NEHL Alnwick Castle – 2nd March 2024
by Brad Wight Another cracking club day out despite the downpour which managed to soak everything inside our once waterproof tent… The U11 lads were off first with Joe Hall Junior completing the 1km race in 5:20, he looked so determined on the long downhill finish, teeth gritted just like his dad at a NEMAA sprint! The U11 girls were next up, Eleanor Shaw and my youngest daughter Adelaide making their XC debut alongside Meadow Winham. All three slogged up the hill then
NECAA Road Relay Championships / Royal Signals Relays Hetton Lyons Country Park – 17th Feb 2024
by Brad Wight What an unbelievable turnout for Crook! 66 runners across 14 teams with all age categories represented. More runners than any other club! The organisers weren’t joking when they responded to our entry submission with “I’m beginning to worry I haven’t ordered enough numbers.” Alistair Hart had to run with a hand drawn number and I noticed a few XC numbers being re-cycled too! The first race of the day saw the Women, Veteran Women (over 35) and V50 men
Birtley XC Relays – 14th January 2024
by Geoff Hewitson This annual event was traditionally held on a January Sunday morning in Durham for many years, when it was known as the Cathedral Relays. Towards the end of 2018 the long-standing host club (Durham City Harriers) pulled out of organising the event at which point Birtley AC stepped in to take it over, and moved the venue to the Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy in Birtley. It was held here for the first time in January 2019. The
Saturn Remembrance Run – 12th November 2023
by Lisa Donaldson I booked this event in May as soon as the tickets were available because I just needed that medal in my life and after doing the “runs and roses” one back in March I knew it would be a good base line to maybe try for an Ultra as you don’t count the miles but the laps you do (doesn’t seem that bad then) so my mind was already set to just push that little bit further, even
Gateshead Trail 10K – 12th August 2023
by Joanne Hope This event had never really been on my radar until I was talking to Emma a little while ago who mentioned that she was entered and that it was a nice race. I had a look and it sounded good so I signed up. There were four of us from Crook, Patricia was also entered, both she and Emma had done the race several times previous, and myself and Ken who were first timers. It seems to be a
North East Masters Athletics Association (NEMAA) Track and Field League Meetings 5 and 6 – 31st July 2023 & 7th August 2023
Meeting 5 The penultimate NEMAA Track & Field League took place on Monday 31st July. As was the case with most of July (or so it seemed) it had rained quite a bit during the day, and a particularly heavy deluge in the vicinity of Monkton Stadium at about 5pm resulted in the cancellation of all field events. Here’s the post that appeared on the NEMAA website: “It’s a washout!” "Huge apologies to those athletes who turned up tonight to find that all
North East Masters Athletics Association (NEMAA) Track and Field League Meeting 4 – 17th July 2023
by Geoff Hewitson The fourth NEMAA Track & Field League meeting took place at Monkton Stadium on Monday 17th July, where once again the weather conditions were generally favourable for competition, (apart from the almost obligatory headwind down the home straight!). Our club had a total of 11 competitors (8 men and 3 ladies) – not massive numbers by any means but at least we’ve managed to field complete teams (and therefore score League points) at every meeting so far. The men’s
North East Masters Athletics Association (NEMAA) Track and Field League Meeting 3 – 3rd July 2023
by Geoff Hewitson The third NEMAA Track & Field League meeting took place at Monkton Stadium on Monday 3rd July. Although we were fortunate that the weather stayed dry, there was a cold headwind down the home straight, which didn’t help the 100m athletes and also made for a tough finish to the 400m!. Our men's team had a reasonable turnout of 8 competitors, but for the second successive meeting, the ladies only had the bare minimum of 3 competitors necessary to
NEMAA Championships – 17th June 2023
by Alex Hird Saturday saw the 2023 NEMAA Championships take place at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. As always, this is a great chance to win medals on the track & field stage. I turned up mid-way through the competition, and immediately I was shocked at the lack of numbers around the place. Normal NEMAA meetings appear to be packed, this was far from that. Maybe a badly timed event with it being Father’s Day weekend? Or, as one of the organisers put it,
NEMAA Fixture 2 – 5th June 2023
by Geoff Hewitson The second NEMAA Track & Field League meeting of the 2023 season took place last Monday evening, once more in near perfect weather conditions. The men's team had a reasonable turnout of 9 competitors, including a welcome return to NEMAA competition for Jason Marr. A combination of unavailability and Kimberley being struck down with Covid at the 11th hour meant that the ladies only had the bare minimum of 3 competitors necessary to constitute a team. The men’s team