WAKEFIELD DISTRICT HARRIERS & AC

MID-WEEK DISTANCE RUNNING LEAGUE

NEWSLETTER 61  1^st March 2003

Ron Needham 01924 829495   email: wakefieldharriers@yahoo.co.uk

Again, no real surprises last Thursday as 21 runners turned out over a 3.5 miles course based upon Durkar.  Mark Ridgeway produced an excellent run to come home over a minute ahead of Steve Tibbs.  With only three events left, Steve is almost home and dry in the first division with a 19 point lead.  Whilst Steve Wilkinson’s absence on the night opened up a possible challenge in division two from Peter Young.  Division 3 is still wide open, with Richard West mounting a late challenge to Mark Box and Dave Dawson.  The Vets table has been adjusted to take into account Mark Ridgeway’s vet status (he’s convinced me that he does qualify having turned 40 before the current “season” began.  Even then, Tony Audsley went further ahead this week and now has a fairly commanding 18 points lead.  In the ladies race, Denise Green took full advantage of Jane Senior’s inability to take part owing to a viral infection to go 13 points ahead.

Many thanks, once again to Pippa for her valuable help in recording finishers and also to Jane Senior for helping too.

Accounts

We had £148-50 in the kitty.  We took £31-50 in entry fees. Prizes cost £11-00, leaving us with a balance of £169-00.

Next Event

Next month’s league event will be held on 27^th March and will go from the Unicorn at Carlton.  The entry fee will be £1-50, with no food provided.  There may be a short off-road section near the start (depends on the light). 

 

Result of February meeting (approx 3.5 miles on road)

		Time	Vets position
1	Mark Ridgeway (V40)	18-56	1
2	Steve Tibbs	20-05
3	Rob Parfrey	20-46
4	Tony White	20-50
5	Richard West (V40)	20-57	2
6	Peter Young (V40)	21-42	3
7	Dave Brook	22-28
8	Mike Logan (V40)	22-33	4
9	Tony Audsley (V50)	22-40	5
10	Matthew Dodsworth	22-51
11	Paul Sanderson (V40)	23-19	6
12	David Dawson	24-03
13	Peter Farr (V50)	24-39	7
14	Mark Box (V40)	25-33	8
15	Stuart Anderson (V60)	25-36	9
16	Graham Whitworth (V50)	27-27	10
17	Denise Green (1L)	27-59
18	Dot Hand (2L)	29-20
19	Brian Cooper (V60)	29-32	11
20	Sue Needham (3L)	33-14
21	Val Anderson (4L)	35-55

 

LADIES LEAGUE TABLE

1	D Green	L35	70
2	S Needham	L45	57
3=	J Senior	L35	56
3=	V Anderson	L55	56
5	D Hand	L55	34
6	M Anderson	L	24
7	J Ibbotson	L35	20
8	L Green	L35	10
9	C Simpson		08
10	M Kelly		07

 

VETS LEAGUE TABLE

1	T Audsley	M50	74
2	S Anderson	M60	66
3	S Wilkinson	M40	57
4	P Farr	M50	56
5	P Young	M40	55
6	M Logan	M40	50
7	R West	M40	44
8	M Domaille	M40	36
9	D Brailsford	M40	35
10	G Whitworth	M50	28
11	A Stainer	M50	26
12=	P Sanderson	M40	20
12=	M Ridgeway	M40	20
14=	A Cooper	M40	19
14=	M Box	M40	19
16	B Cooper	M60	15
17	P McNamara	M40	12
18	K Singleton	M40	06
19	P Walker	M40	03
20	N Devlin	M50	02

 

MENS’ LEAGUE TABLE  Division 1

1	S Tibbs	86
2	R Parfrey	67
3	T White	66
4	D Brooke	58
5	M Logan	44
6	A Audsley	38
7	S Anderson	35
8	M Domaille	28
9	C Heppenstall	20
10	D Needham	00

Division 2

1	S Wilkinson	68
2	P Young	61
3=	G Whitworth	54
3=	P Farr	54
5	D Brailsford	38
6	P Sanderson	36
7	A Cooper	20
8	B Horsefall	19
9=	S Butler	00
9=	S Faulkner	00

Division 3

1=	M Box	48
1=	R West	48
3	D Dawson	43
4	P Campbell	34
5	A Stainer	31
6	M Ridgeway	20
7	B Cooper	19
8	P McNamara	16
9	P Croft	10
10=	N Devlin	08
10=	P Walker	08
10=	K Singleton	08
10=	M Dodsworth	08
14	A Gelder	04

 

 

 

Structure of leagues next season

I was asked on Thursday about promotion and relegation in the men’s leagues.  Given that we now have regular turn outs of 20 or more, I think it’s time for a restructure  -  especially given the fact that under the current structure it will take someone two full years to make it into division one, no matter how good he is.  So, what I plan is to increase the numbers in divisions 1 and 2 to 12.  There will still be two up and two down before the adjustment takes place and anyone in divisions 1 and 2 who has not scored at all this season (i.e. have not taken part) will be relegated direct to division 3.  As an illustration, I’ve put together the structure if the present positions were to be maintained to the end of the season.

 

ILLUSTRATION FOR DISCUSSION ONLY

 

Division 1                              Division 2                          Division 3

S Tibbs	P Sanderson	P McNamara
R Parfrey	A Cooper	P Croft
T White	B Horsefall	N Devlin
D Brooke	M Domaille	P Walker
M Logan	C Heppenstall	K Singleton
A Audsley	M Box	M Dodsworth
S Anderson	R West	A Gelder
S Wilkinson	D Dawson	D Needham
P Young	P Campbell	S Butler
G Whitworth	A Stainer	S Faulkner
P Farr	M Ridgeway
D Brailsford	B Cooper

 

Scoring system:  12 points for 1^st home in your division, 11 for 2^nd, 10 for 3^rd, etc.

 

I’m also considering affiliating the league direct to the Northern Counties as The Wakefield & District Distance Running League.  This would give liability insurance cover for all participants in all events.  At the moment, any non-Harriers member participating is not covered by liability insurance leaving the organiser (i.e. me) at risk if the non member is injured in the event or injures a third party.  Any non-Harrier would be taken into membership of the league upon entry at their first event.  This may also have the advantage of attracting more participants from other clubs (e.g. Denby Dale, Sheffield City, Leeds City, Ackworth, Rothwell Harriers, etc.).  Of course, we would have to be self-financing, but at the moment we are running a balance of £169 and I’m intending to buy the prizes this year from the funds rather than asking the Harriers management committee to pay.  Again  -  only a thought at the moment, but what do you think?