Well, it’s been a busy old time at Elswick Harriers of late with celebrating your successes at St James’ Park on the 23rd then hosting our Good Friday Relays 6 days later…
Good Friday Relays:
Let’s start with our very own relays, it was an early start (6.30am 😴) for Graham Bell and his team of merry helpers. With race HQ and the course set up, our team of volunteers welcomed the competitors.
Once the clock stuck 9am our first junior race with underway.
We had 23 juniors completing across all 3 junior races with Ayala Blight 2nd u13 girl and Dominic Kelso 3rd u13 boy picking up silverware.
In the senior relay races, we fielded 8 women’s and 6 men’s teams – a total of 48 runners!
My highlight and feel good moment from Friday, is 18 (8 men and 10 ladies) of the 48 runners have graduated from our juniors ranks, some more recent than others.
In addition to our wonderful juniors running in the senior ranks for the first time, we also had adults running relays for the first time… Another thing to shout about!
On to the scores on the doors, out of our 8 women’s teams. 3 finished in the podium spots. Our Senior women finishing in 2nd place, v40’s 1st place and v50’s in 2nd place.
Our men also performed brilliantly, with our first senior team finishing 15th and v50’s claiming 2nd place.
Well done to all that ran!
Massive shout out to Graham Bell, our race organiser. Graham puts in a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure we continue to host 3 races throughout the year. I know he’ll say it’s a team effort, which it is but our races don’t happen without someone leading from the front.
Special mention goes to Simon Allen for his help in advertising and dealing with all the queries, Mary Hall and Kisi Hardman (Kisi we hope you have a speedy recovery from injury) on results, Mark Turnbull for picking up all the equipment on Thursday and ferrying it to the event location on Friday plus all our helpers on the day!
On behalf of the club. Thank you!
Note: keep your calendar free for our Newburn River Run – we will be needing helpers to marshal this race in June.
North Tyneside 10km
Sunday saw fantastic running weather – sunny but not too hot, perfect for running a 10km along the seafront…
Tony Banks was our first home in an impressive time, a great confidence boost ahead of his marathon.
Imogen was next in with her 2nd awesome performance of the weekend. Imogen claimed a prize for 2nd senior lady on day.
It was brilliant to see brothers, Martin and Shaun Connelly back in action, both have been dogged by injury over recent months. Hopefully you’re both on the mend and soon back to your best!
Of the 15 running on Sunday, 10 either ran or helped out (or both) on Good Friday – i’m pleased Friday didn’t take its toll too much, you all deserve an easter egg or two for your efforts!
Well done everyone!
| POS | NAME | FINISH TIME | |
| 1 | Tony Banks | 00:37:19 | |
| 2 | Imogen Bungay | 00:37:31 | |
| 3 | Martin Connelly | 00:42:42 | |
| 4 | Paul Jones | 00:42:59 | |
| 5 | Ryan Davison | 00:43:11 | |
| 6 | Liam Trevithick | 00:43:50 | |
| 7 | Susanne Stephenson | 00:44:52 | |
| 8 | Debbie Spoor | 00:45:49 | |
| 9 | Shaun Connelly | 00:46:25 | |
| 10 | Gillian Johnson | 00:47:29 | |
| 11 | Nigel Hollier | 00:53:24 | |
| 12 | Joanne Webber | 00:53:53 | |
| 13 | Jayne Cuskern | 00:55:43 | |
| 14 | Joanne Forster | 00:57:39 | |
| 15 | David Hodgson | 01:03:56 |
Henley River Half Marathon
Our avid traveler, Luke Hillard was back in half marathon action, this time in the Henley River Half Marathon. Dispite the flooded course, Luke finished only 8 seconds outside the course record to claim first place.
Luke is certainly in good shape going into London. Well done Luke!
Coledale Horseshoe
Pete Dawson was back in the hills running the Coledale Horseshoe over in the Lake District.
Hats off to Pete for completing the challenging route – i’ll save this route for a leisurely walk in the summer!
Well done Pete!
East Fortune Duathlon
Last weekend the Bell brothers, David, Adam and our senior club champ Andrew headed up to Scotland for the East Fortune duathlon.
All three have had injury worries of late so it was touch and go who would come out on top. First home was the youngest of the 3 Andrew followed by David then Adam not far behind.
Well done guys!
Future Fixtures:
With one XC fixture still to go of the season, our men’s team have a chance of getting promoted and women are in danger of relegation from Division 1 so we need a big turnout.
13/4 April – Thornley Farm.
If you’re not already registered and want to run let me know.
Relays:
8th May – Wallsend (limited to 10 teams per club)
Club Champs:
April – Blyth 10km
May – Pier to Pier Sold out but transfers are allowed
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)