Well done to the 7 Ponteland Runners who braved the freezing cold, howling gales and at times knee deep mud for the last harrier league race of the season. This was the coldest outdoor event I have been to this winter and I think we were all grateful again to Blaydon Harriers for letting us use their tent to shelter from the worst of the wind before the race. Much talk before we ran was about ‘the hill’ that had to be climbed twice by the ladies and three times by the blokes. It certainly lived up to its billing and many I saw were reduced to walking stretches of it. This proved to be the most demanding of the 6 courses we have run this season and once again the standard of the other racers was very high meaning every runner beaten has been hard earned.
Great credit goes to Mark Lyon for again leading the men’s team home in 142nd place out of a field of 354, he continues to run well and can look forward to some good times on the road this coming season. I followed in 233rd place and close behind was Chris Wright in 250th. Look out for Chris near/at the top of the club championship scoreboard on this kind of form. Our Chairman David Buffham was next home in 297th place and kept narrowly ahead of Dave Legg in 310th place. Completing the team of 6 was hardened cross country runner Peter ‘Bart’ Bartholemew who finished his 5th race this season in 342nd place.
Only one lady from the club raced at Prudhoe but Eva Crowther certainly produced the goods and represented our club fantastically again. Starting from the medium pack 2 minutes later than most runners Eva finished in 33rd place out of 153, producing the 7th fastest time of the day from the senior women.
Just a quick note to say well done to all runners that played some part in races in our first season as a cross country running club. In all 10 men and 4 women raced at least once, and while the races are certainly testing I think all have enjoyed the challenge and team spirit that has been on show. Hopefully many of you will continue running next season and others will be tempted into trying this form of running next season from October onwards.
Happy Running.