On Sunday 26th March, it was the final North Yorkshire South Durham Harrier League fixture with the relays taking place at South Park in Darlington. The club had 4 teams entered with the ladies team consisting of three runners and the men’s team consisting of 4 runners. Each runner had to complete two laps of the course.
In the Senior ladies race, the team consisting of Melanie Rowland (18:08), Michaela Kerr (16:44) and Kelly Dickinson (17:04), finishing in an overall time of 51:56. Tamara Kirk (14:53) and Holly Shoulder (14:54) also took part with the team impacted before the race with another member having to withdraw due to injury.
In the Senior Men’s race the team consisting of Kieran Hornsby (13:08), Ste Dunn (12:37), Trevor Needham (14:02) and Stuart Joyce (13:14) finishing in an overall time of 53:01. The team of Dave Blewitt (13:28), Ian Stothard (24:18), Andy Talbot (13:49) and David Stothard (15:17) finished in an overall time of 1:06:52
It was also a special moment for Trevor Needham (Over 65) and Kevin Greenall (Over 70) who were awarded their medals for winning their respective events for the series of cross country races. Trevor was on hand to collect his medal at the end of the relay race.
On the same day, Richard Tonge took part in the Ashby 20, which is a 20 mile run starting in the Bath Grounds at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire. Richard finished the race in a time of 4:07:42.
On Saturday, 33 members started their weekend with a parkrun taking in the Sedgefield, Darlington South Park, Hackworth, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Hamsterley Forest events.
At Hackworth Park, it saw a takeover by the club. As well as a number of members taking part, it also saw the club volunteer to support the event with marshalling and the running of the event.
Richard Trowles finished first in a time of 20:22, with Floyd Jones second in a time of 20:44 and Richard Holland third in a time of 22:04. Others taking part included Kieran Hornsby (22:40), Daniel Tatham (23:49), Shaun Dodd (24:14), Keith Hatton (27:44) and Samantha Harding (30:03) with Steph Colvin (54:15) and Natalie Sommerville (54:17) supporting with being tail walkers to ensure everyone finished.
Carley Gibson continued with her parkrun tourism by taking part at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea for the first time finishing in a time of 26:41.
If you are feeling inspired and are interested in joining the club, you can just turn up for one of our sessions. More information is available on our website www.ayclifferunningclub.org.uk or our Facebook page. If you would like to chat with someone, then you can email ayclifferunningclub@gmail.com – Make this year the year you get into running and join us to keep it going for many years to come.
