The weather was kind to the runners with cool temperatures throughout the day. In the Sunniside area where the two races passed by each other there was a fantastic atmosphere with live music and plenty of support to add to the occasion.

Four Tynedale Harriers took part in this inaugural Marathon and some excellent times were recorded. First for the Club was Ivan Newton who smashed his previous best marathon time to dip under the 3 hour mark at 2:58:33. Ivan ran a well-paced race and worked through the field to finish 14th overall and 4th in his MV40 category. This is an impressive performance for Ivan who has only been running for the past 5 years.

Elizabeth Earle was second home for the Club in 3:39:52. This was 8 minutes faster than Elizabeth’s previous marathon in 2010 and secured her 12th position in the ladies senior category. Mark Smith and Louise Griffin followed in 4:06:08 and 4:09:32 respectively. Louise had deferred her London Marathon entry and decided to run in this ‘local’ marathon instead to take advantage of her training.

The Marathon of the North is set to be a regular event in the Noth East race calander and, with around 1000 finishers, is surely set to increase in numbers in coming years.

 Ian Brown

The Hoka Highland Fling Ultra is a trail race over the southern 53 miles of the famous West Highland Way Path, starting in Milngavie (close to Glasgow) and finishing in the scenic village of Tyndrum. The event is in its 7th year and continues to grow and is expected to be the most popular UK Ultramarathon in 2012. The route is almost entirely on trails and thus traffic-free. The varied terrain and stunning scenery make this a truly enjoyable experience, with runners returning year after year to participate.

Two Tynedale harriers, Ian Brown and Ian Gibson, made up the 400 strong field, both in the MV50 category and both therefore starting at 0600 along  with the women’s field. Such are the numbers in the event that there is a staggered start with Vet40 men starting at 0700 and senior men at 0800. Ian Brown is no stranger to the West Highland Way and had taken part in the event last year, his first ‘Ultra’. Ian Gibson however had not run the distance and was apprehensive about both the distance and the terain ahead.

Ian B set off at a good pace and soon found himself up with the leading group. Ian’s experience gained last year helped him minimise time at check points while eating and drinking on the move. By the second checkpoint at Balmaha (20 miles), Ian was first MV50 and held this poition to the finish at Tyndrum. Ian was delighted with his time of 9 hours 9 minutes, good enough to gain him 21st place overall as well as setting  a new course record for the MV50 category by over 10 minutes!

Ian Gibson had a good steady run over the first half of the route checking in at the half way point (Rowardennan) in 5 hours 19 minutes. Ian’s progress slowed over the very rough section along Loch Lomond side to Beinglas farm (40 miles). Ian checked in at Beinglas in 9 hours 9 minutes and completed the full 53 miles in 12 hours 15 minutes.

 The weather was typical ‘fling’ weather, bright and sunny, and the atmosphere friendly and supportive making this a great event to be a part of and highly recommended to any budding ultra runners.

Almost 2000 runners from all over the North East (and even some from overseas) make the North Tyneside 10Km the 3rd largest event in the region behind the Great North Run and the Blaydon Race. This is however the first time it has been included in the Tynedale Harriers Grand Prix competition and an excellent choice it turned out to be!

A total of 13 Harriers made the journey to the starting line in North Shields and set off along the seafront to the finishing line at St Mary’s lighthouse in Whitley Bay. The weather was cool and ideal for running with very little headwind to slow progress. The course is mostly flat with a fast first mile as the route  drops down onto the North Shields Fish Quay and, apart from the  climb at Tynemouth Priory, there are no hills to worry about. The volume of runners early in the race can be a problem  but other than this it is a course to record a fast 10Km time.

Richard Parker was first for Tynedale in an excellent time of 35.21 seconds. This gave Richard 21st place overall but, such is the quality of the field, only second place in his MV45 age category. With maximum points secured again this now guarantees Richard first place in the men’s Grand Prix competition.

Second place for Tynedale and first MV55 was Ian Brown. Ian has been concentrating on running longer distances recently (such as the Allendale Challenge the previous week) but showed he can still pull a reasonably paced 10Km out of the hat when required! Ian managed to stay  just ahead of the ‘in form’ Ivan Newton and both Ian and Ivan managed to overtake young Rob Carter in the later stages of the race. Remarkably, the times for this trio and Steve Hill were all within 30 seconds at 39:12/39:18/39:24 and 39:39 respectively.

Joanne Lee was first lady to finish for Tynedale Harriers securing third L35 overall and maximum Grand Prix points in 39:44 seconds. Beth Gregory Smith recorded 43:06 just in front of Maria Armstrong who clocked 43:36 seconds. With Jan Oliver recording 48:34 seconds and Eileen Armstrong in 60:32 seconds, Tynedale were well represented across many of the age categories.

The next Grand Prix event is the George Ogle in May and, while the men’s winner may be decided, the ladies competition is still wide open and 2nd and 3rd positions in both the men’s and womens competition still up for grabs.

Ian Brown

Weather conditions were ideal and, more importantly, underfoot conditions were generally dry and made for good running over the notorious peat bogs which are a major feature of the ‘Allendale’.

Bev set off at a steady pace and had overtaken the leading women before the checkpoint at Hard Rigg. Bev’s offroad experience then started to show as she opened up a substantial lead over the rough terain to Killhope Law. By eating and drinking early in the race, Bev was able to keep her pace going up over The Drag and had a strong finish to clock 4 hours 11 minutes for the 25.9 miles. Second and third places were also taken by Tynedale ladies with Steph Scott finishing in 4 hours 23 minutes and Rachel Chinnery, last years winner, in 4 hours 28 minutes. Steph is currently training for a Bob Graham attempt this summer and Rachel has the London Marathon in her sights so both were using this to build enduance and stamina.

For the men, Paul Gaines came second overall in 3 hours 50 minutes only two minutes behind the leader, Mark Thompson. Ian Brown was next for Tyndale in 13th position  clocking 4 hours 6 minutes for the distance. Ian and Bev had run together for about 19 miles and only separated on ‘The Drag’ as Ian pulled away on the long climb. Bernard Kivlehan finished 23rd overall (from 97 finishers) in 4 hours 29 minutes making this a great day for the Tynedale Harrier distance runners!

 Allendale Results 2012

Ian Brown

‘We are a new website that is purely devoted to running in the North East. We cover such things as race previews and reports, athlete profiles, blogs, injury advice etc.

Our aim is to provide an up to date service to the people of the North East for everything to do with running. We have only been live for little more than 3 weeks and have already had 20,000 hits so we are thrilled and hope this continues. We will be at Prudhoe tomorrow and intend to write an event report with video clips and pictures. We\’ve found that runners search the web on Saturday night looking for information about the race and our aim is to provide some information as quickly as possible.’

http://www.northeastrunner.co.uk/prudhoe-harrier-league.html

Some photos from Balazs here.

Four of our senior women finished in the top five of the individual grand prix for veteran women for the season, with Sonia only two points off top spot.

The senior men didn’t quite do enough to gain promotion back to the top division, but put in a good performance on the day to finish as second team overall. They missed out on promotion by just one point. Andy Green came in first with a storming run from the medium pack, just catching Ian Bromley in the final straight. David Armstrong, Hugh Bingham, Ivan Newton and Keith Lombard made up the rest of the six counters, with Neil Cassidy not far behind, having run hard from the medium pack.

The Under 13 girls had a good race, finishing 3rd team on the day. First finishing was Elena Bluck, followed by Rhianna Nitsch (both will be promoted to the fast pack for next season). Third counter was Antonia Harrison, with her sister Francesca 41 seconds behind.

The Under 13 boys suffered a bit for lack of numbers, especially those who would be running from the slow pack. Matthew Jackson had a cracking run from the fast pack, finishing 2nd overall and the fastest time of the day. the other two counters for Tynedale were Chris Jackson and Sam Myers, both also running from the fast pack. Well done them. One more Tynedale finishing in the top 10 may have been enough to win the league; as it was they finished 2nd behind Morpeth, still a great performance.

The Under 15 boys finished 3rd on the day and 3rd in the league for the season. George Sanderson, Fergus Robinson, Toby Routledge and Dominic Morley were the finishers. Jonathon Currie was the only Tynedale representative in the Under 17s race, but had a strong run which included an extra loop as he and a few others took a wrong turn in the woods.

Overall a great day to end on and a good season – we’re there or thereabouts in most categories with the Senior Women leading the way!

Results Prudhoe Male results (pdf)

Prudhoe MaleDivisions & Grand Prix Points (pdf)

Prudhoe Male results (Excel)

Prudhoe female results (Excel)

Prudhoe Grand Prix female (Excel)e

Photos from Alan Currie here  http://www.flickr.com/photos/42764975@N02/sets/72157629660040469/
and Marcus Byron http://www.flickr.com/photos/64662487@N07/sets/72157629670448163/

The Haworth Hobble is a challenging 32 mile ultra event traversing the gritstone moors in Yorkshire around Haworth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge. With 4,400 ft of ascent, taking in Stoodley Pike (1300 feet) past the impressive monument, it is clearly not for the feint hearted.

The race starts on the historic main street of Haworth before heading out on to the moors and past Top Withins (alleged location of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights novel). From here it dips and climbs its way over to Stoodly Pike before returning via Heptonstall, and Hardcastle Crags.

The race is 32 miles long but as anyone who has ever done it will tell you it really only starts at 20 miles as you turn at the Stoodly monument The maximum time allowed is 11 hours with many of the competitors taking well over 8 hours to complete the distance.

No such worries for the three Tynedale Harriers who completed the event on Saturday 10th March. Rachel Chinnery, Bev Redfern and Ian Brown all recorded times of under 6 hours, all in good shape and ready to sample some of the excellent hot food provided by the organisers (Keighley and Craven AC) at the finish.

The Hobble originally started as an event for teams of two runners although it now allows solo entries. Ian was entered as a two man team with Les Hill from Dumfries Running Club. The pair had a strong finish to record a time of 5 hours 35 minutes, 64th overall and 9th team. Rachel also entered as a team with friend and novice ultra runner Oliver Bratton (unattached). The pair ran with Bev most of the way and all three finished together in 5 hours 48 minutes which earned them 15th team position and 90th overall from 270 finishers.

All enjoyed the event and despite the long drive and early start would recommend it to anyone looking for a ‘short’ ultra packed with challenging terrain.

Ian Brown

Karen Robertson gave Tynedale an excellent start on leg 1, recording the 6^th fastest time on that leg (13.56) and bringing the team home in 2nd place in the Vets race. Steph White brought the other team home in 21^st place with a time of 15.38.

On the second leg, Fran Little had Elswick Harriers to chase. She duly caught them and brought Tynedale up to 3^rd in the overall race and 1^st vet team (14.12, 3^rd fastest on that leg). Jan Oliver ran 17.15 for the other team before handing on to Lynne Marr.

As the race progressed, it was difficult to tell just how well the teams were doing, as some competitors were on different legs and laps to others. The changeover marshals really had their work cut out!!

Joanne Lee ran the second fastest time on leg 4 (13.57) consolidating the lead over Elswick. As the sleet started, Steph Scott headed out on the anchor leg for the Tynedale vets, not knowing how far Elswick would come in behind us, but hoping that they weren’t too close! There was great support on the blustery course from the Tynedale men and even the Elswick team members. Steph ran the fifth fastest time on leg 4 (14.50) to bring the Tynedale ladies home victorious once again. Louise Griffin ran a strong leg for the other team in 17.35.

Tynedale Harriers were confirmed as the NE Vets Road Relay Champions, winning by an impressive margin of over 2 minutes. This completes a successful relay campaign for the ladies as they also won the NE Vets xc relays at Durham in January.

Tynedale senior men had 6 legs to complete, giving a total of 13.5 miles.  They were represented by Andy Richardson, Phil Jameson, Chris Baker, Peter Murphy, Keith Lombard and Ian Bromley.  Andy ran a blistering first leg in 11.05, recording one of the fastest times of the day.  The team finished in a creditable 19^th place in a total time of 78.20.