Newton Aycliffe: Newton Aycliffe Athletic Club athletes were out in force at various venues over the last week. The Northern Junior men's championships at Wigan.

Lewis Moses produced a personal best time of 4mins 6.1secs in the under 20 men's final to finish ninth after running a heat earlier in the day in a time of 4mins 9 secs. On the Sunday Lewis ran the 800m recording a time of 1min 59.9 sec in the heats.

Lewis still has two years left in this age group. At the Raby Castle 10k road race in the beautiful surroundings of Raby Castle Andy Gaskarth ran a personal best time of 37mins 22secs to finish in 15th position. At the Melernby 10k road race on the same day Peter Milburn finished 9th in a time of 36mins 8secs, next was Mick O'Sullivan in a time of 37mins 50secs. Sue Milburn finished sixth lady and second over 45 lady in a time of 42mins 39secs.

At the North-East track and field league meeting at Gateshead on May 26 Chris Gaffney broke his own club record in the under 13 boys 1500m finishing in third place in a time of 5mins 7secs. Abby Wilson also recorded 5mins 7secs finishing second in the under 17 girls 1500m. In the under 17 men's 1500m Phil Moore ran a personal best time of 4mins 43secs. Amy Gaffney also ran a PB with a time of 5mins 49secs in the under 15 girls 1500m. Adam Harker in his first ever race over 1500m finished third in the senior event with a time of 4mins 29secs. Kimberley Adamson recorded a jump of 4metres 47cm in the under 17 girls long jump to finish second. On the same night over at North Sheilds Tony Brewer competed in the 10k road race finnishing in 101st posistion out of 210 runners recording a time of 41mins 52 secs.

Thirsk and Sowerby Harriers

Oagain, a large number of Harriers arrived for the Melmerby 10k and Fun Run on a warm Sunday morning. The Fun Run took place first, and Thomas Somers finished an excellent second in the seven and under boys' race, with twin brother Harry finishing seventh. Laura Shorrocks finished in fifth place in the 12-15 girls' race, and it was good to have youngsters competing in Club colours.

Just as the 10k race was about to start, the sun came out, making conditions that bit more difficult. Not that it affected the ever consistent Gary Dunn, who came 4th in 34.33. Stephan Tomaszweski was 25th in 38.27, Walter Busuttil, getting into form again after a long lay-off, 30th in 38.41, Stewart Mechie 32nd in 38.57, Alan Somers 87th in 42.52, Hywel Smith 98th in 43.37, David Shorrocks 105th in 44.21, Nicola Thorpe, using the race as part of her final preparations for the Edinburgh Marathon, 151st in 48.01, Kaye Mechie 161st in 48.47, Sarah Somers 166th in 49.02, Ian Codling 178th in 50.13, Fiona Wilson 204th in 52.17, Cath Lumb 209th in 52.57, Jo Fambely 221st in 53.44, Yvonne Wood, in her first race for the Club, 241st in 56.57, Nik Sutton-Haigh 248th in 57.38, Marian Codling 257th in 58.47 and Pamela Sherlock 279th in 62.17. There were 296 runners in this increasingly popular village race, the 2nd in the Black Sheep Series of races.

Peter Wilkin travelled altogether further afield to take part in the Isle of Jura Fell Race, over 16 miles with a climb of 7500feet! Peter did the race last year, and was determined to beat that time.

If he finished in under four hours he could collect a specially inscribed Jura whisky glass.

Armed with supplies of bananas, energy powder and jelly babies, Peter set off, reporting at check points along the way. The race took in the Paps of Jura, and 4 other summits, a total of seven in all, with scree slopes in places, and rocky or boggy terrain.

A piece of Mars bar from a friendly marshall helped Pete when he was at a low ebb, and he and another runner encouraged one another over the last three, flat, miles to finish just inside his target of four hours to collect their engraved glasses.

Perhaps the fact that the Jura Distillery was also in view near the end put extra strength in the legs! In fact, Peter finished in eighth place out of 160 runners, a most impressive performance.

Richmond and Zetland Harriers

Richmond and Zetland Harriers enjoyed another bright evening at Eastbourne Sports Complex on Tuesday 18th May in the second NYSD T&F League meeting, hosted by Darlington H&AC. The Club had twenty three athletes competing and had four winners. Ruth Hill is improving all the while as a sprinter/jumper; she won her long jump by nearly 20 cm and was only half a second behind the winner in her 200m. Sophie Broadway and Leanne Shaw continued their competitive season with another one-two in their 200m and Georgina Zissler showed the opposition a clean pair of spikes with another impressive win in the Under 17 Women's 200m. Dan Brooks was the Harriers' winner number four, in the high jump, the third of five events he contested as he continues his preparations for the World Double Decathlon Championships at Hexham in August. The Club had a boost before competition began when Scott Livermore was credited with 56.1 for 400m at the first fixture, gaining points and moving the team up one place although this may change when the scrutineers have their say. Billingham Marsh House H pipped the females for first but the males put in a better showing to finish fourth. The standings after two fixtures show the females equal 1st with BMH on 23 points, the males up to 5th with 16 points and equal 3rd with Darlington in the combined tables behind joint leaders BMH and M&C.

RZH results, alphabetically: Jo Adams (U15G) shot 6m63; Rosie Adams (U15G) shot 6m21; Chris Archer (U17M) 1500m 4:47.5; Jack Baldwin (SM) 200m 30.9; Kim Bartram (JW) 200m 28.7 & long jump 4m22; Sophie Broadway (U15G) 200m 28.2; Dan Brooks (SM) triple jump 9m85, 200m 27.1, high jump 1m40, 1500m 4:46.3 & shot 7m42; Mike Brooks (VM) 1500m 5:06.8; Shane Darby (U15B) 200m 26.6 & triple jump 9m84; Jenny Fenwick (JW) 1500m 6:22.3; Ruth Hill (U13G) 200m 31.0 & long jump 3m65; Fiona Hughes (SW) 1500m 5:32.7; Louise Jackson (SW) 1500m 4:49.4; Tom Keavney (U13B) high jump 1m00; Erica Moks (U17W) 1500m 5:46.0; Matt Prosser (JM) 200m 26.0; Edd Richards (JM) 1500m 4:34.2; Jessie Roberts (U17W) 1500m 5:18.9; Katie Roberts (U15G) shot 5m72; Simon Robson (U17M) 1500m 4:33.0; Leanne Shaw (U15G) 200m 28.2 & long jump 3m90; Tom Walker (U13B) 200m 33.4 and Georgina Zissler (U17W) 200m 28.1.

Unfortunately, the Club couldn't muster a similar turnout two days later for the second midweek league Road Race at Harrogate and now trail Swaledale Road Runners, their home-town rivals, in four out of five race categories - all bar the Vets. The race was an over-distance 10K from the Railway FC at Starbeck and "Invincible" Ian Fisher started the race in single-minded fashion, knowing that the course narrowed by a building site after a quarter mile, and determined to keep his feet in the slippery section through the Nidd Gorge. He was never headed and won in 32:47, almost a minute and a half clear and leading the Otley Elite team home by more than five minutes. Jon Orange finished 2nd again (and 1st M40 again, giving him a commanding lead in the individual Veteran's category) ahead of Neil Cayton of Otley and Alan Stimpson of Harrogate H&AC, who made a welcome return to racing by leading his 10 in 34 team-mates to 1st place in the Open team category. Ilkley H won the Ladies team race; Dragons RC won the Ladies Vets team race and Harrogate won the Men's Vets - the only category where the Harriers are anywhere rather than nowhere! The standings after two fixtures show the Club 10th in the Open with 1717 points, 1817 behind Otley; 10th in the Ladies and Ladies Vets; 5th in the Men's Vets with 450 points, a mere 166 behind Ripon and 7th in the Elite with 207:08, 21:59 behind Otley.

RZH results: 2nd (& 1st M40) Jon Orange 34:12, 32nd (& 2nd M50) Mike Brooks 39:08, 66th Taff Rogers 42:31, 105th Danny Alexander 46:23, 116th Sarah Gregory 47:00 and 198th (& 4th W60) Grete Buck 61:31.

There were 556 finishers in the Pier-to-Pier Race on Sunday 23rd May, the second race in the 2004 Saucony/Northern Runner series, advertised as 8 miles on cliff paths and sand, from South Shields to Sunderland. Tom Doughty of Sunderland H was a clear winner in 38:10 and, after pulling-up with a stitch, Dan Brooks placed 94th in 49:19.

This weekend's fixtures start on Saturday 5th with the second Northern Senior T&F League fixture at Tynedale Athletics Park, Hexham from 12 noon and continue on Sunday 6th with the second Young Athletes League fixture at Woodbourne Road Stadium, Sheffield, again from 12 noon. Also on Sunday, Thirsk & Sowerby H have their annual 10 mile Road Race & 5K Fun Run from Thirsk Racecourse at 2.00 pm and there is a multi-terrain race in Hamsterley Forest. Wednesday 9th and the Club journey to Otley for the third race in the H&D League, starting from the RUFC at 7.45 pm.

Quakers RC

FIFTY-SEVEN competitors turned out to run the first of the White Horse Handicaps at Harrowgate Hill on May 6. First home was Stephen Minns from Shildon completing the course in an excellent time of 41:22. He was closely followed by Samantha Kee of the Quakers in 43:06 and Colin Bearpark, Quakers, 51:59, next home was Anthony Corbett, 4th, Quakers, 48:57, 5th, Stuart Hardcastle, U/A, 53:15, 6th, Jeff Marriott, Quakers, 47:36, 7th, Derek Parker, Quakers, 47:38, 8th, Tommy Hurworth, Quakers, 39:33, 9th, Michael Dodd, U/A, 53:41, 10th, Robert Thomas, Quakers, 43:42, 11th, Jackie Henderson, Quakers, 55:44, 12th, Glynn Frith, Evenwood, 41:58, 13th, Luke Cherrington, U/A, 46:03, 14th, Richard Hughes, Quakers, 49:11, 15th, Richard Payne, Quakers, 46:50, 16th, Adam Gibson, Aycliffe, 34:20, 17th, Andrew Shankster, U/A, 39:31.