Hi all members,
With summer well upon us  the road racing scene is very busy and we have had athletes scattered over various distances and terrains over the last few months.

On the fells the Northern Runner Summer Series is well underway and at present five races have being completed with Mark Walker showing his liking for these events by running in four of them and has been Mr Consistency with positions of  14th,16th,13th and a creditable 11th at the Whorlton Run in June. Steve Hardy ,Rob Williamson and Paul Wildmore have also taken part in the series and even managed a good third team place in the tough Fox and Hounds Chase.

The Fells was also the venue for Rob Williamson's Stag Weekend at the end of May - How any of them managed to booze after the 14 mile Garburn trail race I don't know, but the stagger back to the digs afterwards took a lot longer-Steve,Dan,Neil,Tom,Dave Horness and Rob himself all competed  the course admirable and would do it again.

May bank holiday weekend always has plenty of races and on the Sunday several of our runners ran the traditional 10k at Kirbymoorside ,which is a splendid course undulating through several villages and a nice downhill finish - First home for L&W was Rob Williamson who despite the humid conditions ran a good 39.01 finishing in 13th position with Dave Horness looking as fit as ever next home in 40.56 ( 33rd ) ,also competing on the day were Alan Howard 38th,Neil Duffield 46th, Andrew Collier 89th,Claire Fowler 94th, Stewart Darge 126th and Adele Thompson still with marathon legs in 182nd.

The following day we had runners at the Tees Barrage but unfortunately one lady short for Julie and Nicola to try and defend the women's 10k team title instead had to battle for the vet prize which Julie won with an excellent 41st place in a time of 40.38 mins with Nicola finishing 53rd just over a minute behind her but claiming 2nd vet 35 prize, and our sole senior man Steve Mussett continuing to improve finishing 26th in 38.34 minutes.

I had planned myself to run in the John Carr 5k series at Esholt and with the first race incorporating the Yorkshire Vets 5k champs, it was a good night for running and I was delighted to run a PB of 16.23 and just beaten for the vet 35 crown.

May also covered a few other 10k's with Adele running at Raby Castle and four representatives at the Askern 10k with Jo and Donald Abbott ,
J Risley and C McEvoy.

Next on the agenda was the Egton Gooseberry Run ( June 8th ) which was blessed with the hottest day of the summer although it was tough for running it made the Barbecue and Annual Rounders game much more pleasant and what has now become traditional club event which we help to organise and still had 14 runners in the main race -Two many to mention,see results on web site.

A week later and it was off to the Newton Aycliffe for John Hunter and it was worth the travel as John showed his class by storming to the vet 40 title  covering the 10k distance in a time of  33.54 minutes and finishing a great 6th place and just over two minutes behind winner Martin Scaife. On the same day myself and Graham Robinson ran the Castle Howard Trail Race and I must say what an enjoyable race this was within the grounds of this pleasant setting and without the pressure of setting pb's ( due to terrain) and seemed slightly longer but certainly one race for the diary. For the record I was 8th and Graham making a return to racing ran well ( 74th ).

The third event of New Marske's series brought us again to the 5k course on the seafront for the summer classic but the weather was not as favourable as a few monthes earlier with a stiff breeze spoiling any chance of  fast times but once again we were well represented as athletes tried to score well for the new club championships. I enjoyed a positive run but time was down, then we had Julie Mastolonardo next home while winning the womens vet 35 just ahead of Dave Horness who was rewarded with first vet 50 ( where's all the young un's! ) followed by Tecca just outside the 20 minute mark and Laura Duffield making a rare appearance coming home in ( 20.34 ) just ahead of the two Graham's - Robinson and Youngson ( nice to see you running again lads) ,and Adele covering the course in 22.56 as she try's to regain her leg speed again after her marathon  efforts over the last year or so.

The month of June came to an end with the Cleveland Way relays ( see web page reports ) and as a club we enjoy the day immensely and I hope that we can support more events throughout the year with as much passion.

 

Keep up the good work .

Dave