Alnwick Harriers

We are pleased to announce that the 2014 Northumberland Coastal Run, proudly sponsored once again by Eclipse Translations, will take place on Sunday 20th July. The race will start on the beach at Beadnell at 10.30am and will finish at Alnmouth after 14 beautiful miles of Northumberland coastline.

Minimum age for entry is 18 and no dogs are allowed! Please note that there are NO deferrals and NO refunds. The race will cost attached runners £18 and will be £20 for unattached runners. There will be buses available for transport from Alnmouth to the start at Beadnell in plenty of time for the start of the race (full details ie costs of this TBC).

There are 1170 places up for grabs, with entries opening at 00.01 hours on Saturday 18th January through a link on this website. Keep checking www.alnwickharriers.co.uk for more updates.

For the 2nd time in 6 days a huge number of Harriers took part in the North East Harrier League cross country races at Wallington Hall on Saturday 30th November. The event was organised by Morpeth Harriers and proved to be a hit with our contingent as they provided a great cross country course. The highlights for the Juniors were 5th placed finishes for Amy THORNE in the Girls Under 15 race and Rosie MURTON in the Girls Under 17/20 race, both from the Fast Packs. For the Senior Men there was a superb run by Bruce CROMBIE who finished 43rd from the Medium Pack, and who must have one eye on Fast Pack promotion. For the Senior Women it was great to see Sarah SYERS taking part in her first Harrier League for years and finishing as 1st Harrier.

On the day our Women were the headline grabbers for the club finishing a magnificent 3rd of the 30 clubs in Division 2. Despite/because of the Senior Men being without a few big guns like KIRKLAND, CAMPBELL and RICHARDSON we still managed a very good 5th of the 11 teams in Division 2, a great effort. The best team performance for the Juniors was from the Girls Under 15′s who finished a quite brilliant 2nd of the 40 clubs with the counters being Amy THORNE, Jessica BARNABY and Jenny BOLAM. Well done to all the Junior teams as they were all well represented by a decent number of Harriers!

The Senior Womens team put out an astounding 17 runners, a far cry from the handful of runners they were putting out in each race a couple of years ago! Thanks to the injured Captain Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS for using a mixture of threats and encouragement to muster up such a great number. Sarah GRAY was 2nd counter running very well from the Medium Pack to finish just 5 second behind 1st counter Sarah SYERS. Diana WEIGHTMAN was once again 3rd counter, helping the team to finish so high up todays league. Lesley MILLER was 4th to finish followed by Tracey SAMPLE and by Pauline AITCHISON who more than held her own in the Medium Pack. There were a number of runners having their first cross country outing of the season, and there was also a Harriers debut for new recruit Rachel BOWYER. Recent performances show that the Womens team has some great strength in depth, highlighted by todays team missing the likes of Ella BROWN, Sam EMBLETON and Jo.

In the Mens race Bruce was joined as counters by Adam FLETCHER who just held off Graham SIMPSON. Phil HEMSLEY was 4th counter from the Medium Pack, followed by youngster George SKIRROW, then Adam SPILLER. There was also an eye catching performance from Andy SQUIRES further down the field. Despite a number of absentees 17 Senior Men took part for the second week running. Again many thanks to El Capitano CROMBIE for all his work and emails.

Full results are here http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2012-13/wallington%20hall/. The Harrier League takes a break now with the next race not being till February (see FIXTURES section for dates). Halfway through the season and its all very encouraging, both in terms of performances and numbers taking part! Harriers results are below:

Female Harriers:

37-Sarah SYERS 33.21 (S)

41-Sarah GRAY 33.26 (M)

48-Diana WEIGHTMAN 33.32 (S)

74-Lesley MILLER 34.13 (S)

88-Tracey SAMPLE 34.32 (S)

99-Pauline AITCHISON 34.55 (M)

122-Tina MURTON 35.53 (S)

141-Mary PLUMLEY 37.10 (S)

143-Sarah CROSS 37.15 (S)

149-Sue BOLAM 37.25 (S)

189-Ruth DOCTOR 39.24 (S)

191-Shelley COATES 39.25 (S)

200-Claire SPENCER 40.34 (S)

203-Maureen BARTRUM 40.50 (S)

225-Audrey STEWART 43.01 (S)

248-Rachel BOWYER 48.35 (S)

249-Eileen GUTHRIE 48.40 (S)

Male Harriers:

43-Bruce CROMBIE 42.30 (M)

97-Adam FLETCHER 43.27 (M)

100-Graham SIMPSON 43.33 (S)

127-Phil HEMSLEY 44.03 (M)

147-George SKIRROW 44.23 (S)

246-Adam SPILLER 46.38 (S)

261-Richard AGAN 46.51 (M)

267-Andy SQUIRES 47.08 (S)

275-Ian SIMON 47.27 (S)

364-Graham SKIRROW 51.27 (S)

377-Phil BASTON 52.06 (S)

384-David HENDERSON 52.22 (S)

421-Dave BARTRUM 54.18 (S)

426-Dave HINDMARSH 54.45 (S)

428-Cris ATWELL 54.59 (S)

460-Dave COATES 58.44 (S)

475-Mark HUME 1.14.11 (S)

Under 17/20 Girls:

5-Rosie MURTON 14.21 (F)

19-Charlotte BASTON 16.39 (S)

Under 17 Boys:

24-Daniel LENG 13.45 (F)

31-Adam SHAFIQ 14.18 (F)

Under 15 Girls:

5-Amy THORNE 15.47 (F)

11-Jessica BARNABY 15.58 (S)

13-Jenny BOLAM 16.06 (S)

18-Lucy EMBLETON 16.31 (S)

Under 15 Boys:

19-Ben KELLY 14.30 (F)

23-Alfie MURTON 14.42 (S)

39-Craig MATTHEWS 15.40 (S)

Under 13 Girls:

49-Emily DAVIES 18.34 (S)

52-Grace FORSYTHE 18.56 (S)

53-Sophie ENSER 18.59 (S)

56-Ella HEMSLEY 19.07 (S)

Under 13 Boys:

16-Kieron DOVER 14.42 (S)

50-Jack DOUGLAS 17.02 (S)

51-Luke McMEEKING 17.25 (S)

52-Harrison BROWN 17.27 (S)

53-Darren MATTHEWS 17.39 (S)

Under 11 Mixed:

32-James TAYLOR 6.29

42-Max BREESE 6.36

58-Lauren BROWN 6.53

89-Millie BREESE 7.29

90-Ailsa BATLEY 7.32

106-Gregor BATLEY 8.00

111-Catherine BARNABY 8.18

113-Ben CARTER 10.16

Loads more photos are available on our Flickr site. This can be accessed on the right hand side of the website. Photos on here courtesy of Peter GALLAGHER (NS Poly) and Hippie NIXON (Blackhill Bounders).

The following day Gay and Richard EASTOE were taking part in the Ulverston Christmas Pudding 10k in Cumbria. It was to prove another successful day for Gay who finished 186th in 53.42, winning the female 60 category. Richard was one place back in the same finishing time. Its been a very profitable 2013 for Gay who has won the equivalent of the GDP of Malawi or Scotland in vouchers!

Also that day Mark HUME was in action again, in the Blyth Sands Handicap Race. Mark finished this 5 mile handicap run along the beach from Blyth to Seaton Sluice and back again in 113rd place, clocking 54.45.

This years Harriers Christmas Party will take place on Friday 6th December! The venue is Alnwick Rugby Club, where there’ll be a disco and hot buffet. The cost is £10 per person which will get you a free drink. The party starts at 7.30pm and will go on till midnight. A list has been on the noticeboard for ages for everyone to add their names to. The list has now gone down as we needed final numbers to arrange the food order. Please can you pay any committee member the £10 asap. Note that if you put your name on the party list and don’t attend, you will still need to pay your £10 to cover costs. During the evening a number of awards will be presented including the Most Improved Awards and Grand Prix trophies!

The date for the Christmas Handicap is now Sunday 22nd December at Warkworth. Meet at the beach car park near the toilets at 10.30am. The route is 2 laps and is just over 4 miles in distance. Warkworth Golf Club is booked for the post event soup and sandwiches at noon! A poster will be going up at Willowburn soon for everyone to add their names to!

Finally the Alnwick Tri Club Social Run will take place on Sunday 29th December. More details and how to sign up will be at http://www.alnwicktriathlon.co.uk/ soon.

There were some superb individual performances and a very good turn out of Harriers at the 2nd 2013/14 North East Harrier League fixture at Bedewell Park, Jarrow on Sunday 24th November. Dan LENG was 2nd in the Boys Under 17 race, Suzie BARWISE-MUNRO and Rosie MURTON both finished in the top 10 in the Girls Under 17/20 race, Amy THORNE was a great 9th from the Fast Pack in the Girls Under 15′s and Ella BROWN stormed into the Medium Pack with a 9th placed finish in the Senior Ladies race.

On the day the Senior Men were 7th of the 11 in Division 2 and the Senior ladies were 8th of 30 teams in Division 2. For the Juniors the stand-out team was the Girls Under 17/20 trio of BARWISE-MUNRO, MURTON and Charlotte BASTON which finished 2nd of the 40 teams. Both the Boys Under 17′s and Girls Under 15′s were 3rd of 40 teams in their age groups.

For the Mens team there was a good performance from Geoff CAMPBELL, finishing as 1st Harrier in 65th place, thanks largely to turning up sober. Danny RICHARDSON outsprinted Captain Bruce CROMBIE to finish 2nd counter by a nose. Adam FLETCHER was next, followed by Wooler RC’s Graham SIMPSON running as a 2nd claimer for us. Final counter was Phil HEMSLEY who ran very well from the Medium PACK. Although he wasn’t a counter George SKIRROW stepped up from the Juniors to run for the first time in the Senior race, and finished a brilliant 7th for us. A special mention should go to Cris ATWELL who was taking part in his 4th race of the weekend. Madness! 17 male Harriers donned the famous club colours, a superb effort.

In the Womens race, run over about 4 miles, Ella BROWN was joined as counters by Sam EMBLETON and the massively improved Diana WEIGHTMAN. There were Harrier League debuts for, amongst others, Ami COOK and Eileen GUTHRIE.

Well done to everyone for making the long trip to South Tyneside to take part and cheer on the Harriers! Full provisional results are here http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2012-13/Bedewell%20Park/, though Harriers performances are below:

Male Harriers:

65-Geoff CAMPBELL 37.57 (S)

82-Danny RICHARDSON 38.20 (S)

83-Bruce CROMBIE 38.21 (M)

97-Adam FLETCHER 38.40 (M)

152-Graham SIMPSON 39.28 (S)

163-Phil HEMSLEY 39.33 (S)

212-George SKIRROW 40.27 (S)

213-Ian SIMON 40.33 (S)

258-Mike TELFER 41.21 (S)

305-Andy SQUIRES 42.09 (S)

328-Stuart MORRIS 42.42 (S)

377-Edward LONGSTAFF 44.12 (S)

422-Graham SKIRROW 45.51 (S)

434-Phil BASTON 46.16 (S)

518-Kim BRONZE 51.37 (S)

528-Cris ATWELL 52.26 (S)

545-Mark HUME 1.04.20 (S)

Female Harriers:

9-Ella BROWN 26.09 (S)

54-Samantha EMBLETON 29.41 (S)

75-Diana WEIGHTMAN 30.00 (S)

119-Lesley MILLER 31.03 (S)

124-Tracey SAMPLE 31.12 (S)

151-Ami COOK 32.07 (S)

185-Alex REED 33.00 (S)

225-Ruth DOCTOR 34.31 (S)

232-Shelley COATES 34.44 (S)

283-Audrey STEWART 37.59 (S)

298-Eileen GUTHRIE 41.46 (S)

Under 17/20 Girls:

7-Suzie BARWISE-MUNRO 17.21 (S)

9-Rosie MURTON 17.46 (M)

21-Charlotte BASTON 19.23 (S)

Under 17 Boys:

2-Dan LENG 24.46 (S)

9-Adam SHAFIQ 25.59 (S)

28-Isaac MOSS 28.24 (S)

Under 15 Girls:

9-Amy THORNE 15.45 (F)

11-Jenny BOLAM 15.58 (S)

13-Rebecca REED 16.00 (S)

14-Lucy EMBLETON 16.08 (S)

Under 15 Boys:

21-Ben KELLY 14.51 (F)

31-Craig MATTHEWS 16.10 (S)

Under 13 Girls:

22-Amy REED 16.25 (S)

Under 13 Boys:

48-Jack DOUGLAS 16.39 (S)

49-Harrison BROWN 16.41 (S)

50-Darren MATTHEWS 16.55 (S)

Under 11 Mixed:

22-Ollie TELFER 4.57

50-Lauren BROWN 5.16

59-Max BREESE 5.22

91-Jamie KELLY 5.48

93-Lydia SMITH 5.48

104-Millie BREESE 5.54

109-Finlay TELFER 5.58

131-Ben CARTER 7.32

132-Emma STRAKER 8.14

7 Harriers lined up for the last of the 2013 Grand Prix races on Saturday 23rd November, the Elswick Harriers organised Norman Woodcock Memorial 5 Mile Race. The race is held at Newcastle Racecourse and is well known for producing fast times. First Harrier to finish in a sudden and dramatic return to form was Dave “Sexbomb” HINDMARSH, completing the course in 32.48, a WAVA score of over 75%! Despite the Webmaster calling the Grand Prix winner weeks and weeks ago could there be a dramatic late twist???? Next home was Andy SQUIRES, followed by Cris ATWELL who was taking part in his second race of the day. Welcome back to Jonathan KAY who was racing for the club for the first time in ages. Results:

56-Dave HINDMARSH 32.48

61-Andy SQUIRES 33.28

86-Cris ATWELL 36.46

90-Jonathan KAY 37.13

92-Kim BRONZE 37.56

96-Sue BOLAM 38.59

98-Dave COATES 39.37

Final Grand Prix results will be announced at the Christmas Party, and will be on this website shortly afterwards. Ooooooooooooo who’s won it??

Earlier that day a handful of Harriers were in Parkrun action. The most notable performance was from Mark JEFFERIES who once again ran a 5k pb at Northampton. Mark has taken part in 4 Parkruns this month and has pb’d on each occasion! Pauline AITCHISON took part in the Oxford Parkrun, whilst 3 Harriers finished within 4 seconds of each other at Newcastle. Results:

Northampton:

10-Mark JEFFERIES 19.27 (67.44%)

Oxford:

38-Pauline AITCHISON 22.59 (68.46%)

Newcastle:

134-Cris ATWELL 23.46 (63.60%)

136-Charlotte BASTON 23.47 (64.33%)

138-Phil BASTON 23.49 (59.55%)

The following morning 3 Harriers lined up at Kirkley Hall in the Run Northumberland Big 10, an undulating 10 mile road race. For the 3rd time this weekend Cris ATWELL pulled on his Harriers vest to take part in a race! He was 1st Harrier to finish, whilst Gay and Richard EASTOE also took part with Gay winning the female 60 category! Results:

83-Cris ATWELL 1.19.54

140-Richard EASTOE 1.31.41

141-Gay EASTOE 1.31.41

The North East’s unsung athletics heroes gathered for the North East England Athletics annual presentation evening last month, in front of a packed audience at Gateshead International Stadium.

England Athletics Club and Coach Support Officers John STACEY and Nick RIDGEON gave a short resume on each of the nights award winners and World Championship representative Richard KILTY delighted the audience with tales of his Moscow trip before congratulating everyone who had been successful.

The full spectrum of the sport came under the spotlight from coaching to officiating, with new volunteers being specifically highlighted. Alnwick Harriers came away as ‘runners-up’ in the ‘Development Club of the Year’ category, with Gateshead Harriers winning the prestigious title. Unfortunately Alnwick Harriers had no representatives at the event, but last week on a separate occasion, Alnwick Harriers Coach and Coach Co-ordinator Brenda MALLEN was handed the certificate by John STACEY.  Brenda said ‘It was a great achievement for the club to receive the award’.  Brenda was amongst the driving forces behind Alnwick Harrier’s recent ‘Clubmark’ status and this undoubtedly played a large part in Alnwick Harriers gaining the award.

And the Northumberland Athletics Network, (which Alnwick Harriers is part of) won ‘runner-up’ in the ‘Athletics Network of the year’ category.

16 Harriers took part in the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race on Sunday 17th November. Perfect weather conditions coupled with the flat course meant that there were pb’s galore! Richard AGAN was first Harrier home, followed by Jim LILLICO and Hesus KIDD in a pb. For the men there were also good performances from Dave BARTRUM, Micky AISTON and in particular Christopher WATSON who knocked 8 minutes off his time from the 2011 race and 7 minutes off his 10 mile pb! For the women Sue BOLAM just pipped Annabel LILLICO, with Maureen BARTRUM finishing 3rd. A huge well done to Shelley COATES who also ran a pb knocking over 10 minutes off her 2011 time! Hopefully some photos of Harriers in action will appear here soon! Results:

80-Richard AGAN 1.02.12

159-Jim LILLICO 1.07.30

192-Hesus KIDD 1.09.34

193-Andy SQUIRES 1.09.36

274-Cris ATWELL 1.14.50

299-Dave BARTRUM 1.16.35

342-Sue BOLAM 1.19.09

343-Annabel LILLICO 1.19.09

371-Maureen BARTRUM 1.20.33

422-Micky AISTON 1.23.55

437-Christopher WATSON 1.25.16

450-Shelley COATES 1.26.51

465-Gay EASTOE 1.28.20

466-Richard EASTOE 1.28.20

530-Emma LANGMAN 1.42.12

539-Mark HUME 1.54.45

There day before there were a number of Harriers in Parkrun action. Danny RICHARDSON once again performed well at Whitley Bay by finishing 6th, whilst Mark JEFFERIES knocked 2 seconds off last weeks pb at the Northampton. Results:

Whitley Bay:

6-Danny RICHARDSON 19.15 (68.14%)

Northampton:

15-Mark JEFFERIES 19.29 (67.32%)

Harrogate:

98-Phil LEE 25.14 (60.37%)

Newcastle:

117-Phil BASTON 22.40 (62.57%)

161-Charlotte BASTON 23.50 (64.20%)

Christmas Parlauf

This will be held on Tuesday 10th December. Meet at the Sports Hall at 5.45pm. We will be running the event at the Alnwick Garden Car Park. Pick up will be back at the Sports Hall at 7.30pm approx. Parents are welcome to come and spectate.

Christmas Handicap

This will be held on Sunday 15th December. Meet at Alnmouth beach car park at 09.45am for a 10.00am start.

Christmas Party/Presentation

This will take place on Tuesday 17th December at the Alnwick Rugby Club. It will be between 6.30pm and 9.00pm. Please bring a contribution of either a sweet or savoury food for the buffet. You will be able to purchase drinks from the bar.

Design a T-Shirt!

Are there any budding artists interested in designing a t-shirt logo for the 2014 Northumberland Coastal Run? If so please submit your design in pencil on A4 white paper with your name on the back to one of the coaches by Tuesday 17th December. Good luck!

Best wishes from all the coaches and helpers.

There were some great performances, age category wins and pb’s at the Parkrun’s up and down the country this weekend. Adam FLETCHER, in only his 2nd race as a Harrier, was the star man for the club on Saturday when he finished a very impressive 2nd at the Whitley Bay Parkrun. Adam passed the post in 17.50, and was followed in 5th place by Dan “Head of the John Terry Fan Club” RICHARDSON. On the Town Moor Diana WEIGHTMAN won the female 50 category in the Newcastle Parkrun, whilst former Warkworth resident Mark JEFFERIES knocked 17 seconds off his previous 5k pb at Northampton. Results:

Whitley Bay:

2-Adam FLETCHER 17.50 (81.40%)

5-Danny RICHARDSON 18.42 (70.14%)

97-Phil LEE 24.57 (61.06%)

Newcastle:

60-Dave HINDMARSH 20.53 (71.75%)

107-Diana WEIGHTMAN 22.14 (75.41%)

Northampton:

14-Mark JEFFERIES 19.31 (67.21%)

The following day 4 Harriers were in action in the Heaton Harriers Town Moor Memorial 10k. It was a great day for the BASTON family as both Phil and Charlotte scored 10k pb’s! There was also a good run by Rachel HEELEY who matched her previous 10k pb. Results:

189-Phil BASTON 44.24

252-Charlotte BASTON 46.46

407-Rachel HEELEY 52.50

506-Emma LANGMAN 1.01.45

There were also a couple of Junior Harriers taking part in the Under 11′s event on the Town Moor that morning. Ollie TELFER ran very well to finish 5th of the 39 in this 1100 metre race in 4.49. Max BREESE was 20th in 5.20.

Finally 3 Harriers travelled to North Yorkshire to take part in the final of the North East Hill Running Championship races for 2013, the Clay Bank West Fell Race. The race is 4.2 miles in length and takes in 1143 feet of ascent. Bruce CROMBIE, we believe, cemented 3rd place in the overall 2013 Championships by finishing a very good 5th in the race. Andy SQUIRES and John COCKBURN also took part with John finishing 2nd in the male 65 category. Again its yet to be confirmed but he may have won his age group in this years Championship! More news as we get it. Results:

5-Bruce CROMBIE 32.40

39-Andy SQUIRES 40.35

102-John COCKBURN 53.30

Photo of Captain CROMBIE courtesy of Ann BROWN/Esk Valley Fell Club

A belated congratulations to Harriers life member Anne ALLAN and to Platinum Award/Parlauf/Xmas Handicap/Wooden Spoon winner Phil LEE who got married at Queens Hall, Hexham back on Thursday, 24th October!