Tuesday saw round 4 of the summer track and field series at Middlesbrough. Now at this point I have to say that Mathew Carlingwasn’t able to make it. So did this mean redundancies in the S.R.P.D? Not a bit of it – as I was joined by old hands Katie Abel and Andrew Laverick – together with Rachel Carr, who took the plunge and made her track debut.
With everyone sensibly giving the hammer a miss, we gathered for the 400 metres. I was first off in heat 2. After coming so close to sub 60 seconds last year I was determined to go one better this time. Running the first 300 metres hard I knew I was close. The last 100 was a struggle though. Katie was unofficial timer. ‘Did I do it?’ I asked. ‘Well, maybe, but I think you might have been just over.’ Disappointment started to set in after such an effort. Fortunately, the official times were posted shortly after – and I was over the moon to discover I’d done it with a time of 59.11 seconds. The dream of representing GB at masters level is not over…
Andrew followed in heat 3 with a tidy 72.54 seconds. Katie and Rachel ran in heat 4 with times of 79.64 seconds and 88.72 seconds respectively – 2 decent efforts and both quicker than 6 minutes per mile pace.
After a lung bursting 400, Rachel could have been forgiven for taking a break – maybe doing a slightly less energetic event later in the evening. However, the easy option was not on the agenda and she joined Andrew in heat 2 of the 3000 metres. Andrew was quickly into his distinctively smooth running action, finishing in a good time of 12 mins 44 secs. Rachel set off at a conservative pace – but was soon in a personal tussle with a Billingham Marsh House athlete. Around 30 metres down she gradually chipped away lap by lap until easing past her opponent with a few laps to go. Maintaining a tall running form (who’s your regular coach at Striders Rachel? – looks like you’ve been taught some good habits) she put in a strong final lap to finish in an excellent time of 14 mins 2 secs.
Katie was next to compete and this was in the Shot – although I was banned from filming her in action for the Striders-Facetime-World-Wide-Intra-Social-Web-App thing. A best effort of just under 5 metres was achieved. I’ll give you some of my Creatine powder next time to get you over that 5 metre mark, Katie. It’s legal, honest.
I managed to get one effort in the Long Jump, 4.7 metres, (and first in the ‘old gits’ category) before having to dash off for the final event of the night – the 100 metres. Having achieved my 400 metre goal – next on the agenda was a sub 13 second 100. Alas, it was not to be. Normally a strong starter I was slow to react to the gun and couldn’t make the time up, finishing in 13.25 seconds. Andrew followed in a later heat and manged an even worse start. By the end of the 100 metres he looked like a man who had done all three track events in quick succession! Fair play though, because on the night I think he was the only person who’d done so.
Many thanks Katie, Rachel and Andrew for representing the club. Hope you enjoyed it. It’s back to Darlington on 26 June.
A couple more things. Firstly, well done to my mate Michael Burke for an outstanding performance in the Hardmoors 110 mile race. (representing Striders I might add). A top 10 finish and sub 28 hours – it doesn’t get much better than that. He’s already planning a 200 mile race for next year. Blimey.
Also, and I’m sure this has been well covered on social media, the Catalyst achievement awards took place on Wednesday. The Tees Barrage Parkrun volunteer team were up for the Community Sports Award.
Me old pal Dave Fender is one of the last people still alive that were involved during the first year of the Barrage Parkrun. I met up with him recently to record his earliest memories of the event.
‘In those days, we were lucky if there were 10 runners and 2 volunteers.’ says Dave. ‘Our results came through by telegram, so it would usually be 4 or 5 days before we knew our times. We ran in all weather – I remember an event in 28 inches of snow. Occasionally the Tees would freeze over and whenever that happened the runners would avoid the bridges and run across the frozen river.’
At this point I stopped Dave, put a blanket over his lap and gently sang to him until he drifted off to sleep – no doubt dreaming of those halcyon days.
Anyway, back to reality. The Parkrun has been a part of my life on a Saturday morningfor a few years now – and I appreciate it wouldn’t be possible without you guys.
The Barrage Volunteers deservedly won the Community Sports Award. With so many Striders members volunteering on a regular basis I won’t even begin to try and name them all. I’ll just say well done and thanks to David and the team.
Paul J