Marking the start of the winter running season, the West Yorkshire Winter League cross country kicked off this weekend.
Hosted by Baildon runners the season opener saw an impressive field of 565 runners tackling the well established 5 mile / 8 kilometre course over Baildon moor. The course is ideally suited to the Toddy being more like a mini fell race with 650ft/200m of ascent and descent and though the weather was dry and cold on the day the route held plenty of moisture after storm Claudia.
A congested start with a few bottlenecks opened up onto a muddy and slippery trail giving an advantage to those wearing the correct footwear. Mud Talons essential! After reaching the top of the moor there followed a fast technical descent. Beyond that the course became more undulating with a fast, hard packed sprint to the finish allowing a few of the more road orientated club runners to claw back a place or two! Exhilarating stuff! Bring on round two at Dewsbury
Full results at : https://racebest.com/results/tcxgt