The road club championships kicked off in a strong manner at the venue of Prudhoe Parkrun with club runners taking on the 5km Parkrun route whenever suited between 1st March and the 31st March.
Once ran runners submitted their time along with proof via FB or message to the captains in which some amazing times were noticed that were ran over a challenging course which boasts multi terrain with a short sharp incline and decline on each of the 2 laps. Not only that the runners had to deal with the pedestrian traffic, dogs on long leads, the mud, strong head winds and the also the guys felling trees.
Of the 37 Elswick runners, there were 17 female competitors. Three trusty stalwarts of the club got the ball rolling early in March with solid runs from Felicity, Mary and Robyn.
Mary has been making great progress on her return to regular session training and Robyn was determined to run in spite of it being the second trimester of her pregnancy.
Demonstrating that the thirst to return to competition is very much alive, we had four women take part in their very first Elswick club championship. Welcome and well done Sarah Addison, Nichola Conlon, Louise Allen and Caroline Lienard on your debut appearances. Not to be outdone by the newbies, our grand dames of Elswick were out in force – Kim Matthews and Susanne Stephenson put in wonderful performances whilst running solo.
Despite it being a virtual Park Run, several women produced course PBs – congratulations to Joanne Brown, Bella and Joanne Rea. Showing true resilience, Lindsey Grant ran a super sub 22-minute time in spite of a sore back caused by a fall at work; and Amy Heptinstall, less than a year after the birth of twins, was determined not to miss out on a championship race opportunity and completed her first post-birth competitive run.
Last but not least, Debbie Spoor headed out on the last day of March to squeeze in her run before the deadline expired. Alone and a little unsure of the route, she missed the turn up to the top track and completed a virtual Prudhoe 5k Park run of her own design!! For that reason, she was ranked lowest in the F40 category, but still earned herself 11 points – proof that you have got be in it to win it. Looking forward to seeing yet more Elswick vests at the future championship races.
Again, the times that were ran were a credit to the hard work that each of you have put in since the turn of the year into 2021. In total 20 male runners completed the course with 2 runners running 17.25, 3 runners in the 18s, 3 runners in the 19s and those times alone anyone of those runners could have finished 1st at Prudhoe Parkrun dependent on who turned up to the start line on a particular day. Furthermore 5 runners finishing sub-21, 4 runners in the 21mins bracket, 1 runner in the 22s and 1 runner coming over the line in 27.24. I must say Harry Matthews had been injured for around 9 months prior and is making great steps back towards full fitness in which he achieved 34.04, good to see you back Harry. I’m sure you will agree these are all excellent times.
To view the female and male times from this event please head over to the Club Championship 2021 page on the website and click the link.