Joined Crook AC: April 2018
5k PB: 22.34
10k PB: 47.19
HM: 1.48
Favourite Discipline: 10k
What do you enjoy about Crook AC: The sheer amount of running you can do with the club if you want to. Nearly every day of the week there is something going on be it a hill session or track Tuesday, we have a monthly Club 5K handicap and there are social runs that members organise between themselves. You can do as much or as little as you like.
What’s your favourite Race?: My first race was the Sunderland 10K in 2012 so it’s got to be that one. It seems strange now all these years later, but at the time I never thought I could be a runner or that I was a runner. I was both delighted and bemused when I crossed the finish line. Part of the route takes you along Roker beach and past the stunning lighthouse. The Sunderland coastline is special to me, and whenever I take part in the Sunderland 10K, I always enjoy it.
Proudest moment as a Crook AC Member: There are too many to mention! But as a huge advocate of parkrun, I think it was when we had a surprise celebration for one of our members who had tried to let his 200th parkrun go unnoticed. I organised a retrospective celebration for him at Hackworth parkrun. We got him a cake and a balloon with ‘202 parkruns’ emblazoned on it. After the run, I looked around at everyone chatting, laughing, and having fun and I felt proud to be part of such an amazing running club. Crook AC celebrates parkrun milestones like no other!
How/why did you end up joining the club: A few of my friends had been members of the club for years and they finally persuaded me to join in 2018. Initially I only went to the Thursday night hill sessions as I did not feel I was good enough to go to the track. Members were very friendly and each week they would go out of their way to make me feel welcome. I began to really look forward to Thursday nights and soon I was going to races with people, a lady from the club gave me a pair of spikes and got me to take part in my first ever Cross Country, I even got invited to go to Wales for the weekend with two of the girls from the club and we climbed Mount Snowdon. After nearly a year at the club I decided to give the track a try and my times improved massively. Track sessions at Crook are very inclusive, the camaraderie is great. Track sessions are never easy but as I was told quite recently, they are the purest form of running!
