Report from the Hon. Handicapper:

A very dry Thornes Park in Wakefield hosted the first race of the season.  Jenson Brogden & Holly Davey were first off for Otley in the under 13’s races running well to finish 46th, 12:24 and 25th, 12:52 respectively for their 2 short laps and 2900m courses.

The ladies course was 1 short and 2 long laps each with a couple of climbs, one steepish descent and a distance of approx. 5750m.  It was a fast race up front with the track stars, Racheal, Alex Bell, P&B & Claire Duck, Leeds pushing it along.  Caron lead the Otley team on the first lap before Sara passed her on the second lap.  Jackie and Lisa were also having a bit of a personal battle on the first lap.  The close race up front was won by Alex Bell by 5 seconds in 20:40.  Sara Elliott finished strongly for 57th, 27:14 followed by Caron Ralph 65th, 27:58, Jackie Ackroyd 88th, 30:47 and Lisa Maughan 92nd, 32:12, and it was great to finish a team in 13th position.

The final race of the day was the men’s race, approx. 10k of  1 short and 4 long laps, I was pleased to finish 26th, 36:18,  Steve Robinson was next for Otley in 129th 44:46 followed by Stephen Small 148th 48:40,  Eriks Zvaigzne 157th 51:08.  Just one week after the Yorkshire marathon…, Matt Podd was 166th, 54:53.  Sean O’Halloran was our 6th counter in the team race finishing 170th, 1:06:04, followed by Antonio Cardinale, 171st 1:09:03 and we finished 14th in the team race.  Guest runner from Blackheath, (& Leeds Uni), Philip Sesemann was the first across the finish line in 32:34, ahead of Leeds City’s Joshua Woodcock-Shaw 33:02 the official 1st placer.

The next race at Huddersfield in two weeks time, hopefully we’ll finish teams in both senior races in that and all of the remaining races.  Mud is good, but not much yesterday!, well done everyone, Full results.