Meltham Ac held it’s annual club dinner on Friday 16th of March at the Meltham Golf club. Thank you to Ruth Thomas and Gilly Markham for organising such a great event again for the club, which is great for catching up with old and new friends and throughly enjoyed by everyone. The Bamforth trophy for an outstanding contribution to the club in the past year was awarded to Penny Ditchfield who broke the Meltham Ladies 10k record, at Dewsbury in 38’55 a fantastic achievement.
Many thanks from the whole club to all those who competed, marshalled and organised today’s Meltham 10k. We had another fabulous turnout and suitably pleasant conditions for a late-January fixture.
The results are now available here, or you can follow the links on the Meltham 10k page. Race photos taken by Flaming Photography.
The Huddersfield Road Runners 10k on the 27th February was the traditional final race on the Meltham AC Club Championships calendar, and so was the last opportunity to accumulate points towards the main Club and Handicap Championships.
The race itself saw a clear victory for Holmfirth’s Matthew Pierson in a time of 34.05, and in the women’s race victory was for Amy Green of Keighley & Craven AC in 39.54. Full results can be found on the Huddersfield Road Runners website. Meltham AC had an excellent numer of finishers, 17 in total, and their times and positions are listed below:
The Club Championships were thus concluded and the final and full results can be viewed now. The winners of each Championship were announced as follows:
Ladies Champion - Sue Heap Men Champion - Ray McArthur Ladies Champion (Handicap) - Fiona McArthur Men’s Champion (Handicap) - Mick Lunn Ladies Fell Champion - Gilly Markham Men Fell Champion - Ray McArthur Ladies Fell Champion (Handicap) - Fiona McArthur Men’s Fell Champion (Handicap) - Andy Hargreaves Team Champions - Chris Oldfield, Matt Dillingham, Andy Tyack
Winter Handicap 2011 Runners
A relatively mild, but ultimately windy day was the setting for this year’s first club race, with 15 members taking part in the Meltham AC Winter Handicap 2011. The 2.7mile loop took in part of the Cop Hill Fell race course, and, although there was plenty of mud under foot, there was less than many had feared at the start line.
Matt Dillingham completed the course in the fastest time of 18.17, but this was only good enough to come tied 3rd in the handicap results. The title was taken by Mick Lunn who had an excellent run finishing with an overall handicap time of 26.34. Penny Ditchfield was his closest overall rival with a handicap time of 27.39, putting her 2nd, just 8 seconds clear of Giles Bailey and Matt Dillingham, who managed to tie for the final position on the podium.
| Position | Name | Handicap Time | Actual Time |
| 1 | Mick Lunn | 26.34 | 20.34 |
| 2 | Penny Ditchfield | 27.39 | 21.39 |
| 3 | Giles Bailey | 27.47 | 20.17 |
| 3 | Matt Dillingham | 27.47 | 18.17 |
| 5 | Ray McArthur | 27.52 | 19.52 |
| 6 | Barry Tyas | 27.57 | 22.27 |
| 7 | Gilly Markham | 28.12 | 25.12 |
| 8 | Mark Cope | 28.47 | 26.47 |
| 9 | Chris Oldfield | 28.50 | 20.50 |
| 10 | Nigel Thomas | 29.12 | 23.12 |
| 11 | Mike Harrison | 29.29 | 22.59 |
| 12 | Graham Sykes | 29.32 | 21.32 |
| 13 | Ruth Thomas | 30.41 | 27.41 |
| 14 | Martin Sturdy | 30.58 | 26.28 |
| 15 | Fiona McArthur | 31.18 | 30.18 |
Winter Handicap 2011 Winners
On behalf of Meltham AC, we would like to thank all competitors who took part in the Cop Hill Fell Race this weekend. Again we were blessed with ideal conditions – late Autumn sunshine, a light breeze and a crisp temperature.
The results are now online on our Cop Hill page. In summary, the men’s race was won by Ben Crowther of Halifax Harriers in a time of 39:21 and the women’s race by Katie Walshaw of Holmfirth Harriers in a time of 41:20. Holmfirth had further success taking both the men’s and women’s team prizes.
Team Male – Holmfirth Harriers – Pierson, Langron, Baxter
Team Female – Holmfirth Harriers – Walshaw, Berry, Johnson
The fog descended on the runners for the Holmfirth 15mile race this weekend, but this gave perfect conditions with no breeze and no rain. The course involved the traditional small loop around Holmfirth High School and then two large laps of the New Mill/Honley/Holmfirth circuit.
The race was won by Holmfirth’s own Dave Watson in a time of 1hr 23min57 comfortably ahead of the field, with Bridget Coomber again the clear winner in women’s race in 1hr 40min23. Full results can be found at: http://www.ukresults.net/2010/holmfirth15.html
Meltham’s finishers were as follows:
On Saturday 5th June, several club members competed in the Wharfedale Off-Road Half Marathon, gaining themselves points for the Club Championship. This 13 mile fell race, which starts and finishes at Wharfedale Rugby Club, in Threshfield, takes in some of Wharfedale’s finest scenery following well established footpaths including the Dalesway and Mastiles Lane. The event was won in a time of 1hr 34min 27sec by Bob Addey, with the leading female competitor, Holly Williams, completing the course in 1hr 50min 16sec.
The race for Championship points was again keenly fought between Ray McArthur and Mick Lunn, with Ray finishing just a minute clear, although both were comfortably under the 2hr mark. Gilly took full points in the female section with a 2hr 15min clocking. Full results can be found here.
|
|
Pos
|
Name
|
Category
|
Time
|
|
|
|
28
|
Raymond McArthur
|
MV55
|
01:57:13
|
|
|
|
30
|
Mick Lunn
|
MV40
|
01:58:16
|
|
|
|
64
|
Mike Harrison
|
MV45
|
02:10:22
|
|
|
|
88
|
Gilly Markham
|
FV50
|
02:15:18
|
|
|
|
111
|
Sue Heap
|
FV45
|
02:21:29
|
|
|
|
134
|
Martin Sturdy
|
MV50
|
02:29:01
|
|
|
|
144
|
Fiona McArthur
|
FV55
|
02:36:14
|
|
|
|
mp
|
Alison Hargreaves
|
FV45
|
02:46:10
|
The first of the season’s club events, the Summer Handicap was expected to be a pleasant evening dash through some mid-May sunshine … but instead it wasn’t far off the temperature of the previous Winter Handicap! That didn’t stop 28 runners complete the course up to Netherton and back. An amazing turnout, saying that the club membership only just touches 50, and with several members either time-keeping, supporting or pretending to be local paparazzi.
Summer Handicap 2010 - Club Photo
The event was won by new-boy Sam Philpot by a massive margin of over 2 and a half minutes, making sure his future handicapping will be much more punishing. However, the club were delighted to gain another excellent prospect for the upcoming Joe Percy event – ample compensation for an easily won trophy. Ruth Thomas came home 2nd in a personal time of 33.30, with similarly-handicapped Helen Hunter 3rd.
Summer Handicap - Winners
Full results:
| Handicap Time | Actual Time | ||
| 1 | Sam Philpot | 36.55 | 34.55 |
| 2 | Ruth Thomas | 39.30 | 33.30 |
| 3 | Helen Hunter | 39.41 | 33.41 |
| 4 | Pam Coombes | 40.33 | 38.33 |
| 5 | Andy Tyack | 40.34 | 28.34 |
| 6 | Andy Whitworth | 40.36 | 25.06 |
| 7 | Sharon Whitworth | 40.55 | 40.55 |
| 8 | Andy Hargreaves | 41.05 | 32.05 |
| 9 | Matt Dillingham | 41.08 | 26.38 |
| 10 | Andy Beardsley | 41.15 | 27.45 |
| 11 | Alison Hargreaves | 41.19 | 39.19 |
| 12 | Wayne Hancock | 41.29 | 41.29 |
| 13 | Nigel Thomas | 41.33 | 31.33 |
| 14 | Mick Lunn | 41.42 | 30.42 |
| 15 | John Hobbs | 41.45 | 30.45 |
| 16 | Chris Oldfield | 41.55 | 29.55 |
| 17 | Richard Beaumont | 42.01 | 31.01 |
| 18 | Dave Taylor | 42.13 | 29.13 |
| 19 | Giles Bailey | 42.40 | 30.40 |
| 20 | Benny Tyas | 42.43 | 32.43 |
| 21 | Gilly Markham | 42.44 | 36.44 |
| 22 | Rob James | 42.50 | 27.20 |
| 23 | Graham Sykes | 42.52 | 29.52 |
| 24 | Jeff Taylor | 43.06 | 35.06 |
| 25 | Bob Page | 43.44 | 38.44 |
| 26 | Hannah Spring | 44.22 | 40.52 |
| 27 | Martin Sturdy | 44.35 | 37.35 |
| 28 | Helen Jordan | 47.20 | 45.20 |
The excellent evening was rounded off with pie and peas at the Community Centre with eyes now looking forward to a strong showing at the Joe Percy event, now with over 20 team members signed up for this annual invitational event.
Sunday 2nd May saw the annual Bluebell Trail Race take place, encompassing a challenging loop through Greetland, Halifax and Southowram. The event, organised by Stainland Lions, was also part of the Club Championship and was well attended by many Meltham AC runners, seeing as so many have either just completed the London Marathon, or are in training for the Edinburgh Marathon.
Although the morning was a bit on the chilly side, all the runners were brought to boiling-point by the demon climb up Trooper Lane. This part-cobbled lane, situated around the 4 mile marker, scaled 570 feet in just over half a mile, and didn’t spare much for the remainder of the course. At the bottom of the climb, Dave Watson of Holmfirth Harriers already had about a 2 minute lead on the rest of the field and he went on to comfortably win the 10.3 mile race in a time of 1:05:20. Andy Whitworth was the leading Meltham AC runner in 8th in a time of 1:12:14, with Matt Dillingham two and a half minutes behind in 12th.
The race had an excellent turnout with over 400 finishers and each and every one completing the final challenge of traversing the River Calder just before the finish line. Full results can be found here and the Meltham finishers were as follows:
