Tynedale Harriers Club News 2011....

Club Award Winners 2011
Track athlete of the year - male: Lea Stephenson
Track athlete of the year - female: Louise Griffin
Field athlete of the year - male: Matthew Burns
Field athlete of the year - female: Jenny Bradshaw
Most improved athlete - male: Peter Hearn
Most improved athlete - female: Rachel Chinnery
Coaching award: Doug Maxwell
Cross country champion - male: Syd Coxon
Cross country champion - female: Fran Little
Fell runner of the year - male: Clive Short
Fell runner of the year - female: Bev Redfern
Club Grand Prix, Male 1st: Richard Parker, 2nd: Balazs Somogyi, 3rd: Ian Marsden
Club Grand Prix, Female 1st: Joanne Lee, 2nd: Beth Gregory-Smith, 3rd: Rachel Chinnery
Club Grand Prix, special award, competing all 9 events: Ian Marsden
Club Grand Prix, special award, Great performance at Buttermere: Hilary Dickinson
Team of the year, male: FRA Relay team – Mike Broadhurst, Ian Bromley, Neil Cassidy, Syd coxon, Paul Gaines, Steve Hill
Team of the year, female: Womens NEHL Cross Country Team – Kirstie Anderson, Beth Gregory-Smith, Fran Little, Sonia Morley, Karen Robertson, Rhiannon Robinson, Steph Scott
Athlete of the year: Andrew Richardson
Chair's Award, male: Ian Brown
Chair's Award, female: Pip Griffiths

Cross Country and Kielder Marathon

Local running clubs were out in force on Saturday for the first fixture of the North East Harrier League Cross Country season, which was held at East Cramlington’s Nature Reserve. In the Harrier League, the races are handicapped, with athletes split into packs according to performances at previous races. Each pack starts a few minutes apart.

The senior women had a good start to the season with the team finishing in second place in Division One. Steph White, Steph Scott and Sonia Morley, starting in the slow, medium and fast packs respectively, put in great performances to be the first 3 Tynedale Harriers home, to collect the points for the team. Impressively, the club had 3 athletes in the list of top 10 fastest times of the day: Sonia, Fran Little and Kirstie Anderson.

The Senior Men also had a solid start to the season. Last year they were relegated from Division 1 after being penalised for not fielding a full team at two of the events, so this year's aim is to bounce straight back up. A great turnout saw 14 Tynedale men line up at the start, including a few making their debut in cross country. First home was Adam Pratt, coming in a creditable 20th place overall running from the 'Slow' pack, which means he's promoted to the medium pack for the next fixture. Following home were Ian Marsden, Hugh Bingham, Steve Hill, Mike Broadhurst and Lea Stephenson as the six who count towards valuable team points.

Tynedale’s juniors were also well represented in the first fixture. Four boys competed in the U15s competition, with Fergus Robinson storming home in second place. Dominic Morley and George Sanderson were the others in this age group to collect points for their team. Toby Routledge was very close behind. In the U13 age group, Tynedale fielded a team of 6 boys and valuable team points were scored by Henry Sanderson in 5th place, Matthew Jackson (8th) and Christopher Jackson (14th). These results left Tynedale in 3rd position for both the boys’ age groups after the first event.

Tynedale U13 girls’ team finished in 4th place after a strong first race from Antonia Harrison, Elena Bluck and Francesca Harrison.

Many of the “usual suspects” were missing from the cross country line up due to competing in the Kielder Marathon the following day. Now in its second year, the Kielder Marathon follows the scenic, but decidedly hilly, Lakeside Way path around Kielder Water. Despite horizontal rain and a stiff breeze, twelve Tynedale Harriers took part, with some impressive results. Out of a field of over 1100 runners, Andy Green was first Tynedale athlete home in 7th place in a fantastic time of 3:03.39. Ivan Newton was only 11 places behind in 3:10.58. The next Tynedale runner to finish was Joanne Lee, who was competing at marathon distance for the first time. She had a tremendous run to be 7th woman home, and 49th overall, in a time of 3:24.56! Rachel Chinnery overtook Peter Murphy in the last half mile to finish in 3:34.08 and 3:34.27 respectively, and Kim Bluck finished soon after in 3:39.16. Good performances over a very tough course also came from Chris Francis, Susan Black, Joanne Marsden, Ian Gibson, Lucy Ellman and Pip Griffiths.

Kim Bluck

News Update September 16th

Congratulations to Rachel and Phil Vincent on the safe arrival of Lloyd Edward Vincent born 3.50pm last Wednesday, a bouncing 9lb3oz. Great news!
 
Well done to Karen Robertson and Nick Brown - the winners of the Izzy Memorial Race held last Tuesday. Despite the poor weather we had a good turnout. The last two pub runs of the season from the Milecastle Inn led by Dave Hunter, and the Dyvels led by Hugh Bingham have also been well attended. Thanks to all those who organised and participated in this years' pub runs.
 
Thankyou's
 A message from Pip Griffiths: 'thank you so much for all your help with the Jelly Tea race on Sunday. The event was a great success thanks entirely to the support you gave and fortunately the weather was good. This and the 10K are the prime source of income for the club year and your contribution goes to funding the juniors, some of the social events for the adults and of course keeping the annual membership fee down. All cakes/flapjacks/biscuits were gratefully receive..
 
On behalf of the club, a big thank you also to the Race Committee - Pip Griffiths, Hugh & Steph Bingham, Paul Tait and Phil Vincent - for all their hard work in ensuring there was a race to marshall! A lot of work goes on behind the scenes: publicity for the race; processing entry forms; securing sponsorship; sending out numbers; liasing with the local authority about road closures; booking the middle school; booking the race transport; organising catering; dealing with enquiries from people who have lost their numbers etc; putting out and collecting signage on the day; sorting out marshalls; processing and producing results and so the list goes on. Thanks Guys! See the Club's website for a race report. Link
 
Cross Country – Harrier League *important change of dates*
Please make a note in your diaries, the fixture planned for 8 January on the Town Moor has been cancelled, and replaced by a fixture on 8 October to be hosted by Blyth Running Club at Cramlington. This will now be the first fixture of the season.

Future events see also Race Calander

Sunday 6 November – Gibside Trail Race organised by Blackhill Bounders. Remember this is the first event of the Club's 2011-12 Grand Prix. It's a popular race so make sure you get your entry in early. Entry form attached.

Saturday 3 December – Norman Woodcock Memorial road race (5 miles) organised by Elswick Harriers. Paper entry forms in the Harriers' drawer behind the reception desk at the Wentworth.

Saturday 10 December – NECAA Annual Cross Country Championships hosted by Blyth Running Club at East Cramlington nature reserve. Closing dates for entries 11 November. If interested please contact Men's captain Marcus Byron at or Women's captain Steph Scott at , or catch them at training.
 
Training Programme
The Seniors' Winter 2011/12 Training programme, kindly prepared by Barry Jameson, is on website Training

Discount scheme
Following a re-organisation, Start Fitness have revamped their loyalty/discount schemes and are now offering all Tynedale Harriers members a 10% discount in store on all items. In order to claim the discount you must have one of their discount cards - no card, no discount, they say! Lizzie Earle has a stock of these cards, which she will be handing out by the reception desk in the Wentworth after training on Tuesday night, 20th September, or contact her directly on elizabethblanchard@hotmail.com if you miss her on Tuesday (or are desperate for a new pair of reduced trainers before then).
 
And finally...
This year the Club has supported Lifespan a small local charity in their fund raising efforts by donating 50p to them for every race entry at our club races. They carry out important work in the community bringing ease and support to people with serious and life-threatening illness, and to family members and friends who care for them. Their care and support is provided free of charge. Their next fundraising event is a hoedown (yee hah!) at Wheelbirks ice cream parlour on Saturday 24 September to which all Tynedale Harriers would be most welcome. A poster with further details is attached.

I've recently been experiencing problems in sending membership wide emails out resulting in this news update being somewhat delayed. Apologies, please bear with me, normal service will be resumed ( hopefully) as soon as possible!

Jo Murphy
Club Secretary