This weekend saw the final race of our hotly contested Club Championships but first we have some relays to talk about.
NECAA Cross Country Relay Championships:
Saturday was the annual NECAA XC Relay Championships at the much loved Thornley Farm course. For those that have ran the course, you will know it’s a tricky track in good conditions so with the wet season upon us the course was a bit damp this didn’t put our runners off though.
The day starts with the juniors races and our juniors were just fantastic with our u13 and u15 girls finishing 2nd, and our u13 boys took the gold medals finishing 1st.
21 juniors competed in the tough conditions – 3 lost shoes but continued undaunted. What a talented group of juniors we have.
Onto the adults, no pressure eh… with some last minute team tweaks due to a few drop outs, we fielded 3 vet teams.
Our ladies followed where the juniors left off; making her XC debut, Hazel Bough put the team in a great in the hunt for a medal – Hazel loved her XC christening and can’t wait for Aykley Heads on Saturday – something i never thought anyone would say… Sara Blight was next up, and in her element as there’s no risk of promotion to the speedy packs, Sara ran a cracking leg handing over to Jude in second place… Jude Nutt was on the glory leg, running the fastest leg for a vet on the day to bring the team home in 2nd place…
A fantastic team effort by our ladies team finishing 2nd vet female overall and putting the pressure on the men 😉
Well the men certainly weren’t daunted by the challenge. Our A Team consisted of Justin Durham, James Douglas and Adam Bell.
Justin got the team off to a flyer, running the 3rd fastest time of the day – i’m sure this was his XC debut. James was next up, running the 5th fastest on the day and handed over to Adam in 1st place. No pressure then Adam, undeterred, Adam ran the 4th fastest leg on the day to secure the gold medal.
Well done to the new NECAA XC Relay Champions!
Our B Team had a great run also, Mark Turnbull on the first leg putting the team in the hunt and handing over to John Rippon. John loves a good off-road run so wasn’t fazed by the conditions either or the prospect of running 10 miles the following day, running very well handing over to Mike Russell. Mike also running 10 miles on Sunday secured 10th place.
Brilliant running by all of relay runners and big thanks to Andrea for sorting the teams and supporting on the day.
Mike has also penned an account of the day – see the attached document.
Brampton to Carlisle:
In its 70th year, Brampton to Carlisle is one of the oldest road races around and a race that has always been a popular race over the years with the club seeing some success in the earlier years.
“The race has an illustrious history having been won by some of Britain’s top road runners. The first five races, from 1951 to 1955 – run over a distance of just over eight and a half miles – were all won by Bill Boak who represented Elswick Harriers.” information from Athletics Weekly.
Brampton was our finale in the 2023 Club Championships – starting in March on the Town Moor ending in Carlisle. We’ve seen some incredible runs throughout the year with some massive PB’s! Many thanks to Mike Russell for keeping track of everyone’s performances and working out our new club champions – no easy task!
We had 17 runners at this years run with 14 getting the bus from Newburn Leisure Centre. With places still undecided in a number of categories, you could feel the nervous energy on the bus… It was a great idea to have a bus arranged as it takes all the stresses away when the run is point to point, it also gives everyone a chance to talk and meet fellow members they might not have previously – thanks to Felicity for sorting the transport out.
Safely delivered to Brampton and bags left on the bus, our athletes took to the start line, following the mandatory team photo quashing all nerves.
The race starts with a nice downhill which gets you in your stride quickly, you then turn a corner and start a steady uphill section – despite the inclines, and in the right conditions, the route is quick, and we all were grateful for the conditions we faced. Our super runners done the club proud with many running PB’s.
Incredible run by Sean Mennim who broke the 60 minute barrier to run a PB on the 10 mile course, also picking up impressive PBs were; Jonny, Paul, Felicity, Heather, Sammy and Kate.
Mike and John didn’t let us forget they were running their second race of the weekend. Mike with an incredible run and certainly back in form following his injury, John taking to the road in style – he claims not to like the roads but certainly ran like he did!
Nigel rolled back the years finishing 4th in his age group – a cracking run from the Elswick legend.
Simon and Paul in full marathon training mode and Roland recovering from a recent marathon showed how these long steady training runs pay off. All three looking very strong as the breezed passed me.
Andrea, ditched her Fila dress at the start and ran a brilliant race despite being at XC all day the previous day and struggling with a niggle.
The ever improving Mary, ditched her married name for the day to run a cracking race – who knew the name Hall would be such a burden… It won’t be long until we see Mary running the times she once ran.
Debbie was back in the game with a very good run – the trip to Disney a distant memory. We know she prefers racing over holidays anyways – well done Debbie!
Rob had a stressful morning, missing the bus transport at Carlisle so had to drive back to Brampton and ditch his car – the stress didn’t affect his performance though. Great run!
| Pos | Name | Time (Net Time) | Cat Pos (Gen Pos) |
| 56 | Sean Mennim #88 Male Senior | 00:58:51 (00:58:50) | 35 (54) |
| 90 | Jonathan Rewcastle #275 Male Senior | 01:01:15 (01:01:10) | 53 (87) |
| 161 | Mike Russell #832 Male VM50 | 01:05:47 (01:05:42) | 13 (145) |
| 176 | Simon Allen #573 Male VM55 | 01:06:35 (01:06:03) | 10 (158) |
| 180 | Paul Taylor #75 Male VM40 | 01:06:55 (01:06:24) | 32 (161) |
| 187 | John Rippon #146 Male VM55 | 01:07:19 (01:07:14) | 12 (167) |
| 213 | Roland Brown #25 Male VM50 | 01:08:23 (01:08:04) | 21 (189) |
| 218 | Ben Hall #559 Male VM40 | 01:08:42 (01:08:35) | 41 (192) |
| 226 | Felicity Smith #86 Female VF45 | 01:09:05 (01:09:00) | 7 (29) |
| 269 | Andrea Banner #318 Female VF50 | 01:12:08 (01:11:49) | 8 (43) |
| 332 | Robert Lambert #470 Male VM55 | 01:15:28 (01:15:18) | 24 (268) |
| 348 | Debbie Spoor #208 Female VF50 | 01:16:27 (01:16:23) | 12 (73) |
| 360 | Heather Donald #197 Female Senior | 01:17:09 (01:17:04) | 18 (79) |
| 374 | Mary Lisle #560 Female VF45 | 01:18:05 (01:17:47) | 16 (87) |
| 378 | Sammy Craig #199 Male Senior | 01:18:30 (01:17:59) | 118 (289) |
| 544 | Nigel Hollier #638 Male VM70+ | 01:28:02 (01:27:29) | 4 (365) |
| 603 | Kate Taylor #76 Female VF40 | 01:33:15 (01:32:42) | 44 (204) |
Well done to all our runners!
2023 Club Championship Results:
Firstly, thank you and well done to everyone who has ran and supported the races this year. The participation throughout the year had led to some healthy competition between us all.
Thanks to Mike for collating all the results; Tom and his band of merry helpers who helped with the club organised runs.
Your Elswick Harriers Club Champions are… drum roll please…
Senior ladies
- Heather Donald
- Jayne Cuskern
- Rachel Dodds
V40 Ladies
- Felicity Smith
- Mary Hall
- Kate Taylor
V50 Ladies
- Andrea Banner
- Debbie Spoor
- Joanne Brown
V60 Ladies
- Kim Matthews
Senior Men
- Andrew Bell
- Danny Spoor
- Sean Mennim
V40 Men
- Paul Taylor
- Ben Hall
- Rich Houghton
V50 Men
- Roland Brown
- Robert Lambert
- James Douglas
V60
- Peter Sloan
- Mike Steven
- Malcolm Liddle
V70
- Nigel Holier
2024 Club Championship Announcement:
March – Cowbell 5km
April – Blyth 10km
May – Pier to Pier 7.5mile (long run)
June – Elswick internal 10 mile (long run)
July – Sunderland 5km
August – Summer break 😎
September – Internal 10km
October – Internal 5km
November – Heaton Memorial 10km