Race Report from Claire Peat….
It was a good turnout of six Ponteland teams for the Weetslade Relays on Wednesday evening. Whilst in the morning it was unclear whether we’d be running or swimming our route, by the evening it was dry and a lovely summer’s evening (perhaps a bit too lovely if we’re entirely honest!).
Race Report below from Lesley Bennett
Alnwick sprint Tri is nearly always windy, but usually a westerly so we’re used to coming to a halt in the headwind when we turn back inland at Boulmer, but today we had a new wind, a Northerly and we suffered for it. The bike leg at the coast was like riding in treacle, you just felt you were going nowhere.
Despite the wind, we had another good tri for Ponteland with a Ladies Senior 2nd place for Lyndsey and a Mens V60 3rd for Mick, which I don’t think he expected given the look on his face when they announced it. Well done Mick!!!! It’s also worth mentioning that Lyndsey only lost out on a win by 15seconds, so very close today. Well done Lyndsey.
Picture of the day, although I didn’t get a picture at the time, was watching Mark showing his true rugby pedigree by having a bacon buttie just next to transition before the event. I didn’t see any others partaking in the true athletes breakfast….
A big thankyou to Alnwick Tri and their volunteer marshalls for the event, as always the support around the course and the event organisation is brilliant. Ponteland Tri even got a mention in the presentations as we have a number of club members at the event every year. Next I think is Northumberland Tri, the first open water of the season on June 7th, now that will be cold…
Finally a mention for Andy Hutchinson on completing his first triathlon, in a year which sees him going from Sprint to Ironman in a single season. A big challenge so well done Andy.
Todays results below, full results available on resultsbase.
The forecast was windy, and easterly instead of the 
normal prevailing westerley. But at least the sun came out and the morning got warmer. Ponteland Tri had 16 entered in Ashington and on the day we had 11 finishers, but some really fantastic results. The club had Ladies Senior 2nd place for Lyndsey Curry, Ladies V60 3rd place for viv Ferrier and Mens V60 3rd place for Tony Prince so a great result for the club.
Before the race the event organisers had a race briefing explaining the route, and they also posted maps of the routes, and they had marshalls and signs at all turns, however Mark Turnbull managed to go flying straight on at the miners roundabout before realising the race had got really quiet all of a sudden and he turned back. Given the detour Mark’s bike time is very impressive given his added additional distance.
It’s worth giving a mention to Mr & Mrs Kelly both with great times and big improvements on their finish times from last year. Obviously all this training pays dividends.
Another great event hosted by Tri Northumberland, hopefully we’ll all be back next year with at least two club members 
I know of moving up an age category so podium places may be within grasp……
Results for all club members below.
Great to see a big turnout from the Ponteland Runners Ladies for a cold midday run round Ponteland. It’s a short race of around a mile, but with a slight handicap of pushing your partner in a wheelbarrow.
Too much fun was being had to even begin to know what the results were at the moment. The ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves to the extent that most appear to be planning to race the event again next year.
Best dressed award for Pont Runners goes to Mark Kelly (on left) for a very smart appearance. Congratulations to James Leiper and his partner for a win in the open race, and to Mark Turnbull and partner for second place.
Will add more detail and photo’s to the race report once available.
The ladies did mention that it wasn’t a great turnout from the men and this needs to be fixed next year….. Maybe we can tempt Paul O’Neil and John McGargill to add to double park-runs for new year with a jog with a barrow in pont…..
A quiet evening on the streets of Darras Hall, well it would have been last night if it wasn’t for a large gaggle of Pont Runners gathered at the end of Runnymede Road awaiting their start times for the annual handicap race.
Although only a 5km, it’s a challenge for all the runners, the first away have to try and stay ahead and the last away are chasing for the whole race….. Watching the “strava flyby” for the event just shows how very bunched it becomes when you handicap everyones time.
Many of the normal “A” group runners headed up Darras Road for a warm-up run, and were surprised when they turned round to head back to the start that Mr O’Neil continued to run on. He had a plan, to arrive just in time for his start time, which he missed by a few seconds. Everyone else was on the start line in time and ready to go. The Elf’s took various items of clothing from the competitors and once everyone was gone the elf’s and timers headed over to the finish line on Darras Road.
Now it quickly became apparent that the timers were going to have a hectic few minutes as if things went to plan all the runners would arrive together. When the runners started to arrive there was a very busy 3 minutes or so taking times. Given that the handicaps set people over almost 18 minutes it worked well to provide an race where everyone had an opportunity to win.
Well done to evreryone who took part, and a big thankyou from everybody to Matty for organising a great club event. Have a great christmas and new year and keep an eye on the facebook page for any updates on run sessions over the christmas period. Some of our normal sessions fall on bank holidays so won’t be taking place.
