Badger Stone Relay / Cow & Calf Double

The data have now been collated and the statistical analyses completed for the double race winner – the search for the best performance over Wednesday’s Will Ramsbotham Badger Stone Relay and Thursday’s Cow and Calf orienteering sprint race.

The winner of the men’s competition was Jack Wood who just snuck victory from Alun Powell with Steve Watkins in hot pursuit. Al had a great run at Thursday’s orienteering (finishing second with Jack in fourth and Steve in third) but had left just too much work after running 17 min on Wednesday to Jack’s outstanding 14:37 min run. It was great to see Al Powell at these events as he was Will’s partner on mountain marathons.

The winner of the women’s competition was Annie Brown who had a brilliant run on her first orange orienteering course and finished in second place giving her an excellent victory in the double competition.

It was great to see fell running and orienteering combining to give a great week of sport in Wharfedale. The double race was particularly fitting as Will Ramsbotham was a keen fell runner and orienteer and loved to encourage participation in these sports.

There were lots of serendipitous reminder s of the close relationship between fell running and orienteering over the races. The orienteering courses were planned by Ruaridh Mon-Williams who loves fell running and orienteering. The prizes at the Badgerstone Relays were presented by a sporting legend – Jack Maitland – who was an international orienteer and fell runner. Jack Wood and Annie Brown are both members of Ilkley Harriers and Airienteers.

Fantastic to see so many Ilkley Harriers and Airienteers at the two events. Let’s hope these links between two fantastic sports grow even stronger over the forthcoming years!

Mark Mon-Williams