Another club championship race and another fantastic Elswick turnout. The competitors were blessed with a rare respite from the rainfall and even some sunshine with very little breeze at all which is unusual for the Town Moor.
The racing began with the junior events as reported on by Ken Heslop. Well done to all the juniors for getting Elswick off to a great start.
After the one minute silence at 11am, the 10k race duly began. Elswick Harriers were cheered on by Jonny Lowes and Amy Heptinstall who took masses of photos which are available to view on the club Facebook page.
The race incorporated the NE Masters Athletics Association 10k road championships, so there were medals up for grabs for members of NEMAA who had declared their desire to race in the championship. Our own Mark Turnbull claimed silver in the M50 category, and Susanne Stephenson did likewise in the F50 race.
As for the main race, this was won by Marc Brown in a fabulous time of 30.41. Marc was a visiting athlete from Salford Harriers who only enquired about running the event a few days before the race. He walked away with the very grand male trophy and will obviously have to plan a return visit to the north east in order to deliver the trophy back to Heaton Harriers. Local stalwarts Conrad Franks and Gus Withers of Gateshead Harriers claimed second place (31.09) and third place (31.16) respectively.
Danielle Smythe of Heaton Harriers delighted the host club by claiming first prize in the ladies’ race in a time of 36.05. She was followed by Lucy-Erin Hunter of Darlington H & AC in 36.18 and Gillian Manford of Gateshead in 37.30.
As for Elswick – there were so so many PBs!! Robb Young is an example of a runner who has slashed masses of time off every distance. Peter Sloan surprised himself by finishing in 41 minutes exactly – his best 10k time in a while. Cath Lowes beat her PB by 90 seconds. Melissa Bateson, Charlotte Baston, Felicity Smith were others who displayed massive smiles at the finish in the realisation that they had run their best ever 10k. Regular training with Tom and and the other Elswick coaches is clearly paying dividends. This includes Tom Milburn (U16) who joined the junior section very recently yet he opted to compete in the senior race, finishing in a very creditable time of 42.24. This is a fantastic example to our older juniors demonstrating how you can transition into the senior racing and training groups with a view to continue running beyond your teen years.
Amy Fuller claimed another PB and also finished in 6th place in the ladies’ race in 38.49. Cath Lowes claimed the second F35 prize, Andrea Banner was 2nd F45 and Susanne Stephenson was 2nd F50. In the male categories, Mark Turnbull took 2nd M50 and Mike Russell 3rd M50 prizes. Quite by surprise, the ladies’ team claimed first team prize beating Tyne Bridge and Gosforth Harriers into second and third places. The new rule that the female teams had to consist of four runners proved to be a challenge for many of the other clubs. For Elswick, this challenge was easily overcome due to the high turnout of runners. Well done and thanks to all the women who took part as you contributed to the Elswick team victory. We now have proud possession of a specially commissioned trophy named “Poppy” until next year’s race.
Here are the Elswick results :
Check out the club championship standings by clicking on the Club Championship tab above.
Next and final club championship race: Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile race, 11.30 am Sunday 17 November 2019.