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Athletics: Valley athletes to the fore
ON a weekend when fell running hit the national news due to atrocious conditions in the Welsh 1,000 metre Peaks Race, there were lots of other races dotted around the country where members of Calder Valley fell runners were making their own headlines.
At Saturday's Stretton Hills Race, the English Fell Championships continued with the second race in a series of six in the deceptively tough undulations of Shropshire.
First off were the ladies with Calder Valley's Jo Waites and Helen Fines having great runs to finish fifth and sixth respectively.
Waites is currently third in the English Championships behind race winner Phillipa Jackson of Keswick and Emma Clayton of Scunthorpe.
Celia Mills was third lady to count to ensure that the Calder ladies team lies in gold medal position, albeit sharing that spot with perennial rivals Ilkley Harriers.
Thirza Hyde had a real battle with Sue Haslam of Scarborough, but the seasider's road speed proved decisive to give her a 15 second margin of victory.
Linda Murgatroyd and Gail Tombs completed a successful day's racing for the ladies.
Karl Gray continued his rich vein of form with a tremendous eighth place in a race dominated by Yorkshire rivals Pudsey and Bramley, who took the top three positions.
British champion Rob Hope was first, followed by inter-counties champion John Heneghan just three seconds ahead of Rob's younger brother Danny. Ben Mounsey finished a creditable 15th.
Mark Goldie dug in for a well deserved 61st as he began his bid to retain full fitness with Dave Austin, Graham Lloyd and Martin Whitehead the other Calder men who made the trip.
Meanwhile at the Pen-Y-Ghent race in North Yorkshire, postman Alex Whittem delivered a fine performance to finish third behind Kendal's Craig Roberts who has won the race on eight separate occasions.
Finally, at the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon, which is a competition for paired runners in the western Scottish highlands, Calder Valley doctors Jo Buckley and Alistair Morris were first mixed pair in the elite class.
Covering a distance of 51 km with 4,500 metres of ascent the event requires competitors to navigate their way round a testing course, carrying all their camping gear as the race spans two whole days.
Jon Underwood and Steve Smithies also put in a strong performance in the A class to finish 11th overall.
In the B class, Barbara Lonsdale and Jackie Scarf were fourth females and Calder's Rob Sharratt and Mark Nutter (of Clayton-le-Moors) were 13th in the C class.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy snow
Temperature: -3 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: West
