Race Round Up 19th July – 25th

Wednesday 21^st July 2021

Willow Miner Trail Race hosted by Elvet Striders

Course Description

The course covers 5.7 miles of beautiful trail through woodland and nature reserve. After a winding start through Houghall woods, the course drops into the undulating section of the Durham Woodland Trust, climbing up to views over the River Wear and Croxdale Woods before descending to wildflower meadows and around to the Willow Lady. A single-track section along the bank of the River Wear leads to a climb up towards the Willow Miner, before traversing back to Houghall Woods and the finish.

Field size 135

98^th David Hodgson 1.00.02 David seems to be racing most weeks and here he is again.

https://www.elvet-striders.uk/2021/07/23/willow-miner-trail-race-results-2021/

Thursday 22^nd July 2021

Sunderland Harriers 5k road race @ Silksworth including NE & NCAA Championships

Elswick Harrier Club Championship race

What a night of racing it was at Silksworth in cooler conditions with that fast downhill start which leads into a very fast first kilometre. That first km can make or break your race which must be judged well whilst scrapping for space and attempting to avoid those flinging elbows.

The sound of the stampede at the start of each race was impressive, reminds me of the sound of the start in National XC but without the tremor. From here the course leads out for a small lap and then passing the finishing line for a 2^nd bigger lap of the lake both which are undulating with short sharp inclines. From watching both races I was very impressed with the amount of talent there is in the North East which our runners were not afraid of as each and every Elswick Harrier battled hard to the finish line recording brilliant times.

After the races I caught up with a few runners who informed me they registered an official pb. If you ran a pb or have ran a super time which you haven’t achieved for some time, a massive well done to you and if I have missed it off, please do let me know.

I’m also led to believe from a report written by Bill McGuirk that the ladies race combined with the v50 males that our Elswick team within this first race claimed 3^rd (54 points) in the Northern Athletics team awards.

Race 1 Women’s and men over 50 race

Field size 128

11^th Mark Turnbull 17.55 first time under 18mins for many years

13^th Jason Old 18.02 who was experiencing calf pain throughout the week and on the night

23^rd Imogen Bungay 18.25 pb & overall 6^th female

32^nd Mike Russell 18.55

48^th Andrea Banner 19.57 1^st V50 lady

55^th Bella Russell 20.23

85^th Mark McNally 22.26 if there was a category for V70 Mark would have achieved this

99^th Melissa Bateson 23.35 with her current pb at 23.34 which was set in 2018 at the same event

107^th David Bungay 24.26 his first race in an Elswick vest

https://www.ukresults.net/2021/sund5k2.html