Win for Airienteer at Collis Rigg

Contact:Simon Bowens (07921) 039251

The region’s big orienteering fixture of the weekend took place at Collis Rigg, an area north of Helmsley with a real mixture of coniferous woodlands and open spaces linked throughout by an intricate network of paths, tracks and forest roads.

Airienteers’ Neil Conway, from Headingley, took control of the race for victory in the senior 7.3km Brown course winning by a margin of over 7 minutes from Manchester’s Steve Dempsey with Cleveland’s Paul Thornton a further 5 minutes adrift. Leathley’s Alistair Wood narrowly missed a podium finish by the slender margin of 20 seconds, finally settling for fifth place.

On the 6km blue course, two Cleveland runners, Charles Mayes and Timothy Hunter finished ahead of Burley-in-Wharfedale’s Peter Jones with his Baildon namesake a few places further back in sixth place.

Thorner’s Sam Avis narrowly missed out on a podium place in the Green course finishing in fourth place behind the winner, Eborienteer’s Helen Clark.

Neil Conway’s daughter, Eve, showed the family pedigree by winning the 2.5km Yellow course with a winning margin of over four minutes, in many ways a more impressive victory than her father’s. Airienteers’ bunch of promising juniors show the future strength of the club as they keep on performing well at races up and down the country.

The next orienteering race will be held on Saturday 4 February at Hebers Ghyll near Ilkley. All are welcome to come and try this fantastic sport combining physical fitness with mental agility and navigational skills. More details at www.aire.org.uk

The full list of Airienteers results at Collis Rigg (with positions in brackets) is:

Brown course: Neil Conway (1), Alistair Wood (5)

Blue course: Peter Jones (3), Peter Jones (6), John MacDonald (7), Natasha Conway (10), Ian Marshall (13), Scott Marshall (18), Tony Carlyle (20), Howard Sawyer (25), Peter Avis (26), James Avis (27), Ken Patterson (29), Gerry Symes (36), Gerry van Hee (37), Martyn Broadest, Frank Kew, Dave Shelley (all mp)

Green: Sam Avis (4), Gill Ross (35), Wendy Carlyle (38), Fred Ross (46), Jonathan Smith (48)

Light Green: Chris March (29), Jackie Coates (mp)

Yellow: Eve Conway (1)

White: Alistair Broadest (9)