Great conditions saw Ponteland Runners with their best attendance at the Harrier League, and best results thanks to the ladies,  since we started.

The ladies needed 3 for the team result and we had 6 runners with Joanne, Claire and Eva providing results for the team  who finished 2nd in the division.  An excellent result for Ponteland.

For the men we had 7 runners, with the first 6 counting for the team result.

Looks like the Harrier League is proving popular this winter with Ponteland fielding more participants in the first race than we did at any of the events last year.  A big thanks to Team Captains Joanne and Jon for organisation, and all the runners are grateful for the refreshments that were kindly provided by some.

Lets see how Ponteland can do over the remaining races of the league.

Ponteland Runners had 2 teams in the Weetslade relay hosted by Claremont Road Runners.   This event requires a lady and a vet within each team of 3.  Ponteland A finished 20th out of 64 teams,  an excellent result.  With our B team ( all vets ) coming in 48th.  A big thanks go to Claremont who ran a great event,  even managing to hand out results at the end of the race.  Full results are available from Claremont’s website here.

Last year the race had 40 teams taking part,  this year that increased to 64 so this race is well supported by local clubs.  Maybe next year Ponteland Runners will be able to enter 3 teams, if we can tempt enough ladies to take part…….  Well done to both our teams this year.

Sunday 12th May, early morning, in Alnwick was the location for a chilly and breezy Alnwick TriAthlon with 3 Ponteland Runners taking part.  Paul Gerrard and Sue and Chris Heppell participated in this very popular event.  The pool swim is 500m,  followed by a 23k bike ride and then an off-road 5k run. Sue had a great race, finishing 8th in the ladies Vets category with a 1:26:25.  Paul (Right) finished in 1:23:38 and Chris in 1:20:27, placing them 42nd and 31st in the mens Vets respectively.  Alnwick Tri host a great event and it normally sells out on the day it’s released each year.  Pool based sprint triathlons are the best start to tri’s before moving to open water swimming and longer events.  Duathlon’s are also a good introduction to multi-discipline events providing an opportunity to try the bike to run transition. Full results can be found here.  Sunday’s breezy day was nothing new for Alnwick Tri as the proximity of the coast usually makes for a windy bike leg.  The off-road run climbs steadily from transition testing the legs after the move from the bike.  The off-road gradient kicking in whilst the legs were still in transition……..  All Ponteland Runners enjoyed the event and plan to be there again next year to try and improve on the times.  Maybe Adam and Paul Armstrong will join in after great performances in Ashington last week.

Ashington, early morning on Bank Holiday Monday 6th May saw three Ponteland Runners taking part in an event which becomes more popular each year.  Paul Armstrong, Adam Graham and Chris Heppell all took part and enjoyed a very friendly event, well known locally as a good beginners triathlon.  Adam has only recently returned to running after injury but was determined to complete his first tri this year.  Paul,  ( although lacking the  fantastic RAF Tri-suit we had heard about ), had a strong overall performance.  Chris was looking forward to this event after doing it last year and is grateful that Ashington Pool is 25yds not metres in length so the swim is one of the shortest TriAthlon swims around at 368metres.  The bike is 20km, and includes two ascents of Bothal bank, the run is three laps around the park and totals 5km.  Adam finished in 1:26:18, Paul in 1:17:41 and Chris in 1:11:44.  A great event,  watch out for race report on Alnwick Triathlon next weekend where we again have three Ponteland Runners taking part.

Full results can be found at here.  Any other Ponteland Runners who are interested in tri-athlon are encouraged to try this event next year.  We now have an increasing proportion of the membership who have tried tri-athlon and enjoyed the experience.