Kings of the Castle
The Raby Castle 10k organised by Teesdale Athletics Club is certainly one of the most undulating in the 10k series, but this did not deter 25 Quakers from seeking out points towards their bid for the club championship. David Todd, fresh from achieving a personal best at the recent Edinburgh Marathon, was first Quaker over the finish line in a time of 42:08, followed by Andrew Knox in 43:29 and Noel McLay in 43:55. Lucy Jefferies was first Quakers lady home in 45:37, with Louise Trainor taking second place in 46:49 and Diane Vaughan third in 47:58. Well done to Nicola Howe, who represented the Quakers in her first 10k at Raby Castle and achieved a respectable 56:25 – undoubtedly a baptism of fire experience!
The penultimate race of the Tees Forest 5K Trail Series was held at Hemlington Recreation Centre with the Quakers once again putting on a good show. Pete Smith ran an excellent race to finish in 19:55 while Ian Bond and Stuart Hardcastle continue to demonstrate their good form in this season’s trail series by crossing the finish line simultaneously in 20:08. Ben Bourne achieved a personal best of 20:35, establishing himself as one of the Quakers most improved runners at this stage in the 2010 race calendar.
Dave Thompson, taking part in the inaugural Chester Marathon, continues to accrue marathon gongs as fast as lesser mortals collect beer mats. Perhaps not the most inspiring of marathon routes (the race takes place largely along a cycleway on an old railway tract) the event was well organised and attracted a field of 750 runners.  Dave did not repeat this year’s London Marathon pb of 3:25 bit still completed the course in a very respectable 3:45:42 to finish 296 out of 750 runners. 
Over 30 Quakers enjoyed a day out at Allendale Fair, and in between the ice creams and tombola, competed in the challenging Allendale 8 mile road race. In temperatures topping 25 degrees, David Todd, Brian Martin and Dave McLachlan did not allow the heat and very undulating terrain to prevent them from finishing 1, 2 and 3 for Quakers in 51:36, 55:03 and 58:23 respectively. Louise Trainor also ran well to finish as first Quakers lady in 1:00:10, followed by Lucy Jefferies in 1:02:54 and Abbie Hull in an excellent 1:08:05, which saw the three take second place for the ladies team. Julie Whinn shaved over 3 minutes off her finish time from last year to finish in 1:15:43 while Fiona Dixon, running in her first hilly road race, did the Quakers and herself proud by completing the challenging course in 1:28:28.