River Run (6 Mile) – Internal:
Tuesday saw our first of three championship races within ten days – apologies for this but the races are often picked well in advance of the dates being finalised. We had a great turnout on Tuesday for our internal river run with groups 1, 2 and 3 all taking part.
First over the line was Lee Coulson, with Andy Bell (decked out in his GBR kit) running the quickest time on the night. In total we had 44 runners taking part, conditions were wet underfoot with lots of puddles to navigate on the Gateshead side of the river.
All queries to the times have been updated an verified by Tom – these results will be passed to Mike to incorporate into the club champs standings.
NEGP 6 @ Monkton:
Wednesday saw James Douglas and Hannah Waterhouse taking to the track at Monkton Stadium. Both running excellent times, James in the 3000m finishing 2nd in Heat 3 with a time of 9:57:77 and Hannah running the 800m finishing 3rd in Heat 8 in a time of 2:49:80.
Northern Track and Field League – Fixture 4:
Saturday was the final track and field league fixture – unfortunately due to other races taking place, attendance was down slightly. This seemed to spur the team on who finished 2nd (still to be confirmed) on the day.
Big shout out to Eric Lewis who manages the Track and Field team throughout the year – it would be great to see more taking part next year. Its all free as its covered by your membership fee so come and see Eric, Andrea or me if you want to know more.
Big Lime Triathlon:
Brothers Adam and Andy Bell were back in triathlon action on Sunday both taking part in the Big Lime Triathlon in Hartlepool; starting with an open water swim in the marina, the guys then take to bike on a 4 lap route along the promenade which is closed to traffic and finish with a 5km run.
Andy was first home, finishing 5th overall and 3rd in his category. Adam wasn’t far behind despite feeling under the weather finishing 13th overall and 4th in his category – well done fellas!
Lambton Castle Trail Races:
Always up for a challenge, Dave Hodgson took to the trails of Lambton completing in the 10 mile event. Those who have done the Lambton Cross Country will know of the hills Dave faced, the scenic route is worth the effort though… Well done Dave!
Tynedale Harriers Jelly Tea 10 miler:
Finally, we finish on the final club championship race of the week – normally a popular event for our members but with other events and prospect of a new course our numbers were down from previous years. We still had 13 runners taking part on the new course – two laps of Ouston Airfield, a World War 2 airfield, built to protect the North East from attack during the war. It is now owned and managed by the British Army and home of our 2023 Good Friday Relays.
My initial thoughts were a flat and fast course but it wasn’t that at all, not for me anyways… Conditions were very hot with sun radiating from the concrete and strong headwinds on the inclines which made things tough. It didn’t slow our stand out performers though, husband and wife Tony and Andrea Banks. Tony was first home for Elswick with a very impressive time of 1:02:25 finishing 18th overall and 1st in his category, Andrea wasn’t far behind finishing first lady with an excellent time 1:07:05.
Sean Mennim is showing some good form, he followed Tony in finishing in 19th place Jonny was close behind with Andrea next up.
If I’m honest, it was a race that took all my inner strength to get to the finish line, knowing Rich was hot on my tail got me there. I know that sentiment was echoed by Rich himself. Felicity finished 1st in her category after a strong run. Debbie was next up closely followed by Mary who had a storming run – all this GNR training is paying off! Rachel Dodds, entering on the day had a great run, we then saw Mike, Jayne and Nigel cross the line.
The race is a great local race, conditions made the running hard but we were all rewarded with sandwiches and jelly at the end – the pain was worth it in the end 😊
Park Run Achievements:
Hannah Waterhouse ran her 50th Park Run last weekend
Maxine Cottam ran her 25th Park Run at the weekend
Big well done to all our runners over the weekend!
Next up:
24th August – Watergate 5km
2nd September – Farringdon Relays – names to Ben Hall ASAP