May 2024

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by Clare and Harry Rose Harry and I signed up for the Manchester Half Marathon way back in January when he needed a focus. To say training was hit and miss was an understatement, with me being admitted to hospital and Harry not really having any idea how to train for 13.1 miles. Then, Kate beat him at Middridge and welcome competitive Harry. Race day was perfect conditions; we were up, prepared and ready. Harry set off first with a 20 minute head start

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by Amanda Taylor 6.20am alarm and I did not like that one bit but it had to be done, as the organisers of this year's P2P had decided the race would start at 9am rather than the usual 10. A 45 minute drive through to Roker, a bus up to Shields, where I sat next to a lad from York who'd chosen to stay in a sea front hotel ahead of the race, hoping to wake up to sunshine over the sea

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by Geoff Hewitson The NEMAA Track & Field League meeting last Monday evening heralded the start of the 2024 season, and we were fortunate to be blessed with near perfect weather conditions. The mens team had a reasonable turnout of 9 competitors, whilst the ladies had a squad of 5. It was great to welcome NEMAA debutants Peter Coser, Lisa Donaldson and Mel Riley, who were competing for the first time in the Track and Field League. It is often the

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by Paul Campbell I found out about these events through previous Crook-Eds, and thought it ticked plenty of boxes, including being close to home, and not breaking the bank to enter. For anyone who hasn’t ran one of these, its essentially a 4.4 mile lap, and participants do as many or as few as they like, within a cut-off time.I thought it would be a good test of fitness and distance for the Great North Run having been injured for most of

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by Dawn Milburn 2023 saw our Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) debut with us taking on the 10km course. The real draw of this was the start on the boat and the anticipated views over Derwentwater. Possibly the most beautiful race we have ran, we wanted more! 2024 saw us take on the 25km trail event. With a start in Keswick’s famous Crow Park, a picturesque start line overlooking the serenity of Derwentwater and Catbells, it was set to be a beautiful day.

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by Brad Wight You may remember I entered this race last year, it’s a famous old race on the border of Cheshire and Staffordshire dating back to the early 1980s. It was intended to be the opposite of New York City’s slightly downhill Fifth Avenue Mile which attracts the best milers in the world. The Killer Mile is a road race, exactly a mile long, but up a ridiculously steep hill with gradients ranging from 12% to 25% and 550 feet

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By Brad Wight The North East Counties champs were held at Middlesbrough Sports Village over the weekend of 11th and 12th May. On Saturday Rory and William Hart were joined by Matty Richardson in the 1500m while Jess Montgomery raced over 800m as well as the 100m and 200m. Alex Hird raced in the senior mens 400m. Sunday action saw Matty and Alex return for the 800m, joined by Brad, and Jess compete over 300m where she progressed through her heat to

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by Geoff Hewitson A total of 43 teams took part in this popular mixed team format relay on the site of the former Consett Steelworks. The course is a challenging loop of approximately 2.1 miles with the notorious hill coming near the end. Our Club has enjoyed a great deal of success in this event, having either won it or finished in the top 3 on several occasions. In 2023 we finished 3rd, were runners-up in 2022, and overall winners the

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by Paul Wragg Training for a good time or training for a good time? I’ve never been one for training for races, unless it’s anything over a 1/2 marathon. So after 5 days in Magaluf and with a couple of runs under my belt I thought I would stamp Club Championship Race #2 in the book. After 5 days in the heat and all the edges of working day life washed away like a stone on the shore of Palma Nova, I

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By Andy Turnell This was my third time at the Gateshead Half. I've started to look on it as a useful early season benchmark for how I'm doing at longer distances.Last year I manage to finish first in the V65 category and was hoping for a similar result this time. Crook had 3 entries in the 10k but I was the sole representative in the half. The race starts and finishes in the Gateshead International Stadium and is well organised with start