By Steven Dawson
As we move into Spring this week, it looks like some of our members have had a spring in their step with some excellent performances this week including a number of personal best’s.
Sunday saw the inaugural Middlesbrough Half Marathon, with 8 members taking part.
Representing the club were Mikey Taylor (1:21:37), Richard Trowles (1:23:45), Kieron O’Connor (1:26:44), Gary O’Connor (1:28:04), Stephen Dunn (1:32:27), Andrew Tweddle (1:45:08), Sammie Metcalfe (1:51:42) and Laura Hudson (1:56:43).
Amazingly, Kieron O’Connor, Gary O’Connor, Stephen Dunn, Andrew Tweddle, Sammie Metcalfe and Laura Hudson all achieved new personal bests for a half marathon with Ste Dunn knocking nearly 13 minutes of his previous best time.
It was also the first ever half marathon that Mikey Taylor had completed in his first outing as a member for the club.
On the same day, it was the final race in the NYSD Cross Country Series of races, taking place at the Old Racecourse in Richmond.
This saw runners take on some testing conditions with a long steady hill that seemed to go on forever as well as the usual mud in places.
This saw an excellent turnout from the club and excellent support and effort from everyone.
In the Under 11 Boy’s race, Joe Dickinson (9:19), Elijah McLuckie (13:13) and Elijah Turnbull (13:46) represented the club. In the Under 13’s Girl’s race, Trinity Donoghue (11:11) finished third with an excellent performance.
In the Senior Women’s and Under 17’s race, representing the club were Bernadette Cooper (32:52), Sarah Gill (33:32), Tamara Kirk (35:28), Lucy Heron (36:21), Susan Rees (37:00), Carley Cooper (37:29), Cath McDonnell (37:36), Kelly Dickinson (40:32), Viv Williams (43:48), Anne Kellett (44:07), Em Flynn (45:20) and Tracey Pickering (50:19).
In the senior men’s, representing the club were Richard Campbell (40:06), Matt Muir (40:31), Steven Dawson (43:44), Andrew Sedgewick (44:43), Matt Heron (46:45), Richard Holland (47:01), Martin Knox (48:44), Daniel Tatham (50:17), Keith Hatton (58:01) and David Stothard (58:49).
In the men’s over 65, John Burnside (34:28) finished third, with Steve Williams (36:59) fourth.
Also taking part was Rob Nicholson (43:35). In the men’s over 70 race, Kevin Greenall (42:18) was the sole representative for the club.
On Sunday, February 25, the Junior Section headed to the sports hall regional finals on in Eston, Middlesbrough. There were some fantastic performances by all of the juniors with a special well done to Luke, Joseph, Joe, Will, Jenson, Trinity, Joel, Persephone, Maisie, Abbie, Lucy, Luke, Henry and Elizabeth.
If you are feeling inspired and are interested in joining the club, you can turn up for one of our sessions. Or go to ayclifferunningclub.org.uk.