A large turnout from the club descended onto Hetton’s finest (and only) country park for the annual Royal Signal relays. In contrast to most years, the course was damp and cold, with the temperature struggling to raise above freezing. No real wind though, so that was something.

Race 1

The Senior women’s and veteran women’s race started the programme. Each team of four had to navigate two 1.1-mile laps each, with a large hill near the start of each lap. So, for newcomers to Hetton, optimistic starts (and deaths) were the order of the day.

We fielded 3 teams (2 senior, 1 vet). Positives could be seen from the races despite the conditions and the misfortune of nearly everyone either suffering from illness or having caught it in the week prior.

Vet Women 19^th – 1:06:24

Monika Molnar               16:07

Kaye Collins                     16:46

Leanne Robertson          15:58

Cheryl Richards               17:33

Senior Women 34^th –  1:21:49

Elisabeth Middlemas      16:18

Joanna Hughes                21:37

Stacey Bell                        20:15

Fiona Bell                         23:39

Senior Women B 35^th –  1:27:03

Lynda Clough                   19:48

Mandy Dixon                   21:50

Sarah Berry                      26:34

Agnes Bastien-Langham 18:51

Race 2

The Second race of the day was the Senior and Vet men. 6 in a team for this one over the same course and 2 laps each. Both the Vet team and Senior team were constantly overtaking each other throughout the day. With a particular strong leg from Gary who recorded the 12^th fastest vet leg of the day. However it was the Vet men team who finished first with Jonny getting the team over the line in a respectable 8^th place for the vets team.

Vet Men 8^th – 1:20:33

Keiron Lightfoot               12:39

Gary Wallace                   11:54

David Best                        13:18

Mark Temple                   14:02

David Grimes                   14:09

Jonathan Richards          14:09

Senior men 29^th  – 1:23:38

Ashley Slavin      12:15

Lee McCarron    12:50

Jordan Bell         11:22

Ben Heckles       14:13

Jon Dodds          15:22

Stewy Bell          17:36

British Universities Cross Country Championships – Blackweir fields, Cardiff

A Welsh adventure a course so flat that it made the Northerns last week look hilly. Despite this, and the temperatures plummeting during the day, it showed to be an exciting day in store.

First off Duncan (representing Loughborough) in the Men’s Short Course race (8.2k) and true to tradition the race was run to the tactics of run as fast as you can for as long as you can holding together well in the final stages of the race come away with a very respectable 21^st place

In the Final race of the day Jordan (Representing Reading) took part in the Men’s Long Course (10.8k) and only had a top 10 finisher of the Olympic marathon to contend with. Despite the opposition Jordan manoeuvred through the field well to come back as 4^th counter for Reading

A successfully day was had by both Duncan and Jordan despite it looking weird with them both not wearing black and yellow for one weekend.

Men’s Short Course – 8.2k

21st

Duncan

Hughes

Loughbrough

00:25:07

Men’s Long Course – 10.8k

242nd

Jordan

Meikle

Reading

00:41:23

North East Harrier League – Temple Park, South Shields

In more local, and less glamourous, surroundings was the return for the harrier league at everyone’s favourite set of football fields and underwater marshlands of Temple Park run the “correct” way around for anyone who had run at the northeastern the previous month.

U11’s

16          Jude Harrison    00:04:16            

31          Fenn Harrison   00:04:28            

42          Fred Buckley      00:04:43            

Under 17 Men (3mile)

22          Ben Heckles       00:22:57            

Senior and Vet women (4 mile – ish)

74          Elisabeth Middlemas      00:30:30

218        Judith Errington               00:42:25

229        Fiona Bell                         00:46:15

Senior + Vet Men (6 mile – ish)

36          Ashley Slavin      00:34:37

83          David Best          00:37:32            

236        Luke Aston         00:46:01            

251        Stewy Bell          00:47:42

Dewsbury 10k

68th Gary Wallace 33:52
192nd Keiron Lightfoot 36:09
402nd Mark Temple 38:32

Miami Marathon

A couple of the club took the long adventure to the states to run the roasting a humid Miami Marathon

Shirley Corbett 6:36:37

Jon Dodds 6:05:16

Rachel Malerick 6:27:42

Samuel Thurlow 6:27:41

With many of the races over the weekend falling victim to the weather we were fortunate to have a couple of teams at the Birtley Cross Country Relays.   

Both teams showed good spirit despite the bitter conditions in the freezing temperatures as the fog rolled in. The 2 mile coursed proved a decent challenge of fast straights and short steep hills which everyone tackled well to post very respectable performances.  

Senior women (47^th) 

Stacey Bell 17:49 

Cheryl Richards 14:47 

Adele Mcaleer 17:05 

Senior Men (14^th)  

Gary Wallace 10:08  

Ash Slavin 10:53 

Jon Dodds  12:53  

Full results at: https://www.birtleyac.co.uk/results