Well, what a day.  It started off so brightly.  After the start, three teams broke away from the main pack, Bingley, made up of Victoria Wilkinson & Ian Holmes, Wharfedale, made up of Sam Watson & Christian Holmes and Barlick made up of Matt Lalor & Julian Hood.  Going through Laycock, these three were running as a compact group and were way ahead of the chasing pack.    At this point, it had all the makings of an exciting race.  By the time the runners got to Pole Road, above Sutton in Craven, things had changed dramatically, as suddenly Queensbury were in the lead.  Then the word came through, that Julian had broken his ankle quite badly.  

When this happened,  Sam Watson & Christian Holmes, Ian Holmes & Victoria Wilkinson all sacrificed their own races to help Julian.  This was tremendous sportsmanship on their part and a big thanks goes out to both clubs from Barlick for what they did and it demonstrates the tremendous camaraderie of fell running. 

When Julian had been attended to and safely dispatched to Airedale Hospital, Matt Lalor continued on with his leg, as did the two other clubs.  

Further down the field, the Barlick Ladies (Snowbelles) (Leanne Dinsdale & Paula Cullen) were trialing the Bingley girls team at Laycock  However, by the end of leg one, both runners were dead on their feet, but they had passed the Bingley team and handed over a lead to 2nd leg runners, Lorraine Slater & Sarah Bell.  These two pushed each other on to increase this lead, which they passed on to Laura Craig and Victoria Peel.  Again both girls gave their all  to again pass on a good lead to the final pair of Jacqueline Collins and Rachel Villiers.  These two seemed to make short work of the ascent passed Druids Altar and they were soon coasting (not so steadily) down the hill towards Keighley.  They successfully managed to navigate their way through the centre of Keighley and once more the Barlick girls finished first ladies' team.  It was a great effort from everyone who made up the team.

In the meantime, the race organisers let our 'A' team continue, even though only one runner had finished leg one.  This was a good team and gradually, they made up for the lost time and clawed their way back to the front of the race to win the competition.  Brett, the race organiser was faced with a difficult situation, as once two of the leading teams dropped out to help an injured runner, it upset the whole balance of the race.  He felt that the Barlick 'A team had done well to come through to take first place, but could not be awarded with first team prize, in view of the fact that both runners had not completed leg one.  The first team prize therefore went to Keighley, who were the second team back.  

Not much further down the field, the Barlick 'B' team were quietly doing well and and they came home behind Bingley who had recovered from their stop to take third place and finally, the Barlick Vets showed their strength to come home in 6th place and probably first vets team.  That was four teams in the top ten and showed the strength in depth that is being built up in the club.  The top ten finished as follows:

1 Barlick 'A'  3:41:27
2 Keighley & Craven 3:49:25
3 Bingley 'A' 3:52:03
4 Barlick 'B' 3:57:28
5 Queensbury 4:01:03
6 Barlick Vets 4:08:10
7 Bingley 'B' 4:08:30
8 Keighley Crackers 4:009:47
9 Keighley Christmas Puddings 4:13:31
10 Barlick Ladies (Snowbelles) 4:15:24

A terrific performance by Sarah Jarvis saw her finish in 2nd place and great support from Rachel Villiers and Lorraine Slater saw the girls finish first team. Not only that, but Leanne Dinsdale, Jennifer Hird and Victoria Peel ran their socks off too, for the ladies B team to finish 6th overall. As a bonus, the Barlick ladies also finished first V35 team too. 

For the men, in the early part of the race, James Tingle and Lee Parrington were pushing each other round, but as the race progressed, James opened up a gap on Lee. In third place for Barlick was that redoubtable runner Lucas Payne and working his way through the field behind him was another fine veteran of running, Chris Smale.   Together with support from Dan Taylor and Ian Cocks, the team came home in 7th place overall.

The finishing times and places for the Barlick runners were:

Senior Women

2 Sarah Jarvis 21:41 (1st WV35)
11 Rachel Villiers 22:59
14 Lorraine Slater 23:17
26 Leanne Dinsdale 24:48
27 Jennifer Hird 24:48
31 Victoria Peel 25:05
74 Nicola Muller 28:50
100 Anne-Marie Beech

Senior Men

22 James Tingle 40:21
33 Lee Parrington 41:00
40 Lucas Payne 41:33
54 Chris Smale 42:51
86 James Austin 45:14
138 John Boothman 48:39
140 Ian Cocks 48:46
154 Paul Elcock 49:54
203 Tony Duffy 54:29