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A busy day of athletics action across the North East saw runners competing over a wide range of courses, from down on the beach at Blyth right up to the hills of the North Pennines.
The 64th Blyth Sands race from Blyth to Seaton Sluice and back (instructions to runners: ‘Keep the North Sea on your left on the way out and your right on the way back’) began at 10 am, near the bottom of the tide, and again featured the race’s unique handicapping system, with Senior Men off scratch chasing a big fifteen minute handicap from the day’s first starters. Despite the low tide and relatively mild temperatures, a headwind on the way out and treacherous conditions under foot made for a difficult run, and all that before factoring in the three notorious barnacle covered groynes to get over at the Blyth end. As last year, this year’s race was won by Over 40 Jimmy Anderson of North Shields Polytechnic Harriers, who despite running off only a 2 minute handicap made light work of the conditions to finish in a time of 29 minutes 44 seconds for the five miles. Home club Blyth’s O/55 Heather Christopher was 2nd off an 11 minute handicap, with NSP’s Greg Penn 3rd off 7 minutes. Morpeth Harriers ran the day’s 2nd and 3rd fastest times however, with O/45 Dave Stabler in 5th overall and U/18 Oliver Tomlinson finishing in 8th. Peter Scaife and Fran also finished in 114th and 115th places, Scaife having the customary tale of woe: no excuse for him missing his O/60 start, but injury was added to insult when Barnacle Bill also did for him as he attempted to negotiate the second of the three groynes on the return, lacerating both legs in several places. Ouch! NSP also won the four to count team prize, with Elvet Striders from Durham turning out in big numbers to come 2nd. Isabel Hessey from the club was also the fastest female finisher. 64th Blyth Sands Race - RESULTS - Google Sheets The Run Northumberland Big 10 Miler at Matfen was won by Pudsey and Bramley athlete Callum Hanson in a time of 55 minutes and 29 seconds, ahead of Elswick’s Luke Hilliard (56:31) with Morpeth’s Over 45 veteran John Butters in 3rd (58:17). Club colleague Jimmy Dixon was 5th, just getting under the hour mark in 59:31. Crook AC’s Kate Storey was first woman back in 1:04:18, with some 133 in total finishing. Run Northumberland BIG 10 Miler Meanwhile, across the Border, the Scottish West District Championships saw father and daughter Alistair and Catriona Macdonald competing for their Scottish club Bellahouston. Catriona was 5th in the Senior Women’s race, recording 26 minutes over the 7.5 kilometre course behind winner Lynn Mckenna of Shettleston Harriers. Alistair was 140th in the Men’s, but picked up a well earned prize as 1st O/60 with a time of 29:24. Also turning out was Leeds-based triathlete Millie Breese, who won the U/20 6.4k race in 27:42, a 20-second margin over her nearest rival, and clearly in good shape as, like Cat, she prepares for the North Eastern Cross Country Championships. Start Lists / Results | WestXC Finally, in sunnier climes Shaun Land took over six minutes off his previous personal best time when finishing in 2 hours 53 minutes 4 seconds in the popular Valencia Marathon, where over 28,000 crossed the line. The race was noticeable for the 5th fastest ever time for the distance, Kenyan Sebastian Sawe running 2:02:05 on his debut. Ranking . Maratón . Valencia Ciudad del Running Comments are closed.
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May 2025
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