Race Reports

by Brad Wight Another cracking day for Team Crook… A short drive down to Middlesbrough to race on one of the NYSD courses, a lovely little route which was a 50/50 split between grassy fields and woodland trail with a good mix of mud and firm ground, a few ups and downs but nothing you’d really describe as a hill. The terrain reminded me of the Pie & Peas route which lots of you will be familiar with. The Ladies […]

by Brad Wight This fixture is normally the first of the season but has been moved to midwinter to take advantage of their weather-proof carpark after so many races suffered with water logged fields last year. What a difference it made – instead of the savannah-like plains, we had absolutely frozen solid mud. I’m not sure about the rest of you but my lower legs took a battering from the uneven rock hard ground and were aching for several days! […]

by Josh Pearson Brass Monkey Race MorningAfter grabbing a morning Lucozade sport I headed out the door around 7am before nearly falling flat down on black ice before even getting in the car. Change of plans meant I was driving down to York and meeting the rest of the guys there. Anyone who was up early on race day will know how bad the ice was and the thoughts going through my head were I hope it is not like […]

by Brad Wight We’ve only had a couple of teams here in previous years but this year we had SEVEN teams of three on the start-line. I think the surge in popularity may have been driven by Spond. Perhaps people missed the relay posts on Facebook over the busy Christmas period in previous years? Either way, it was yet another fantastic turnout for our little club. The two lap course is a twisty, windy 3K route with a couple of […]

by Joanne Hope I looked at this event last year after doing Chopwell Woods parkrun as it such a beautiful place. Unfortunately I hadn’t been able to make the date. I attended a free trail event with Wild Deer up there earlier in the year where I got talking to someone who recommended the races so decided to sign up early. There’s a family mile, a 4 mile and an 8 mile, the event is canicross friendly. I decided to […]

by Paul Smith Another action packed weekend, “auld” Frank Best flying the flag for the age cat 70-74 chalking up a triple century of parkruns at Sedgefield, whilst young Ross in his 11-14 age category notching his 100th at Jubilee – throw in North Eastern Cross Country Champs at Temple Park for some and then a wild CrookAC Christmas Party you’d think that would be enough excitement for anybody but no, Joanne Hope swapped her party gear for festive run […]

by Geoff Hewitson Described on the race entry form as “A beautifully scenic, always inspirational, often challenging, approximately 5 mile handicap race along the sands between Blyth Harbour and Seaton Sluice Harbour” (wouldn’t disagree with any of that) 2024 was the 64th running of what is one of the regions oldest races. A brief history In the late 1950’s members of Blyth Rowing Club regularly ran along the beach in the winter months with the local harriers. The rowers club […]

by Brad Wight Saturday saw the 118th running of the North Easterns at Temple Park, South Shields. It was a bright sunny day, cold but no wind to speak of. Pretty good conditions for racing in. Parts of the course were quite muddy but thankfully nowhere near the quagmire we had in 2023! Adelaide and Eleanor were the only Crook Juniors racing and took part in the U11s one mile non-championship race. They both ran very well and enjoyed the […]

by Paul Campbell I’ve never ran a 10-mile event, and after flagging at around the 10 mile point on my last 2 half marathons I wanted to give the distance ago, knowing I didn’t have the equivalent of a parkrun tagged on at the end. A quick google search found the Tadcaster race on the same date as the more popular Brampton to Carlisle event. The logistics swung it for me, easy to find, less than 5 miles from the […]

by Paul Orange At this time of the year, the sunrise has a beautiful yellow/orange tint, and so it was a pleasure to be heading up to Slaley Hall on a bright, crisp Sunday morning on 17th November to participate in the Slaley Hall half marathon. This is a WIld Deer event and there is a 10k event at the same time – in fact the half marathon follows the 10k route, popping out for an extra section after about […]