The racing season is well underway and the Elswick Harriers athletes are right in the thick of it all.
Relays seem to be an almost weekly feature at the moment and Felicity Smith, our Ladies Vice Captain was busy this week.
Neptune Relays – Weds 26th April
We saw 4 teams take part in the Neptune Relays at the beautiful Hardwick Park in Sedgefield. Each leg ran approx.1.7 miles on gravel paths around the park, taking in the scenic surroundings of the lake and its inhabitants! The route was predominately flat but with lots of twists and turns and a short hill before the downhill finish. This didn’t phase any of our runners but Alan (Thompson) did take a tumble up it!! Our V45 ladies team took first place winning a superb bag of fruit and our V50 Mens A team came in 3rd place, with senior ladies team in 4th. Special mentions to John Thompson on his first race as an Elswick Harrier, Jayne Cuskern for stepping in last minute, and Mike and Andrea for participating despite having run the London Marathon 3 days before the relays.
Mid Cheshire 5K – Friday 28 April
In his final outing in the famous Elswick vest Lewis Liddle put in a stunning performance at the very fast Kingsley course, not far from Frodsham. He completed the 5k in a new PB time of 15:17 in this England Championships race.
Lewis commented that he was “Pretty buzzing with that to kick off the summer and now time to progress into my first track season and really start eyeing up that 14 min 5k”.
Tiree Half Marathon – Saturday 29 April
Running (further) North Richard Houghton took on what appears to be one of the most beautiful half marathons in the UK. The isle of Tiree is one of the Inner Hebrides and so not easily accessible except by ferry or airfix model style plane. However Richard (and Carolyn, who did the 10k) managed to get away to one of their favourite parts of the world combining a dream trip with a run on the beach(es).
Tiree Fitness puts this run on annually, and on this occasion there was an Elswick vest amongst the throng. Richard noted that his current running is “about experiences and not times!” but his 1hr 33min and 6th place is very creditable given how much is run on the sand. Let’s allow Richard the last word on this one, “That is the most stunning race I’ve ever run, and I’ve run a lot of races over the years.”
Lakeside Aquathlon Run – Sunday 30 April
A superb podium finish for Mary Hall on the 5 lap, 5.2km course that starts and finishes by Killingworth Lake. She was not only 2nd lady, but also 1st vet – certainly rocking it in 24 minutes there Mary.
Gateshead Half Marathon and 10K – Sunday 30 April 2023
This is a fairly new event in the road race calendar that attracted around 1600 finishers over the two distances. The half marathon is two laps (plus a pan-handle) of the 10k course.
Both races start and finish in Gateshead International Stadium on the tartan track.
The route takes the runners down behind the Baltic, past the Sage building and along the riverside road towards Dunston where there’s a 180 degree turn. Then it’s back and over the Swing Bridge, past the Copthorne to the bottom of Forth Banks for another 180 and back over the bridge and return to the Stadium.
It’s there that the 10 Kayers finish, while the people running the half do it all again, plus a bit. It’s quite hard seeing some peel away to the end of their race while continuing for more of the same. But being hardy halfers everyone gets through it with determination.
There were lots of spectators encouraging runners around the entire course, and, as we approached the stadium finish the cheering could be heard coming from the stand – it really makes it feel like a sprint finish as you cross the line to the sound of the crowd.
The event attracted a number of Elswick athletes, let’s start with the 10k.
These runners are at either end of the age range with Callum Eldridge finishing in a fantastic 36:58, 14th overall, and 7th in category. Nigel Hollier was first in the V70 category in a chip time of 55:20, 250th over all. And in the middle was Imogen King who finished 242nd in 53:18, 22nd senior female. All of those were excellent performances in a field of 722 runners.
We had seven entrants to the half marathon this year – not a lot considering it’s so close to home.
- Sean Mennim – 1:22:25 – 26th overall, 26th senior male
- Simon Allen – 1:33:07 – 103rd overall, 7th V55 male
- Rob Emson – 1:41:15 – 215th overall, 10th V55 male
- Heather Donald – 1:47:00 – 308th overall, 19th senior female
- Louise Allen – 1:52:58 – 416th overall, 6th V50 female
- Micky Shore – 1:53:00 – 426th overall, 38th V40 male
- David Hodgson – 2:12:28 – 741st overall, 33rd V55 male
Chip times shown
And finally…
We can’t finish without mentioning Mike Steven and the Three Peaks Race.
This is described as the “marathon with mountains”. First run in 1954, the race covers 37.4 kilometres with 1608 metres of ascent and descent over rugged and spectacular countryside in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Undertaking this event is no small task.
Mike commented “it’s easy to post when you’ve done well and I too think it’s important that it doesn’t always work out ….”.
He goes on to say “It was my first ever DNF and I’ve realised it’s not all about the glory! I’ve completed the race twice before but was quite apprehensive this time and thought I’d done enough training, no excuses, it just wasn’t my day and I’m really pleased I gave it a go. I was timed out at the 12 mile cut off and to be honest was quite relieved. It feels like a weight has been lifted from me and I’ve finally broken a mental barrier. Next stop is just a 47 miler round Windermere in 2 weeks!!”
That rounds it off this time, and it just goes to show that there is no failure in running – you win or you learn.