Jerry Barnes

York Acorn runner Jerry Barnes won the Falcon Flyer 26- mile off-road race near Scarborough in muddy, treacherous conditions.

Barnes remained in a pack of six in the first hour to Biller Howe Dale, before gradually extending his lead to 19 minutes, finishing in 3hr 50min.

This was a good time as high tides prevented the usual beach crossing at Robin Hoods Bay, thus extending the route along the Cleveland Way cliff tops.

Acorn's Julie Bushell was second woman in 4hr 50min behind Kendra White.

Acorn's Sandra Hood was second woman home in the hilly Nidderdale eight mile road race near Pateley Bridge in 62min 02sec, and clubmate John Tattersall clocked 59mins 34sec.

In the first Puma Edinburgh Marathon, Michael Siddall (Pocklington) had an exceptional run to finish 39th overall in 2hr 42min 33sec.

Acorn's Bushell made a grand recovery from illness to lead three of her team-mates home in 3hr 48min 49sec.

In their first marathon attempts Julie Simpson clocked 3-52.30, and Helen Barnes 4-09.11, while veteran Jenny Rowland completed the Acorn's women's team in 4-57-19.

Also completing the distance was Acorn's Gerry Orchard in 3-33-09.

More than 5,000 runners set off from Dunfermline crossing the Forth Bridge, through suburbs and eventually Edinburgh City centre, Holyrood Park and finishing in the Meadowbank Stadium.

Mick McGrath (Knavesmire) reduced his personal best marathon time by over 11 minutes, with fellow club members Linda Fawcett and Margaret Metcalfe also setting new personal bests.

Mexico's Adres Espianosa-Perez won the men's race in 2-14.31, and Britain's Paul Evans was fourth in 2-17.35.

Esther Kiplagat, of Kenya, took the women's title in 2-33.09.

Ten Acorn runners turned out at Askham Bryan for the Nestl Ice Cream ten mile road race. Steve Simpson was well placed in 14th position in 56min 22sec.

Mike Raynes set another personal best time of 57-42, while Acorn's Catherine Fleming also improved her performance in her second attempt at the distance, producing a personal best of 73-02.

Sale Harriers' Kim Critchley, a former Nestl Rowntree AC runner, won the race in 53-46, and Sue Garrod of Goole Viking Striders was first woman in 65-24.

Other Acorn times were: Martin Lawn 63 mins, Dave Elliott 66-40, John Ballin 72-12, Norman Stevens 72-16, Joanne Simpson 77-00, Jim Cowen 82-06, Julie Hills 84-40.

Acorn's veteran over-50 runner Howard Winzar clocked an excellent time for his age group in the hilly Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon (Mid-Wales) in 1hr 28min 32sec.

He also produced a time of 40min 45sec in the Flintshire 10K.

Over-50 Acorn chairman John Tattersall completed the New Forest Half Marathon in 1hr 37min 44sec, and in the multi-terrain Harewood Hop 10K, he clocked 53min 08sec with team-mate Sandra Hood finishing in 54-07.

In the Nottingham Half Marathon, York-based Jonathon Pavis (Sale Harriers) finished fifth overall in 68min 30sec, and personal bests were achieved by Knavesmire's Mark Sullivan, Shaun MacGregor and Alison Mortimer.

Acorn's Sue Jones finished in 1hr 31min.

In the Temple Newsam Five Mile Road Race, Acorn's Catherine Fleming finished in 36min 20sec and Helen Barnes in 37-38.

Burton Leonard hosted the final race in the popular Black Sheep Brewery '99 Challenge series, with a testing 10km course, about 70 per cent of which was off road in fairly muddy conditions.

John Yates (South Hambleton), Dave Varley (Knavesmire) and Blaise Smith (Tadcaster) were the leading local athletes in a field of nearly 200 finishers.

Knavesmire's Malcolm Fawcett won the Over-55 section of the challenge to complete a clean sweep of all seven races in the series.

A good team of York athletes were among the 540 finishers in the Horsforth 10k, won by Ian Mitchell (Longwood) in 31min 43sec.

Andy Normandale, eighth overall and second over-40, ran a superb race to lead fellow Nestl runners Dave Lancaster (4th over-40) and Jon Smith in an attempt to win the men's team prize, but they were just beaten by Bingley Harriers.

Although Christine Shouksmith (Knavesmire) struggled after her good run in the Nestl 10 mile, she still managed to support Fiona Strange (5th lady) and Veronica Macklet (3rd lady over-40) to again take the ladies' team prize.

Barry Atkinson, Matthew Thorner and John Wagstaff all ran well for Knavesmire.

Brian Dobson (South Hambleton) continued to improve as did team mate Vicky Eaton who again picked up a ladies prize.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.