Kielder Duathlon – 1st Dec 2013

This years event saw almost tropical conditions compared to last year.  Start was around 8 degrees,  compared with -7 last year.  Three Ponteland Tri members were at the Duathlon, (which is run under British Triathlon Federation rules)  all looking forward to the run-bike-run combination.  Nick Winslow, Geoff Turner and Chris Heppell listened to a race briefing telling us to “expect to get wet” when we turn of the trails on deadwater fell,  and they were right……

Geoff had a mechanical on the bike leg and had to limp back to transition where the marshalls talked him into going back out for the second run leg “to experience” the route. In Geoff’s own words “That 6k felt more like 6miles….. ”

Nick literally fell during the fell run and returned with very minor injuries but enjoyed the experience.  All are looking forward to next year to have another go.  The bike photo is from last years event.  There were 156 taking part with the winner home in 1:58.  The two Ponteland Tri members who finished came in with Chris Heppell on 2:32, and Nick Winslow on 2:59,  both doing well in the MV40 and MV50 categories respectively.  Full results are on High Terrain Events Website.  If you enjoy off-road events this is one worth considering, great views and well ran event.

6th Anniversary of TBSF

Three of our leaders in running fitness were invited along to a very special VIP event hosted by the Tony Blair Sports Foundation (TBSF) to celebrate their 6th Anniversary.

The event was a breakfast meeting at the Copthorne Hotel on the quayside and was attended by Tony Blair as well as Arlene Ainsley and Jeanette Pickard from the TBSF. Tony gave a short speech followed by him sitting at each  table to spend time talking to everyone about their volunteering roles.

Suzanne Dunn &  Kelly Graham are 2 of the TBSF’s newest members (and will be doing the LiRF course next weekend) and were invited along with me. We all had a fab morning and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The TBSF have been instrumental in the development of our club with the majority of our leaders being part or wholly funded by the TBSF.

Thanks TBSF for a really enjoyable morning!

Sue

Run Northumberland BIG 10 – Sun 24th Nov

Not to be overshadowed by the Harrier League 3 Ponteland Runners were also out racing at the Run Northumberland BIG 10 from Kirkley Hall on the same day.

Results are available here

Well done to Claire, Sarah and Joe who enjoyed a small local race with a few hills………  Hopefully next year it won’t clash with the Harrier League fixtues.

Jarrow XC Results – Sunday 24th Nov

Well done to the 13 Ponteland Runners who took part today on a muddy but cracking course. The cake and coffee afterwards was much appreciated by all so thank you to everyone who contributed on that front! There are too many individual runners to name but the men again fielded a team and were led home by Jason Olds to finish 11th out of the 19 teams in division 3. The ladies continued their good start to the season by finishing 11th out of 30 teams in division 2, being led home by Joanne Brown running from the medium pack. It’s such fun doing XC, if only another race was coming up soon.

North East Harrier League website and results here… Jon.

Membership Reaches 70

Ponteland Runners is going from strong and has just reached an all time high in membership of 70 members, with more on the way.

The club had 21 runners at the Great North Run and 18 at the Blaydon Race.  In our closed club competition we had 24 women and 18 men complete 122 races.  Our second season in the North East Harrier League is proving very popular with some new members joining the club specifically for the opportunity to run in the Harrier League.  Our ladies team is currently second in the division.

The additition of “Ponteland Tri” for those interested in Triathlon has added another new dimension to the club with a number of new joiners who compete in Triathlon.  We now have 10 club members signed up for the Ashington Tri in May 2014.

If you are interested in joining Ponteland Runners please get in touch or just come along to one of our runs and introduce yourself to the run leader.  We pride ourselves on being a friendly and approachable club and we welcome new members.

Blaydon Harrier League 26th Oct 2013

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.