By Steven Dawson
It has been another very busy week for Aycliffe Running Club with some excellent performances across a series of races.
Last Wednesday, 14 members took part in the final race of the Darlington Trail 5k series and a new course, the Harrowgate Hill 5k.
John Firby (19:09) finished first with Lucy Postle (23:42), third female. Also representing the club were Sam Keenan (21:10), Martin Turnbull (21:45), Richard Holland (22:14), Jimmy Agnew (22:40), Trevor Agnew (24:38), Joe Dickinson (27:43), Keith Hatton (29:50), Rob Nicholson (29;54), Melanie Varley (32:00), Kelly Dickinson (32:26), Peter Varley (34:20) and Ian Stothard (46:45).
In the overall series of eight races, Lucy Postle finished third female, an amazing achievement.
Sue Podmore also showed excellent consistency, to finish in the top 10.
In the men’s series, Sam Keenan finished second and Richard Holland third.
Jimmy Agnew, John Firby and Trevor Agnew also finished in the top ten overall making it a fantastic series for the club.
On Sunday, three members took part in the Raby Castle Trail Run series, with Laura Hudson (49:11) and Cloe Livermore (49:12) taking part in the 5 mile race and Martyn Knox (1:18:08) taking part in the 10 mile race. Martyn ran an excellent race finishing sixth overall and third in the men’s over 30 category.
On the same day, 13 members took part in the Sedgefield Serpentine race in Hardwick Park and the surrounding woodland.
John Surtees (37:34) finished second overall. Also taking part were Ian Payne (43:03), Martin Turnbull (43:22), Tracey Surtees (46:11), Trevor Needham (50:42), Thomas Heywood (53:54), Nicky Aitchison (57:49), Rob Nicholson (59:01), Jean-Pierre Hupin (1:00:52), Sandrine Hewitt (1:04:15), Richard Tonge (1:08:15), Em Flynn (1:13:05) and Kathleen Tonge (1:13:56).
At the same time, 11 members travelled to Middleton St. George to take part in the final race of the Darlington 10k series of races, the Locomotion 10k.
Lucy Postle (48:44) finished as first female and Bernadette Cooper (49:29) second female.
Also representing the club were Sam Keenan (44:59), Daniel Tatham (46:53), Joe Dickinson (54:10), Salv McDonnell (54:39), Keith Hatton (56:04), Cath McDonnell (58:46), Carley Cooper (59:39), Sue Podmore (1:00:09) and Kelly Dickinson (1:02:07).
In the overall series, there were some excellent performances for the club with Sam Keenan finishing third overall in the men’s series. Daniel Tatham and Richard Campbell also finished in the top 10.
In the female series, Lucy Postle finished first overall with Bernadette Cooper second. Cath McDonnell, Sue Podmore and Carley Cooper also finished in the top 10 overall, amazing efforts from them all.
At the same time, two members travelled to Castleton in North Yorkshire to take part in the Castleton Show.
Trish Kay followed up on her excellent performance last year by finishing as first female over 60 for the second year in a row with Shaun Dodds also taking part.
On the same day one of our members travelled to Denmark to take part in the Copenhagen half marathon.
Judith Porter (2:27:56) completed the race which is her first in the super half series. Judith finished eighth lady out of 20 in the 70-74 age group. She also passed the current men’s 3,000 metres world record holder and 5,000 metres Olympic Champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, on the course, but as she pointed out she was only 2k into her race and he had 1k to go in his and they were going in opposite directions. Maybe next time…
If you are feeling inspired and are interested in joining the club, you can turn up for one of our sessions, or visit ayclifferunningclub.org.uk