The third event at Stainland on 19^th January showed that despite having a few members missing we were still able to field a strong team of 24 members, including 6 women. Ian Fisher provided us with our third consecutive win although this time his winning margin was longer. New member Steve Bottomley finished fourth. In the women’s race Donna Edmondson again finished in the highly respectable 5^th place. On the day the men’s team finished in 4^th position and in 3^rd overall with the women in 5^th Position and the vets in 6^th. After three events the team results are as follows:

Men		Vets
LBT	3935	Dewsbury	1410
Pudsey	3833	LBT	1383
Dewsbury	3570	Pudsey	1380
Skipton	3558	Skipton	1288
Idle A C	3530	Baildon	1216
Stainland	3201	Stainland	1164
Baildon	2823	Idle A C	1063
St.Bede's	2734	St.Bede's	394
Women		Overall
Dewsbury	879	LBT	4766
LBT	831	Pudsey	4658
Pudsey	825	Dewsbury	4449
Skipton	822	Skipton	4380
Idle A C	747	Idle A C	4277
Stainland	702	Stainland	3903
Baildon	685	Baildon	3508
St.Bede's	188	St.Bede's	2972

All individual results are available at the club or via our website. Each year the League presents the Dave Turpin and Paul Dowson memorial trophies. These two very special trophies are presented to individuals each year - these are for the most improved male and female runner who has completed all 5 events. The most improved male runner receives the Dave Turpin Memorial Trophy and the most improved female runner receives the Paul Dowson Memorial Trophy.

Idle AC members may pick up these trophies as after three races Donna is currently in first position for the Paul Dowson trophy and Steve Britton is in joint second place for the Dave Turpin trophy. Through these trophies we remember two well known league competitors who both died suddenly, indeed within days of each other, during the 1999 -2000 season.

The fourth League race is on Sunday 9^th February 03 at 11.00 am, hosted by St.Bede’s. The venue is Esholt Cricket Club, Esholt Lane, where there will be showers and a bar. Please join us for the results after the race when soup and rolls will be available.

The start is a 10 minute walk/jog from the changing facilities. There is some parking available near the start on Station Road, the waterworks road or a pay and display carpark (you still need to pay on Sundays).

On Saturday 25^th Jan two groups recced the course which is quite a varied mainly woodland course with some short road stretches and a couple of shortish hills.

As this is our nearest race it would be great to see a full team turn out. We’ve had 24 runners at the last two event, so is it possible for us to have 30 runners on this local course?? As with the first three races John Gambles will be videoing the race and at the end of the season we will arrange a video showing to mark our first completed season (further details to follow). In addition we hope John Nellist will continue to provide some excellent photos.

Second Open Morning - What a success!

The Club hosted its second ‘Open Morning’ on Sunday 12^th January at Hepworth & Idle cricket club. Quite a few members turned up to join Chris who offered a speed session followed by a talk about Marathon running and an opportunity to try out sports drinks and food. At the Open Morning we were joined by three new members: Trevor, Michael and Glenn.

43 Members - What a Start to 2003!!

As 2002 drew to a close we had 37 members, however January proved a really successful month and we gained a further 6 members. We welcome Jon Cummings, Michael Masleczko, Trevor Hooley and Glenn Pinkney. We were delighted that two further members joined in time to run the Stainland cross country, and welcome Simon Bellwood and Susie Jollie. Susie has joined as a second claim member (first claim Ilkley Harriers). We have also had at least two further enquires from potential new members.

Coming Events February, March and April 03:

Events in bold indicate a ‘club’ event which members are encouraged to run.

Date	Event
9^th Feb 03	4^th Cross Country at St. Bede’s (Esholt), 11 am start. All Club needed.
16^th Feb 03	Liversedge Half Marathon, 12.00 noon start. Entry forms at the club.
23^rd Feb 03	Final Cross Country at Skipton, 11am start. Let’s pull out all the stops for the final event.
8^th March 03	Dent 14.3, 1pm, Saturday race.
16th March 03	Spen 20, 10am If you can do this you can run a marathon!
22^nd March 03	Coniston 14 (Saturday), 11am.
23rd March 03	Ackworth Half marathon, 10.30 am.
1^st April 03	Bunny Run1, 3mile ‘Fell’ race, 7.00 pm. Tues.
6^thApril 03	Wakefield 10k 10am.
6^thApril 03	Baildon Boundary Way Half, 10.30am.
12^th April 03	Meanwood Valley Trail 8, 10.30am. Saturday.
20^th April 03	Guiseley Gallop 10k, 10.30am.

West Yorkshire Winter League Presentation Night - Friday 14^th March.

All members and partners are encouraged to attend the Presentation Night for the West Yorkshire Winter League which is to be held on Friday 14^th March at Skipton Rugby Club. Tickets cost £5 each which includes presentation of club and individual awards, buffet, disco and late bar until 1pm. All are welcome, regardless of whether you have run the races. It is a good Club night out and an opportunity to support individual trophy winners from Idle AC and from other clubs within the League. A name list has been placed at the club for all those who want to attend. We have booked a 24 seater bus and already have 17 seats booked, therefore final seats will be booked on a first come, first served basis! Don’t miss out!

Club Kit - As modelled on Idle AC website!

We still have a limited number of small Idle AC fleeces at the original price of £23 and Kay has ordered a further supply of medium fleeces. All new fleeces will be £25 each (because Chris forgot about the minor detail of VAT). We also have a further supply of Idle AC T-shirts at £6.50 or long sleeved T Shirts at £7.50 each. There are also some vests still available at £14 each - vests should worn at all races.

Attendance Scheme

Please don’t forget to sign in the book each time you attend a club session (but only pay once per week) as each attendance at a club training session is worth 1 point and to be eligible for a trophy members must accumulate at least 30 attendance points during the year. Each attendance at a “Club” designated race earns you 5 points (see below). 50% of the required points must be achieved by attendance at training sessions.

Top Fifteen Club Races for 2003: Handicap/ Attendance Scheme

6 out of 15 possible races to count.

February - Sun 16^th	Liversedge Half Marathon, 12.00 noon.
March - Sat 22^nd	Coniston 14, 11am.
April - Sun 6^th	Wakefield 10k 10am.
*April - Sun 6^th**	Baildon Boundary Way Half, 10.30am.
*April - Sat 12^th**	Meanwood Valley Trail 8, 10.30am.
*April - Sun 20^th**	Guiseley Gallop 10k, 10.30am.

NB: the above 3* races are part of Triple Challenge - 5 points for any individual race but extra 2 points if all three are completed. Therefore a total of 17 points available from the Triple Challenge Series.

April- Tues 1st	Bunny Run1, 3mile ‘Fell’ race, 7.00 pm.
May - Sun 11	Leeds Half or Full Marathon, 10am.
May - Wed 14th	John Carr 5k, Esholt, first race.
June - Sun 22nd	Blackpool Half or Full Marathon, 9am.
Aug -Sat 9th	Arncliffe Gala Road and/or Fell race.
Aug - Sat 23rd	Burnsall Classic 10 mile road race.
Sept- Sun (DNK)	Horsforth 10k.
Nov- Sun (DNK)	Guy Fawkes 10mile.
Dec- Sun (DNK)	Abbey Dash 10k.

In addition to the above, members will each receive 2 points for each of the remaining two WYWL cross country races: 9^th Feb and 23^rd Feb.

Next chance to get points is by running the next 2 cross countries (2 points each) or entering Liversedge Half (5 points).

Fell Racing in 2003: Achievement Certificates available.

In addition to all the above the club will be offering fell races to any members who are interested as it is important that the club offers all three disciplines for which the club is affiliated to: Road Running, cross-country running and fell running. A list of local fell races for 2003 is available at the club or via the website. Chris has timetabled a selected list of 5 fell races during 2003, which gradually increase in difficulty and then, if there is enough interest, we will offer ‘achievement certificates’ to any members who compete in these races. This will be kept fairly informal, and as a taster to fell running the club will take part in the Bunny Run series of races on Tuesday evening’s during April.

As a ‘gentle intro’ to fell running we recommend that everyone takes part in the first of the ‘Bunny Run’ races held on Tuesday 1^st April 03, 7.00 am from the Guide Inn, Harden Moor (£2). This is a 3 mile race with 300’ feet of climbing and is easily accessible to all Idle AC members, being similar to or less difficult than the Winter League races. All runners receive a cream egg, and in addition a special bottle of beer to commemorate the silver wedding anniversary of the organisers.

Members who take part in the first Bunny Run Race on 1^st April will be eligible for a ‘Level 1’ fell race certificate. Chris is recommending the following ‘course’ of fell races, which, gradually increase in difficulty. If there is enough interest he will present awards to those who progress on the course.

The Fell course will be as follows:

1. TUE APRIL 1st SILVER WEDDING BUNNY RUN 1. CS. 7.00 pm. 3 miles/300’ from the Guide Inn, Harden Moor. £2 on night. All finishers receive Cadbury’s Cream egg plus a special bottle of beer.

2. WED MAY 7th HARE & HOUNDS FELL RACE. BS. 7.30 pm 4.5 miles/600’ from the Hare & Hounds, Lothersdale near Skipton. £3 on night.

3. WED JUNE 4th CHEVIN FELL RACE. AS. 7.30 pm. 3.5 miles/900’ from Otley Town Centre. £2.50 on night. Bottle/can beer to all finishers.

4. WED JULY 23rd WIDDOP FELL RACE. BM. 7.15 pm. 7miles/1200’ from the Pack Horse Inn (The Ridge) Widdop, Hebden Bridge. £3 on night.

5. SAT AUG 9th ARNCLIFFE GALA FELL RACES. AS. 3pm. 1.8 miles/443’ from Arncliffe Village Green, near Skipton. £2.50 on day. Also Gala road race (see list above).

Please see Chris if you are interested.

Black Sheep Brewery Race Series 2003

The Black Sheep Brewery Race Series is a series of 6 separate running events organised in towns & villages in scenic North Yorkshire.

The objective is to complete 4 of the 6 races, 3 x 10k’s plus either the ½ marathon or the 10mile. If 4 races are completed you get a personalised silver race series plaque. If all 6 races are completed you get a personalised gold race series plaque. All runners entering the series receive a quality commemorative plaque. Category winners are determined by points gained in each race, and are based on your best 3 10k races, plus your best long race. Points are awarded to the first 10 in each age category.

During 2002 a number of Idle AC members took part in the series, including Davina who was third F35 and Chris who was 4^th overall. Both obtained prizes and all would recommend this series. All races can be entered individually as well as part of the series.

Entry forms available at the club.

The 2003 races in the Black Sheep Brewery Races are:

Sun 11^th May	Fountains 10mile. Challenging with a stretch of moorland track.
Sun 25^th May	Melmerby 10k - Fast, flat PB course.
Sat 7^th June	Kirby Malzeard 10k - Undulating road race.
Sun 29^th June	Rainton 10k - 70% road and 30% tracks, flat course.
Sat 5^th July	Burn Valley Half - Mainly road, hilly and scenic. Free tea in Town Hall after race.
Sun 27^th July	Burton Leonard 10k - 30% road and 70% tracks and country, undulating.

2003 - A year of celebrations:

On the 22^nd March Idle 03 A C is one year old (since formation), although we affiliated as a club (became recognised by the governing bodies) on 10^th June.

Please let any Committee member (Chris, Davina, Martin, Steve or Kay) us have your ideas as to how we, as a club, can celebrate this first year.

Relay Races - Teams needed

We will soon be in a position to finalise the date for the West Yorks Winter League Canal Relay (Leeds to Riddlesden). This is will be a Saturday (possibly on 31^st May) and we hope to enter either one, or possibly two teams for this event. We need runners to run in pairs (5 legs) and our team must include at least 1 vet and 1 female. Further details ASAP.

In addition we hope to enter a team in the Millennium Way Relay, hosted by St.Bede’s on 15^th June.

The relay race uses the route of the Bradford Millennium Way as described in the booklet available from Bracken Hall Baildon and is run in pairs. It will be 5 legs with two runners per leg. The race will be based at Bradford and Bingley Cricket and Rugby club with the start being on Beckfoot Lane, Bingley at 8.00am with the finish being at the sports club. The legs are as follows:

LEG 1	Beckfoot Lane, Bingley to Marsh Lane Oxenhope. Estimated 1500 foot of climbing in 10.5 miles.
LEG 2	Marsh Lane Oxenhope to Laycock. Estimated 1200 feet of climbing in 9 miles.
LEG 3	Laycock to Silsden. Estimated 700 feet of climbing in 8.5 miles.
LEG 4	Silsden to Ilkley. A leg of two parts. The first half meanders around from Silsden over to Addingham mainly over farmland. The second part climbs from Addingham onto the top of the moor and then parallels the valley to Ilkley. Estimated about 1300 feet of climbing and 8.5 miles.
LEG 5	Ilkley to Wagon Lane, Bingley. Estimated 800 feet of climbing in about 10.5 miles.

The finish is on Wagon Lane to finish at Bradford and Bingley Sports Club.

UK:Athletics - Clubs:Future

As a new club we are keen to ensure that we work closely with the sport’s governing bodies, UK:Athletics and North of England Athletic Association (NoEAA) to ensure that we offer the best support and advice to our members. As an affiliated club, (and with our responsibility for the West Yorkshire Winter League) we have worked closely with NoEAA to ensure that we are running the club in an appropriate way. We are delighted that Idle AC has now achieved ‘Clubs Charter’ status which recognises that we are able to provide 5 basic elements within our structure. These are:

1. A Minimum of 20 members of which 10% must be coaches and or/Officials. We currently have 43 members which are served by 5 committee members, including a Level 3 coach, a level 2 coach and two level 1 coaches.

2. A Club Constitution, agreed by all eligible club members and in line with UK:athletics rules. All members receive a copy of the Idle AC’s Constitution as it forms part of your Membership Card. This constitution will be reviewed on an annual basis at our AGM in April of each year. The Constitution for Idle AC and for the West Yorkshire Winter League are also available on the club’s website.

3. A named Club Secretary or consistent point of contact. Chris Smith is the Secretary, although members are free to contact any of the 5 Committee members are help and advice on matters relating to the club. Any matters relating to the WYWL should be passed to either Chris, Davina or Andy Barrett from Pudsey Pacers.

4. A welcoming environment that provides equal access, irrespective of gender, ethnic origin or ability. This is up to all members to ensure. However, our members always support one another and ensure that all are made to feel welcome. As a club we cater for male and female runners of all abilities and have a variety of members of differing ethnic origins and nationalities.

5. A Code of Conduct: To work towards having a Code of Conduct. We will be working with NoEAA to produce a Code Of Conduct, however, our main objective is to encourage all members to be good ambassadors for the sport.

Following our achievement of the above criteria we have now received our Club Charter Certificate and this has been framed and will be displayed at the club.

Web Site Update

The website is now hosted on a fee paying site. The advantages of this include 250 Mb of web space, active server pages (ASP forms), fully backed up files in case of disaster (not simply relying on me to back up my files locally.), 2Gb (that's 2000Mb) of bandwidth per month (In English: a lot of uploads & downloads on a monthly basis). Faster loading pages etc...

As a result of this I have been able to add back all the photographs to the site. & now have a lot of spare capacity to allow for future development.

What's coming next:

The photo album is due for an overhaul: Planned for the next 2 months (Feb & March 2003), with thumbnails linked to downloadable quality photos. These will be suitable for printing out up to A5 size with very good results.

Club milestones section: this will be a historic archive of all our major events that have made news items, I intend to have a whole page dedicated to each event. Events qualifying at the moment are: Affiliation, Open days, Chris's treadmill marathon, Record turnout at Horsforth 10K, First official race as a club - Bronte 5m. If anyone else thinks an event should be archived in this way, email me with your thoughts.

Hits to date - End January 2003:

The hit counter is still smouldering around the 3600 mark. The reports I am getting are showing some interesting trends. Month on month the trend is rising sharply & we are getting a significant number of hits from non club members which is very encouraging. In addition to other running clubs we are starting to get hits from search engines such as Google.com, Freeserve's iFind.com, Yahoo.co.uk, UK.Search.co.uk. I will resubmit the site to as many free search engines I can this month as it is a good way of getting noticed on the internet.

Interesting Statistics

Average Per Day	35
Average Visit Length	6:43
Last Hour	6
Today	30
This Week	247

I have started the conversion to an XML based site, but it looks like people with older operating systems can't view the data, so I have put this development on hold until a solution can be found. To check if your PC is XML compatible click on the word "hosted" which can be found top, centre on the home page. If you see a page of data with a heading you are fine, otherwise you will only see the heading - no data (runners names visible). I will update you all further in next month's gossip- Martin

Blackpool Marathon: Idle A C Club race for 2003.

We hope to flood the field with Idle vests at the Blackpool marathon and half marathon on Sunday 22^nd June 2003. Entry forms are available at the club, and many people are talking about making a weekend of it. Whilst this may seem a long way off it would be good to know that we all had entries. In 2002 five Idle A C members ran this event, 3 in the full and 2 in the half . This is as flat a course as you can get and is generally a well organised and supported race.

For those of you with caravans or tents Martin has recommended the Gillett Farm Caravan Park, Peel Road, Nr Blackpool which is set in 12 acres and has 76 pitches. Tel: 01253 761676. Chris and Davina, plus anyone who wants to join them, will be booking into a B & B in the Lytham or St Anne’s area for the Saturday night.

Races in January: Brass Monkey Half Marathon

Idle AC fielded 10 runners for the Brass Monkey Half Marathon in York on 26^th January, where personal best times were achieved by 6 members and three club records were broken. Joanne Belcher broke the club’s female record in her first ever half marathon race. Chris Smith broke the male club record and Veterans Captain Steve Little showed he can lead from the front by breaking the club’s Male 45 record. It was good to see new members Brian Heaton and Glenn Pinkney in their first half marathon both clocking very respectable times. All the hard Tuesday sessions must be paying off as Adrian, Martin and Pete V. all knocked several minutes from their previous times. The race was won by Ian Fisher who clocked up his sixth consecutive win in a time of 1.07.56.

Vets Bill

Late December / January can be a quiet month for races, so there is not too much to report.

Sunday 26^th January saw the Brass-Monkey ½ marathon at York, this is the first ½ marathon of the New Year. It is harder getting an entry for this race than actually running in the event (well nearly). Here we had success in a PB for Martin Burnside, Steve Little with the V45 club record and good runs from Davina Smith and Pete Helliwell. PB’s too for new members Brian Heaton and Glenn Pinkney in their first half marathon.

January 19^th was the third of the Winter League cross-country races at Stainland. This testing 2-lap course featured 9 Vets. Currently the Vets team is in eighth place overall with 1063 points.

The 29^th December brought our first International Vet’s runner, in the fine form of Martin Burnside, competing in the Sylvester Laufen10k road race in Germany.

Boxing Day saw five of our Vets complete the Chevin Chase at Guiseley. Good runs from Dave Lewis, Tony Blythe, Dave Currie, Davina Smith and Sue Elliot.

Two days later, was the Jolly Hog 10k completed by Peter Helliwell and Davina Smith. If they weren’t sober at the start of the race they were by the finish.

Talking of being sober reminds me of a story my father tells, which is recorded in a local history book about Wilsden, a village between Bradford and Bingley.

In the early part of the last century my great grandfather sold produce from his horse drawn cart. He was in the habit of stopping off at the Brewers Arms in Wilsden, taking a well earned pint or six before climbing upon his cart and letting the horse take him home. As on previous occasions, he tied the horse to a fence post outside and went inside for his usual drink. Now unbeknown to him, some of the village “sports” unhitched the horse from the cart, pushed the cart shafts through the fence and reconnected the horse again at the other side.

Some hours later, slightly under the influence, my great grandfather left the pub to be dazed and confused by the sight of his horse on one side of the fence fully harnessed to his cart at the other side.

I would like to say that it cured his drinking habit but it didn’t. All this goes to prove that well known medical fact that alcohol can increase your blood pressure. Steve Little.

From the Coach…

One of the many beneficient side effects of running is the time during a long run for thinking, for introspection and contemplation. On many long solo training runs I have achieved an almost meditative state, and often I have been able to chase away the negative thoughts of a difficult day at work, or what may seem at the beginning of a run to be insurmountable problems. I reach a stage during these long efforts which I refer to as the “long silence”, where my state of mind is changed for the better, and the positive effects of which last long after the run has finished. Many people have heard of the release of endorphins, the body’s natural equivalent to a class ‘A’ drug, into the brain during sustained exercise, but I believe also that during a long physical challenge the brain can sort things out and tidy them away, leaving the runner calmer and more relaxed. (Davina would certainly agree that there’s plenty in my brain that needs sorting out).

This may in part explain my preference for long events, like the Rombalds Stride 25 mile race last Saturday. During my mental preparation, and during the event itself, I thought hard about what I do, and realised about the importance of my experience when encouraging and advising other runners at the club. So this was my homework! Do a long nasty race and then tell everyone how good it was. And incidentally tell Davina that I can’t possibly do anything for the rest of the weekend because I’m so exhausted.

Website: Visit us at www.idleac.co.uk

The West Yorkshire Winter League Cross Country - Another winner!