As ever, July starts with the Chevy Chase, in Wooler, and another of our Grand Prix events. Away from there, we had the week starting off with the all-female Anita Nott 5k in Jesmond Dene; ParkRun; the Great North 10k; the Northumbrian Half Ironman and the Sunday Social! Best get this show on the road…

We’ll start with the big one – the Chevy Chase, the 66th running of it – heaven knows how or why 65 of these have previously been run, but they have, and we’ll keep showing up each year to put ourselves through those gruelling 20 miles and 5000+ft of elevation.

15 of us headed up to the delights of Wooler, in Northumberland, to form the 184 starters of the 2023 Chevy Chase – early discussions at DVRC race HQ centred around the choice of vest, short sleeve or long sleeve; cap yes or no; suncream yes or no… and that was all just Hewitson! Kirby was on hand to talk tactics and direction to newbies, with a keen eye on his Grand Prix points, too.

We lined up for the now customary photo, with Paul Brunger narrowly avoiding disaster before we started, with a rather eager Royal Mail van almost taking him out, mid-hug, with another racer – who says the post is slow?!

After a pre-race briefing that absolutely nobody could hear, thanks to the canine interpreter informing his people, we heard the whistle and away we went… delightfully sunny with the cap, sleeves and suncream all looking like a great plan!

Hitting the first checkpoint at Broadstruther and the weather was still holding firm, as the elevation increased, so too did the breeze, but at this point it was welcome – blowing gently in the right direction and keeping things nice and cool after the early heat… That all changed once we hit Cheviot Knee and Cheviot for checkpoints 2 and 3. Our collective hats were all off for the incredible volunteers and marshals at those, as well as checkpoints 4 and 5 for Hedgehope and Langlee Craggs – we aren’t saying the wind was gale force, but a certain female captain was knocked clean off her feet at one point!

The sideways wind and rain at some point in the middle, meant that cap fitting was being tested, with suncream finding its way into the eyes – what a delight!

Welcoming us at Brands Corner was none other than our Jenny Yeo – taking on officiating duties AND walking to get there from the start – whilst giving us a little exclusive, that yesterday the first day she’d worn trainers since the Spine Race! Unsurprisingly and absolutely deserved, Jenny took home the ‘Spirit of the Chevy’ award at the end, complete with a lovely bottle of wine to help soothe the aches of getting up and down from her marshal point.

When all was said and done, 15 of us went out and 15 of us finished – all within the cut off time. Chips were eaten, beers were drunk. Some of us were heard saying it was a “disgusting” race, amongst other expletives, yet, they still had smiles on faces afterwards. Some races might seem off-putting at first, but when you’re with a group, team and club like this – anything is possible. This really is the best club in the world.

Paul Brunger led us home in a brilliant 17th place overall, with Claire Knox as our first female in 22nd lady.

Name	Time
Paul Brunger	3:36
Matthew Scott	4:05
John Kirby	4:27
Glen Cooper	4:36
Chris Hewitson	4:39
Claire Knox	4:42
Megan Williams	4:55
Natasha Powell	4:55
Carys Watts	4:55
Paul Stephenson	4:59
Nick Armstrong	5:06
Graham White	5:32
Vicky Parker	5:42
Emma Collins	5:45
Chris Morris	5:56

Incredible efforts and very proud that we had 100% completion within the allotted cut-off, we also finished 7th in the team results – what a day!

Rewinding back to the beginning of the week, saw the Anita Nott ladies 5k in Jesmond Dene – this all female race is run in memory of a Heaton Harriers athlete who sadly lost her life in 2006, whilst out on a training run. This year, we had Megan Williams, Kirsty Robson, Lindsey Dover and Sue Urwin representing us on the night.

Leading us home in 23:53 was Megan, with Sue, Kirsty and Lindsey following – Sue claiming first place in her category! Great work, lasses!

Meanwhile, at ParkRun we had members running at Chopwell Wood and Tyne Green. Bex Hewitson claimed a new course PB at Tyne Green, along with Grant Ramsden claiming one at Chopwell. Grant and Beth both took on volunteer duties.

At the Northumbrian Half Ironman event, we had our own Ian Maddison taking on the swim-cycle-run triathlon event – finishing 108th overall and 11th in his category – 6:31 overall. What a tremendous achievement!

Sunday morning also saw the annual Great North 10k event, of course we had a squad lining up at the start…

Leading us home in 46 minutes was Kieran Ridley, followed by Sue Urwin, Kirsty Robson, Claire Reed, Rachael Smith and Caroline Smith. Brilliant efforts on yet another windy day in the toon! Full results are here: https://www.greatrun.org/events/great-north-10k/

Last, but by no means least, was our customary Sunday Social group – hitting the trails of Chopwell Woods – we simply cannot get enough of those rolling hills and countryside – we are so lucky to have this on our doorstep.

We’ve also been updating the DVRC Worldwide map with more globetrotting members in Spain, Corfu, Turkey and Switzerland – keep those pics coming!