ALNWICK HARRIERS

Billed as a super fast 10k, eight Alnwick harriers took on four full laps of Eshott Airfield on Wednesday night the 9th June.

Battling against a forceful headwind all the way up one direction of the loop runners needed mental as well as physical strength to maintain a consistent pace.

Steve Carragher scorched round in an impressive 36.29 finishing a superb 7th place and 2nd V45. Joseph Godden made nothing of this tough track coming home in 11th place in 39.34. Next came James Carragher in a good time of 45.33 which concluded our trio of men.

Alnwick harriers ladies made their mark on this flat but mentally challenging course by claiming the winning club team prize! This great result included Jo Powell (3rd female overall and 1st V45), Rosie Davison (4th female overall) and Louisa Scola (7th female overall and 2nd V60). Two rewarding 10k PB’s followed for our next two ladies Kathy McConnachie and Karen Leeson.

A total of 48 runners took part in what Kathy described perfectly as a mentally brutal race! Well done everyone!

Results: 7th Steve Carragher 36.29 (2nd V45); 11th Joseph Godden 39.34; 27th James Carragher 45.33; 28th Jo Powell 45.55 (1st V45); 29th Rosie Davison 46.24: 33rd Louisa Scola 50.15 (2nd V60); 36th Kathy McConnachie 51.28; 38th Karen Leeson 52.16

Hulne Park in Alnwick was the venue for Run Nations, run Northumberland Alnwick Castle trail 5k and 10k, which took place on the 23rd May. The course was through the grounds of the park over a mixture of paths and tarmac road.

Five harriers ran the 5k and all finished in the top six. Steve Carragher led them home in 17.15 followed in 2nd place by Max Murray John, 17.57, 3rd placed Rob Andrew, 18.25 and James Carragher in 6th place, 20.42. Well done to them all.

Thirteen harriers tackled the 10k and had the long hill to contend with half way through, but at least we knew there would be a down hill towards the end! First harrier home and in 14th place was Jim Allan 40.14 next and first female for Alnwick was Lisa Baston in 44th place 45.53. The rest of us trooped in behind – 43rd Geoff Givens 45.37, 55th Diana Weightman 46.45, 60th Tony Jackson 47.26, 109th Louisa Scola 52.17, 114th Karen Mather and 115th Phil Lee both on 52.55, 141st Ian Stephenson 55.48, 169th George Williams 58.54, Linda Patterson 198th in 1.01.10, 221st Tess Allan 1.06.04 and 236th Lorna Stephenson 1.18.27. Age category wins for Jim, Lisa and Diana. Well done to all who took part.

Back in July 2019 Alnwick Harrier Juniors along side Blyth running Club gained promotion to the first division of the North East Youth Development league. Last Sunday was their first opportunity to compete at this level and travelled to Middlesbrough MSV for the first fixture against Harrogate, Darlington, Gateshead & Morpeth Harriers.

The heavy rain made conditions difficult, but the small team of both new emerging talent & old hands made a great start. In the Shot put Lilia Purvis threw 8.24m in the pouring rain to win the U15 girls category and Finlay Telfer 9.08m finish 4th in the U17 men’s competition. Finlay also managed an excellent 2nd place in the high jump managing 1.60M.

In the 800m Liam McDonogh (U15) raced well to finish 2nd in his heat & Farren Henderson had a good first run for the Club finishing strongly in the U13G race. In the 1500m both Lilia & Xara Purvis raced in the U15 category. In the sprints Mary Fentiman (U13) raced her first 100 & 200m on the track showing great potential for the future.

Although finishing in 6th place it was an encouraging first match and the athletes worked hard to form a new team. The next two fixtures in the June & July will be held in Morpeth and Middlesbrough.

Alnwick Harriers submitted one men’s team and two women’s teams for the recent virtual Gordon Smith Relays, where teams of three each run a two mile leg and each team has to include at least one veteran athlete.

The men’s team consisting of veterans Ian Stephenson, Andy Squires and Tony Jackson finished a creditable 36th out of 49 teams, with a combined time of 43:13.

The women’s team of veterans Karen Kelly, Jo Gascoigne-Owens, Diana Weightman finished an excellent 9th out of 48 teams with a combined time of 39:50. Not far behind in 13th position, veterans Jo Powell and Alice Tetley-Paul and senior Rosie Davison ran a combined 41:55.

Full results at http://www.wallsendharriers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-Virtual-Gordon-Smith-Relays-Provional-Results.xlsx

Three Alnwick Harriers made the trip to Kirkharle yesterday for the latest RunNation 10k trail race. There was an interesting mix of hard trails, muddy paths and some tarmac along with what felt like a constant headwind! The field of 96 starters were spread over waves of about 15 per wave at 5 minute intervals.

First Harrier home was Andy Squires in a great time of 49:06 putting him 19th overall, 17th male and 2nd in his age category. Not far behind was Rosie Davison at 50:48 which was 24th overall, 4th female and also 2nd in her age category. Then Tony Jackson came in a couple of minutes later in 53:05, 31st overall, 27th male and 4th in age category.

Full results are at https://runnation.co.uk/results/kirkharle10k_2021

Only one race reported for April, the Washington 10k Trail. It puts 6 harriers onto the table with Diana taking the top spot.

Remember, all races count this season, just send me a link to the results. The Grand Prix uses WAVA scoring to make the competition fair to all ages.

Six Alnwick harriers travelled to the wonderful James Steel Park, Washington to run in this popular urban trail event.

Almost 300 runners enjoyed some beautiful woodland trails along the banks of the River Wear including some 475 foot of ascent. To fall inline with current Covid-19 guidelines a continuous start was in place over a two hour window where runners arrived at the start with their chip timing numbers attached and crossed the start line as they pleased.

Sixth placed female finisher was Jo Powell thoroughly enjoying this well organised and friendly event. Revelling in the scenic and hilly trail Diana Weightman finished a brilliant 2nd V50. Closely followed by Karen Kelly who was lured to the event by Midget gems!! Ian Stephenson made a credible return to racing finishing 5th V60. Linda Patterson and Lorna Stephenson had good runs around this picturesque 10k trail.

Results: (28) Jo Powell 50:35 (59) Diana Weightman 53:54 (60) Karen Kelly 53:58.(138) Ian Stephenson 1:01.24 (222) Linda Patterson 1:12.54 (273) Lorna Stephenson 1:26.56

The track and field athletics season got underway once more at Darlington two weeks ago. The Kieran Maxwell Open hosted by Darlington Harriers attracted athletes from across the North East keen to get back to competition after a long winter.

Alnwick Harriers Talia & Leila Thompson competing in the Shot both won their respective age categories. Tal winning the U17 category and Leila the under fifteen age group.

Closer to home this weekend the girls competed at Morpeth in the first North East Counties Athletic Association open meeting. Once again, they both had a great Shot Putt competition winning their categories and Talia throwing a brilliant personal best of 10.99m.

Lilia Purvis also competed in the shot and managed a massive 83cm personal best throw of 8.5m! Leila & Lilia are currently ranked 1st & 15th in the UK!

On the track Lilia and Finlay Telfer both raced the graded 800m. Lilia raced first finishing just outside her personal best time from the end of last season. Finlay was next setting himself an ambitious target of a 7s personal best on last year. The race started slowly so after the first 200m Fin took the lead, picked up the pace and lead from the front to win the heat by a clear 20 metres in 2 min 31s.

Harry Knox was the only Alnwick Harrier to brave the 3000m and put in a good time of 10 mins 48s in his first attempt at the distance.

Leila Thompson managed a good set of throws to win the Discus and Talia still a bit rusty managed an excellent second place in the hammer throw.

An excellent day’s athletics and some great results for those athletes that persevered with their own personal, lonely training over the long lock-down winter.

Alnwick Harriers entered three women’s teams and one men’s team in Elswick Harrier’s Good Friday relays; entrants could run a two mile distance of their choice at any time from the week commencing Good Friday, with the majority of Alnwick’s runners choosing to battle the cold and windy conditions over the Easter Bank Holiday. Overall there was 145 complete teams (82 women & 63 men). Team results are as follows:-

(15) Diana 13:52; Jo Go 12:47; Laura Stubbings 13:02 (27) Rosie Davison 12:28; Lisa Baston 13:32; Caro Fentiman 15:35 (40) Sue Skirrow 17:46; Jo Powell 13:09; Alice T Paul 14:28 (48) Ian Simon 12:23; Stu Morris 14:06; Andy Stephenson 15:32; Ian Stephenson 14:30

Elswick Harriers who organised the event did not charge an entry fee but set up a just giving page to raise funds for a defibrillator, which currently stands at £1,390.00.

Full results are at http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Good-Friday-Virtual-Relays-Final-Results.xlsx

With restrictions beginning to lift and races now being planned Alnwick Harriers has now launched their highly anticipated Grand Prix Event for 2021, kindly organised by Ian STEPHENSON.

For this year the Grand Prix is offered in a more flexible format and further details are provided in the link below. So to all the Alnwick Harriers out there, its time to dust off your racing flats and get your calculators at the ready!

http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-Grand-Prix.pdf