Alnwick Harriers

This Saturday sees the latest instalment of the North East Harrier League cross country season at Bedewell Park, Jarrow. Times of the races are the same as at the previous fixtures and are listed below:

12.15 Under 11 Boys & Girls
12.25 Under 13 Boys
12.35 Under 13 Girls
12.45 Under 15 Boys
12.55 Under 15 Girls
13.05 Under 17 & Under 20 Women
13.10 Senior & Veteran Women
13.50 Under 17 Men
14.15 Senior & Veteran Men

For the Seniors this is the first of the Grand Prix fixtures of the 2015 season, and it seems there’s a lot of excitement surrounding this fixture. So much so that John ROSS is taking part in his first Harrier League race since 1957 and Stuart CARTER his first since his beloved Liverpool FC were any good (that’s a long time ago!). The Senior Women are in a great position in Division 2 currently sitting 2nd and with a very real possibility of gaining promotion to the top flight. The Senior Men are in a dreadful position sitting 3rd bottom in Division 2 and with a very real possibility of gaining relegation to the bottom flight. Fingers crossed this being a Grand Prix fixture will mean a huge number will turnout!

Emails have gone out/are going out from Team Captains but if you have any questions contact them at ian.simon@mail.com, johanna.gascoigne-owens@Newcastle.ac.uk and mallens3@btinternet.com. See you on Saturday!

There were some excellent performances by Harriers in the Parkrun’s on Saturday 24th January, with plenty of pb’s, age category wins and a first finisher! The quickest time of the weekend was courtesy of the fast improving Ross WILSON at Newcastle. Ross was 5th of nearly 550 runners on the Town Moor, clocking a course personal best time of 17.39. Also performing well was Steve PATTERSON who finished 11th. Meanwhile at Druridge Bay a decent number of Harriers took part with the highlight being a win for Sarah GRAY. Sarah has taken part in 3 events at Druridge Bay and has been 1st finisher on each occasion now. Jackie PROUSE was 3rd female finisher, youngster Sophie ENSER notched a course pb, whilst there were parkrun debuts for Rhona LAWSON, Rachel McCOY and Kate LAWSON. For the men Graham CROW was 5th overall, Karl BAXTER narrowly missed out on a course pb and William FORTUNE was 1st (of 1) in the male 70 category! Finally over at Workington Gay EASTOE was 1st in the female 60 category. Results:

Newcastle:

5-Ross WILSON 17.39

11-Steve PATTERSON 18.32

Druridge Bay:

5-Graham CROW 20.07 (65.53%)

10-Terry FOUNTAIN 20.56 (68.79%)

12-Sarah GRAY 21.26 (69.05%)

15-Jackie PROUSE 22.02

34-Kim BRONZE 25.26 (58.91%)

38-Rob ENSER 26.14

40-Sophie ENSER 26.16 (59.84%)

43-Karl BAXTER 26.26

50-Rhona LAWSON 27.00 (54.81%)

52-Rachel McCOY 27.09 (54.51%)

86-Richard AGAN 33.24

90-Kate LAWSON 34.34 (42.96%)

97-William FORTUNE 36.41

Workington:

31-Richard EASTOE 23.20

38-Gay EASTOE 24.55

Later on that day 2 Harriers flew the flag in the Northern Cross Country Championships at Pontefract Racecourse, Diana WEIGHTMAN for the Senior Women and Callie HENDERSON in the Girls Under 13’s race. Both performed very well in the muddy conditions with Diana finishing 159th of the 342 runners in 38.42 and Callie finishing a very good 54th of the 196 runners in 12.49. Well done to both!

Harriers! The North East Harrier League cross country event (NEHL) at The Pastures, Alnwick is on Saturday 28th February. We are hosting the fixture and need a number of volunteers in order to run it. Thanks to you guys coming out in droves to support the event the previous two years had huge positive feedback and we’re very keen to continue our high standards! We cannot do it without volunteers. It doesn’t matter if you have no experience, the task is straightforward, we’ll explain everything and it should be a satisfying and enjoyable day. We mainly need people between 11am and 3pm (exact timing to be confirmed, packed lunch to be provided) and the tasks can be shared between people if you can only manage a short time period. Even if you plan to run, you can help a little. You don’t need to be a Harrier to help – friends, family and strangers are all welcome!

A sign up sheet is on the Harrier’s notice board at Willowburn, or please contact Mark Doctor at dockie1974@hotmail.co.uk or Sue Bolam at sue-bolam1@hotmail.co.uk for more details for to confirm your availability. Please help!

7 Harriers took part in a very cold and at times slippy Brass Monkey Half Marathon at York on Sunday 18th January. On the fast and flat course well known for its incredibly quick times the 1st Harrier across the line at York Racecourse was Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS. Jo was a brilliant 4th female finisher in this classy field, and her time of 1.19.58 was a half marathon pb and a new female half marathon club record! The only other female Harrier to take part was Ruth DOCTOR, a regular in the race. Ruth also ran very well knocking over 3 minutes off her previous 13.1 mile best, to clock 1.50.48!

For the chaps Mr Most Improved Male 2014 Stuart MORRIS wasn’t able to improve on his quickest half marathon, but still performed well nonetheless. He was 40 seconds ahead of half marathon debutant Jock BOLAM, running a very pleasing 1.33.59. Slightly further back was Dave HINDMARSH who at times struggled to cope with the treacherous conditions. Indeed he resembled a giraffe at an ice skating rink on occasions. Despite this he was still able to pip fellow Harrier Mark DOCTOR by…….1 second! Last but no means least in his 847th half marathon (slight exaggeration ) was John ROSS. More photos are on our Flickr page!

Results:

65-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 1.19.58

363-Stuart MORRIS 1.33.19

384-Jock BOLAM 1.33.59

437-Dave HINDMARSH 1.36.10

444-Mark DOCTOR 1.36.11

915-Ruth DOCTOR 1.50.48

1165-John ROSS 2.01.11

The day before a great number of Harriers took advantage of still and chilly conditions to post good times at the Druridge Bay Parkrun. It was double glory for us as Adam FLETCHER and Jackie PROUSE were 1st male and female finishers! Adam clocked an impressive 18.16, which smashed the male 50 course record previously held by fellow Harrier Phil HEMSLEY. For Jackie this was the 3rd time she’d finished 1st at Druridge Bay, the 2nd time in 2015! There were also age category wins for Mike TELFER (male 40) and Peter GREY (male 55), whilst there were also course records for Richard AGAN and Karl BAXTER. Results:

1-Adam FLETCHER 18.16 (80.75%)

4-Mike TELFER 19.27 (71.81%)

7-Peter GREY 19.38 (79.63%)

8-Richard AGAN 19.54

9-Graham CROW 20.18 (64.94%)

10-Mark DOUGLAS 20.27 (63.81%)

17-Jackie PROUSE 22.14 (71.44%)

25-Andy SQUIRES 23.10 (64.68%)

35-Amy THORNE 24.55 (62.21%)

40-John ROSS 25.15 (61.91%)

42-Ken HODSON 25.29 (52.39%)

49-Karl BAXTER 26.17

65-Ella HEMSLEY 27.25 (57.33%)

81-Jayne HATELY 29.55

Over at Workington Gay and Richard EASTOE were also in action, with both winning the age 60 categories once again. Results:

18-Richard EASTOE 23.09

26-Gay EASTOE 25.11

Plans for the club trip to the Liversedge Half Marathon on Sunday 15th February have been finalised. The coach will leave Belford at 7am from the Travelsure depot and will travel via Willowburn, Alnwick and Main Street, Felton. There’ll be a stop en route for John ROSS to use the toilet and will arrive in West Yorkshire in plenty of time to collect your race numbers and warm up. The coach will leave after a pint or two at The Star PH near to race hq.

The cost is a very reasonable £25 for race entry and coach, though is £13 for any Harrier making their own way there. Please can you bring cheques payable to “ALNWICK HARRIERS” or the correct money and give it to Jim LILLICO on the coach. If anyone is unable to attend please let us know asap!

The lucky Harriers who have entered are:

Micky AISTON

Jock BOLAM

Mark DOUGLAS

Rob ENSER

Adam FLETCHER

Charlie GILLON

Phil HEMSLEY

Richard JOHNSON

Jim LILLICO

Lesley MILLER

John ROSS

Tim SHEPHERD

Andy SQUIRES

Mike TELFER

Remember that this is the 1st of the Grand Prix races of 2015! Standings will be updated as soon as possible after the race by John ROSS.

No doubt due to the grim weather across the country on Saturday 10th January not a huge number of Harriers took part in Parkrun’s that day. Quickest of the 6 members who competed that day was Dave HINDMARSH at Edinburgh. Richard and Gay EASTOE ran at Workington with Gay winning the female 60 category, whilst 3 Harriers ran in filthy conditions at Druridge Bay. An honourable mention should be made of Terry FOUNTAIN. Terry was assaulted by a lamppost at training on Wednesday night, requiring life saving first aid by Geoff CAMPBELL and 18 stitches. Like the warrior he is Terry ran at Druridge Bay and finished 9th despite losing 8 pints of blood just a few days before. A modern day hero. Results:

Edinburgh:

73-Dave HINDMARSH 22.43

Workington:

25-Richard EASTOE 24.06

30-Gay EASTOE 25.21

Druridge Bay:

9-Terry FOUNTAIN 23.06 (62.34%)

20-Karl BAXTER 26.29

44-Stuart BRUCE 30.00

An amazing 20 Harriers took part in the 1st Druridge Bay parkrun of 2015 on Saturday 3rd January, no doubt spurred on by the chance to gain early season Grand Prix points. On a still and overcast morning the 2014 Athlete of the Year, Phil HEMSLEY, finished an impressive 2nd in 18.29. This equates to a WAVA score of 81.06% which sees him top of the unofficial 2015 Grand Prix standings and in a good position to win the Robert Brown Shield. Furthermore his time also broke the male 50 category course record! Just under a minute behind was Peter GREY who won the male 55 category. Mike TELFER made his Druridge Bay debut to finish 7th, whilst Club Secretary Jim LILLICO was 10th. It was also great to see a first run at the event by Peter LINDLEY as well as Juniors Ollie and Finlay TELFER.

Well done to Jackie PROUSE who, for the second time, finished as 1st female at the event! Jackie is running very well at present and was a clear winner of the ladies race, clocking 21.39. Mel WHEWELL also made her course debut, whilst Juniors Ella HEMSLEY and Sophie ENSER also took part.

Results:

2-Phil HEMSLEY 18.29 (81.06%)

5-Peter GREY 19.20 (80.86%)

7-Mike TELFER 19.48

10-Jim LILLICO 20.43 (74.82%)

12-Richard AGAN 20.54 (61.72%)

18-Jackie PROUSE 21.39

22-Ollie TELFER 22.28 (68.10%)

33-Gary COWELL 23.33 (59.31%)

37-Micky AISTON 24.14 (58.05%)

38-Dave BARTRUM 24.19 (59.22%)

55-Karl BAXTER 26.22

71-Peter LINDLEY 28.46 (48.15%)

72-Mel WHEWELL 28.55 (57.98%)

75-Dave HINDMARSH 29.15 (51.68%)

77-Sophie ENSER 29.23 (53.49%)

78-Ella HEMSLEY 29.34 (53.16%)

80-Eileen GUTHRIE 29.45 (56.36%)

88-Finlay TELFER 31.06 (52.57%)

104-Maureen BARTRUM 34.25 (47.55%)

106-Tim SHEPHERD 34.33 (39.51%)

Elsewhere in the world of Parkrun both Richard and Gay EASTOE won their age 60 categories at Workington. Richard finished 21st in 22.42 whilst Gay was 30th in 25.13.

The following day 3 Harriers travelled down to Hart in County Durham to take part in the Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers organised Old Monks 6. On a chilly but sunny morning all 3 performed well in this race, which actually measured about 5.4 miles, and finished within a minute of each other. Micky AISTON ran well again to finish 63rd of the 286 finishers with Stuart CARTER and Mark DOCTOR not far behind.

Results:

63-Micky AISTON 40.28

69-Stuart CARTER 41.02

75-Mark DOCTOR 41.19

Photos of Ollie TELFER and Peter LINDLEY/MEL WHEWELL courtesy of Sue BRABBINS, photos of Stuart CARTER and Micky AISTON thanks to Karen NEWTON. Remember that to qualify for Grand Prix points Harriers vests must be worn. For all the rules go to the GRAND PRIX section of the website.

9 Harriers got the new year off to a cracking start by taking part in the Morpeth 11k on Thursday 1st January. There were windy conditions during this undulating race around the Mitford/Whalton Road areas, though with the wind at their backs for the second half of the race our contingent fairly flew back to the finish on the Stanners in Morpeth. The headline act was the legend Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS who finished as 2nd female in 41.15. There was a great battle between 3 male Harriers who all finished in the top 20, with Adam FLETCHER improving on his time in the same race 12 months ago by 16 seconds to finish 15th. 2 places back was Ross WILSON whilst the 2014 Most Fanciable Alnwick Harrier (mens section) Steve PATTERSON was next to cross the line in 18th. Richard JOHNSON put in a good performance which bodes very well for a good 2015 for him, whilst Stu MORRIS pipped Jock BOLAM by 5 seconds slightly further back. Last but no means least Dave BARTRUM edged out wife Maureen.

Results:

15-Adam FLETCHER 40.04

17-Ross WILSON 40.27

18-Steve PATTERSON 40.42

24-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 41.15

66-Richard JOHNSON 46.55

77-Stuart MORRIS 47.31

78-Jock BOLAM 47.36

141-Dave BARTRUM 55.23

143-Maureen BARTRUM 55.42

Also that morning 3 Harriers took part in New Years Day parkruns. Karl BAXTER was north of the border again taking part in the Strathclyde Parkrun, where he smashed his previous 5k pb by clocking 25.11. Gay and Richard EASTOE were 1st in their age categories at the Carlisle Parkrun, though a malfunction with the stopwatches meant that no times were recorded.

Above photos of Jo and Adam F courtesy of Dave KITCHING.

We would like to wish all our members a very happy New Year!! Well done for all your efforts in 2014, a great year for the club, and best of luck in 2015. We hope its packed full of pb’s. Here is a list of the fastest times by Harriers over various distances in 2014:

5k (Men)               Phil HEMSLEY                       17.10   Newcastle Parkrun          05/07/14

5k (Women)         Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS     19.01  Druridge Bay Parkrun    27/12/14

10k (Men)             Daniel LENG                           36.19   River Ness 10k                 29/09/14

10k (Women)       Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS     38.31 Druridge Bay 10k 25/05/14

10m (Men)           Phil HEMSLEY                        58.57 Brampton-Carlisle 10 Miler 16/11/14

10m (Women)     Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS      1.02.15 Brampton-Carlisle 10 Miler 16/11/14

Half (Men)           Daniel LENG                             1.18.11 Great North Run          07/09/14

Half (Women)     Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS       1.22.41 Great North Run 07/09/14

Marathon (Men) Graham SYERS                         3.02.49 London Marathon     13/04/14

Marathon (Women) Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 2.55.51 Chicago Marathon      12/10/14

For 2013’s fastest times click here http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/?p=6175

For 2012’s fastest times click here http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/?p=4028

For 2011’s fastest times click here http://www.alnwickharriers.co.uk/?p=1781

The final week of parkrun’s in 2014 saw a number of top class performances up and down the country, with great times and age category wins galore for Harriers. Whilst most Harriers were preparing the turkey or nut roast feasts on Christmas Day 3 Harriers were taking part in parkrun’s, most notably Ross WILSON who ran the 2nd fastest 5k by a Harrier this year! Ross took part in the York Parkrun where he finished 3rd in a huge 5k pb of 17.18. Also that day Steve PATTERSON and Micky AISTON were in action on the Town Moor at the Newcastle Parkrun, with Steve running a 5k pb of 17.57 to finish in 4th.

Results:

York:

3-Ross WILSON 17.18 (76.20%)

Newcastle:

4-Steve PATTERSON 17.57 (73.91%)

53-Micky AISTON 21.08 (66.56%)

A couple of days later, on Saturday 27th December, a decent number of Harriers were taking part in parkrun’s at a variety of locations. Fastest of the lot, in the quickest 5k by a female Harrier this year, was the legend Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS. Though it was almost 90 seconds outside her club record for the distance Jo’s time of 19.01 at Druridge Bay beat the previous best by a female Harrier in 2014 which was set by Ella BROWN at the same location a few months before. In the 21 Druridge Bay Parkrun’s so far Jo’s time was the 3rd fastest by a female. There were a host of other noteworthy performances at Druridge Bay such as Graham SYERS finishing 1st in the male 40 category, Jackie PROUSE finishing as 3rd female, Alex REED running a course pb, Mike HENRY winning the male 60 category and Eileen GUTHRIE winning the female 50 category!

Over at Workington the newly crowned female achievement award winner Gay EASTOE ran with husband Richard, with both winning their age categories. North of the border Druridge Bay regular Karl BAXTER ran very just missing out on a 5k pb at the Strathclyde Parkrun, whilst a long way south Ken HODSON was taking part in the Guildford Parkrun.

Results:

Druridge Bay:

5-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 19.01 (78.62%)

7-Graham SYERS 19.21 (72.70%)

11-Stuart MORRIS 20.41 (66.00%)

15-Jackie PROUSE 21.26 (74.11%)

28-Alex REED 23.04 (68.21%)

30-Mike HENRY 23.28 (70.31%)

38-Claire MILLER-GROSSETT 25.14 (58.65%)

60-Eileen GUTHRIE 29.33 (56.74%)

Workington:

23-Gay EASTOE 26.32 (73.12%)

24-Richard EASTOE 26.33 (60.39%)

Strathclyde:

73-Karl BAXTER 26.22 (54.61%)

Guildford:

62-Ken HODSON 26.08 (51.08%)

Remember that next week sees the start of the 2015 Grand Prix! Every Harrier taking part in the Druridge Bay Parkrun will gain points. And what do points make? Potentially one of our splendid 2015 Grand Prix trophies, that’s what!!!