This weekend was all about the return of the North East Harrier League Cross Country, with the traditional season opener at Wrekenton, on Saturday. We had a big squad on the day, with plenty of debutants experiencing the thrills and spills of XC for the first time.
#GirlSquadGoals
As ever over recent years, the females massively outnumbered the males (howay fellas, we need to do better!) – starting in Division 3 for this season, our ladies finished the day at the top of the league; with Bernie Gibson, Natasha Powell, Claire Knox and Jenny Yeo finishing 13th, 15th, 21st and 52nd respectively, to finish with 28 points, nine points clear of the next placed team.
Table toppers to start the season! And our other team members got teams to joint 12th and joint 17th – with Vic Brook, Laura Peacock, Kirsty Robson and Sue Urwin getting the 12th placed team home. A strong season for the ladies beckons!
John was VERY pleased at the return of the DVRC flag
John Kirby, Kieran Ridley and Rob Peacock literally flew the flag for us, but with the low numbers, we ended up with an incomplete team – XC rules needing 6 in the men’s leagues to register a full team. Great results from John, Kieran and Rob to all finish inside the top 400, none the less; and we’ll be aiming for bigger numbers next time round.
As ever with cross country, there was an abundance of cakes, baked goods and great craic – it never disappoints, and neither does DVRC.
Big coat weather
Those of us who weren’t doing XC were at ParkRun – with our members hitting the courses of Whitley Bay, Queen’s Belfast, Riverside and Chopwell Wood. Simon and Lisa Hutchinson took on volunteer duties at Chopwell Wood, while Bex Hewitson finished first female at Queen’s in Belfast.
Any excuse for another DVRC map pin…
And of course no weekend is complete without the trails of Chopwell Wood for our Sunday Social…
After the trials and tribulations of last weekend, it was always likely to be a slightly quieter one this week… But you try telling that to Beth Ramsden or the baker’s dozen who ran the Northumberland Coastal Run.
#BeachSquadGoals
Beth was taking on the Hardmoors 60 Ultra – starting at 8am on Saturday morning in Guisborough, just south of Middlesbrough, on a cold and drizzly morning, tackling the 63 miles of coastal route down to Filey, before heading inland to finish in York.
Ably crewed by husband Grant, she flew through the first three checkpoints in just under 6 hours.
Beth going great guns
The next three checkpoints were taken down in a cumulative time of less than 12 hours, but alas this was to be the final checkpoint of Beth’s day, retiring with only one more checkpoint to hit before the finish. Amazing effort and a day that will surely live long in the memory of the long-running Ramsden household. We’re sure Beth will be back to take down even more next time.
ParkRun saw our members hitting the courses of Town Moor, Gateshead, Riverside, Rising Sun, Keswick, Chopwell Wood and Denton Dene. With Natasha Powell getting a course AND 5k PB at Rising Sun, along with Steven Wade PB’ing Town Moor. Great efforts from both of them!
Rob took being completely outnumbered by the ladies in his stride
Sunday morning saw 13 of our lot head up to Beadnell Beach for the annual Northumberland Coastal Run. A half marathon taking in the views all the way to Alnmouth… even if certain DVRC members rocked up expecting a 10k… They shall remain nameless, though, eh Lindsey?!
On the day it was Natasha, fresh from her 5k PB, who led us home in 1:58, closely followed by Jenny Yeo (great to see you back in the club colours again!) and the Peacocks of Laura and Rob.
Tremendous results from all club members – with Lisa getting back into racing for the first time in 2023 and we’re pleased to announce that Claire brought the matchy-matchy socks and shoes back for the day.
This coming week sees the return of cross-country! Oh yes, there will be mud…
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.
Feel Good Squad Goals
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.
Our terrific trio
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!
“50km? Nee bosh!”
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.
6 hour squad goals
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).
No idea why ultra runners smile so much…
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.
Why smiling? Seriously?!
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!
“Run 100 miles on GNR sunday? Nee bosh!“
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.
Biblical rain, you say? Would become a theme…
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!
I spy matchy-matchy shorts and leggings…
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.
Game faces
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!
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:
Chris’s ego became pac-man upon seeing this…
Claire Thompson on the BBC website:
Spot the Thompson
And Duncan in the Evening Chronicle, thanks to his kilt and hat!
Don’t ask.
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.
Sunday Social Squad
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.
They say variety is the spice of life – usually we’d start from Saturday news and continue onwards, but our biggest club triumph came on Sunday, so we’ll being there…
Derwent Valley Dynamic Duo
Our plucky pair to tackle the Prudhoe Miners Race at 9am this morning was Lindsey Dover and Claire Knox. Both ladies did us proud on the day, with Lindsey knocking out an even 50 minute time, with Claire going one better to finish first in her category and SECOND female overall!
Claire felt her bling was better than the other bloke’s…
Stunning performance from Claire, who was only pipped to first place by a mere 16 seconds! Massive congrats to Knoxy from all of us!
Whilst this was all going on, we had a load of the Sunday Social lot taking on a whole other kind of adventure – heading to the wilds of Parkhead to head all the way back down the hill to Rowlands Gill and Blaydon.
Fast forward three months time and this photo is VERY different…
They couldn’t have chosen a better day for the 20odd mile route along the Waskerley Way, past Derwent Reservoir to the other end of the Derwent Walk and down into the Derwent Valley.
What more could you ask for?!
We’re one week away from the biggest weekend in north east running – but that didn’t stop our lot from taking this in their stride and taking down those picturesque traily miles.
An early arrival for next year’s steelworks relays, but ok…
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable morning and one we’re bound to repeat again in the near future – maybe when it’s even more scenic with a bit of a white dusting…
While those less foolhardy took on the classic Chopwell Wood loop with Simon – 3 humans, 3 hounds. Can’t say fairer than that.
Circling back to the start of the weekend and we’ll finish up with the ParkRun results – our members were tackling the courses at Chopwell Wood, Town Moor, Prudhoe Riverside, Durham, Riverside, Tyne Green and Gateshead. There were course PBs at Tyne Green for Bex Hewitson and at Riverside for Steven Wade. Of course we had our squad adding to the volunteer crew at Chopwell – with the Robsons, Charlotte Bowes and Lesley Gregory all lending a hand.
We start them early at DVRC, don’t we?!
As we head into September and draw a close to holiday season – we’re still continually adding pins to our map of world dominance – with 35 pins and counting.
As previously mentioned, next week is the north east’s biggie – the Great North Run! We’ll have a brilliant club turnout on the day – be sure to follow us on social media to stay aware of how our members get on…
The final bank holiday weekend of 2023 has appeared, but that hasn’t allowed any let up in the activities here at DVRC.
On Thursday night, we headed to the Watergate Forest Park for the Watergate 5k – Alan Vicarage, Sally Ann Greenwell and Sue Urwin donned the white and red vests for us on what was a rare sunny evening in August.
Sun… in August? Surely not…
Saturday morning took us to delights of ParkRun, with plenty of tourism to report… Bex and Chris Hewitson headed north of the border to Vogrie ParkRun, while Paul Brunger headed south to Milton Keynes to finish first at Linford Wood! Even further afield, Laura and Rob Peacock were in Eindhoven with the family and they all tackled the course of Karpendonkse Plas.
Add another placemarker to DVRC world domination map
Closer to home, we had members taking on the courses of Town Moor, Chopwell and Gateshead. As ever, we had a great turnout of volunteers at our home course; with Kirsty Robson taking on run director duties – ably supported by husband Tony, Hazel and Mark Marchant, Sally Ann Greenwell, Chris Morris and Rachael Smith.
Tackling the slightly longer distance of 46 miles, was Stuart Reay completing the Grand Tour of Skiddaw Ultra! Smashing the distance, and over 8000ft of elevation, in just over 11 hours… If the weather here was anything to go by, one can’t imagine what kind of climates Stuart went through in those hours – amazing effort!
On Sunday, Glen Cooper and Andrew O’Malley ran the Annual Beer Belly Run for Willow Burn Hospice from the Grey Horse pub in Consett – the race comprises of half pint each 1k, 4 times, then a pint and a bag of crisps at the end. Glen finished in 3rd place and Andrew in 5th… We’re reliably informed by our roving reporter at the scene, Lindsey Dover that neither barfed – but it was a close call.
Apparently an ‘after’ picture wasn’t on the cards… not sure why?!
The Sunday Social gang took on the sights and sounds of the Red Kite trail – taking in so many of the areas we frequent on our social runs and training sessions. Not to mention the mood-boosting chatting and camaraderie that always goes hand in hand with these runs.
They didn’t even get lost this time!
Speaking of tourism – with the summer months bringing travel – we always encourage our members to take their Derwent Valley kit, to snap photos at where they’ve ended up, and allow a fair bit of bragging for the scenery in the background of each!
This summer our members have well and truly delivered – with photos across 3 continents and over 30 pins on our our world map.
Goodness me, you take two weeks off reporting and you miss marathon wins, yet more ultras and trail races!
While your intrepid reporter was taking a couple of weeks out of the country, our members were hitting the marathon and ultra at Isaac’s Tea Trail, Gateshead Trail 10k. Then today at the Tynedale Harriers Jelly Tea 10 miler and Lambton Castle Trail Run.
Glen takes home the trophy/teapot
Going back to the Greener Miles Isaac’s Tea Trail – our very own Glen Cooper finished first in the marathon and took home the teapot! Glen has put loads of work in with his trail running recently, after coming back from injury to force him into a bit of a reset, we’re very proud to see his effort paying off with this win!
Vicky Parker, Peter Storey and Matthew Scott completed the ultra on the day too. Great work from all three!
#TrailSquadGoals
The 12st August took us to Blaydon Rugby Club for the annual Gateshead Trail 10k – the motley crue above took the trails of the Derwent Walk on what was a typically hot and sticky Saturday morning!
Kieran gets about, doesn’t he?!
Today took us to an airfield in the middle of Northumberland, for the newly revamped Jelly Tea 10 miler from Tynedale Harriers. Steven Wade brought us home first, with Kieran Ridley two minutes later, and Lauren Smith getting some valuable GNR training miles in.
The photo doesn’t do it justice – but take it from us that Claire was matchy-matchy once again
Over at the Lambton Castle Trail Run, Deborah Swann and Claire Thompson opted for the 15 miler – with them both laughing in the face of the warning that 10 miles had to be completed in 2 hours…
Claire said afterwards:
“By far the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and with the added pressure of being told at the start that if you want to do the 15 mile, you have to do 10 miles in 2 hours…now I know what the Chevy Chase feels like!!! We managed it and we powered on; lots of hills and so much mud, only 1 fall between us, luckily it was a soft landing!!! The most traily – trail run I have done but an absolutely lovely route, fabulous setting and brilliant marshals.“
ParkRun saw our members hit the courses of Ashton Court, Town Moor, Prudhoe Riverside, Windy Nook, Riverside, Chopwell Wood and Denton Dene. Chris Hewitson helped himself to a new course PB at Denton Dene with a 2nd placed finish, while Beth Ramsden, Claire Thompson, Bex Hewitson and Lesley Gregory all took volunteer credits home.
And no weekend roundup would be complete without the happiest bunch of runners you’ll ever see – our sunday social group..
A bit of downtime last weekend meant we had to go big this week, didn’t it?
And go big, we did – a Grand Prix event through the week set the tone for a couple of days filled with activity – Lakeland 50 & 100, Northumberlandia 10k trail race, Red Kite Trail Race, ParkRun and the Sunday Social… phew, best get this show on the road!
50 miles? Nee bosh!
Where else can we start, other than with these three… Alex Fiddes, Claire Knox and Paul Stephenson hitting the mind-boggling distance and elevation of the Lakeland 50. Beginning their adventure just before lunchtime on Saturday morning, (Strava syncing their runs later that day as “Lunch Trail Run” – like it was no biggie), our terrific trio set out together – no doubt enthused by Alex’s determination, Claire’s boundless energy, and Paul’s terrible banter; they picked off checkpoint after checkpoint along the way – staying as a group to pick each other up as required.
Eating checkpoint grub like it was going out of fashion by the end of proceedings, they finished the whole course just under 16 hours and 45 minutes. Gargantuan efforts and hopefully gargantuan portions of ALL OF THE FOOD has and will follow over the next few days.
Giving us some exclusive words for derwentvalleyrunningclub.co.uk, we spoke to each of the three…
Claire: “It was a long way… It was windy and wet… Warm and windy… Windy and chilly… We started together and finished together… The support at the CPs was awesome; we ate like we’d never been fed in 3 days until it all got a bit much for Alex and Paul… I was eating cheese toasties cooked over an open flame. At which point I asked “what time is it in real life” reply “2.45am””
Alex: “Oooof, I don’t even know where to start! Hardest thing I’ve ever done! The ascents seemed to go on forever. Great marshals and feed stations at checkpoints. Great camaraderie running as a 3 with Claire and Paul, particularly when we were moving through the night. Genuinely couldn’t have finished it without them.”
Paul: “I’m sure Claire or Alex have a better memory of it than me, but it was a lot harder than expected, terrain wise”
Understandably wrecked, maybe asking them for something eloquent, so soon, might not have been the best timing! Either way, it’s amazing to hear they worked together and finished at 1:41am, this morning. Let’s also remember that Claire tackled, and was 2nd DVRC female on Wednesday night – remember what we said about “boundless energy”.
Legends.
Also attempting the Lakeland 100, was one of our run leaders, Susan Chambers, along with her partner Jamie. Devastatingly, they had to retire in the early hours of this morning due to injury, around 4am, with only a couple of checkpoints still to go. We’re absolutely sure Susan will be back again next year and will smash all 100 of those miles.
Goals, for a squad? #SquadGoals, maybe?
Hitting the trails of the brand new Northumberlandia 10k were stupendous six, above. Carys Watts leading our team home, in 52:53, with Kirsty Robson second home in 57:53, and Sue Urwin in 59:20. Thoroughly enjoyable course and setting for the 253 runners at this brand new event. Brilliant work from our ladies – full results can be found here: Northumberlandia 10k results.
You ask for a squad, and you’d best believe we’re gonna give you some #SquadGoals
Sunday brought the return of the Red Kite trail race, hosted by our friends at Derwent Valley Trail Runners. Of course we had the white and red vests out on show with our fantastic five, with Charlotte Bowes taking the matchy-matchy title after Claire Thompson went for the black socks… we’re not angry, just disappointed.
Andrew O’Malley led us home in 1:13 and a brilliant 23rd place overall, with Carys clearly taking a Knox-approach to this weekend and pulling double duty, next to finish for us, in 1:22, with Claire shrugging off criticism of the black socks to finish 3rd for us in 1:32 – Charlotte with the matching ensemble finishing 4 minutes later. Chris Morris sporting his Canary Island sun-kissed look, completed our finishers in 1:49.
We even had the next generation of DVRC’ers, aka the members’ offspring, hitting the course of the Red Kite Kids Trail Race… The future is bright!
ParkRun Saturday saw our members hitting the courses at Blyth Links, Chopwell Wood, Denton Dene and Gateshead. Kieran Ridley helped himself to a new course PB at Chopwell – showing that the hard work does pay off!
No weekend roundup would be complete without our favourite trek around trails of Chopwell, lesser numbers with all of these activities, but we still had our people out, pounding the paths.
We’re gonna get complaints from Frank the beagle, that he’s not in shot there…
Tales from the trails, this weekend – with news from Ultra North, Stanhope 10k and Parkrun… with a bit of extra from our Wednesday night recce of the Captain Callcott Canter route.
We begin on Saturday morning with Kieran Ridley and Harriet Wilson taking on the Ultra North 55 event, with Deborah Swann, Sarah Reay and Vicky Parker taking on Ultra North 25.
Kieran waving to his fans, there…
Finishing his first ever ultra in 6 hours was our man Kieran and we’ve borrowed some of his post-race words/thoughts
“it was a great run, I really enjoyed it, apologies for my potty mouth when I seen some of you, excitement, adrenaline and sugar takes over (Gatesheed kid innit) Choppaz was a bit of blur and ankle break alley wasn’t as horrific as I remember it to be when I was training. Huge thanks to Natasha for running with me from Lintzford down to the viaduct, I defs would have finished later had she not. Absolute hero’s welcome at the end. Thanks everyone, great support. If anyone fancies a bash at it next year, give it a whirl, it was a good taster. Ps. In the words of Adele ‘if you can roll a a ball down it, walk up it! Solid advice!”
Harriet also smashed out the course over 7 hours and was also quick to pay tribute to the amount of support she received from DVRC members along the way…
Smells like Team Spirit
This, from Laura Peacock has to be the best of the bunch – how you can support your team members whilst also doing your washing – tremendous multitasking win!
Meanwhile, at the Ultra North 25, there was a PB for Sarah, who took the course down in 3 hours, alongside Deborah – with the two ladies being joined by Vicky to complete the course all under 3.5 hours! Great work from all 3!
Great work from both ladies!
Saturday proved to be immensely testing – with almost all of the weathers possible across the event, really testing out one’s mettle…
Oh hey, look at what Vicky is doing with her hands…
Also on Saturday we had the slightly shorter distance with our favourite 5k at ParkRuns – which included an international flavour once again, with Bex and Chris Hewitson jumping on a Friday evening flight to Amsterdam to collect the coveted Z ParkRun at Zuiderpark, in The Hague – another ticked off the Alphabeteer challenge.
Of course the DVRC vests were packed specially for the occasion
On the day, Bex finished first female with a new ParkRun PB – under the golden sub-20 mark (19:37).
Elsewhere, there was a bit of tourism with the Owens (Theresa and Terry) hitting the course at Fulham Palace, whilst closer to home, we also had members running at Gateshead, Chopwell Wood, Prudhoe Riverside and Town Moor. With Kirsty Robson, Megan Williams, Sally Ann Greenwell and Lindsey Dover all volunteered at Chopwell.
Another Grand Prix event rolled around on Sunday, with the rearranged Greener Miles Stanhope 10k event – that was due to take place earlier in the year but was scuppered by horrendous weather, on the original date.
This time around, we had a huge turnout for the club – Glen Cooper lead us home with an amazing 5th place overall finished!
Waving seems to be a theme of this weekend…
Natasha Powell was our first lady home, and second lady overall! Another stunning result from Natasha, as she continues to produce the goods!
See. Waving.
We’ll update the post once the full results are published – and we’ll also publish and update to the club Grand Prix scores!
To end this update, we’ll circle back to Wednesday evening, where a whole load of club members took to the course of our upcoming Captain Callcott Canter race, in memory of our dearly departed club captain, Andrew, to recce the route and finish off with a beer raised his honour.
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’ve said it before, we’ll say it again – if this ain’t #squadgoals, we don’t know what is…
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.
Say it louder for the people in the back – SQUAD GOALS
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.
Find us a more satisfying drink… we’ll wait
Paul Brunger led us home in a brilliant 17th place overall, with Claire Knox as our first female in 22nd lady.
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.
Kirsty’s been getting rather inventive with her group selfies…
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…
Great North 10k – Great team
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.
Nobody was feeling RUFF this Sunday… (we’re here all week!)
We’ve also been updating the DVRC Worldwide map with more globetrotting members in Spain, Corfu, Turkey and Switzerland – keep those pics coming!
This really is an ultra roundup… but first, we’ll have to rewind back to last Sunday morning at 8am, where our Jenny Yeo headed out from Edale in Derbyshire for the start of the Montane Spine Race. 286 (two hundred and sixty eight) miles later, she arrived at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. And arrive she did… as the female winner! Rather than try to do any of this justice, we’ve obtained an exclusive interview with Jenny for you:
Jenny Yeo – that’s it. That’s the caption.
“Enough sleep has been banked to say something about this now although to be fair I’m still not sure what to make of it all really.
So first thing- how far was it? Obviously really really far but if you want specifics then the pennine way is 268 miles, although the gpx said 259 and my watch recorded 270 odd as it over records in the battery saving mode (this proved to be really annoying). The longest thing I’d ever attempted by quite some way. It took both ages and no time at all but more specifically 101 hours or so bringing me in 1st woman and 6th overall.
Turns out I can go a fair way on very little sleep (3 hours or so in the whole race) without the wheels falling off and I guess that’s something you are able to do or not, although kids and night shifts have probably helped train that one. No real hallucinations other than heading in to Middleton after being up 48 hours and nothing that dramatic to report. Few rocks that were cows, people that were trees etc
I had no definite expectations of time or placing promising myself there’d be no racing early doors or doing anything daft that would compromise my ability to keep going to the end. Despite being obviously tired and latterly with bloody sore feet I felt I was able to keep moving well and very pleased to find I could run better in day 3 compared to day 2 – go figure
The spine is a place where time is fairly meaningless for food- curry for breakfast (double portions), lasagne at midnight (triple portions) Fanta at 3am, haribo and babybels anytime. Thankfully the checkpoints were cracking and really look after you including an information board which reminds you of the day and some fantastic volunteers who couldn’t do enough for you. ‘You need superglue? No problem.’ ‘You’ve broken your watch strap? We can fix that’ Checkpoints also contained people who could do amazing things with feet which I needed from 100 miles in. Simultaneously they also made this rather bonkers endeavour feel both normal and pretty epic- thank you to everyone
Then there was the animals- loads of cows and sheep obviously but also some fairly feisty geese families that weren’t keen on me, rain bathing frogs that jumped at your legs and a gorgeous tawny owl heading out of Bellingham.
And of course it’s the people you meet on the way who really make these things what they are. The fantastic Laura Swanton Rouvelin who I ran so many enjoyable miles with, Phil Harris who seemed to find another gear up crossfell , Rob who wanted to sleep on a moor somewhere but was finally persuaded a bothy might a) be more comfortable b) he might not die. Helen and Andrew that got out their beds at 0230 to wave me through byrness- meant a lot guys, thank you. The post box pantry in dufton who stayed open for us and the wonderful woman who runs the oasis that is horneystead farm.
High point was heading out of hardraw up great shunner fell having sorted myself out at the checkpoint and feeling pretty good, like I could finish this in fact, whereas 5 miles previously I couldn’t imagine going another 160 miles. There were a few low points too for sure, especially along Hadrian’s wall, in the heat, sore feet, on my own. A power sob can do wonders it turns out.
Physically afterwards I’m still pretty tired although can now get through until lunchtime without a nanna nap. Otherwise knees up are not bad at all, knees down another matter. Oozy feet and calves so swollen they are bigger than my thighs. No shoe I own fits so the ‘family crocs’ 3 sizes too big are the order of the day.
You might ask why and I’m not sure really I have an answer other than it’s enormously liberating and pleasingly selfish to free yourself from societal norms for a week and do something that is ultimately just time for you. And you get to run an amazing route with fantastic scenery and say you did it on your own 2 (now rather minging) feet.
I can’t finish without thanking Peter (even though he hates this kind of thing) who’s put up with me wittering on about this event for ages and helped me recce loads of it, and Mark, Claire and Paul who came up to see me finish – thanks guys.“
Winner.
Absolutely incredible. There are no other words.
Adding to this Ultra update – Marc Runkee took on the Trail Outlaws St Cuthbert’s Way 100k, from Melrose to Holy Island on Friday night and into Saturday morning… Securing another exclusive for the DVRC website, we got this from Adele Sinclair:
The sun shines on the righteous
“Marc did the St. Cuthbert’s Way 100k (well 65 miles) He set off at 10:30pm from Melrose in the Scottish borders to head straight over the Eldon hills (part of the Jedburgh 3 peaks race). He had a great race through the night hours, holding 2nd or 3rd place for many hours. Unfortunately, the next morning painful stomach issues and the heat almost put an end to his race. Thankfully, he pushed on with determination* and and having lost lots of places he managed to pass quite a few again to finish 21st out of 72 starters of which 25 DNF’d-due to really tough hot conditions! He was told by Trail Outlaws that he was the first person to actually follow the real SCW path and trudge over the marshes onto Holly Island , rather than the usual causeway road route – genius!”
*this Determination was brought on, by the way, by Mark Marchant telling him to “pull his socks up and stop being a winging little b*tch “ well, thats how he remembers it…
Marc Runkee: forever ruining his races times in the endless pursuit of a daft pose for a photo
351 miles between the two of them. In two races. Three hundred and fifty one. Never let anyone tell you you can’t do something. The human body is an amazing thing.
A bit closer to home, with the ParkRun updates – we had plenty of DVRC volunteers at our home course of Chopwell Wood – with Beth and Grant Ramsden, Kirsty and Tony Robson, Alan Vicarage, as well as Chris Morris timekeeping last weekend. We had runners tackling the courses of Blyth Links with Bex Hewitson volunteering for pacing duties (and the quickest pacer on the day, doing 21 minutes), as well as Prudhoe Riverside, Tyne Green and Chopwell Wood.
Sunday saw a big group head to the trails of Chopwell for a gorgeous morning run in the sun.
The Sunday Social – it does what it says on the tin
Derwent Valley Running Club 