Alnwick Harriers

Following on from last years reappearance of Alnwick Harriers in the Spring and Summer Relays we are once again aiming to enter as many teams in these events as possible! As with last year the club are very kindly paying all entry fees for these superb events. The first Relay of the year is the Elswick Harriers Good Friday Relays which is being held on Friday 3rd April. A poster will be at Willowburn very soon for all those interested to add their names to. The deadline to add your names is Wednesday 18th March, so be quick! If you can’t get to Willowburn but would like to take part let Mark DOCTOR know at dockie1974@hotmail.co.uk.

The details are:

10.30am-Womens Senior and Vets Race. Teams of 3 are needed, with Seniors being those aged 15-34 and Vets 35 and older. Each runner will run (sprint) 2.2 miles.

11.30am-Mens Senior and Vets Race. Teams of 4 are needed, with Seniors being 15-39 and Vets 40 and older. Again, each Harrier will run 2.2 miles. Easy!

Sadly this year there are no Junior races, though with the minimum age being 15 some of the older Juniors can take part. Come on Team Alnwick, lets get as many entered as possible!

The Alnwick Harriers committee are proposing an overnight club trip to Scotland on 10/11 October for the Aviemore 10k and Half Marathon (you only need to do one). We are currently sourcing accommodation and expect the cost to be around a miserly £50 per person. This includes one nights accommodation and transport. Wowzers, that’s ludicrously cheap! And just look at the selling points below:

HALF MARATHON ROUTE

• The Start is approx 1100 ft above sea level with the Cairngorm Mountains setting a spectacular backdrop.
• The first 7 miles are on forest tracks through Glenmore Forest Park and Glenmore village before crossing the road and onto another forest track around Loch Morlich and then onto the main road continuing past Coylumbridge and Inverdruie.
• The route crosses the road by the Fish Farm and over the Spey River by the pedestrian footbridge.
• The last short section goes under the main Highland railway line, across Aviemore main street and then past the Four Seasons Hotel to a welcome Finish line!!! (approx 720 ft above sea level)

Conditions are a mixture of good solid forest track, paths and tarmac roads - a normal good supportive road running shoe is required.

10K ROUTE

• Starts at Glenmore, using the Aviemore Half Marathon route along the main road.
• Finishes at the same point as the Half Marathon.

For more info go to http://www.aviemorehalfmarathon.org/index2.html.

The closing date for all those interested Harriers is 31st March. There is a poster on the noticeboard at Willowburn to add your names to if you’re interested. Please note that to turn this idea into reality we need a minimum of 20 Harriers, and we don’t advise you enter the races until we give the nod. This subsidy trip is for Alnwick Harriers 1st Claimers only, however 2nd Claimers who actively support club events (ie marshal at our events, coach or organise activities) will also be eligible for the full subsidy”.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the Harrier League a handful of Harriers were in action at the Druridge Bay Parkrun on Saturday 28th February.  The headline act was Justine NORMAN who was making her Harriers debut having recently joined the club. Justine was 2nd female finisher in 23.33. Welcome to the club Justine! However 1st Harrier across the line was Peter GREY. He finished 6th and was 1st in the male 55 category. Micky AISTON warmed up for the cross country later in the day with a course pb, whilst Mark HUME was 1st in the male 70 category. Across in Workington the EASTOE’s were taking part in the Workington Parkrun, where both performed well winning their age 60 categories. Results:

Druridge Bay:

6-Peter GREY 19.53 (78.63%)

12-Micky AISTON 21.18 (66.04%)

28-Justine NORMAN 23.33

58-Karl BAXTER 27.22

87-Mark HUME 32.01 (55.08%)

Workington Parkrun:

28-Richard EASTOE 24.07

32-Gay EASTOE 24.28

The following day 3 Harriers took part in the undulating but beautiful Haweswater Half Marathon in the Lake District. 1st of the trio to finish was Richard EASTOE, closely followed by John ROSS and Gay EASTOE. Gay was 2nd in the female 60 category. Results:

326-Richard EASTOE 1.56.00

343-John ROSS 1.57.17

352-Gay EASTOE 1.57.56

Alnwick Harriers would, as always, like to thank Northumberland Estates for the use of The Pastures for the 5th of the 6 race in the North East Harrier League cross country series which took place on Saturday 28th February. The stunning course with its amazing backdrop of Alnwick Castle is widely considered by many to be the best fixture in the series. Also thanks to Alnwick Gardens for use of the car parking facilities at a reduced price for those athletes taking part and the spectators. We would also like to thank Rapid Reaction for their help once again with all things first aid. Of course without the help of the committee and in particular the hard working Secretary Jim LILLICO, this event would not take place. Many thanks to all the Harriers and friends who stepped forward to help out with marshalling duties, as well as course set up and clear up. Its was another fantastic day!

Most of the individual highlights from our point of view were courtesy of the Junior Harriers, who turned out in massive numbers at their home race. In the 1st race of the day Lauren BROWN finished a brilliant 2nd in the Girls Under 11’s race, with Mille BREESE and Ellie HENDERSON also finishing towards the top. In the Boys Under 11’s race Joseph GODDEN was 12th with Owen DOUGLAS seconds behind. Callie HENDERSON put in her usual excellent performance to finish 7th from the Fast Pack in the Girls Under 13 race, whilst a large number of Harriers boys took part in the Under 13’s race with Harrison BROWN and Max BREESE finishing well up there. There was a great 2nd place for Jenny BOLAM in the Girls Under 15’s race, whilst Rebecca REED was also 2nd in the Under 17/20 race. However the fastest time in the Girls Under 17/20 race was posted by our Suzie BARWISE-MUNRO. Her time of 17.49 included her Fast Pack handicap and saw her finish in 4th place. Well done to the Junior athletes for taking part in such large numbers!

For the Seniors the mens team finished 5th of the 11 teams on the day as they battle to beat the drop from Division 2. They were led home by Graham SIMPSON who finished a brilliant 15th from the Medium Pack, a performance which will see him run from the Fast Pack for the final race of the season and the whole of next season! Next counter, in his seasonal Harrier League bow, was Graham SYERS who finished 57th from the Slow Pack. He finished just in front of Medium Packer Steve PATTERSON who was making his final appearance for us before a change of clubs. Next up were Geoff CAMPBELL and Phil HEMSLEY, followed by our last of the 6 counters Adam SPILLER. A number of Harriers were making their seasonal cross country debut including Jim LILLICO and Mike TELFER, whilst Gary COWELL and Ken HODSON took part in their first ever Harrier League fixtures. In terms of the overall standings the men are still in 8th place of the 11 teams in Division 2. Despite finishing 5th on the day both Elvet Striders and Blackhill Bounders performed better, meaning that its very tight at the bottom. We are one of 5 teams who can join the probably already doomed Saltwell Harriers in going down to the bottom division. So its all hands to the pump for the final fixture at Wrekenton in 2 weeks time!

Senior Men:

15-Graham SIMPSON 39.46 (M)

57-Graham SYERS 41.35 (S)

74-Steve PATTERSON 41.56 (M)

144-Geoff CAMPBELL 43.04 (S)

156-Phil HEMSLEY 43.13 (M)

201-Adam SPILLER 43.57 (S)

207-Mike TELFER 44.03 (S)

249-Stuart MORRIS 44.46 (S)

253-Gary HALL 44.46 (S)

258-Adam FLETCHER 45.04 (F)

285-Andy SQUIRES 45.43 (S)

293-Graham CROW 45.51 (S)

307-Micky AISTON 46.28 (S)

327-Jim LILLICO 47.11 (S)

328-Gary COWELL 47.11 (S)

401-Dave HINDMARSH 50.06 (S)

446-Dave BARTRUM 52.36 (S)

494-Kim BRONZE 59.34 (S)

495-Ken HODSON 59.48 (S)

Due to a number of absences of key runners the Senior Women could only manage 5th place on the day which means our chances of promotion to Division 1 have possibly gone. We remain in 3rd place but both Morpeth Harriers and South Shields Harriers would have to fail miserably at Wrekenton to give us a sniff of promotion. 1st Harrier to finish was Team Captain Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS. Jo finished 7th from the Fast Pack and, as always, seemed to cruise effortlessly past most of her 287 rivals! 2nd counter, remaining in the Slow Pack to her immense relief, was Lesley MILLER who finished 43rd overall. 3rd Harrier home on her debut was Claire SAPWELL. Claire is a 2nd claimer for us and therefore does not count towards the team score, though she ran well to finish inside the top 100. The 3rd and 4th counters were involved in a close battle throughout the race, as was the case at Jarrow recently. However on this occasion the tables were turned with Maureen BARTRUM pipping Ruth DOCTOR in the final few hundred metres. Well done to both for being counters! Well done to the other ladies for taking part including Sarah CROSS who was returning from injury and Christine MAVROMICHAELIS making her Harrier League debut!

Senior Women:

17-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 31.12 (F)

43-Lesley MILLER 32.57 (S)

89-Claire SAPWELL 33.35 (S)

148-Maureen BARTRUM 34.57 (S)

154-Ruth DOCTOR 35.01 (S)

163-Tracey SAMPLE 35.31 (M)

173-Samantha FENDER 35.46 (S)

188-Sarah CROSS 36.31 (S)

271-Sheona DUFFY 44.40 (S)

275-Eileen GUTHRIE 45.49 (S)

281-Christine MAVROMICHAELIS 46.57 (S)

Under 11 Girls:

2-Lauren BROWN 3.52

11-Mille BREESE 4.15

14-Ellie HENDERSON 4.21

19-Lydia SMITH 4.26

28-Ailsa BATLEY 4.46

34-Eve LEWINGTON 4.55

54-Katie KNIGHT 5.27

55-Katie Lou FRIEND 5.28

56-Amy KNIGHT 5.29

57-Abbie DAVIES 5.30

65-Madeline AINSWORTH 5.40

Under 11 Boys:

12-Joseph GODDEN 4.15

19-Owen DOUGLAS 4.22

37-Cameron NICHOLS 4.51

46-Gregor BATLEY 5.03

48-Euan FRIEND 5.03

51-Finlay TELFER 5.11

Girls Under 13’s:

7-Callie HENDERSON 16.05 (F)

Boys Under 13’s:

18-Harrison BROWN 15.07 (S)

19-Max BREESE 15.07 (S)

32-Owen WILLCOX 15.46 (S)

43-Ollie TELFER 16.12 (F)

44-Joe EGGLESTON 16.14 (S)

52-Kieran DOVER 16.32 (F)

53-Kristian ATKINSON 16.42 (S)

55-William BRUNGER 16.47 (S)

56-Joshua McMEEKING 16.48 (S)

58-Luke McMEEKING 16.56 (S)

61-Jamie KELLY 20.28 (S)

62-Joe LAWLESS 20.28 (S)

Girls Under 15’s:

2-Jenny BOLAM 15.42 (S)

22-Amy THORNE 17.04 (F)

23-Abbie LEWINGTON 17.13 (S)

27-Ciara HEALY 17.29 (S)

32-Jessica DUFFY 17.45 (S)

38-Sophie ENSER 18.37 (S)

40-Layla SHAFIQ 18.56 (S)

41-Emily DAVIES 18.59 (S)

Boys Under 15’s:

48-Jack DOUGLAS 16.35 (S)

Girls Under 17/20’s:

2-Rebecca REED 17.28 (S)

4-Suzie BARWISE-MUNRO 17.49 (F)

23-Beth LEWINGTON 20.26 (S)

Full results from the day can be found here http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2014-15/alnwick/ and league tables are here http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2014-15/teams/. As has already been mentioned the final and very crucial fixture of the 2014/15 season is at Wrekenton on Saturday 14th February. More details will be on here soon. We hope to see loads of you there!

More photos will be located and uploaded onto our Flickr site in the next few days.

On Sunday 22nd February 4 Junior Alnwick Harriers travelled to Gateshead to compete in the second fixture of the ‘mini athletics series’ held at the Academy of Sport, Gateshead College. The event was a very well organised competition, inviting children from across the region to compete in hurdles, sprints, long jump, high jump and shot put.

The day got off to a flying start with Max BREESE achieving gold in the 60m hurdles.  Meanwhile competing in the Year 5 standing long jump Lauren BROWN took the silver medal position with a distance of 1.74m and Millie BREESE just missed out on a medal to finish fourth with a distance of 1.64m.

Max’s hard work paid off to see him take home gold in all other events he competed in on the day.

The 60m sprint was the second event the Year 5 girls took part in, which saw Lauren finishing third.

Alnwick performed brilliantly in the final event of shot put with Lauren taking the Gold, Talia THOMPSON taking bronze and Millie finishing a close fourth position.

10 Harriers lined up for the start of the Druridge Bay Parkrun on Saturday 21st February and by the end of the 5k, 2 age category course records had been broken by Harriers! 1st Harrier home in 4th place, notching a male 50 course record of 18.07 was Adam FLETCHER. Just a few seconds behind him was Junior Harrier Ben KELLY whose time of 18.12 was also an age category record in the male 11-14 category. Amongst the other headline grabbers were Jackie PROUSE who was 2nd female finisher, John ROSS for winning the male 55 category, Karl BAXTER for setting yet another course personal best and Tim FALCONER who made his Harriers debut. Results:

4-Adam FLETCHER 18.07 (81.41%)

6-Ben KELLY 18.12 (77.93%)

15-Andy SQUIRES 21.49 (68.68%)

16-Tim FALCONER 21.57

23-Jackie PROUSE 22.30

39-John ROSS 24.45 (63.16%)

45-Claire MILLER-GROSSETT 25.23

51-Karl BAXTER 25.40

81-Amy THORNE 30.15

98-Conrad STEWART 33.02

Elsewhere in the world of parkrun Gay EASTOE was 1st in the female 60 category at Workington, whilst Phil LEE was taking part in his 1st event for a while down at Harrogate. Results:

Workington:

27-Gay EASTOE 24.59

28-Richard EASTOE 25.00

Harrogate:

141-Phil LEE 25.57

A long way south 2 Harriers flew the flag in the English National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill, London. On a very muddy and hilly course in the big smoke Diana WEIGHTMAN performed extremely well in the Senior Womens race to finish 411th of the 865 finishers over the 8k course in 42.18. Meanwhile in the Senior Mens race Mark DOCTOR finished the 7 mile course in 1.04.29 to finish 1684th of over 2000 finishers. Well done to both. Hopefully next year we’ll be better represented at the Nationals!

Also that weekend Mark HUME, now running from the male 70 category, travelled across the continent to take part in the Malta Half Marathon. Mark, who has done this race before on a few occasions, finished in 2.39.21.

On the Sunday Ella BROWN put in a superb performance in the Tarpley 10, a 10 mile race in rural Suffolk organised by Bury St Edmunds Pacers. Ella ran very well in this undulating event to finish 33rd of the 353 finishers. Her time of 1.05.47 saw her finish 2nd female!

Finally for the weekend Gay and Richard EASTOE were in action in the Cumberland AC organised Netherhall 10 on Sunday. The pair ran together and finished in 1.29.25 and 1.29.26 with Gay in 71st and Richard in 72nd. Well done to Gay for winning the female 60 category in this race which was held in very and wet conditions.

After the 2nd event in the 2015 Alnwick Harriers Grand Prix there’s a battle at the top of the table between Phil HEMSLEY and Adam FLETCHER. After both performed extremely well at the recent Liversedge Half Marathon the pair have extended their lead over the chasing pack in the early standings, with Phil just a few points in front of Adam. 3rd at present is Andy SQUIRES, whilst Micky AISTON and John ROSS are in 4th and 5th. The top 5 are the only Harriers to have taken part in both counting events plus a Druridge Bay Parkrun so far. 6th place belongs to the first female in the rankings, Lesley MILLER, after her prize winning performance at Liversedge. The other prize winning berths are currently occupied by Jim LILLICO, Mike TELFER, Tracey SAMPLE, Terry FOUNTAIN, Richard AGAN and Graham CROW. There’s a very, very long way to go though!!

Thanks to superb work by John ROSS here are the current Grand Prix standings.

Grand Prix Standings After Liversedge

The next event is the Blyth Valley 10k on Sunday 12th April and it can be entered here http://www.blythrunningclub.org.uk/bv10_main.html. The week after that its the Druridge Bay Half Marathon, more details of which are here http://www.northeastmarathonclub.co.uk/our-races.php. Finally for now entries for the Bridge of the Tyne 5 Mile Race open on Saturday 28th February at 6am and will sell out extremely quickly! More info for that race is here http://www.tynebridgeharriers.com/2015/02/13/bridges-of-the-tyne-5-mile-road-race-2015-announcement/.

The second of the 2015 Alnwick Harriers Grand Prix events was held on Sunday 15th February, the ever popular Liversedge Half Marathon. The race is held in West Yorkshire and is hosted by one of the friendliest clubs out there Roberttown Road Runners. As in many previous years this race was chosen as a club trip, though sadly a good number of those who had been entered by the club dropped out for a variety of interesting reasons. 9 Harriers did make the long journey and had a great day, with some superb performances. First Harrier home was Phil HEMSLEY in a superb time of 1.22.41. Phil’s performance saw him finish in 9th place and was good enough to finish 2nd in the male 50 category. Next home, 3rd in the male 50 category, was Adam FLETCHER who was just over 2 minutes behind Phil in 23rd place. The other prize winner for us was Lesley MILLER who ran very well to finish in 1.45.25 to win the female 55 category!

Of the others there were some good performances including Mike TELFER who ran a half marathon pb on this difficult course. Mike has recently turned his back on meat and put his pb down to becoming a convert to vegetarianism, though as Mike admitted “The only reason I became a veggie was so I could retain my youthful looks and look 10 years younger than I actually am like other veggies in the club such as Mark DOCTOR and Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS”. Also performing well and finishing within a few minutes of each other were Andy SQUIRES, Jim LILLICO, Micky AISTON and Rob ENSER. Last but by no means least was John ROSS as he puts the finishing touches to his Washington DC Marathon plans next month. Results:

9-Phil HEMSLEY 1.22.41

23-Adam FLETCHER 1.24.46

56-Mike TELFER 1.29.05

134-Andy SQUIRES 1.38.35

145-Jim LILLICO 1.39.42

152-Micky AISTON 1.40.38

159-Rob ENSER 1.41.17

201-Lesley MILLER 1.45.25

327-John ROSS 1.56.37

NECAA hosted the regions track and field championships at Gateshead College Academy for Sport at the weekend. Field events took place at the indoor venue on Saturday followed by track events on Sunday.

On Saturday three Alnwick Junior boys represented the club in the under 13 category and competed in the High Jump, Long jump and Shot Put. The day started well with all the boys clearing 1.20m. Max BREESE took the Silver medal, Ollie TELFER the bronze and Benji GILLINGHAM finished fourth. When all athletes clear the same height medal positions are determined by ‘count back’ where those who clear the final height with the least attempts receive the highest award. Both Max and Benji achieved personal best jumps; it was a very close competition!!

Positions were reversed in the long jump with Max winning the bronze medal and Ollie jumping a 3.90m personal best to take silver. After an unfortunate injury Benji once again finished fourth.

Only Ollie competed in the Shot Put which was the final event of the day. He was runner up with a personal best throw of 6.25m!

Max was the only athlete to return on Sunday for the track events. He built on last season’s hurdling success to win the silver medal in the 60m. Later in the day he ran a personal best time in the 60m sprint to finish fourth in his heat.

The athletes had a great weekend competing at an exceptionally well organised event. The opportunity to compete indoors so early in the year will be a great help in achieving success as the season continues.

For the first time in a number of years Alnwick Harriers entered a team in the Royal Signals Relays which was held at Hetton le Hole on Saturday 14th February. 6 Senior men took part in the event, all running a 2.2 mile lap. A largely youthful team performed very well finishing 21st of the 59 teams in a combined time of 1.16.22. We hope to follow up our participation in this and the recent North East Cross Country Championships, with a decent turn out at the forthcoming Spring Relays. More details of these events, which a decent number of Harriers took part in in 2014, will appear here soon. Many thanks to Ross WILSON for organising our participation in this event, here are our individual performances:

1st Leg-Dan LENG 12.48

2nd Leg-Joe MALLEN 12.34

3rd Leg-Graham SIMPSON 12.30

4th Leg-Ian SIMON 13.26

5th Leg-Steve PATTERSON 12.35

6th leg-Ross WILSON 12.29

Earlier that day the usual decent number of Harriers took part in the Druridge Bay Parkrun, once again in perfect conditions. Richard AGAN was 1st Harrier to finish in 5th place, clocking a course pb of 19.19. He was just a few seconds ahead of Peter GREY who won the male 55 category. Mark HUME was 1st in the male 70 category, whilst Karl BAXTER clocked a course pb and Lee BOWYER made his event debut. Over at Workington Gay and Richard EASTOE both took part. Many congratulations to Gay who not only won the female 60 category, but she also notched a long awaited course pb! Gay knocked an excellent 11 seconds off her previous best, after going so close to beating her previous best several times in recent weeks.

Results:

Druridge Bay:

5-Richard AGAN 19.19 (66.78)

7-Peter GREY 19.23 (80.65%)

32-Lee BOWYER 24.30 (53.54%)

33-Ken HODSON 24.42 (54.05%)

41-Claire MILLER-GROSSETT 25.04

45-Karl BAXTER 25.49

73-Mike HENRY 29.41

84-Mark HUME 32.13 (54.73%)

102-William FORTUNE 35.05

Workington:

32-Richard EASTOE 23.09

38-Gay EASTOE 24.18

Photos of Peter GREY and Lee BOWYER courtesy of Tim SHEPHERD.

Details of the Liversedge Half Marathon from Sunday 15th February will appear here asap.