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.

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 142^nd 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 233^rd place and close behind was Chris Wright in 250^th.  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 297^th place and kept narrowly ahead of Dave Legg in 310^th place.  Completing the team of 6 was hardened cross country runner Peter ‘Bart’ Bartholemew who finished his 5^th race this season in 342^nd 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 33^rd place out of 153, producing the 7^th 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.

Hello mud lovers.

It was a beautiful day with wall to wall sunshine for the 5^th harrier league race of the season at Alnwick.  The race was 3 laps totalling approximately 6.2 miles and the course was probably the most enjoyable of any we have ran at so far.  Although there were the now accepted sections of calf high mud to wade through there were also long firm sections run in the shadow of Alnwick castle and through woods before belting (ish) down a steep hill back to the start area.  The winner was a guy from Sunderland Harriers who also happened to represent his native country of Eritrea in last summer’s Olympics.  Given that, I hope our 4 runners can be forgiven for not pipping him on the line and claiming the prize of tea with Harry Potter and the Duchess of Northumberland.  The finishing positions for our runners out of a field of 369 were as follows:

Jon Parkin           231^st       48:16

David Buffham    334^th      54:28

Dave Legg          336^th      54:42

Bart                      353^rd      57:54

Well done to all runners who took part today and we now look forward to the last race of this season held at Prudhoe on the 23^rd March.  It would be great to see a full turnout from Ponteland for this one and even if you have never run a cross country before you would be most welcome to join us.

A full team of six meant a second scoring race of the season in the cross-country at Wrekenton. Conditions were testing to say the least, with mud covering most of the course that wasn’t on a steep hill. Wrekenton has never looked lovelier. There were at least 352 runners (I know this because I was told at the end of the second lap (of three) that I was 351st) and I definitely beat at least one home. Full marks to those who took part: Mark Lyon (who led us home in a respectable 40minutes), captain Jon Parkin, Chris Wright, Joe Bell and Bart Simpson. If this has whetted your appetite for cross-country (and why wouldn’t it?) the next instalment is Alnwick on 2nd March. Tea with Harry Potter and the Duchess of Northumberland for the winner. David

The 17th running of this popular fell race took place in lovely weather recently. It’s a 11 mile route starting and finishing in the centre of Rothbury; in between is a hilly circuit around the Simonside ridge. The conditions underfoot on the tops were reminiscent of the Cramlington NE Harrier League meeting; wet, muddy with the odd tree route and rock thrown in. Our own Dave Legg had a steady run round finishing 64^th out of 104 in 1:48.

As always it was a friendly, informal event with people gathering in the Newcastle Arms pub before and after the run, where delicious soup was served, all included in your bargain £5 entry fee, paid on the day.

Dave ran for his other club, Northumberland Fell Runners who have a great website with details of upcoming events

http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/html/whats_on.html

In 2011 I joined Dave on this run and would highly recommend it.  A great experience.  Hopefully in 2013 we can encourage more to have a go at Fell Running.