A special mention in this week’s race report to Alan Wilks who finished first in the NEMAA Track and Field Championships at Monkton Stadium on 17 June. Alan won the 1,500 metre race, continuing his excellent record in the NEMAA events.
On Sunday 25 June, one member took part in the Saturn Running Rocky Horror Picture Run at Herrington Country Park. This is an event where you choose how many miles you run. Richard Holland managed to complete two laps of the course, in extremely humid conditions, running 8.7 miles in 1:11:26.
On Saturday, 39 members started their weekend with a parkrun, taking in the Bushy Park, Sedgefield, Hackworth, Monsal Trail, Tyne Green, Leazes, Jubilee and Wynyard Woodland events.
At Bushy Park, Viv Williams (30:54) and Steve Williams (30:55) completed the course for the first time. Over at Monsal Trail, Paul Dalton (20:27) and Jayne Rudd (32:20) both completed the course for the first time. At Tyne Green Carley Gibson (27:49) continued her parkrun tourism, completing the course for the first time. At the same time Rob Young (20:31) and Bernadette Cooper (22:19) completed the event at Wynyard for the first time.
This day also saw a parkrun takeover from the club at Sedgefield. Not only did this see a number of the club’s member’s running, but also volunteering to support the event. There was an amazing turnout from the club supporting a local event with the following members taking part: Floyd Jones (20:07), Matt Muir (20:15), Martin Turnbull (21:50), Richard Holland (24:56), Shaun Dodds (25:09), Richard Tonge (31:48), Linda McNamee (33:51), Tracey Pickering (33:53), Cliff Pickering (36:59). A special mention to Steph Colvin and Natalie Sommerville who completed the event as tail walkers ensuring that everyone finished.
On the same day it was the Race for Life event at Hartlepool which, as most people know, is a series of events across the country aimed at raising awareness and funding for Cancer Research. Two club members had an extra special reason for completing the event this year after their neighbour sadly passed away from cancer. Dave and Yvonne Blewitt decided to run the 10k event and set themselves a target of £300 to raise. They have been blown away by the support they received and have managed to smash their target raising over £550 to date. Everyone at the club is proud of their achievement and raising such a fantastic amount.
Cancer is something that touches so many people and every penny helps to get that little bit closer to developing treatments that will ultimately save lives. There is still time to help support this cause by visiting Yvonne and Dave’s fundraising page: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/davids-team-72?fbclid=IwAR1JxicvhLbbWTvkkwn8FPserYuLez5BXvcpOrvfnjt_MpfVzKiXXV7v_Qk
Also taking part at the event were Eve Doe, Jane Quigley, Susan Clark, Kelley Williamson, Paula Lambert, Lindsey Brown and Laura Grainger.
If you are feeling inspired and are interested in joining the club, or want to take your running to the next level, you can turn up for one of our sessions. Maybe, like Dave and Yvonne, you’ve just completed the Race For Life and want to keep going, then we could be the club for you. Our sessions cater for people of all abilities and we are a friendly and welcoming club. You can find out more by visiting or 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.
