WHILE MOST Quakers headed to the coast at the weekend, one runner celebrated their birthday by claiming a new club record.

The first full event of the cross country season took place at Whitby, which saw large turnouts in both main races, including several runners taking part in the discipline for the first time. In the women’s event, which covered 5.4K over two laps and also included the under 17 boys, Dawn Richardson finished in 22:55 (and in sixth place overall), followed by Louise Trainor (24:41), Katherine Hackett (24:47), Ewan Henderson (24:49), Sarah Watson (29:15), Sandra Martin (31:37), Sue New (31:49), Gemma Hammond (31:54), Anna Hardy (31:55), Gill Colling (33:03), Tracey Plaskitt (33:25), Gemma Marshall (34:59), Hannah Robinson (35:19), Nicola Herraghty (36:44), Charlie Johnson (37:01), Michelle Dale (38:14), Sharon Carr (40:25) and Lisa Alderson (42:32).

In the men’s race, which covered 9.3K over three laps, Marc Ellis finished in 35:58, just ahead of Kyle Cook in 36:02. Next across the line were Brian Martin (37:43), Rob Dent (40:22), David Todd (40:38), Gary Read (41:21), Michael Parry (42:53), Phil Rutter (42:57), Michael Kay (43:28), Graham Park (45:05), Billy Harris (45:48), Ed Griffiths (45:51), Stephen Moore (46:47), Iain Clyde (47:24), David Whittle (48:13), Paul Roberts (48:34), Olly Moore (49:29), Andrew Dixon (51:31), Darren Alderson (52:08), David Ledgerwood (53:42), Jeff Marriott (56:37) and Jamie Pratt (57:14).

At Redcar, the latest club championship took place at Locke Park, which saw two Quakers finishing in the top ten. Over ten one-mile laps of the park, Michael Joyeux finished second overall in 55:09 (PB), followed by Paul Dalton (1:00:29, in sixth place overall and first in his age category), Mark Robinson (1:08:16), Peter Rowley (1:22:46) and Danny Gordon (1:27:46 and first in his age category).

Running on his 65th birthday, Dave Thompson completed the Abingdon marathon in Oxfordshire in 3:42:14, and in doing gave himself the perfect present, breaking the club record for his age category by almost 48 minutes.

Also covering 26.2 miles at the weekend was Michael Thompson who ran the Northumberland Castles Marathon, which started and finished at Bamburgh Castle, in 3:25:46.

Up at South Shields, Alex Kiel ran at the Temple Park 5K race, coming home in sixth place overall, in 15:49.

Five headed off road for the Osmotherley Trail 20K race, which started and finished in the village itself, and took in part of the Cleveland Way route. Anthony Corbett completed the run in 2:15:41, along with Rebecca Bowes & Dave Jones in 2:19:37 and Sandra Cass & April Corbett who also finished together in 2:32:03.

In the Saturday morning parkruns, Dave Jones finished at South Park in 18:16, followed by Steven Major (20:36), Iain Clyde (22:26), Fred Tennant (22:33), David Whittle (22:46), Peter Rowley (23:20), Gary Read (24:05), David Ledgerwood (25:30), Gavin Armstrong (25:49), Jamie Pratt (25:50), Gemma Hammond (26:30), Pamela Barrass (26:50), Brian Dixon (27:39), Paul Ryan (28:41), Michelle Scruby (28:47), Ian Hammond (28:55), Andy Whittam (29:15), Matt Jackson (30:38), Lee Morris (31:10), Michelle Dale (31:18), Michael King (31:42), Mark Trowles (32:14), Lucy Bendle (32:26), Isabelle Bell (33:31), Rachel Ryan (35:57), Adrian Dent (40:24) and Jan Waite (43:17).

At Sedgefield, Andrew Vernon finished in 20:10, along with Wendy Colling (25:53), Sarah Watson (27:05), Diane Adkins (28:29), Richard Payne (31:40) and Lisa Alderson (35:59), while at Emily Beaumont ran at Tees Barrage in 32:50. Kyle Cook was the first finisher at Hackworth in 18:07, Stephen Moore ran at Albert Park in 21:34, while Helen Whiting did the Stewart Park run in 28:07. Further afield, Lena Rusa ran at Gateshead in 33:39, while Rebecca Howard did the Dalby Forest run near Scarborough in 29:02.

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)