MOST OF the action in the last seven days was centred on midweek for once, with both personal bests and club records being set by several runners.

The week had started with Colin Smith once again heading up to Jarrow for the North East Masters League. He ran the 200m and 300m in 31.4s and 51.7s respectively, in doing so breaking both his club records for the distances.

Tuesday had seen members head up to Crook for the Clive Golledge Memorial Relay, where teams of three each ran a 2.2 mile leg. Quakers had nine teams in action, the highest of any club on the night. The trio of Michael Joyeux, Dawn Richardson and Michael Parry narrowly missed out on claiming a hat-trick of wins at the event, finishing second in 42:10. Next to finish were Graham Park, Sue New & Ian Readman in 53:47, followed by Michelle Boshier, Andrew Dixon & Daniel Orton (54:49), Rob Dent, Sally Singleton & Darren Wright (55:21), Hannah Robinson, Claire Stradling & Paul Dalton (57:41), Lewis Boshier, Lisa Jenkins & Gary Read (58:22), Steven Johnson, Lindsey Lester & Jeff Marriott (59:39), Paul Roberts, Emma Joyeux & Marc Ellis (1:00:11) and Dave Ledgerwood, Anna Hardy & Lee Morris (1:01:40).

The latest club championship race, the Summer Coast Road 5K, took place the next day over at Marske, where despite some very warm weather, the conditions were still good for personal bests. Michael Joyeux was first home for the club in 16:07 (and in seventh place overall), followed by Marc Ellis (17:35, PB), Mark Robinson (18:46, PB), Gary Read (19:28, PB), Steven Major (20:44), Rob Gillham (23:16), Lewis Boshier (25:20), Michelle Boshier (25:20), Michelle Scruby (26:31) and Sally Singleton  (28:42).

Taking place almost simultaneously was the 10K race up in Durham. Rebecca Howard completed the two lap route around the city in 48:29, along with Anthony Corbett (53:03), Siobhan Eldred (1:03:08), Leigh-Marie Padgett (1:05:42), Carol Penney (1:07:18) and Linda & Neil Harrington who came in together in 1:22:12.

Thursday had seen four head over to Sedgefield for the Gerry Kearsley Summer Handicap. Gavin Armstrong finished the 6.5 mile trail run in an aggregate time of 1:02:26, along with Gary Read (1:02:42), Steven Major (1:02:49) and Alan Prest (1:12:50).

There were slim pickings though in terms of weekend races last week. Three runners took part in the Northumberland Coastal Run, a 14 mile race along the coast from Beadnell to Alnmouth. Michael Joyeux finished in 1:21:01 (and in sixth place overall) along with Andrew Walker (1:54:58) and Michael Oliver (2:02:28).

Meanwhile down at Harrogate, at the Great Yorkshire Run, Paul Dalton completed the two lap route in 37:40 (and first in his age category), along with Carol Penney in 1:06:44.

The previous week had seen the second of the three summer handicap series, this time held over by the White Horse at Harrowgate Hill. Gill Wallis was first to finish the 4.3 mile trail route in an aggregate time of 46:45, followed by Michael King (48:00), Sue Woodcock (49:03), David Ledgerwood (49:22), Alan Prest (49:42), Claire Norman (50:08), Steven Johnston (50:11), Julie Whinn (50:12), Lee Morris (50:41), Jamie Norman (50:50), Mark Robinson (50:52), Ian Readman (51:11), Anna Hardy (51:16), Chris Minto (51:33), Patrick Robson (51.40), Lindsey Lester (51:52), Andy Walker (51:54), Isabelle Bell (51:56), Sue New (52:06), Marc Ellis (52:29), Sandra Martin (52.50), Graham Park (52:53), Michael Oliver (52:57), Richie Payne (53:09), Lucy Bendle (53:23), Dawn Richardson (53:26), Gary Read (53:31), Brian Martin (53:40), Darren Wright (53:42), Amy Smith (53:54), Danny Gordon (54:40), Alex Kiel (54:41 and the fastest runner on the night), Rob Gilham  (54:50), Euan Bell (54:51), Diane Vaughan (55:45), Sarah Bayles (55:54), Emma Bayles (55:54), Fred Tennant (56:46), Lisa Johnston (56:47), Nicola Herraghty (56:54), Shaun Carr (57:10), Lisa Alderson (57:53) and Dawn Dalby (59:35).

In the Saturday morning parkruns, Alex Kiel was first across the line at South Park in 16:45, followed by Dave Jones (17:48), Ewan Henderson (20:43), Nick Wadd (20:52), Louise Trainor (21:35), David Todd (21:54), Rob Gillham (23:14), Jill Clapp (23:18), Lindsey Lester (24:14), Darren Alderson (25:25), Colin Smith (25:35), David Ledgerwood (25:36), Andrew Dixon (25:49), David Ptak (25:57), Neal Harper (26:18), Siobhan Waddell (28:15), Alec Cinamon (28:54), Ian Hamond (30:15), Michael King (31:32), Chrissie Moore (32:39), Michelle Dale (33:30), Louise Mccann (34:29), Lisa Alderson (36:50), Linda Harrington (37:44) and Adrian Dent (38:34).

There was a large turnout at Sedgefield where Ian Readman finished in 19:59, along with Gary Read (20:47), Steven Major (22:51), Lewis Boshier (25:22), Michelle Boshier (26:13), Sarah Watson (26:31), Claire Norman (28:16), Emily Beaumont (34:51), Jan Waite (37:01) and Julie Remmer (40:26). Meanwhile at Albert Park, Stephen Moore completed the run in 23:12, as did Julie Whinn (25:12), Diane Adkins (26:53), Michelle Scruby (28:11) and Sally Singleton (28:31). At Redcar, Paul and Rachel Ryan ran there in 29:26 and 35:02 respectively, Anthony Corbett travelled to Pontefract, finishing there in 25:17, while Peter Rowley did the run over at Keswick in 25:18.

Quakers Running Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm at Abbey Road Playing Fields. For more information visit our website: www.quakersrunningclub.org.uk

Submitted by Rob Dent (photo by Karen Newton)