WHILE MOST Quakers headed off road for races last week, there were a few for who just running alone wasn’t enough.

The latest club championship event took place at Sedgefield, the Serpentine race, held over a 6.5 mile trail route, which took in parts of Hardwick Park and the surrounding area. Kyle Cook was first home for the club in 42:22, followed by Rob Dent (45:07), Alistair Johnson (47:29), Adrian Gooding (49:06), Rob Gillham (52:01), Rebecca Howard (53:53), Danny Gordon (57:54), Julie Whinn (58:52), Anna Hardy (59:11), Clare Westwood (1:02:06), Sally Singleton (1:04:57), Lisa Jenkins (1:08:20) and Alan Prest (1:14:37).

Over at Middlesbrough, the Acklam Grange 5K trail race saw Quakers taking two of the top five places, in a very close finish to the race. Alex Kiel finished in second place in 17:36, with Michael Joyeux coming in fourth in 17:40. Also running were Louise Trainor who finished in 23:30, Steven Moore (25:37) and Daniel Orton (35:18).

At South Park, four runners took part in the 20 mile race, comprising twenty one-mile laps of the park, on a route virtually identical to that of the parkrun. Marc Ellis completed the dizzying distance in 2:09:25 to finish in third place overall, with Billy Harris in 2:33:58, Gary Read in 2:52:14 and Gavin Armstrong in 2:59:38.

The weekend had also seen the final regular Hardmoors event of the year, this time the 60 mile race, held on a coastal route from Guisborough to Filey. Phil Rutter completed the distance in 14:54:50, the quartet of Sandra Cass, Wendy Colling, April Corbett and Jamie Noramn all finished together in 16:19:21, while Michelle Boshier and Emily Beaumont came home in 19:20:12.

Midweek had seen the sixth and final race in the Stockton Summer 5K trail series over at Cowpen Bewley, which also saw two Quakers claiming overall series prizes.  Kyle Cook was first to finish the two lap course in 20:02 followed by Rob Dent (20:32), Gary Read (21:12), Jill Clapp (24:49, and taking second prize for her age category for the series), Dale Chapman (25:33), Oliver Moore (25:58), Lewis Boshier (27:25), Michelle Boshier (27:56), Danny Gordon (28:58, and winning his age category for the series), Lucy Bendle (34:31), Sharon Carr (35:06), Gill Wallis (35:16) and Emily Beaumont (37:16).

For those fancying more than one sport at the weekend, over at Barnard Castle the Teesdale triathlon took place, consisting of a 400m swim, 17 mile bike ride and a 5K run. Ian Readman completed the three discipline event in 1:28:34, along with Jeff Marriott (1:45:43), Paul Roberts (1:53:24), Steven Johnston (2:02:59) and James Simpson (2:12:15).

The previous week had seen three runners take part in the Great Westmoreland trail race, a 7 mile run near Kirkby Stephen. Brian Martin completed the off road route in 59:14 along with Sandra Martin (1:29:39) and Alan Prest (1:39:14).

In the Saturday morning parkruns, Dave Jones finished at South Park in 18:10, followed by Ricki Hotton (19:51), David Todd (20:00), Ed Griffiths (20:49), Alistair Johnson (20:50), Andrew Vernon (21:05), Nick Wadd (21:21), Rob Gillham (23:10), Phil Clarke (23:34), Lindsey Lester (23:35), Rebecca Bowes (24:00), Peter Rowley (24:10), Richard Hughes (24:23), Iain Clyde (24:43), Hazel Commane (25:12), Peter Commane (25:15), Lewis Boshier (25:27), Gavin Armstrong (25:28), Gary Read (25:29), Sarah Watson (25:51), Brian Dixon (26:16), John Whinn (29:02), Paul Ryan (29:15), Lisa Johnstone (29:30), Lee Morris (31:29), Rachel Ryan (37:30), Tracey Plaskitt (38:31) and Adrian Dent (38:48).

At Sedgefield, Dave Thompson finished in 23:03 along with Jeff Marriott (26:38), Lucy Bendle (33:09), Isabelle Bell (33:11) and Julie Remmer (36:24), while over at Keswick, Clare Stradling and Paul Dalton ran there in 26:17 and 26:19 respectively. Stephen Moore did the run at Albert Park in 23:35, James Simpson ran at Durham in 43:24, while Gill Colling finished at Redcar in 28:55.

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)