Alnwick Harriers

Hundreds of Photos of Harriers in action from last Saturday are gradually being uploaded onto our Flickr site. There are also many hundreds of photos from the last few years on that site. Access is via the Flickr icon below. Thanks to Alan ROBERTSON for his excellent photos from our Harrier League race!

You can also follow up to the minute news regarding the club on Twitter @alnwickharriers, again via the link below!

As always we are laying on a heavily subsidised coach for the annual trip to the Blaydon Race on Monday 9th June. There is a poster on the noticeboard at Willowburn to add your names to if you’d like a place on the coach. Please can you do this by Wednesday 28th May so we can confirm the correct sized coach.

The coach will leave Willowburn at 5.15pm and travel to Newcastle via Felton. The return will leave Blaydon at 9.15pm, thus giving everyone time to enjoy some post race refreshments in The Black Bull! The cost will be £5 for Harriers and £10 for non Harriers (one way is half price).

A week after her age category success at the Netherhall 10 Gay EASTOE was a winner again on Sunday 2nd March, this time in the Haweswater Half Marathon. Gay won the female 60 category in this picturesque, undulating Lake District race finishing in 2.09.44. Her husband Richard was a second and a place further back in 389th place.

That same day southern based Harrier Melanie BUCHANAN was preparing for the Vienna MARATHON by taking part in the Berkhamsted Half Marathon in Hertfordshire. Another undulating race, Melanie finished in 2.17.34.

The day before new Harrier Mark DOUGLAS was in action on the Town Moor in the Newcastle Parkrun. Mark finished 66th of the 466 runners in 20.44 (62.70%).

The BASTON’s warmed up for the afternoon’s Harrier League fixtures at the Whitley Bay Parkrun. In a close run thing Phil finished 59th in 23.00 (59.52%), whilst daughter Charlotte was 61st in 23.02 (66.43%).

Saturday 1st March saw us play host to the 5th of the 6 fixtures in the 2013/14 North East Harrier League cross country series. For the third year running the weather was kind to us, with none of the recent gusty conditions we’ve had. The course was spectacular again and is rightly deemed to be the jewel in the crown of the Harrier League fixtures. Thanks to everyone who’s helped to organise the event and also to the marshals who were superb. The supportive and loud marshals have been receiving praise from many clubs, with one marshal being picked out for special praise (Shep)!! Many thanks to Alnwick Estates and Alnwick Castle for use of the land and car park. Also many thanks to Rapid Reaction for their first aid skills.

On the course there were some amazing performances by the huge number of Harriers who took part. The Senior Women and the Girls teams were the big winners with the Under 15′s coming out on top overall on the day, with the Under 13′s and Under 17/20′s finishing 2nd. The Seniors were a quite brilliant 2nd of the 30 teams in Division 2. From an individual point of view Amy REED was top girl winning the Under 13′s race. Rosie MURTON was 2nd in the U17/20 race though was easily the fastest participant, running from the Fast Pack, and in the Under 15′s Rebecca REED was 3rd home. For the Senior Women despite hardly running for months due to injury, the newly crowned Alnwick Sports Personality of the Year Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS was 15th home but 5th quickest from the Fast Pack! Imagine how good she’d be if she had have trained.

For the men a record 25 Seniors took part, whilst top teams on the day were the Under 13′s and Under 17′s, both of whom finished 2nd overall. A special mention to the Under 11′s where an astonishing 19 out of a field of over 100 wore the Harriers vest. They are a credit to the club.

A decent number of Seniors took part in the Ladies race with Ella BROWN and Diana WEIGHTMAN helping Jo to secure the amazing 2nd place. As a result of the team performance we have moved up to 3rd of the 30 teams in Division 2 after 5 events!

Female Harriers:

15-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 32.17 (F)

22-Ella BROWN 32.24 (M)

30-Diana WEIGHTMAN 32.44 (S)

50-Pauline AITCHISON 33.11 (M)

64-Sarah GRAY 33.37 (M)

90-Tracey SAMPLE 34.13 (S)

92-Alex REED 34.15 (S)

133-Tina MURTON 36.23 (S)

141-Mary PLUMLEY 36.41 (S)

142-Sarah CROSS 36.42 (S)

155-Ruth DOCTOR 37.33 (S)

157-Maureen BARTRUM 37.44 (S)

162-Shelley COATES 38.11 (S)

209-Rachel BOWYER 41.55 (S)

210-Eileen GUTHRIE 41.55 (S)

For the men just as with Jo the first Harrier home was another injury plagued runner, Captain Bruce CROMBIE. Next was Harriers debutant John HORSLEY, with other counters being Geoff CAMPBELL, Mike TELFER, Mark COCKBURN and Steve PATTERSON. Of note Hesus KIDD was making his Harrier League debut, whilst Stu BRUCE was having his 1st run for us. Also well done to Dave HINDMARSH who was racing again 6 days after completing the Tokyo Marathon! The men are sitting in mid table in Division 2.

Male Harriers:

46-Bruce CROMBIE 41.32 (M)

79-John HORSLEY 42.10 (S)

93-Geoff CAMPBELL 42.32 (S)

116-Mike TELFER 43.08 (S)

129-Mark COCKBURN 43.25 (S)

151-Steve PATTERSON 43.42 (S)

152-Jim LILLICO 43.42 (S)

165-Ian SIMON 43.55 (S)

189-Richard AGAN 44.08 (M)

204-Graham SIMPSON 44.50 (M)

221-George SKIRROW 45.20 (S)

229-Hesus KIDD 45.27 (S)

241-Stuart MORRIS 45.50 (S)

254-Adam SPILLER 46.04 (S)

275-Stuart CARTER 47.10 (S)

287-Dave HENDERSON 47.40 (S)

303-Dave HINDMARSH 48.25 (S)

348-Graham SKIRROW 50.21 (S)

358-Phil BASTON 50.51 (S)

382-Micky AISTON 52.52 (S)

388-Dave BARTRUM 53.20 (S)

394-Jonathan KAY 53.42 (S)

398-Kim BRONZE 53.58 (S)

414-Dave COATES 56.21 (S)

420-Stuart BRUCE 61.44 (S)

For the Juniors, top team after 5 fixtures is the Girls Under 15′s. They are top of a very tight group just ahead of Jarrow, Gateshead and Gosforth. Also well up there with one race to go is the Under 17/20 Girls team who currently lie 3rd behind Sunderland Harriers and Durham City Harriers.

Under 11 Mixed Race:

22-Ollie TELFER 4.34

29-Max BREESE 4.45

36-Lauren BROWN 4.54

57-Jamie KELLY 5.13

64-Millie BREESE 5.22

75-Lydia SMALL 5.24

77-Ailsa BATLEY 5.24

81-Finlay TELFER 5.30

82-Gregor BATLEY 5.31

83-Eve LEWINGTON 5.33

84-Jack PLUMLEY 5.35

87-Euan FRIEND 5.40

99-Hannah TAYLOR 5.52

102-Catherine BARNABY 6.06

104-George PLUMLEY 6.08

109-Emma JACKSON 6.36

111-Lucy MILHAM 6.45

112-Kate COOPER 7.04

113-Talia THOMPSON 7.26

Under 13 Girls:

1-Amy REED 15.18 (S)

11-Callie HENDERSON 16.09 (S)

16-Abbie LEWINGTON 16.21 (S)

33-Emma HUTCHINGS 17.11 (S)

56-Lucy HODGSON 18.54 (S)

59-Emily DAVIES 19.19 (S)

60-Ciara HEDLEY 19.21 (S)

61-Sophie ENSER 19.34 (S)

62-Ella HEMSLEY 19.39 (S)

65-Grace FORSYTHE 20.17 (S)

Under 13 Boys:

7-Kieran DOVER 14.49 (S)

17-Warren DAVISON 15.18 (S)

24-Jack DOUGLAS 15.44 (S)

51-Luke McMEEKING 17.13 (S)

55-Harrison BROWN 17.25 (S)

56-Josh McMEEKING 17.35 (S)

57-Jack CARRIGAN 17.38 (S)

58-Archie WORT 17.39 (S)

Under 15 Girls:

3-Rebecca REED 15.23 (S)

7-Amy THORNE 15.54 (F)

20-Jessica BARNABY 16.33 (S)

22-Jenny BOLAM 16.39 (S)

31-Lucy EMBLETON 17.43 (S)

35-Layla SHAFIQ 18.26 (S)

Under 15 Boys:

14-Alfie MURTON 14.22 (S)

17-Ben KELLY 14.39 (F)

28-Craig MUTER 15.32 (F)

34-Craig MATTHEWS 16.13 (S)

Under 17 Boys:

2-Isaac MOSS 15.01 (S)

12-Sean ELLIOTT 16.23 (S)

17-Dan LENG 16.36 (F)

18-Peter SKIRROW 16.42 (S)

20-Adam SHAFIQ 16.46 (F)

30-Dan MALLEN 18.17 (S)

Under 17/20 Girls:

2-Rosie MURTON 17.32 (F)

9-Charlotte BASTON 18.52 (S)

10-Beth LEWINGTON 19.03 (S)

Full results of all races and team standings so far are here http://www.harrierleague.com/results/. The final fixture is on Saturday 22nd March. Due to issues beyond the Harrier League’s control they’ve had to cancel Prudhoe, however the fixture has been switched to Wrekenton. More details will be here asap. There’s still plenty to play for so lets end the season on a high!

More photos will be on our Flickr site soon……

In the meantime here’s a video of action from the day courtesy of George ROUTLEDGE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru90UOjR4s8 and another from Houghton Harriers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKrv3HkzNJY.

Alnwick Playhouse rolled out the red carpet on Wednesday 26th February as it played host to the annual Alnwick and District Sports Council Awards. It was  great night for Alnwick Harriers, whose members took away numerous awards, in particular for Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS who took away 2 well deserved trophies!

Jo had an amazing 2013 winning a host of races, securing all the female club records and becoming a World Champion for Alnwick Tri Club at the Aquathlon World Championships. She was recognised for all this by winning the top prize last night, the overall Northumberland Gazette Sports Personality of the Year Award (seen pictured above with James WILLOUGHBY and Paul LARKIN from the Gazette)! Jo also won the Senior Achievement Award jointly with Cyclist Quentin FIELD-BODEN (seen below).

There was also recognition for the club which fought off stiff competition from numerous superb local clubs to win the Club of the Year Award! This award is testament to the superb hard work the committee put into the club behind the scenes, most notably Secretary Jim LILLICO, Chairperson Sue BOLAM and Junior Secretary Diana WEIGHTMAN. Its also for the many coaches who turn up week in week out and put us through our paces, and for the growing number of Harriers who pull on vests every week to race for both Seniors and Juniors. We are great!

Well done also to Harrier Denise DRUMMOND who won the Most Improved Female Award for her exploits with the Tri Club! Many thanks to the Sports Council for putting on this event, and to Jane COLTMAN of the Northumberland Gazette for the photos.

Not since One Direction headed to Japan has there been such hype surrounding an Englishman heading to the far east. This weekend that man was Dave HINDMARSH who was taking part in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday 23rd February. Dave’s official time was 3.57.39, a decent effort considering cramp from 19 miles and the amount of underwear thrown at him by adoring fans. Dave has now bagged all 6 major marathons after also completing London, New York, Boston, Berlin and Chicago. A superb achievement!

Also that day Gay and Richard EASTOE were taking part in the Netherhall 10, a race organised by Cumberland AC. Gay was 97th across the line in 96.27 winning the female 60 category, whilst Richard was 1 place and 1 second further back.

A slightly lower key affair than Tokyo was the Newcastle Parkrun on Saturday 22nd February. 3 members of the TELFER family took part, with dad Mike being the 1st Harrier to finish. Next home was new member Steve PATTERSON, followed by 10 year old Ollie TELFER and then 8 year old Fin TELFER. Results:

25-Mike TELFER 19.26 (71.87%)

36-Steve PATTERSON 19.59 (65.97%)

197-Ollie TELFER 25.12 (62.63%)

366-Fin TELFER 30.02 (56.66%)

Once the cross country season is done and dusted we hope to carry on the team momentum by targeting the spring and summer relay events. They are excellent events and great fun! Soon a poster will be going up at Willowburn for all those interested to add their names to, and team captains Brenda MALLEN, Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS and Bruce CROMBIE will be sending out emails to drum up interest. For an added incentive the club will pay entry fees for Harriers and will pay towards travel costs, even organising a coach if there’s enough people to warrant it! Two of the events are on training nights so no excuses!!

The events are:

1. Friday 18th April-Elswick Good Friday Road Races at Newburn Riverside Park (Juniors and Seniors) http://www.elswickharriers.org.uk/elswickharriers/?page_id=1712.

2. Wednesday 14th May-Gordon Smith Memorial Relays at Wallsend (Seniors only) http://www.wallsendharriers.com.

3. Wednesday 25th June-Weetslade Relays at Weetslade Country Park, Wideopen http://claremontroadrunners.co.uk/weetslade-relays/.

It was the usual post Harrier League/Club Trip quiet weekend with only 3 Harriers taking part in Parkrun’s on Saturday 15th February. However it was one to remember for Charlotte BASTON who was taking part in her first Whitley Bay Parkrun. Charlotte knocked 7 seconds off her 5k pb and was 3rd female home, just behind father Phil. Meanwhile Dave HINDMARSH was in action on the Town Moor having his last race before heading out to Japan for next weekend’s Tokyo Marathon. Good luck Dave!!

Results:

Whitley Bay:

40-Phil BASTON 22.26 (63.22%)

42-Charlotte BASTON 22.30 (68.00%)

Newcastle:

76-Dave HINDMARSH 22.57 (65.29%)

The following day Mark son of John COCKBURN was in action in the Catterick 10k. The race was a hilly one and included crossing a fast flowing river twice, meaning that times weren’t astoundingly fast. Nevertheless Mark ran well finishing 28th of over 200 runners in 42.45.

Finally Hertfordshire based Harrier Mel BUCHANAN was taking part in the Baldock Beast Half Marathon in the north of the county. This sounds like a toughie, undulating throughout and with some off road sections. Mel finished in 2.16.39.

A busy weekend with 2 Grand Prix events, as well as lots of Harriers taking part in early season Parkruns, means that the first league table has a whopping 45 Harriers listed! Top of the tree at this early stage is Phil HEMSLEY. Phil has run the quickest Parkrun of the year for us so far and performed very well at Wrekenton on Saturday. Second is Pauline AITCHISON, thanks partly to the highest WAVA score of the Harriers at Liversedge on Sunday. Next up is Mike HENRY followed by Annabel LILLICO, Danny RICHARDSON, John CALLAGHAN and Alex REED. Once again the top 12 will win a prize this year, therefore in the prize winning places are also Eddie LONGSTAFF, Phil BASTON, Ruth DOCTOR, Captain CROMBIE and Gay EASTOE.

2014 Grand Prix After Liversedge

The next Grand Prix race is the Brough Law Fell Race on Sunday 9th March. It starts at 10am and is a 5 mile race in the Ingram Valley with a mere 400 metres of ascent. More details are at http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/.

17 Harriers ventured to West Yorkshire to take part in the ever popular Liversedge Half Marathon on Sunday 9th February. Despite the long journey, not particularly scenic surroundings and the 531 feet of climbing this is a race we take part in almost every year and for those first timers it was easy to see why! The keen wind today also ensured that half marathon pb’s weren’t troubled by most. In fact only Annabel LILLICO scored a pb, knocking a massive 12 minutes off her previous half in Glasgow!

The race has been a profitable one down the years for the club with a host of team prizes and age category prizes coming our way, and 2014 was no exception. Jim LILLICO won the male 55 category, Pauline AITCHISON scooped the female 40 win, whilst Vee POLLOCK and Lisa ATHEY went away with 2nd and 3rd prizes in the female 35 category. To top off a great day for the club Pauline, Vee and Annabel took the womens team prize!! As if the day couldn’t get any better for Pauline she was also part of the trio which won Jim LILLICO’s famous Alnwick Harriers away day quiz!

First Harrier home was Richard AGAN, impressing in 24th place. Graham SYERS, in training for the London Marathon was next, followed by Jim LILLICO. Also of note Hesus KIDD dipped below 1.40, Eddie LONGSTAFF was taking part in his 1st half marathon and John CALLAGHAN was having his first race of any kind for ages due to injury. But the day belonged to the Alnwick women. Out of 130 women taking part we had 4 in the top 20!

Results:

24-Richard AGAN 1.23.49

52-Graham SYERS 1.29.25

93-Jim LILLICO 1.36.35

105-Pauline AITCHISON 1.37.49

116-Hesus KIDD 1.39.16

136-Vee POLLOCK 1.41.35

142-Eddie LONGSTAFF 1.42.04

144-Annabel LILLICO 1.42.13

155-Mark DOCTOR 1.42.47

162-Lisa ATHEY 1.43.18

233-Charlie GILLON 1.50.28

245-Dave BARTRUM 1.51.54

266-John CALLAGHAN 1.54.15

284-Maureen BARTRUM 1.56.53

302-Alex REED 1.59.20

364-Shelley COATES 2.06.17

455-Mark HUME 2.47.14

As always many thanks to Peter KNOTT and his great team at Roberttown Road Runners for putting on such a great, well marshalled event. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Wrekenton NEHL cross country race this was also a Grand Prix event. Early standings courtesy of John ROSS will be on the website in a day or two. Loads more photos of Harriers in a variety of poses, some nice some absolutely hideous, are available on our Flickr site. This can be accessed at the right hand side of the website.

Elsewhere on this busy, busy weekend 2 Harriers were in action the previous day in north east Parkrun’s. Dave HINDMARSH scored a Parkrun pb at Newcastle where he finished 32nd in 20.49 (71.98%). Phil LEE was on the coast at Whitley Bay finishing 86th in 24.28 (62.81%).