all clubs who completed at least 3 of the 4.
Within the various veterans categories we had several successes. Nic was 5th F40, Jo was 1st and Ceri 9th F45, Ruth and Stephanie 1st and 2nd F50 and Sue and Trish 1st and 4th F60. Amongst the men Scott was 11th M35, Nick 7th and Simon 12th M40, Paul T 5th M45, Rob 8th and Andrew 14th M50 (by far the category with most runners!), Quentin a close 2nd M55 and John and Paul L 1st and 4th M60.
All in all a very successful season, especially for the women. Let’s hope we can do even better in 2024!
Paul Lemmon & Stephanie Robson – Cross Country Team Managers