ANDY Staveley set a blistering pace in the seriously testing Wharfedale Half Marathon to finish 19th overall and claim the V55 prize.

Staveley crossed in 1hr 44.11mins, leading home a total of 41 Burnden members for the fourth – and easily the toughest – club championship race of the year.

Burnden’s contingent made up more than 10 per cent of the field at the event, a course of trail and 2,000ft of climb through stunning scenery north of Skipton.

Paula Pilling was fourth female finisher and first F40 in 1:58:10. Altogether, five club members came in under two hours with Colin Rigby (1:50:37), Ed Ashton (fifth V50 in 1:50:56) and Lee White (1:55:15) the others.

Kirsty White just missed out on a sub two-hour run by seconds. She was sixth female finisher in 2:00:03 but that was more than enough to take top spot in the F45 category by over four minutes from Lyndsay Darbyshire (2:04:40).

Gwen Kinloch was first F55 in 2:02:43, one of three Burndeners in the top five in that category. Lesley Fisher was third F55 in 2:04:44 and Anne Ferguson fifth in 2:09:19.

Katy Thompson battled to fifth F40 in 2:28:56 and Jane Forrest put in a strong run to finish fifth F50 in 2:13:00.

Results:

Simon Marland 2:01:40, Matt Barker 2:02:34, Laurence Keighley 2:08:35, Colm O’Brien 2:14:18, Lawrence McDonald 2:17:07, David Newman 2:23:07, Alec Cottrill 2:25:02, Don Nichol 2:25:04, Shirley Staveley 2:25:37, John Edge 2:26:55, Carolyn Barker 2:28:57, Mark Butler 2:29:56, Trevor Fishwick 2:32:16, Lucille Corrigan 2:33:56, David Aulton 2:37:50, Julie Newton 2:42:08, Jackie Oakes 2:42:36, Sarah Sutcliffe 2:43:08, Maria Parkinson 2:44:37, Anthony Foster 2:49:47, Peter Whiteside 3:01:28, Sally Cottrill 3:08:40, Sue Blackman 3:08:44, Fiona Ashton 3:13:03, Diane Morrison 3:13:06, Liz Hopley 3:13:09, Ann Butler 3:13:11, Christine Pendlebury 3:14:06, Jeffrey Pendlebury 3:14:09.

Lorraine Halwood put in another outstanding long-distance performance at the Calderdale Way Ultra, a 28.5-mile trail endurance event with a staggering 3,740ft of climb starting from Todmorden Cricket Club. Halwood managed to cover more than 30 miles in the end after a slight detour and posted 7:22:46 to be ninth female finisher.

Tim Taylor flew the Burnden flag at the Wimbledon Common Series on June 1, a five-mile scenic race in south-east London. Taylor finished eighth V55 in 39:11 as he tapered ahead of the Blenheim Palace Triathlon at the weekend.

At Blenheim, he performed impressively with an excellent 15:27 for the 750m swim, 42:57 for the 20k bike section and 28:13 for the 5.5k run to finish 24th M55 and 1,146th overall out of 3,916 finishers in a total time of 1:34:28.

Six members took part in the Bolton NHS Triathlon at Horwich, which involved a 400m pool swim in the sports centre, a 20.5K bike ride across the moors and then a two-lap 5k run through Horwich.

Three tackled it solo, with John Hall leading the way in his first triathlon, completing the swim in 12:24, the bike ride in 1:02:00 and the run in 30:18 for a total time of 1:44:42.

Gillian McGowan was also competing in her first triathlon. She was out of the pool in 12:11, off the bike in a further 1:25:07 and completed the run in 39:47 for a total of 2:17:05.

Ann Hardman did the swim in 14:33, the cycle in 1:36:26 and the run in 48:20 for a combined time of 2:39:19.

Three members took part as a team in the relay. Ann Butler took the swim leg in 9:43, with Karen Taylor – ahead of entering this weekend’s Ironman 70.3 in Shropshire – completed the bike ride in 55:12 and Julie Newton registered 26:42 for the run to give them a total of 1:31:37. Their time earned them the third place female team prize.