After a less than promising day of heavy rain and freezing temperatures, the Goddess of running parted the clouds and blue skies and sunshine reigned on Wallsend. The ever popular event began with a kids 1km race. Elswick was represented by the gutsy Marrissa O’Rourke, neice to Justina Heslop and granddaughter of Jan and Ken Heslop. Marissa stormed round finishing first girl and 6th place overall in the race.
It was my privilege as women’s captain to put together no less than 5 female teams for the evening. The ‘A’ team held the lead in the womens race for most of the race, after the fastest WV time of the race by Alison Dargie, who also had the joint second fastest womens time of the night in 11:24. Sam Crowe stepped up to the mark with her fast second leg and Yam Thiru brought the team home in a superb second place, behind Wallsend and ahead of Jarrow and Hebburn in the 4th fastest WV time of the race. A very credible result with some top performances in what was a highly competitive relay.
Yam Thiru, full steam ahead.
Our other four womens teams all enjoyed an evening of good running, strong team spirit and there were many positives to draw upon. A great effort by all concerned. See table below for Elswick teams and times. (JB)
The men of team Elswick turned up in good time, numbers and positions were allocated. There was good camaraderie amongst the troops. The lads warmed up and were ready to race. Leading out the first legs were debutant Adam Hands, Paul Jones, Tom Hanson and Mel Reed. Each runner gave it their all from the congested start, right through to the handover.
Next up and taking over for leg two was Lee Bennett taking over from Adam, Rambo Thompson taking over from Paul and Rob Wilson taking the baton from wor Tommy Hanson. Mel bravely flew the flag as an incomplete team (Sterling work Mel!) With the weather holding out, the lads were right in amongst their peer groups of fellow harriers. Lee running strong, Rambo running back into some great form and Rob steadying the ship for his team. Time to bring home the bacon!
Team one, now in a strong position, new recruit Lee “with the swagger” Agger! Took over from the lean and lithe Lee…..Rambo rocketed through and handed over to Jay “the cool” Clark…..Rob handed over leg three to another new recruit, wor Rob “the gorilla” Emson!
Now the lads were at the business end of the race….the shakedown continued and battling for their teams overall placing…..It was all hard fought out there….tussle’s with fellow harriers ensued!
Lee touched down in 5th place overall and the fastest Elswick leg time….great result team one! Jay galloped through for team two in a very creditable 22nd position. A determined run by Rob saw team three come home in a respectable 61st position (these three lads were all Vets). A great effort! Lots of talking points amongst the lads followed, their own two miles of guts and determination, saw them through. You were all credit to the club. Job Done! (GB)
Thanks to our friends at Wallsend Harriers for hosting such a successful night.
Lee Ager, speedy 3rd leg.
Club results below, full results available at: http://www.wallsendharriers.com/index.html Photos by Brian Waites, more on Elswick Facebook . click on image below to enlarge results.
