We’re back with a whole host of running achievements to feast your eyes upon…

This month’s Grand Prix fixture: Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile road race, Slaley Hall Trail Half Marathon, Red Kite Night Trail Race, ParkRun and the Sunday Social all get mentions

We’ll get straight to the business of those precious GP points with four of our lot swapping the north east for the north west, and heading over to Cumbria for the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Miler (we’re informed it’s an old fave of our chair, Tony!).

Our fast foursome for the day was Kirsty Robson, Sue Urwin, Bex and Chris Hewitson, and they all jumped on a 2+3 seater coach for the 10 mile trip out to Brampton… 2 seats on left side, 3 on the right… What a time to be alive!

Anyone would think Mrs Robson might’ve had her mind elsewhere as she boarded the coach (and wasn’t even impressed with the 2+3 seating) whilst she refreshed the Glastonbury website… Sue once again showing what a team player she is, by also loading it up on her phone! As race time neared, there was a real fear (mainly from Chris) that Kirsty was going to get the start of the race delayed if she ever reached the payment screen – such was the multitasking going on!

10am arrived with no sight of the payment screen, and we all reluctantly set off on the 10 miles westward… Rolling roadblocks in place to leave Brampton meant we didn’t have to chase the traffic too much in the early stages. There was a bit of it later, as we entered Carlisle, but by this point the field had sorted itself out into much smaller groups and almost single file, thankfully!

At the end, it was Chris who lead us home in 65 minutes, with Bex in 69 minutes and 6th in her category, with Sue in 9th in her’s after 1:27, with Kirsty coming in at the same time for a 10 mile PB! Great work from all 4, rocking the DVRC proudly!

Kirsty never did get the tickets… But the PB buzz is always better.

Closer to home, we had Sarah Reay and Lindsey Dover hitting the trails of the Wild Deer Slaley Hall Trail Half Marathon.

Oh yes, there was mud… but that didn’t stop our dynamic duo taking down the 1000+ feet of elevation in 2:37 for Sarah and 2:40 for Lindsey. They were both still smiling at the end… but we’re told this photo really doesn’t do the level of clarts the justice it deserves.

Heading back to Saturday… and Saturday night saw Paul Brunger lining up for the Derwent Valley Trail Runners Red Kite Night Trail Race… and he only went and won it! We’ve no pictures to share, sadly… but he did post the little gold 1st place medal emoji on Strava – so that’s nice. Stunning work, as ever, Paul!

Going all the way back to Saturday morning, and it was an emotional one for us, as a whole load of our club headed to Chopwell Wood to run the ParkRun. Tragically, earlier this year, Louise Wilkinson’s husband was killed whilst riding his bike home… Chopwell Wood was the last ParkRun that John was dragged to by Louise, when nagged… in her words… John’s workplace decided to do a takeover in his memory, with Louise and loads of our club heading to run.

Countless members ran, whilst Sarah Reay bagged herself a PB and Terry Owens volunteered. We also had club runners on the courses of Whitley Bay and Riverside. A Saturday morning well spent.

And as always, we finish the weekend roundup with the Sunday Social – as regular as clockwork.

Another great weekend in the life of the best running club in the world…