The Club had a very successful day at the above Race meeting, from the U11’s through to the Seniors in both Female and Male, with a mix of straight Races and Team Relay races, and even though it was a Bank Holiday weekend there was a good turnout across those age groups.
In the younger age groups the Female and Male athletes ran together and the programme was started off by the U11’s who ran over a distance of 1.1mile and the Gateshead young athletes dominated this Race with 4 athletes in the top 10 with Norah Curran in 1st, William Wells in 2nd, Luca Shaw in 4th place and Oliver Ezeoke in 7th position, these lads were also well backed up by Sonny Lewis, Mathew Henderson and Alfie Cook, with a comfortable Team victory.
The Girls U11’s competed in the same Race with a great run from Aoife Bell in 4th position, beating a lot of the boys along the way.
The success continued in the U13’s combined Race over a distance of 1.6mile where Ines Curran continued her impressive season by winning the Girls race comfortably, Ines was well supported by Willow Morris, Lucy Oliver and Freya Bell.
Ethan McGlen controlled his Race in the U13 Boys from the front and ran out a comfortable winner, David Race continued his progression in this age by finishing in 3rd position and with Liam Easthaugh in 7th position they won the Team Race, with Oliver Douglas and Jack Garrett supporting.
The combined U15,s Boys race was again run over a distance 1.6mile and this turned out to be a very fast race with the winner breaking the record, with Harry Morris battling bravely to hold onto 5th position a very creditable run.
Our U15’s Ladies competed well and were well represented by Amy Baker in 8th position backed up by Jasmine Crang and Jamilla Nersa.
The U17’s and Senior athletes were all combined and these Races were Relays with the club very well represented in both the Female and Male races, the Ladies Relay was first with the club having 5 Senior Teams and 2 Vets Teams, in the Senior Ladies catorgory the club had 3 teams placed in top 10 positions which is a great achievement. The “A” team consisting of Charlotte Wickham, Michelle Nolan, Mary Ferrier were placed 6th with Michelle recording the 3rd fastest time of the day. The Ladies Vets Team who finished in 5th position consisted of Freda Summerfield, Jane Giles and Gillian Manford, but an overall great turnout from the Ladies.
Finally the Senior Mens/Vets Relay which was run over 4 legs of 2.2mile per leg, again we had a solid turn out from our Men with 4 Senior Teams and 1 Vets team, with our Senior Men looking to retain the Trophy that they won last year, and they did not disappoint. The “A” Team which had a mix of youth and experience came away worthy winners with Jed Mashall and James Cripwell on the first two legs battling to keep the team in contention in 5th position and with Matty Hynes working his way through to hand over to Chris Parr in 2nd position who duly ran the fastest time of the day, breaking the Course Record, and bringing the team home as comfortable winners.
So it was a very successful day for the club across all age groups, which should auger well for the future but also now look towards the Track & Field season.