It’s been a busy weekend for our members starting with one of our promising juniors, Poppy Old who was representing the North East region in the London Mini Marathon. Poppy was the 2nd North East finisher and 33rd in her age category – what an amazing run and great experience for Poppy.
Moving over to the hills of the lakes, James Sunley took on the challenging Newlands Valley Fell Race. With a 3,789ft elevation profile, the ~12 mile loop is not for the faint hearted as it takes on some of the most challenging peaks the lake district has to offer. An ideal challenge if you’re ticking off the Wainwirghts – well done James!
Moving closer to home we had our second Club Championship race of the season, we had 15 runners running. The trip was certainly worth it (the fish and chips were great btw) as our men and women picked up team prizes both finishing 1st teams overall. Individually, our women stole the show again with Felicity finishing first female, Hazel first female vet and Imogen with an amazing run finishing first u20 female – all picking up individual prizes. There was also NEMAA medals awarded to Scott, Rowland and Bella 😊
| Pos | Number | Name | Gender | Cat | Club | Time |
| 5. | 179 | Daniel Spoor | M | SEN | Elswick Harriers | 0:36:29 |
| 6. | 130 | Sean Mennim | M | SEN | Elswick Harriers | 0:36:51 |
| 8. | 158 | Jonathan Rewcastle | M | SEN | Elswick Harriers | 0:37:42 |
| 12. | 22 | Scott Brady | M | SEN | Elswick Harriers | 0:38:30 |
| 18. | 177 | Felicity Smith | F | FV45 | Elswick Harriers | 0:41:35 |
| 20. | 26 | Roland Brown | M | MV50 | Elswick Harriers | 0:41:57 |
| 21. | 80 | Ben Hall | M | MV40 | Elswick Harriers | 0:42:05 |
| 27. | 47 | Lee Coulson | M | MV40 | Elswick Harriers | 0:43:11 |
| 29. | 18 | Hazel Bough | F | FV35 | Elswick Harriers | 0:43:34 |
| 32. | 28 | Joanne Brown | F | FV45 | Elswick Harriers | 0:43:42 |
| 45. | 150 | Arabella Pearce | F | FV45 | Elswick Harriers | 0:46:25 |
| 48. | 115 | Robert Lambert | M | MV50 | Elswick Harriers | 0:46:53 |
| 64. | 81 | Mary Hall | F | FV45 | Elswick Harriers | 0:48:55 |
| 104. | 111 | Imogen King | F | U20 | Elswick Harriers | 0:52:36 |
| 120. | 53 | Jayne Cuskern | F | SEN | Elswick Harriers | 0:55:17 |
Over to the popular Terry O’Gara 5km road race, this has always been a popular race with our members over the year but the clash with our Club Champs Race reduced the numbers slightly. The race is a perfect way to see where your pace is this early in the season. And as we can see from the results, the speed is there!
Sophie running her first individual race in the Elswick colours taking the win with an amazing time. Lewis was first home for Elswick with another cracking time, not feeling 100% but still bagging a top 10 place in a very strong field. Justin was next home with a brilliant run closely followed by James. Steve was next up, 4th in his age category with a great run. Malcom was next with another cracking run, you know theres a home game to get to when he’s running this quick!
| POS | NAME | BIB | M/F | TEAM/CLUB | CATEGORY | GUN TIME | CHIP TIME |
| 9 | Lewis Liddle | 124 | M | Elswick Harriers | Senior | 00:15:38 | 00:15:35 |
| 21 | Sophie Harris | 92 | F | Elswick Harriers | Senior | 00:16:21 | 00:16:20 |
| 46 | Justin Durham | 59 | M | Elswick Harriers | V45 | 00:17:22 | 00:17:21 |
| 61 | James Douglas | 53 | M | Elswick Harriers | V45 | 00:18:01 | 00:17:59 |
| 173 | Steve White | 220 | M | Elswick Harriers | V65+ | 00:23:42 | 00:23:48 |
| 187 | Malcolm Liddle | 125 | M | Elswick Harriers | V65+ | 00:25:25 | 00:25:34 |
Finally, onto the main event and there is only one person to start with… Andrea Banner, ladies captain, junior coach, and inspiration to many of us. Andrea knocked it out the park once again, securing an elite place for next year by finishing in a time of 3 hours 11 mins, finishing 23rd in her age category! Jason and Mike also secured good for age times with impressive runs, 1 minute separating the two ‘old timers’ 😉. Debbie closely followed by Joanne were next up and with very impressive runs. Coach Mickey was next up, outside his target time but gritty and impressive run. Dave Hodgson also ran the virtual marathon after failing to secure a ballot and club place – he deserves the Sunday roast after that effort. Well done our marathon runners!
| Name | Club | Half | Finish |
| Andrea Banner | Elswick Harriers | 01:31:44 | 03:11:58 |
| Jason Old | Elswick Harriers | 01:29:59 | 03:04:50 |
| Mike Russell | Elswick Harriers | 01:28:59 | 03:05:58 |
| Mickey Shore | Elswick Harriers | 01:57:17 | 04:21:22 |
| Debbie Spoor | Elswick Harriers | 01:48:36 | 03:41:04 |
| Joanne Webber | Elswick Harriers | 01:50:39 | 03:46:20 |
Our Juniors were also in action in the first NEYDL fixture in Shildon – its a great way to try a number of different events.
One of our talented multi eventer, Erin Blight won the OneLife Haltwhistle Aquathalon, Erin was crowned Female Youth Winner. Well done Erin!
