Marathon fever has certainly been upon on with Manchester last week and Boston and London this week…
Boston Marathon:
Our fab husband and wife duo, Mike Russell and Andrea Banner etched their names on the Abbotts World Marathon Major Hall of Fame wall and joined Rich and Scott.
A journey that started in London back in 1996, they finally claimed their 6th medal on Monday. Boston is the holy grail of marathon runners with athletes more or less having to run a good for age to have any chance of grabbing a place in the ballot.
On the day; the heat and undulating course did take its toll however they both still ran brilliant times.
What an amazing achievement by both – well done!
North East Senior Development League:
Summers is nearly upon us, and when the sun comes out the Track and Field fixtures follow…
Saturday saw the first fixture of the revisited Track and Field league. Athletes can choose from a whole host of events – it’s a brilliant day of activities!
Team Captain; Eric Lewis has done an amazing job promoting participation in the league since joining the club – his hard work was rewarded with a promotion to Division 1 last season.
We started where we left off last year, with several eager track and field stars donning their spike to run, chuck and jump us to a 2 place finish in the first fixture.
Track and field is truly a team sport and great way to try all the disciplines. If you’re interested, please speak to Eric at training.
London Marathon
We had no fewer than 10 athletes running in this years London Marathon. Our magnificent 10 were unbelievable throughout the day recording incredible times.
It was Luke hillard who was first home recording a superb PB. Tony Banks was next in with another outstanding marathon run, unfortunately wife Andrea was unable to finished due to an ongoing injury. It was then a battle between Mark Turnbull and Jason Old, Mark secured bragging rights on this occasion. Simon won the battle of Allen’s meaning Louise has to buy the beers for the evening. Debbie had an outstanding run to record her 2nd quickest marathon time. Louise Allen was in shortly after with a very impressive run. Roland Brown was next in, leg cramps kicking in towards the end, he managed to grind out a good time under the circumstances. David Hodgson next up with a top performance.
Well done to all our runners.
Future Fixtures:
Relays:
1st May – Jarrow Relays (v35+) Felicity is taking names and could do with some v40’s – see facebook post.
8th May – Wallsend (limited to 10 teams per club) Andrea is taking names – see facebook post.
Club Champs:
May – Pier to Pier Sold out but transfers are allowed
18th June – **Elswick internal 5km
July – Sunderland 5km
August – *Watergate 5km
September – Internal 10km
October (weekend) – **Internal 10 mile
November – Heaton Memorial 10km
Useful website for races: http://www.northeastraces.com
*Update 5/3/24: Watergate 5km has been included following the withdrawal of the March fixture due to rearranged XC fixture.
**Updated 19/3/24: internal 10 mile and 5km switched so we can utilise the light nights and run the 5km on the closed section of OneNE. The 10 miler will now take place in October on a weekend.
Track and Field:
Athletics Senior league fixtures – see Eric for more information…
Match 1: 20th April Shildon (Saturday)
Match 2: 18th May Whitley Bay (Saturday)
Match 3: 29th June Morpeth (Saturday)
Match 4: 14th July Shildon (Sunday)