By Steven Dawson
Although It’s early New Year, the races have been coming along thick and fast for members of Aycliffe Running Club with some challenging races to start the year.
David Stothard (7:12) and Ian Stothard (949) both represented the club at the South Shields Monthly mile on Wednesday, January 10.
January 13 saw a brilliant turnout for the Hamsterley Forest Winter Trail Races. This saw runners take in a trail run through Hamsterley Forest of either 10k, a half marathon or the 10k canicross (running with a dog).
In the 10k race, Bernadette Cooper (54:51), Daniel Tatham (57:05), Laura Hudson (1:01:14), Tamara Kirk (1:03:37), Sammie Metcalfe (1:03:58), Salv McDonnell (1:05:03), Cath McDonnell (1:05:36), Richie Johnson (1:06:34), David Stothard (1:07:21) and Carley Cooper (1:11:28) all represented the club.
In the Half Marathon, Richard Campbell (was tenth overall and second male over 40 finishing in a time of 1:47:09. Also representing the club were Ste Dunn (2:17:17) and Ian Payne (2:24:42).
Ian Stothard was the sole representative for the club in the 10k canicross event.
On Sunday, January 14, 10 members took part in the Gerry Kearsley Handicaps which saw runners start and finish in Bishop Middleham taking in a multi-terrain route.
Runners are given a handicap based on their most recent 10k race with the intention that everyone finishes close together and the winner is the first person back and not the fastest on the day.
Representing the club were Paul Dalton (47:15), Sammie Metcalfe (53:36), John Burnside (54:35), Richard Holland (44:51), Laura Hudson (55:53), Gareth Hamblin (45:23), Bernadette Cooper (third lady), Richard Campbell (42:14), Salv McDonnell (57:26) and Cath McDonnell (58:44).
On the same day, one member travelled to Commondale for the appropriately named “Commondale Clart”. As you can guess it was another muddy event with Shaun Dodd (54:43) representing the club.
On Saturday, 30 members started their weekend with a parkrun, taking in the Albert, Silksworth, Sedgefield, Hackworth, Jubilee, Woodgate Valley Country Park, Hamsterley and Wynyard Woodland events.
At Silksworth, Angela Sutheran (25:02) complete the event for the first time. Over at Sedgefield, John Surtees (18:35) finished second with Tracey Surtees (21:29) finishing as third lady.
Over at Hackworth, Jimmy Agnew (22:27) and Trevor Agnew (24:01) both completed the course for the first time. Kelly Dickinson (30:09) completed her 175th ever parkrun, an amazing achievement.
At Woodgate Valley Country Park, Viv Williams (32:17) and Steve Williams (32:18) both completed the event for the first time running together.
At Wynyard Woodland, Jayne Rudd (30:23) set a new personal best for the course. At the same time Sandrine Hewitt (31:28) completed the event for the first time.
It’s that time of year where we are all starting with good intentions and want to get fit or lose weight.
I know there are a lot who decide to get fit and that may involve running.
If that is you, and you would like to get into running, then why not come along to one of our sessions.
Our sessions are led by qualified coaches and run leaders, who do their best to create a supportive and encouraging environment for you to train in.
We have runners of all abilities at the club so there will be someone there who can help keep you going when you need that support.
Our structured outdoor sessions take place every Tuesday at 7pm and we usually, meet at the Sports Complex.
There are occasions where we meet somewhere else. We do these in three groups so that the session can fit around people of all abilities.
Again, ideal if you want to take your running to the next level and good for all abilities.
On Thursday’s we meet at Shildon 2000 Stadium with the session starting at 6.30pm. We usually meet at Sunnydale Leisure Centre from 6.15pm.
There is a more informal social session which is ideal for beginner’s that takes place every Monday and is FREE to attend as well as a social run on Wednesday which can be used as a recovery run.
It is also a good opportunity to have a chat with someone as you run.
Those sessions usually start at 6.30pm at the Oakleaf Sports Complex but check out our Facebook page before attending any of the sessions to make sure they are still taking place.