Last updated 19:27, Thursday, 13 November 2008

THE 10th event of the Cumbrian Galoppen series was held on Birkett Common near Kirkby Stephen in atrocious weather. Undeterred, 240 runners braved the conditions.

Steve Birkinshaw took the win on the brown course, 8.8km with 280m of climb, in 53 minutes 28 seconds.

Phil Winskill took third but had to battle against a hail squall during his run.

Charlotte Watson had an outstanding performance on blue, just a minute and a half down in third place. Ben Emerson also had a great run to take third on the green.

Paul Eaton continued his winning ways with first on orange and Esther Moore struggled through the awful weather to take an impressive fourth on yellow.

Meanwhile the first night event on Slate Fell near Cockermouth attracted a large turnout in dark and very mild conditions. Easy orienteering over the broken ground gave fast running and short winning times.

Kim Collison stormed around the 4.2km long course in 25.40, with Lewis Taylor a minute and a half behind in second.

Quite a few tried the experience for the first time and found the challenge very rewarding.

Navigating in the dark with a torch is a very exciting challenge. Finding the control marker beside the feature after careful navigation gives a great sense of achievement.

The night series continues throughout the winter on various venues in West Cumbria. Details of the venues can be found on the website www.wcoc.co.uk and on the answerphone 01768 895539.

Birkett Common results -Yellow: 4, Esther Moore 23.59; 23, Heather Eaton 49.04.

Orange: 1, Paul Eaton 23.01; 6, Jon Eaton 29.11; 8, Sarah Moore 30.14; 10, Heather Wornham 31.47; 12, Lesley Wornham 34.48; 15, Kate Skinner 45.39.

Lt green: 1, Richard Vecqueray 27.34; 32, Hugh Guise 55.49; 45, Sue Emerson 76.03.

Green: 3, Ben Emerson 42.05; 4, Helen Winskill 42.13; 8, Susan Skinner 45.41; 20, Paul Tickner 53.05; 22, Douglas Tickner 55.04; 43, Joyce Hemingway 70.51.

Blue: 3, Charlotte Watson 55.31; 6, Martin Skinner 57.05; 10, Nick Moore 58.38; 11, Angela Brand-Barker 59.20; 16, Debbie Thompson 60.45; 19, David Downes 64.17; 25, Chris Pollitt 68.54; 28, Bob Barnby 71.59; 30, John Bacon 72.41; 31, Margaret Mackenzie 72.46; 33, Debbie Watson 73.43; 40, Roger Jackson 76.40.

Brown: 1, Steve Birkinshaw 53.28; 3, Phil Winskill 60.33; 20, Colin Valentine 79.40; 24, Jeff Goodwin 85.12; 29, Mike Hind 90.38.

Slate Fell results - Long: 1, Kim Collison 25.40; 2, Lewis Taylor 27.10; 3, Neil Hamblin 29.04; 4, Graham Hemingway 29.21; 5, Charlotte Watson 30.47; 6, Kevin Hodgson 30.51; 7, Chris Brand-Barker 31.36; 8, David Spencer 31.53; 9, Pete Nelson 32.15; 10, Roger Jackson 32.18; 11, David Downes 32.20; 12, Jeff Goodwin 32.26; 13, Angela Brand-Barker 32.52; 14, Chris Pollitt 33.21; 15, Margaret Mackenzie 35.27; 16, Michael Billinghurst 36.08; 17, Nathaniel Green 36.46; 18, Alistair Arnott 36.48; 19, Julian Lailey 36.55; 20, John Bacon 37.36; 21, Matthew Ball 37.40; 22, Chris Roberts 39.56; 23, Graham Watson 40.01; 24, Mike Harrison 41.02; 25, Bob Barnby 42.43; 26, Rosie Watson 47.03.

Short: 1, Paul Jennings 28.07; 2, Ged Hagan 30.08; 3, Katrina Hemingway 32.07; 4, Richard Warner 33.51; 5, Andrew Warner 35.42; 6, Michael Green 36.40; 7, Brian Wilson 38.57; 8, Joyce Hemingway 40.43; 9, Sam Pagett 41.15; 10, Annette Milburn 42.18.

Easy: 1, Paul Eaton 10.03; 2, Jon Eaton 15.54; 3, Fergus Vecqueray 16.42; 4, Matthew Whitby 17.01; 5, Chris Wood 17.51; 6, Ian Wilson 18.00; 7, Niamh Hunter 21.10; 8, Tom Howis 21.39; 9, Matthew Armstrong 21.45.