Derwent Valley Running Club

Another successful weekend of running for our club, with the final North Eastern Harrier League Cross Country fixture for 2022/23, and the Haweswater Half Marathon.

We started off the weekend with our very own Kirsty Robson as Run Director for our local ParkRun at Chopwell Wood, Tony Robson repping DVRC as a volunteer, along with 5 of us running it – Theresa Owens claiming a new PB – well done!

Saturday afternoon took us to the picturesque surroundings of Alnwick, as the team got the tent set up with stunning views of the castle, in the background… Shame about the scaffolding, though!

The women’s race got away first, with Bex Hewitson coming in first for club, and 6th overall, in her XC debut! Following Bex in was Natasha Powell in 96th, Eleanor Shotton in 195th, Kirsty Robson in 243rd, Sue Irwin 295th, Sally Ann Greenwell 396th, Melanie Armstrong 382nd and Caroline Smith in 419th. Tremendous turnout for the ladies – with more valuable points brought in. Full results can be found here: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2022-23/Alnwick/SenF.htm

Next up was the men – with Chris Hewitson and John Kirby flying the flag – Chris also making his XC debut and finishing in 162nd, with John in 298th positions. Full results can be found here: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2022-23/Alnwick/SenM.htm

A fantastic day out with cakes, brownies and other athlete fuel keeping us going before and after the races… The rain even held off, too.

Onto Sunday and the Haweswater Half Marathon over in Bampton, Cumbria

Doing us proud in the west was Claire Knox and Andrew Walton – see mugs above… and their finishers cups.

Claire only went and smashed her half marathon PB with a stunning 1hr39 time, with Andrew just behind in 1hr41 – amazing running from both of them on quite the ‘undulating’ course.

Lots to celebrate, and lots to look forward to – with a return to the track on Monday night for some extra speed work with Adele and Mark.

The second event in the 2022 DVRC Grand Prix calendar saw some of us head off to Haweswater reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria in the Lake District. The Haweswater Half Marathon follows an out and back course from Bampton village, passing along the shores of Haweswater in a remote and dramatic mountain valley. To say we were lucky with the weather is an understatement, spring definitely sprung, nature’s way of saying let’s party or, in our case run as fast as you can!!!

First back for DVRC was Adam Malloy pushed on and closely followed by Grant Ramsden. Next came Marc “I hate running fast” Runkee and John “I’m spectating no I’m running slow I mean fast” Kirby. Justin “great day apart from the running” Turner came along followed by our first lady Claire “Captain” Knox who may have been denied a sub-1:50 by 1 pesky second but glamorized the dry-robe look perfectly. Next in was me, the first F50 and boy did I feel it. Lisa Gilbert and Rob Bradshaw came through the finish line together as did Mollie Tose and Ethan Robson. Kudos to PICU nurse Mollie doing her first ever half marathon straight after a night-shift and full of cold. Beth Ramsden, Eric “Pedalling Squares” Murphy and Claire Appleton closely followed thereafter and joined us for the best cup of tea you’ll ever have courtesy of the wonderful Eden volunteers.

We were all cheered and supported by our very own Andrew Callcott and I’m certain every one of us was chuffed to bits to see him at the corner at the finish line. One thing this race report cannot go without is a mention to the truly inspirational Kayleigh Ovington who finished in last place but I reckon deserved to be the winner. Kayleigh has cerebal palsy and proves you can achieve anything if you work hard and push. I know she inspired me to keep fighting the pain when I passed her lovely smiling face on the way back up. The hilly course certainly lived up to expectations, especially at mile 10 when a few of us started to break and swear (a lot) but it was truly an exhilarating run in unique surroundings and definitely provided us all with a good amount of well-earned endorphins to hit the week with. Who’s looking forward to our next Grand Prix event – the Pie and Pea 5k Trail Durham on 6th April?