Hunslet Handicap Race Winners 2016 - Jean Scopes 2017 - Sue Talbot 2018 - Jacob Parnham 2019 - Andy Cable 2021 - Linda Featherstone 2022 - Jacob Parnham 2023 - Darren Briggs 2024 - Stepanka Edwards 2025 - Silas Laird Tuesday 16th September 2025 Thank you to everyone who took part in the Hunslet Handicap this year. We raised over £175 which the committee have approved to be doubled using club funds. So £350 raised. As in previous years this event was held to raise money for Wheatfields Hospice in memory of John, Kath & Lynn. They were part of the Laker's family & are sadly no longer with us, but will be forever in out thoughts. Congratulations to our winners: 1st place - Silas Laird 2nd place - Thomas Sharp 3rd place - Keelan Henry 1st woman - Andrea Douglas, closely followed by Emily Berg Tuesday 10th September 2024 Congratulations to this year's Hunslet Handicap winner Stepanka Edwards. Stepanka powered up Dewsbury Road & was the first one back to base. This year we raised £310 for Wheatfields Hospice in memory of John, Kath & Lynn. They were part of the Laker's family & are sadly no longer with us, but will be forever in out thoughts. Read more @ South Leeds Life Tuesday 7th November 2023 Congratulations to this year’s Hunslet Handicap winner Darren Briggs. Seen here receiving the John Metcalf Memorial Trophy. WOW!! What a great club night, with a twist, we had!! 74 Lakers were out in force racing for glory & the first pie. Well done to all the groups on tough courses. First back to the bar & winner of The Hunslet Handicap 2023 was Darren Briggs. Big thank you to our organisers & bar team for the special, post run, food & quiz. Thank you all for helping us raise £33 0!! As in previous years this event was held to raise money for Wheatfields Hospice in memory of John, Kath & Lynn. They were part of the Laker's family & are sadly no longer with us, but will be forever in out thoughts. more photos

Bah Humbug 10K 10th December 2023 "Not really sure where to start, but I’ll try! From the course set up team out at 6am, to the registration team that ensured all aspects of the event went so smoothly, to the core team that have spent 8 months planning, to our amazing course Marshalls for which the feedback from the runners was you are simply the most enthusiastic they have ever seen , to the catering team, water station and finishers team, to the juniors that stood in the rain & handed out medals, our amazing PA & of course Harry The Hawk ! To our fantastic partners and suppliers, to each and everyone of you who brought raffle prizes and bought tickets & of course our amazing runners who trudged though the mud in the most festive of outfits, I thank you all You’ve certainly done yourselves proud today." 10.12.23 Mark Bowman Race Director for 2023 Here are some of our winners More photos 2023 Results 2023 video

YVAA Middelton 21 June 2023

Yorkshire Veterans' Athletics Association South Leeds Lakers take part in the annual YVAA Grand Prix series of trail races. If you are interested in competing & would like to know more about the league please take a look at the YVAA website . They also have a Facebook page. Eligibility All runners must be over the age of 33 on race day, registered with England Athletics & either a member of a club that is affiliated to YVAA or affiliated as an individual yourself. If you have any questions about affiliation contact Shelly (club secretary). Runners aged 33 or 34 will run as guests & so will not be eligible to score points until they are a fully fledged vet of 35. All Results

South Leeds Lakers Affiliation Form You can run with the club as a social member, but to take advantage of the many benefits associated with affiliation, please register via the above form . The England Athletics membership year runs for 1st April to 30th March. There is an offer for new members to join between January and March, receiving additional months membership for the price of the current membership year. For 2025/26 this will be £20. On 1st April 2026 membership will increase to £23, which is dictated by England Athletics. Any queries can be directed to our Membership Secretary, Shelly Parker, at missshellyparker@gmail.com

Club History Building on the success of Cross Flatts parkrun, which started in 2013, two years later a few of the regulars got together, and with the support of Run Leeds and the Hunslet Rugby Foundation, formed the South Leeds Lakers Running Club. The first social run took place on Tuesday 10th February 2015 with 19 in attendance. 12 months later the Club took the decision to affiliate to England athletics and in 2017 won the Yorkshire & Humberside Club of the Year award. The decision to affiliate was not an easy one with concerns it would affect the decision to provide a free running club to the community. The compromise was reached that Lakers would remain free to members and it would not be compulsory for individual members to affiliate to England Athletics, a model that continues to this day. The Lakers are always looking to evolve and in 2019 formed the junior section. Once again providing free activity to the local community. Over the years the Club has gained a reputation for hosting great races such as the Bah Humbug 10k, Vets League and West Yorkshire Winter League events, and are the self proclaimed Raffle Kings. As well as being recognised by England Athletics the Club and Junior section have won a number of community awards, something we are all very proud of. We even won the Hunslet Nelson cricket competition!!! What’s in a name; A number of names were considered for the new group back in 2015. "South Leeds Misters" was in the frame when there was talk of a men only group to complement the highly successful South Leeds Sisters running club. South Leeds Sprinters was another option but was felt would give the wrong impression for a social running group. Eventually South Leeds Lakers was decided on, giving a nod to Middleton and Hunslet lakes. There was a suggestion to incorporate an “I” in the name. “Laikers” being an old north of England word that we wrongly believed referred to “playing” E.g. Are you laiking out. However, further investigation revealed that the word “Laikers” actually meant Unemployable - South Leeds Unemployables was not the image we were looking for!!! more photos

Vintage Lakers Photos

South Leeds Lakers Juniors A free one hour session of athletics from 6 to 7pm every Friday. For ages 8 to 14yrs. The sessions involve coaching in run, jump & throw athletic events. Our aim is to make this fun & engaging, so whilst we will coach the basic techniques we will have fun doing it. Our coaches have taken courses with England Athletics & are all at various levels on the coaching pathway. Please note that all children must be accompanied by an adult. Adults need to stay onsite during the session. For our weekly track sessions, we meet at John Charles Centre for Sport Middleton Grove Belle Isle Leeds LS11 5DJ Our sessions are completely FREE. When you arrive simply go straight past reception, out into the stadium & down to the track where the coaching team will be waiting. Occasionally, some weeks, we may take a break from the track & go trail running in the nearby woods, parents are welcome to join in. Any child wishing to take part MUST book first using the online booking form, (one booking per child, i.e. if you have two children then it's two forms). See top of page for booking form. The booking form is usually opened every Monday morning for the following Friday's session. As we have a limit on the number of children taking part each week, we operate on a first come first served basis. When the session is full, the form is closed. Once you've booked for your very first time, you will receive a welcome letter via email & be added to the parents WhatsApp group. This group is where session information is then shared each Friday. If you have any queries please contact us at southleedslakers9@gmail.com Book

2024 News Tuesday 2nd January 2024 We were happy to be back out on our Club Night runs after the Christmas break. Sunday 7th January 2024 West Yorkshire Winter League race @ Huddersfield (Stadium Runners). Saturday 13th January 2024 Middleton Woods was the venue for our first Parkrun League fixture of the year. Well played jokers & excellent running saw Colin & John take joint first place. If you want to know more about our Parkrun League please click here . Sunday 21st January 2024 We hosted a very successful home race for the West Yorkshire Winter League . Many volunteer hours and a huge amount of work goes on, behind the scenes, to make these events possible. Thank you to all the volunteers, organisers and clubs for helping to creating such a wonderful day! Tuesday 23rd January 2024 We held week one of our new Couch to 5K programme. We welcomed 20+ new members to the club. Well done on completing your first run. Tuesday 30th January 2024 A lovely run in the woods for our daytime group. Tuesday 6th February 2024 One of our 10k groups headed out to The Royal Armouries to gaze upon the Knife Angel Sculpture. Read more about the sculpture here . Sunday 11th February 2024 Before & after the Queensbury West Yorkshire Winter League race. Watch the videos here & here . Sunday 18th February 2024 Pudsey West Yorkshire Winter League race. Saturday 24th February 2024 - Sunday 10th March 2024 16 Marathons in 16 days! Yes, that's correct. No typos here. Ian completed this amazing challenge whilst raising money for Andy's Man Club, Leeds Dock Running Club & Recovery Runners. Click here to see more. Sunday 25th February 2024 Stainland West Yorkshire Winter League race. Saturday 23rd March 2024 Congratulations to the Couch to 5k group on completing the 9 week programme and finishing off with Cross Flatts Parkrun. You can watch the, Facebook, video here on our members group page. Saturday 30th March 2024 Cross Flatts Parkrun celebrated it's 11th birthday fancy dress style. Read our history to find out why this Parkrun is special to Lakers. Congratulation Thomas on 500 Parkruns! Thursday 18th April 2024 **Happy Birthday to us** South Leeds Lakers Juniors celebrated their 5th Birthday. 16 brave souls turned up on 18th April 2019 at Cockburn High School playing fields to take part junior athletics. Fast forward 5 years & we are at the John Charles stadium & still going strong. Over these last 5 years we have had as many as 260 children try at least one or more of our sessions. We must be doing something right as our weekly average numbers (per year) remain consistently strong. Saturday 11th May 2024 We attended 'Let's Move South Leeds' in Cross Flatts park. Showcasing our Junior Club & delivering taster sessions for the local community. It was very busy, with lots of children taking part. Great fun was had by all & even the Lord Mayor stopped by to say hello (she knew all about our amazing club). Well done to all involved. Sunday 19th May 2024 We rounded off Mental Health Awareness Week with a lovely walk in Middleton Woods. 7th June 2024 We have all been touched by the tragic passing of Rob Burrow. This week our junior lakers, with help from willing coaches & parents, ran 7 laps of South Leeds Stadium to help raise funds for the MND Centre. ITV Calendar came down to film. Watch here Donate Sunday 9th June 2024 The weather held out & Lakers met for a social get together at The Nelly. What will we do next? Wednesday 19th June 2024 What a glorious evening we had hosting the YVAA Grand Prix race number 4. Thank you to all the amazing volunteers. Saturday 22nd June 2024 Lakers promoted the club at Beeston Festival & dazzled the locals with 'The Lakers Loo Roll Challenge' Wednesday 26th June 2024 We had a lovely evening at The Hyde Park Harriers Summer Mile. This event was our 'race of the month' for June & did not disappoint. We had a great time testing out our speed & received a chocolate bar, beer & medal for our efforts. Well done to Michelle & Richard, our fastest female & male trophy winners. Results Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June 2024 Some brave Lakers took on Endure 24 at Bramham Park. We had solo runners & teams trying to rack up the miles on the looped course. Well done all. Thursday 4th July 2024 We love to make the most out of our lovely local woods. Thanks, Wendy, for your weekly hill sessions. Saturday 13th July 2024 Parkrun league run number 7 saw Lakers at Sherwood Pines. A beautiful, one lap, course in the woods. Saturday 20th July 2024 Lakers smashing it at The Tolkien Trail Race. Andrea 1st F40 & Haydn 1st U23. Well done guys! Sunday 28th July 2024 More success for Lakers. This time in the shape of Simon. "...just to say to all, don't give up on your running goals! After many years & races I finally got a podium position in my age category today, at the James Herriot trail race. Might not seem much to some but I've never achieved it... Beautiful day (bit warm though), stunning scenery & a race of two halves. Even had enough winnings for a pint with Paul..." Well said Simon & a massive well done. Cheers! Tuesday 30th July 2024 Monopoly anyone? South Leeds lakers Monopoly Madness 12K Wednesday 14th August 2024 Lakers enjoyed a lovely curry night at The Plantation in Middleton. Cheers! Friday 16th August 2024 Leeds Dock Relay 2024. We had six teams pushing themselves to get as many laps completed in the hour. Well done to all the Lakers that took part this year. What a great way to spend a sunny, Friday night. If you want to know more about the event, here is a great write up from Charli at Dragons Running Club. Sunday 6th October 2024 Well done to everyone who took part in the Morley 10k. Sunday 13th October 2024 What a great turn out of Lakers at The Abbey Dash. We had plenty of first time 10kers, shiny PBs for some & a fabulous group of volunteers taking charge of the baggage tent. Tuesday 29th October 2024 Did somebody say pie & peas? The promise of food brought out all the ghosts & ghouls. We saw some great costumes on our club runs this week followed by pie & pies in The Pump House. A big thanks to Claire & team for organising the food & serving it up with a smile. Sunday 17th November 2024 The return of the West Yorkshire Winter League! It's nice to see a lovely big team & welcome some new runners to the Lakers family. Well done to everyone who braved the cold & made it back for the all important raffle. The first Lakers back were Simon Purll & Hannah Lewis. We had some great age category results too, with Andrea in 3rd & Graham & Cheryl in 4th. December 2024 Reindeer Strava art, a Santa hat run, festive Parkrunning & a Twixmas St Aidan's 10k. What more could you ask for? Happy Christmas!

Bah Humbug 2023 More photos on Facebook

Hunslet Handicap 2024 Hunslet Handicap 2023