Category: Run reports

I did not find anybody joining a parkrun club this week although Paul Appleton joined the unofficial 150 club. This was a week to go on tour and grab a PB in the process. Close to home, we had six Striders at Albert Park - where Lloyd Ryan whistled around in a new PB. Five more Striders attended Stewart Park, where last week's star performer, Jennie Johnston, grabbed a PB for the second week in a row. A mini tour group of nine attended Hartlepool. Fiona Shaw, Racheal Hall, Shaun Fletcher were not going to be outdone by Jennie as they too grabbed consecutive PBs - having thrown down that gauntlet, Gavin Morley and Michael Hodgkiss also raced to a new PB here. We also have to credit Jim Wright…

Seven Striders headed over to the all-new Flatts Lane parkrun this week to check out if all those hill sessions had paid off. There were smaller Strider numbers than usual at Albert Park (2) and Stewart Park (3) as well as some tourism at Sedgefield, Newcastle and Keswick. 42 Striders ran at Tees Barrage. The star of the day was Jennie Johnston who celebrated her 50th parkrun with a shiny new PB. Neil McGee also joined the 50 club, whilst club chair, Andy Johnston, grabbed himself a black t shirt and membership of the 100 club. The cooler autumnal weather seems to have suited many people or was it promise of cake at the finish? Stella Hudson, Fiona Shaw, Janice Long, Gavin Morley, Beverley Harvey, Antony Hamling, Racheal Hall, Shaun…

Official results say 25 Striders ran the Great North Run, but add on those who joined since getting a GNR place, so not registered as a Strider, or those who ran is disguise (not that we would condone number swapping of course) and there were loads more running the 13.1miles from Newcastle to South Shields. The Striders bus left club HQ nice and early for an easy trip up to Newcastle. We had a mixture of first timers and those who are now part of the GNR furniture. The last part of the journey into Newcastle city centre was along the first half of the route, just to get us even more excited! Looking strangely quiet at 8:30am we knew how different that would be 2 hours later. Despite Vicki…

It's one of those weekends when a lot of athletes have other events at the forefront of their thoughts, so less Striders out at parkrun than usual. That said, we had a runner at Hartlepool, Newcastle and Durham, another four at Stewart Park and five at Albert Park. Tees Barrage saw Striders out in force with 23 runners and a team of seven Strider volunteers under the watchful eye of run director Gail. Alison Brame became the 34th Strider to join the 100 Club whilst Jackie Glass completed her difficult second run and set a new PB in the process. It's taken a while but that must make it all the sweeter -Tara Oxley also grabbed a new PB. It's not a race...but special mentions to Lloyd Ryan who led…

This week saw two Striders at Albert Park and Stewart Park plus another athlete at both Inverness and Hartlepool. Keith Evans set at Striders best at Tring and seven cake munching Striders on tour took on the Conkers parkrun as part of their warm-up for a camping weekend. The big turnout was at Tees barrage with 32 Striders running there, plus five more in Angela's volunteer team, to witness Claire Taylor complete her 50th parkrun and welcome Kay Brown, Jackie Glass and Alexandra Edwards into the 1 club. As far as I can see there was only one Strider PB anywhere and that accolade goes to Gavin Morley. It's not a race but... Lisa Molus was the leading female finisher whilst Lloyd Ryan, David Fender and Paul Johnson lead the…

Branches & Bays 10k Trail Run 20th August 2017. A small number of Striders took part in this event, a mixture of first timers and those who had ran it before. So here I am as one of the first timers, naive and ever so slightly hungover from birthday celebrations. Not an event to think of 10k PB's or trying to run it all the way round, it's one fantastic achievement if you can ??. Only 1/2 mile in and we were single file waiting patiently to go through a gate which led on to a single person width path running through trees and woodland. Eventually you reach a steep descent down Mount Everest onto a beach for a short run before a steep climb back up Mount Everest for…

Albert Park saw the biggest turnout of Striders this parkrun week with 10 athletes taking part. Sarah Winter achieved both a new PB and was the first female finisher. Lisa Molus and Helen McIlvenney filled second and fourth places. Rachel Carr was chasing hard and also PBed. Stewart Park attracted nine Striders - some as part their longer marathon training run, some checking out the relays course? Rachael Hall, third female, and Liz Jordan both claimed new PBs. Sedgefield welcomed six Striders - all of whom put the competing Olympian soundly in their place! In the process both Kirsty Alderthay and Shaun Fletcher lowered their PBs for the course. We also had Striders in attendance at York, Darlington, South Shields, Brockenhurst, Hartlepool and Hackworth  where Andrew Laverick claimed a new…

There's been a slight delay in this race report because sometimes they need an edit - a bit of a tweak here and there. Me old pal Dave Fender will be both delighted and relieved that a few minor amendments have been made... Last Tuesday saw the grand finale of the summer NYSD Athletics series at Middlesbrough. Katie Abel, Vicky Meaby, Kate Butterworth and Lucy Owens were the Striders ladies competing. First timers Gavin Morley and Andy Hayes, together with Andrew Laverwick, Dave Fender and myself, the gents. Kate and Vicky were at the Stadium early doors - which suggested a throwing event would be opening proceedings. A somewhat protracted hammer competition ensued - Kate, again, showing a real talent for the event, throwing a 19.15 metre pb and winning…

Cleveland Way relay race report by Tara and Chris... Its 5am on Sunday 25th June 2017, the dog has kept us up most of the night and the alarm is about to go off to tell us to get up and ready. Ahead lies 18 hours of running for our two teams, luckily no-one is having to run all of it… Its glorious sunshine in Whitby we’re told, although not convinced as it looks like it’s about to rain in Stockton. There’s just time for a quick wash and to get dressed in our Sunday best (aka shorts, vest and running shoes). Tara has a quick check to make sure there’s no last-minute drop outs and we’re off, driving to Robin Hoods Bay to pick up Mark and Jess from…