By Donna Campbell
It was a busier week this week for ARC with the focus of the racing being on cross country.
Parkruns were as ever, popular with our members on Saturday morning with good turnouts at several across the region and some undertaking these is new venues. As such this meant there were no PB’s to record this week but still great running.
On Sunday, the racing began at Birtley near Chester-le-Street where we had three male teams and three female teams competing in the cross-country relays. This is the second year of this particular race, and although still nippy the weather was kinder this year and we didn’t have the horrific wind that we had last year.
The course is laid out on the school fields at Lord Lawson school but despite this they still manage to find a number of hills (per lap) for the runners to climb and each runner completes 2 laps (3k in total).
In the men’s race the first team home were Paul Dalton (11.39), Andrew Sedgewick (12.53) and Richard Campbell (12.31). They were followed by Andy Talbot (12.29), Shaun Dodds (15.38) and Trevor Needham (15.13). Our final team home were Alan Kellett (17.00), David Stothard (16.21) and James Wilson (18.14).
In the ladies race, the first team home was Michelle Scott in (14.48), Katie Dodds (15.02() and Julie Nisbet (15.21). They were followed by Michaela Kerr (17.16), Steph Colvin (18.15) and Anne Kellett (20.16). Our final team home was Bev Phillippo (18.17), Eve Doe (23.27) and Jan McLuckie 23.37).
Down in Middlesbrough we had several members taking part in the NYSD cross country fixture at Ormesby. Compared to previous years however, the conditions underfoot were not great and members have described this as a mudbath!!
First up were the ladies and over 65 men who undertake a distance of around 3.5 miles.
Michelle Jane was first home for ARC in 30.02, followed by Kevin Greenall in 36.56, Kelly Tamar in 38.20, Jane Burnside in 43.00 and Susan Clark in 45.16.
In the men’s race the distance is around 5.5 miles. First home was Mark Wade in 38.38, followed by Dez Fielden in 41.59, Peter Milburn in 42.18 and John Burnside in 47.33.
Finally, also on Sunday, Carley Gibson took part in the 6×6 at Hardwick Park organised by the North East Marathon Club.
This event took place between 9.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. and consisted of 1.5 mile laps of Hardwick Park (parkrun course – including the hill). The idea was to run as many or as few laps as you wanted in that time. Carley completed 13.1 miles (9 laps) in 2hours 45 mins.
Junior Section
On Sunday Hannah Brischuk took part in the Ormesby Hall cross country race. It was a challenging course with an additional woodland trail which was not there last year also very frosty conditions. Hannah completed the distance of 1.5k in 8.23.
For anyone interested in joining the club, you can simply turn up at one of our sessions all of which start from the Oakleaf Complex in Newton Aycliffe. Monday night is beginners run at 6.30pm, Tuesday is endurance/speed session from 7pm, and Thursday is a track session and this takes place at Shildon Track.
Further details can be found on our website or facebook pages or alternatively you can message the club via facebook for more information.
