Monday 6 March It was a weekend to forget for the Dovenby Hall-based Ford M-Sport team who saw Marcus Gronholm lose his lead at the top of the driver standings following his eighth place finish in the Rally of Mexico, won by current champion Sebastian Loeb who takes over at the top. Gronholm crashed out on Day One, team-mate Miko Hirvonen on Day Two - both resumed under the SuperRally rules.
Cockermouth teenager Matthew Wilson, who was lying in sixth place at the end of the first day, crashed his Ford on Day Two but rejoined and kept up his 100% finishing record in his debut season with a 17th place finish. Friday 3 March The Cumbria-based Ford team go into this weekend's Rally of Mexico looking to maintain their lead at the top of both the manufacturers and driver standings.
The Dovenby-Hall team lead the manufacturers table by seven points from Citroen, with Marcus Gronholm four points ahead of Citroen's' Sebastian Loeb in the drivers standings.
Cockermouth teenager Matthew Wilson continues his rally education after his thirteenth-place finish in Sweden last month. Wednesday 1 March Cumbrian rally driver Paul Bird's declared himself happy with the start of the defence of his Ancro National Rally title at the weekend.
Bird, from Langwathy, finished third in the Sunseeker Rally in Bournemouth despite experiencing gear-box problems with his Subaru Impeza. Tuesday 28 February Snooker Reigning champion Andrew Milliard of Kendal was beaten 4-2 in the quarter finals of the John Smith’s County Championships by Kevin Basnett. The Workington Railway Club player will now play Workington John Street Club’s Peter O’Hagan at Keswick’s Derwent Club on March 16. The second semi-final on March 23, at the same venue, is between John Airey (Penrith Cons Club) and Robert Sim (Marchon Club, Whitehaven). Friday 24 February Langwathby's Paul Bird returns begins the defence of his National Rally title in Bournemouth this weekend, in the Sunseeker Rally.
Having sold his championship-winning Ford Focus World Rally car in a bid to concentrate on his Super-bike team - Bird, along with co driver Ian Windress from Northallerton - borrow a £250,000 Subaru Impreza for the two day event, which gets underway tonight. Thursday 23 February A West Cumbrian has helped Cambridge beat rivals Oxford 5-2 in the varsity judo trophy event.
Archie Reid, 27, of Egremont, a former pupil of St. Benedict’s School, Whitehaven, is a mature engineering student in his third year at Cambridge.
A brown belt, he was with both Windscale and Marchon judo clubs, before starting his studies at Cambridge after a spell in the merchant navy as an engineering officer. Thursday 16 February Kevin Basnett and Robert Sim have won the Cumbria County Snooker doubles championship for a fourth time.
In the final at the Portland Club, Carlisle they swept aside the challenge of a new pairing John Airey (Penrith Conservative Club) and Dave Currie (Portland Club).
Basnett (Workington Railway Club) and Sim (Marchon) won 3-0 to continue their outstanding record in the competition. A stalwart of the Cumbrian cycling scene has been recognised for his services to the sport at home and abroad.
Gerard McCarten, president of the Velo Club Cumbria has been involved in cycling for five decades and closely involved in youth development.
British Cycling have presented him with a national award for services to the sport while Union Internationale Cycliste of Switzerland have made a similar international award. Carlisle Racecourse will be hosting a special Cheltenham National Hunt Festival Preview Night on Tuesday the of 7th March. A panel of experts will be taking a look at the twenty four races which form jumping's biggest meeting of the year.
On the panel will be leading jump jockey Tony Dobbin, Cumbrian trainer Martin Todhunter, At The Races presenter Gordon Brown along with journalist John Budden and author Paul Jones.
The event gets underway from 7.30pm. Senior Cumbrian motor sport official, Bill Troughear, has been made one of the first Vice President's of the Motor Sport Council of the Motor Sport's Association.
Mr Troughear was an early member of the Cumberland Sporting Car Club, becoming Chair of the Cumbria Motor Sport Group and more recently chair of the MSA Regional Committee. The 2006 Northern Classic Trial takes place this Saturday - a round of the National Championship open to motorcycles as well as cars.
Competitors will tackle fourteen observed sections and two special tests around the North Lakes area. Last year's winner Ian Davis comes returns to defend his title. Thursday 9 February James Ellison's place on the MotoGP grid for 2006 has been confirmed after the Yamaha Tech 3 team announced their line-up, featuring the Cumbrian rider.
Ellison, from Kendal, will line up alongside Spain's Carlos Checa, the most experienced rider on the grid next season.
The Ellison-Checa team will be the second Yamaha team in the paddock, after the Camel Yamaha team of world champion Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. Tuesday 7 February MOTORSPORT
Cumbrian rally driver Matthew Wilson says he can live with the expectation of British motor sport fans.
The 18-year-old from Cockermouth is being compared to tennis player Andy Murray as he competes in his first World Rally Championship.
And after a fifteenth and fourteenth finish from his two events so far, Wilson says he can live with the comparison as he continues his steep learning curve.
"There are some similarities between the two of us" Wilson said.
"There is a lot of pressure on me but people should realise that it's not going to happen overnight and I will continue to keep on learning over the next few years." Thursday 2 February SNOOKER
Reigning champion Andrew Milliard of Kendal faces a quarter-final trip to Workington in the John Smith’s County Singles Championship. Milliard had a tight 4-3 win over Marchon’s Richard McCarthy in the last round and will now take-on Kevin Basnett at the Railway Club. Other ties: Giles Finnegan (Carlisle) v John Airey (Penrith); Peter O’Hagan (Workington) v Vito Shippley (Whitehaven); Robert Sim (Whitehaven) v Karl McQuillan (Kendal MOTORSPORT
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson says he's excited about the new Ford Fiesta Championship to be launched this year.
The Cockermouth-based operation will administer the new series, which starts in March with the Malcolm Wilson Rally, based at the team's Dovenby Hall headquarters. Competitors will then face five more gravel rallies and two asphalt rallies on the UK mainland, finishing with the Bulldog Clubman Rally in October 2006, and Wilson said the championships could provide a future world champion. Wednesday 1 February Cumbrian Chloe Wilcox has played her part in helping England through to the semi-final of the Commonwealth Championships in Australia.
The 19-year-old from Reagill near Shap was among nine different scored as she grabbed two goals in a 33-0 win over Singapore.
Wins over South Africa and Scotland but defeats by Canada and Australia mean England will face New Zealand for the bronze medal. Penrith professional Garry Key, 37, has flown out to Mauritius to take part in a 36-hole tournament over the next ten days.
He finished sixth overall in 28 qualifiers from the Heritage Club Pro Order of Merit in 2005 and the 40-stroing field will be made-up with 12 wild cards.
“I really knuckled down last year and played well so it’s a great way to start 2006,” said the Penrith pro, son of ex-Workington Town rugby league star Andy Key. Sunday 15 January Racing There was a rousing finish to the £35,000 Lanzarote Hurdle at Carlisle on Saturday when three
horses finished across the line together to leave a ten minute wait before a dead-heat was announced between Buck Whaley - trained by Jonjo O'Neill - and Rayshan, with just a neck back to Torkinking.
Top Cumbria-based jockey Tony Dobbin picked up winners in the first two races of the day. Water Polo Cumbrian Chloe Wilcox, 19, is on course for a place in the England team for the Commonwealth Games later in the year.
The former Appleby Grammar School pupil from Reagill, is in the squad of 13 chosen for a pre-Games tournament this month in Perth.
Before taking part against some of the world’s best in Perth, England will be competing next week in a warm-up tournament in New Zealand against the hosts and Japan. Friday 13 January The 2006 racing season at Carlisle Racecourse opens tomorrow with the Lanzarote Day - a meeting transferred from Kempton Park.
Carrying a total cash-prize fund of £95,000, it's the most valuable day in Carlisle's racing year.
The highlight is the Lanzarote Hurdle, which offers a victory prize of £35,000 and will be one of three races shown on terrestrial televison.
Racing gets underway at ten past one. Thursday 12 January Ford's new signings, double world rally champions Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen and team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, are testing the all-new Focus RS World Rally Car 06 in southern France ahead of next week's first round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Stobart Motorsport have unveiled exciting plans for the 2006 Stobart VK Rally Team.
The team will contest Britain’s premier rally series, the MSA British Rally Championship, with two Ford Fiesta Super 1600 rally cars driven by 29 year old Czech international rally star, Roman Kresta, and the current British Group N Champion, 23 year old Barry Clark.
The two Ford Fiestas will join the brace of Group N Subaru Imprezas which will also be running under the Stobart VK banner
Mark Higgins is to defend his British Championship title and will be joined for the season by former Group N Champion Julian Reynolds Horse racing Carlisle general manager John Baker says he's confident Saturday's prestigous Lanzarote meeting will go ahead.
The Durdar course going is described as heavy following the rainfall earlier this week. But Baker says the meeting, which offers over £95,000 in prize funds, should go ahead. Friday 30 December Kendal soldier Corporal Adele Morris is close to selection for the Great Britain biathlon squad taking part in the Winter Olympics.
Corporal Morris and her husband Marc are currently involved in a punishing, full-time training regime ahead of the squad been chosen.
The 29-year-old Royal Logistic Corps driver, who joined the army in 1994, is involved in the event which doubles cross-country skiing with shooting at targets. Thursday 22 December Swimming Cumbrian swimmer Matt Bowe will represent England at next year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
The 22-year-old is expected to swim the butterfly leg of England’s 4x100m medley relay team and hopes to get the nod in the individual butterfly events.
Matt, from Silecroft, is a former junior with Barrow Amateur Swimming Club who now trains for up to 30 hours a week at Loughborough University. Wednesday 21 December Darts Carlisle's Peter Manley is through to the second round of darts Ladbrokes World Championship at Purfleet in Essex. He beat Kevin Spiolek 3-0. Shock of the round saw Gary Welding defeat number one seed Colin Lloyd 3-2. Wednesday 7 December South Cumbrian Matt Bowe has almost certainly booked his place in the England team for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Australia. Bowe, 22, won the 100 metres butterfly in Swansea at the final English trials ahead of the event in Melbourne. The Silecroft-based Bowe, who did 53.8 seconds in the trial, is believed to be the first Cumbrian male swimmer ever to compete in the Commonwealth Games. Sunday 4 December Newly crowned ANCRO National Rally Champion Paul Bird couldn't quite round off a successful season with victory in the Grizedale Rally this weekend, coming second behind winner Guy Wilks. Saturday 26 November Cumbrian rugby union star Mark Cueto is Cumbria's Sports Personality of the Year for 2005.
The Sale Sharks winger was named as the winner at last night's awards ceremony in Ambleside.
Mark Cueto's award comes at the end of a year that's seen him establish himself as a regular on the international stage for both England and the British Lions. - The Junior Personality award went to Carlisle squash player Victoria Bell.
- The Team of the Year went to Whitehaven Rugby League club who won their first trophy in their 57 year history in 2005.
- Cumbria-based jockey Tony Dobbin picked up the Special Award after reaching 1000 career winners.
- Glasson rugby league coach Tony Tomlinson won the Coach of the Year award
- Tthe service to sport award went to swimming coach Paul Keen.
- Junior Athlete Richard Byers won the performance award
- Athlete Phillip Lee won the Disability Performance award.
- Thorncliffe School Basketball Team picked up the Junior Team Award.
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Homing Flimby West Coast will become the first pigeon club in Cumbria to stage a show this year when they hold an event on Sunday.
Shows had been suspended because of concerns over bird flu but Defra have relaxed their rules.
“We’ve been mobbed from high risk to low risk and provided we take precautions and obtain a licence we can go ahead,” said the club spokesman John Ellwood. Wednesday 23 November SNOOKER
Holder Andy Milliard has a home draw in the first round of the John Smith’s Cumbria County singles championship. Milliard, from the Kendal Liberal Club, beat Penrith Conservative club player Paul Kipling on his home table in the preliminary round. Now he follows-up against Shaun Doyle of the Portland Club, Carlisle while last year’s beaten finalist Steve Garroway (Workington Railway Club) travels to Barrow to take on Daniel McDonald. ROWING
Kendal’s Sue Little, 54, successfully defended her title at the British Indoor Rowing Championships to win a second successive gold medal. She raced over the Olympic regatta distance of 2,0000 metres on indoor rowers. Up to 3,000 competitors took part in various categories, defined by age and weight with Sue doing 7mins 48.4secs in the women’s 50-54 lightweight category. Friday 18 November HOMING
Cumbrian pigeon fanciers are flying high again after receiving permission to hold a major show in Egremont next month.
The RPRA Cumbria Region planned to celebrate 100 years by staging the show in Egremont on December 3 but it was in doubt because of DEFRA regulations.
Now DEFRA have announced that shows have been downgraded from “high to low risk” and provided certain precautions are taken shows can be held under licence. SURFING
A Cumbrian has been celebrating after being crowned British surfing champion for the fifth time.
Gabe Davies, 31, lives in south west France but was raised in Great Strickland, near Penrith and is a professional who competes all over the world.
“It wasn’t until the family left Cumbria and moved to Tynemouth that I started taking surfing seriously and it’s been my life since then,” he says. Saturday 29 October Cricket Workington will start the defence of the Higson Cup next season with a home tie against Appleby Eden.
Keswick, who lost out in a high-scoring final this summer, will travel to Lindal Moor for their first round game.
Other matches: Cockermouth v Millom; Wigton v Whitehaven; Cleator v Dalton; Furness v Vickerstown; Duddon SC v Penrith; Kirkby v Haverigg. Racing Carlisle officials expect to beat the weather and stage the course’s richest race at Sunday’s National Hunt meeting.
The course is still raceable, despite heavy rain throughout the week, and prospects are good for the second staging of the £40,000 Cumberland Handicap Chase.
Jonnie Fenwicke-Clennell, the clerk of the course, said: “We are optimistic about our chances provided there is no more heavy rain overnight.” Water Polo Cumbrian Chloe Wilcox has been chosen for the England squad to take part in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Chloe, 18,a former pupil of Appleby Grammar School, worked at Shap swimming pool during the summer working as a lifeguard.
A former player with Kendal and Carlisle, Chloe now represents Sheffield while she trains 16 hours a week with the Great Britain squad in Manchester where she is studying. Friday 28 October Racing Carlisle is gearing itself up for Sunday's Family Countryside Day, featuring the Cumberland Chase. The six race card gets underway from 12.45 with the Chase off at 2.30 featuring an impressive field including former national winner Amberleigh House - and race manager John Baker says it's an important race in the Blackwell Road track's National Hunt calendar. Friday 21 October Stobart Motorsport driver Paul Bird goes into the final round of the 2005 ANCRO Rally Championship this weekend, needing only a fourth place finish to be guaranteed the title.
Bird, and his Northallerton co driver Ian Windress, compete in the Bulldog Rally based in Oswestry, trying to beat off the challenge of experienced Subaru pairing Barry Johnson and Roger Duckworth - both of whom need to win and hope Bird finishes fifth or lower - to stand any chance of snatching the title. Friday 14 October Badminton The Eleventh Cumbria Classic Veteran Badminton Tournament takes place in Carlisle this weekend.
The event, which features top players from across the UK, takes place at the city's Sands Centre and St Aidan's School over Saturday and Sunday. Pigeon The west Cumbrian pigeon racing fraternity is in mourning for prominent fancier Eric Hodgson who has died at the age of 74.
Eric flew in partnership with son Mark in the Flimby HS and they had won the Derwent Valley Federation's Big Cup four times.
A pigeon fancier for 50 years, Eric had won 12 Federation races with his birds and was particularly respected for his achievements in Channel racing. Tuesday 11 October Karting Cumbrian youngster Jamie Little has been crowned British Champion in the Super One class after a thrilling win at Lydd, near Dover. The 13-year-old from Frizjngton, who has been driving karts for four years, won the final race by just 0.39 of a second. His nearest rival Devon Modell, on his home track, could manage only fifth which left the Cumbrian youngster champion by a single point after the six rounds. Sunday 9 October Racing Cumbria-based jockey Tony Dobbin became only the 10th British National Hunt jockey in history to ride 1000 career winners on Saturday. Despite missing out at Carlisle on Friday, Tony's 3rd run at Hexham, on Alfy Rich, in the 3.05, clinched the milestone . Friday 7 October Cumbria-based jockey Tony Dobbin could hit the magical 1,000 winners mark at Carlisle today.
Dobbin, who's currently on 998 career winners, would become only the tenth jockey in history to reach the milestone if he takes two wins from his two declared rides at the Durdar course. Sunday 2 October Hockey On their return to St. Aidan’s after the January floods Carlisle overcame their opening match jinx to beat Crewe Vagrants 4-0.
Without a first day win for over five years Dave Barron gave them the perfect start with a goal in only their second attack.
It stayed that way until the second half when Barron scored his second and Ally Richards also got into the scoring act with a brace. Wednesday 28 September Motorsport - Hexham Historic Rally Current HRCR Road Rally Championship leader Wes Massam heads North next weekend to attempt to retain his position at the head of the table but before he arrives in Tynedale for the Wylam Garage backed Hexham Historic Rally, he and co-driver Shon Gosling will have completed a 300 plus mile marathon just to reach the start. The duo will leave Wes’s house in Blagdon, North Somerset and set out on the long haul to Northumbria in their 42 year old Volvo Amazon which they will then use for the 100 mile rally before heading back down the M6 for the journey home. Neither of the crew have competed in the area before and had to look long and hard at their maps to pinpoint where the Once Brewed start venue was located. Wes and Shon aren’t the only ones travelling from afar for the rally which is now a popular feature on the historic rally calendar, other crews will be travelling from as far afield as Gloucester, Sutton Coldfield, Criccieth, Monmouth, Edinburgh and Fife. By contrast, one entrant who won’t have to travel far to reach the rally is MGC pilot Clive Kennedy who lives in Henshaw, under a mile from the start ! The Hexham Historic Rally leaves the Once Brewed Tourist Information Centre at 6:30 pm and spectators are very welcome to come along to the start and cheer the cars on their way. Saturday 24 September Sidecar Appleby sidecar specialist Andy Laidlow is living a spartan life to pursue his dreams of becoming world champion.
He and wife Kirsten have sold their home to raise money to finance next year’s campaign and are living with their two small children in a converted coach.
Andy, 33 and passenger Patrick Farrance, 21 from Leeds finished fifth in the 2005 FIM Sidecar World Championship. Golf Penrith teenager David Simpson will be flying to Dubai next month to take part in the finals of the Daily Telegraph Junior Championship.
He set a junior course record in firing a gross 64 to win the Penrith Junior Open which qualified him for the final stages.
David, 15, finished seventh nationally out of 40,000 competing youngsters and he plays in the 54-hole strokeplay tournament at Dubai Creek from October 23-25. Friday 23 September Moto GP Kendal rider James Ellison is bidding to make the grid in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix with the help of extra gym work.
Ellison missed the Japanese Grand Prix after damaging his left elbow in a crash while testing in the Czech Republic but plans to return on the Blata WCM machine this week-end.
Ellison said: "I am working hard in the gym to get some more strength into the elbow and it is getting stronger so I hope I can ride on Sunday.” Thursday 22 September Horseracing Cumbria-based Tony Dobbin is still two wins short in his quest to reach 1,000 career winners after picking up a first, second and third from his five rides at Perth yesterday.
Dobbin rode 7-4 favourite Possextown home in the 4.05 as he bids to become only the tenth British national hunt jockey to ride 1,000 winners. Friday 16 September Motor sport Tony Gardemeister is looking to secure third place in the World Rally Drivers Standings in this weekend's Wales Rally GB.
The Finn, of the Cumbria-based Ford M-Sport team, goes into this weekend's event lying fifth in the championship after scoring on all but one round to date and has played the major role in Ford holding third in the manufacturers' series.
Eddie Stobart Motorsport have also entered cars for Mark Higgins and young Cumbrian driver Matthew Wilson this weekend. Monday 5 September BOXING
Penrith boxing club is lining-up some big names with two ex-world champions on their way to Cumbria.
Nigel Benn is to be the guest at the club's first sportsman's dinner being staged at Rheged on November 18.
Then when the club stages a boxing/dinner show on April 27 next year chief guest will be Steve Collins, brother of former Carlisle United manager Roddy Collins. ANGLING
Windermere, Ambleside and District Angling Association are hoping to buy a lake complex for local game fishermen.
More than 1,100 members have been asked to help finance the purchase of Kentmere Trout Fishery which has just gone on the market.
President Chris Sodo said: "We don't want to see this amenity disappear into provate ownership for the next 20 years." Thursday 1 September Roger Hammond won a close chase to the finish on Blackpool Promenade yesterday to claim victory on stage two of Cycling's Tour of Britain. He beat Robin Sharman to the line and also took the sprints jersey by winning all three intermediate sprints on the 162.3 kilometre route from Carlisle to the Lancashire coast. His Great Britain team-mate Mark Cavendish led home the peloton to make it a British one-two-three...
The North West leg of the six-day event set off from Carlisle Castle yesterday morning and took in Penrith, Shap, Kendal and Kirby Lonsdale on its route.
Day three starts in Leeds and finishes in Sheffield - Nick Nuyens of Belgium is the overall race leader. The manager of Cumbria County Bowls team believes their All -England County Championship victory at Worthing last weekend has put the county back at the top of the tree in the UK.
Cumbria's 24 man team lifted the coveted Middleton Cup by beating Norfolk 128 - 116 in the semi final and then Oxfordshire by 126 points to 106 in the final.
It's the fifth time the county has won the competition following their last success in 2001 - and team manager John Bell said the result confirms Cumbria as top dogs in the sport. They race today at Carlisle where the first race of a six race card gets underway at five past two - the going is described as Firm, Good to Firm in places Wednesday 31 August Thousands of spectators are expected to line the county's roads today as cycling's Tour of Britain hits Cumbria.
The event, which got underway from Glasgow yesterday and features top international riders, sets off from Carlisle Castle at 10.45 this morning. It reaches Penrith at approximately 11.30, then on to Shap 11.55. The riders will reach Shap Wells for 12.10, Kendal for 12.30, Blease Hill at 12.50 and Kirby Lonsdale for 1 o'clock. The rider then race on to Hornby for 1.15, Cockerham for 1.50, Singleton for 2.20, Weeton at 2.30 before the stage two finish in the Sandcastle in Blackpool at 2.50. Tuesday 30 August Bowls
Cumbria County Bowls team have won the all - England County Championship at Worthing.
Cumbria's 24 man team lifted the coveted Middleton Cup by beating Norfolk 128 - 116 in the semi final and then Oxfordshire by 126 points to 106 in the final. It's the fifth time the county has won the competition following their last success in 2001. Monday 29 August Cumbria won the Inter-County final at Worthing when they beat Oxfordshire 126-106.
The winning Cumbrian skips were Steve Farish, Andy Baxter and Stuart Airey while Niall Currie tied his match.
In the 128-116 semi-final win over Norfolk, Cumbria recorded a remarkable 38-5 win for Farish's rink against Trevor Webb's Norfolk quartet. Friday 26 August Fell running Organisers of the fifth Masters World Mountain Running Championships in Keswick next month are celebrating a double success.
With a fortnight still to go before the big event, a new record has been set for the number of competitors taking part.
The previous record entry was 741 in Austria two years ago but that number was surpassed earlier this week and the final figure could be around 1,000. Friday 19 August Wigton Motor Club's Cumbria Classic Car Weekend gets underway tomorrow, with over 300 cars on display over the two days at what has become the biggest event of its kind in the county.
Saturday sees the Pennine Classic Tour based in Appleby when a full sixty-car entry will set off for a 100-mile tour of the Pennines. Many of those cars will also be at the Classic Car Show at Dalemain House, near Penrith on Sunday.
Over 300 cars and a dozen clubs have entered with entries coming from all over the country. Thursday 18 August Barrow Powerbike rider Mark Talbot has split with his RIOT Racing team.
A lack of funds has been cited as the reason behind his departure. The split comes after his wild-card ride in the sixth round of the European Superstock 600 Championship at Brands Hatch, which saw him racing on the world stage for the first time. Sunday 31 July Motorsport Langwathby driver Paul Bird followed up his third place finish on the Isle of Man earlier in the season, by claiming his first ever finish on the Manx International Rally at the weekend.
Bird, along with co driver Ian Windress, came home in fifth place in his Ford Focus. Friday 29 July Kendal's James Ellison is will ride his WCM Blata for the final time before its engine is uprated in this weekend's German MotoGP.
Sunday's outing at the circuit in eastern Germany is the 10th of the season's 17 grands prix and the last before a four-week summer break. Barbon Manor near Kirby Lonsdale hosts Westmorland Motor Club's annual Barbon Hill Climb tomorrow.
Practice gets underway from 9.30am with timed runs due off from 1pm. Wednesday 27 July Pentathlon
A Cumbrian who is the new national pentathlon champion is now looking to make a serious challenge for the world biathle championships in September.
Jon Fletcher of Penrith was third last year and is hopeful of stepping-up on that in Monte Carlo.
“I’d love to do the pentathlon in the 2010 London Olympics but I have an open mind, because with five events a lot can happen,” he says. Friday 8 July Fell Running
Employees of Cumbrian companies are being given the chance to take part in one of the north’s leading athletics events later this year.
The 5th World Masters Mountain Running Championships are being staged on the hills above Keswick in September involving 1,000 of the world’s top senior runners.
The Cumbrian Corporate Challenge will be held over the weekend when employees can form teams of any standard to tackle the 11.6 kilometres course which involves a climb of 684 metres. Motorsport
Cumbrian driver Matthew Wilson makes a return to the wheel this weekend for the Jim Clark Memorial Rally, Round 4 of this year's Pirelli British Rally Championship.
Wilson broke his right wrist and left forearm in a crash at the Rally of Wales in April, that also left him with a shattered knee-cap. His co-driver Scott Martin broke both his legs, after their car flipped off the road during the race.
The race is based in the Scottish borders town of Kelso over Friday and Saturday. Thursday 7 July Cumbrian riders will get the chance to take on around 30 of the country’s best show jumpers at the 2005 Lowther Horse Driving Trials and Country Fair on August 6.
It’s the second time that Lowther has organised a show jumping tournament, and the Niagra Equisage-sponsored event has attracted a top quality field.
The local Cumbrian challenge will be headed by Carlisle-based Nigel Springer, the county’s only professional show jumper and Cumbria’s highest ranked rider Jonathan Dixon. Saturday 2 July Cumbria Combine pigeons racing from Cholet in France have been liberated at 6-15am into a south west wind.
Fanciers are expecting a better race, despite the 520 mile trip home, than they experienced last week from Fougeres.
Cholet is a new racepoint for the Cumbrian birds, replacing Nantes which has been regarded as the blue riband event for fanciers in the region which is celebrating its centenary this year. | 
