As weekends go, this one was a biggie… The Great North Run, The Chopper, Pilgrims Ultra, ParkRun and Sunday Social. You name it, if this weekend had a running event, DVRC were there.

But let’s rewind to the early hours of the weekend; with Claire Knox, Glen Cooper and Grant Ramsden heading to Holy Island for the start of the Pilgrims Ultra. With Glen tackling the 50k version, while Claire and Grant took on the full 100 mile route.

Glen took down the 50k with ease – tracking just over 55km’s in 7 hours – and remember Saturday was the baking hot, 26c degree day… Quite the effort to hit that distance in that time! Great going, Glen!

Meanwhile, as Saturday continued, our friends at Greener Miles Running were kicking off The Chopper 6 and 12 hour events, in our favourite, Chopwell Wood. We had Matthew Scott taking on the 12 hour event, whilst the rest of this motley crew opted for the 6 hours.

When all was said and done, Matthew took home the win with 12 laps in 12 hours! Amazing effort to start at 10am, finish at 10pm, all whilst nailing 80km’s and 1800m of elevation gain.

Over in the 6 hour event, Marc Runkee came 3rd overall, with John Kirby in 4th – both hitting 7 laps in the time limit. With Susan, Laura, Kirsty and Sue using Backyard Ultra Tactics to complete a lap every hour.

Again, that heat was brutal – as the day wore on, it got hotter and hotter. With plenty of the non-running club members taking on marshal duties or just good old fashioned cheerleading, (more of that later).

Back over on the coast, Grant and Claire were still going on their 100 mile pilgrimage in the Pilgrims Ultra. As day started to become night; fuelling and recovery were the aim of the evening – Grant opting for pork pie, with Claire going straight for fish and chips! All washed down with full fat coke, of course.

Completing the Saturday portion of the weekend, of course we were representing at ParkRun – with our members hitting the courses of Tyne Green, Fountains Abbey, Chopwell Wood and Whitley Bay. No PBs to report; but Charlotte Bowes volunteered as tailwalker at Chopwell, Chris Hewitson marshalled at Tyne Green, with Bex donning the pacer bib.

Moving into Sunday, and Claire and Grant were still going – running and resting overnight to eventually tick off the 100 miles around the same time as loads of us were running the Great North Run – Claire even rocked her GNR shorts for the occasion!

Grant polished off the distance to finish around 3pm – ably crewed by Beth all along the way. Claire finished 3rd female overall and took home more hardware to add to last month’s bling! Absolutely gargantuan efforts from both of them… Word actually fail us. Incredible.

Over on Central Motorway in Newcastle, a whole load of us were lining the dual carriageway and getting a sweat on just waiting in the starter pens. Not the ideal start for a half marathon… the warm-up felt like somewhat of an afterthought, despite the efforts of the chap in the cherry-picker!

Sunday couldn’t have been more different in terms of weather… we started off in roasting hot sunshine and by the time we were inflatable unicorn spotting in South Shields, the storm clouds were gathering.

By the time we’d all crossed the line, it was a Hewitson 1-2 with Chris bringing us home first; in 1:33, with Bex following in 1:42. It was somewhat comforting to hear everyone talk about just how sapping the heat was and that even the elites had been slowed down. Not that that seemed to bother wor Natasha, as she knocked out a new 1:51 PB!

Chris Hewitson	01:33:19
Bex Hewitson	01:42:22
Steven Wade	01:48:59
William Lacey	01:49:51
Natasha Powell*	01:51:15
Alex Fiddes	01:52:34
Kieran Ridley	01:55:25
Duncan Marshall	01:57:09
Justin Turner	01:59:22
Claire Thompson	02:07:55
Lauren Smith	02:13:51
Chris Dunn	02:15:44
Katharina Reichelt	02:21:16
Charlotte Bowes	02:23:10
Caroline Smith	02:38:59
Gemma Carr	02:51:40
Susan Hey	03:43:35

Biblical, end of days, apocalyptic rain followed – everything you’ve seen or heard about the flash flooding on the coast, on the metro and the roads is absolutely true… Most of us decided to seek refuge in the beer tent, passing the time with a tremendous crowd led rendition of Sweet Caroline, as we all serenaded our own Caroline Smith in the process!

Excellent results from all of the club members who took to the old course – it has to be one of the hottest ever, and definitely the wettest finish ever. Again, with so many of the non-running members getting out on the streets to support and cheer everyone on. This really is the best running club in the world.

We even featured in local AND national media; with Chris featuring in the BBC tv coverage:

Claire Thompson on the BBC website:

And Duncan in the Evening Chronicle, thanks to his kilt and hat!

What can we say, the camera loves DVRC!

And as ever, no weekend round up is complete without the Sunday Social – yes, even with all of this going on, we still had members hitting trails of Chopwell Wood for a chatty run.

We now move towards the start of the Cross Country season – if our skippers don’t have your name to get you registered – give John or Claire a shout… We’ll be there, come rain or come shine… This weekend more than proved that.