Most runners headed off road for races last week, which once again saw the black and white vest crossing the line first in one of them.
The fifth event of the Hardmoors Trail series, the Wainstones, took place at the weekend, on a route which took in the part of the Cleveland Way covering Clay Bank and the Lordstones. In the marathon distance, Phil Rutter completed the off-road route in 4:59:33, with Anthony Corbett, April Corbett, Mark Colling & Wendy Colling all coming in together in 6:50:02. The half marathon distance saw Michael Joyeux maintaining his unbeaten streak for the year, winning for the fifth time, in 1:48:18. He was followed by Mark Robinson in 2:08:12 (and in eighth place overall), with Gill Colling and Michelle Boshier finishing together in 3:39:21.
Three headed up to South Shields for the 10 mile race there, held on a trail route along the coast. Diane Vaughan completed the run in 1:19:47 along with Richard Hughes (1:21:15) and Chrissie Moore (1:56:28)
Also travelling north was Carol Penney who ran the Gateshead 10K, a trail route through the Derwent Water Country Park, in 1:03:04.
Going south, meanwhile, was Peter Rowley who did the Askern 10 mile race, an undulating route near Doncaster, in 1:25:32
Midweek had seen the third and final of this year’s summer handicap races, a second running of the Mowden Meander on a route along the Baydale Beck and Coniscliffe Grange footpaths. Gavin Armstrong was first to finish the 7.5K distance in an aggregate time of 56:23. He was followed in by Sarah McTimoney (57:29), Sarah Bayles (58:31), Alex Kiel (59:09 and the fastest runner on the night), Paul Dalton (59:20), Nick Watson (59:22), Anna Hardy (59:29), Allan Parsons (59:31), Andrew Dixon (59:40), Chris Minto (59:44), Dave Brown (59:46), Jane Jeffries (59:49), Jamie Norman (1:00:00), Andy Walker (1:00:10), Lindsey Lester (1:00:12), Phil Rutter (1:00:19), Alan Prest (1:00:19), Graham Park (1:00:21), Sue New (1:00:39), Mark Robinson (1:00:42), Rob Dent (1:00:48), Lee Morris (1:00:51), Claire Norman (1:01:02), Ian Hammond (1:01:09), Phil Clarke (1:01:25), Paul Pomfret (1:01:45), Jamie Pratt (1:01:46), Michael King (1:03:11), Grainne Duffy (1:03:13), Tony Allen (1:03:31), John Hall (1:03:36), Angela Clemmens (1:04:33) and Sally Singleton (1:06:28). Following the race Gill Wallis was declared the overall winner of this year’s handicap series.
In the Saturday morning parkruns, Dave Jones finished at South Park in 18:16, followed by Gary Read (20:22), Steven Major (21:08), Adrian Gooding (21:11), David Todd (21:29), Katherine Hackett (22:14), Ian Bond (22:36), Rebecca Bowes (24:36), Lewis Boshier (25:06), Michelle Boshier (25:08), David Ptak (25:35), Danny Gordon (25:42), Kevin Barnett (26:51), Diane Adkins (28:42), Alec Cinamon (28:43), Sally Singleton (29:01), Lisa Johnstone (29:06), Brian Dixon (29:12), Grainne Duffy (31:59), Michael King (33:34), Tristen Coad (35:23), Kaye Boyce (35:46) and Adrian Dent (38:03).
There was plenty of tourism happening at the weekend as well. Wendy Colling did the Sedgefield run in 25:44, Anna Hardy ran at Tees barrage in 27:03, while Kyle Cook finished at Hackworth in 19:25.Stephen Moore did the run at Albert Park in 22:05, Peter Rowley headed to Northallerton to finish there in 24:23 while Darren Alderson travelled up to Whitley Bay, completing the run in 27:21. North of the border, David Ledgerwood was in Glasgow to do the Strathclyde run in 25:45.