After a recent spell of damp race conditions, the sun was shining on Wednesday evening for the 2023 North East Masters Athletic Association Road Relays Championships at Bedewell/ Campbell Park in Hebburn. Not only did we have a cracking turnout from our veteran members, but our teams also managed some great results.
The relay champs were open to all our masters’ athletes over the age of 35 to take part in as a team of 3. Each of the three relay legs was 3km in total which involved running two laps of a relatively flat course through the park on tarmac paths with some sharp turns to make it exciting.
Race 1
First up was the ladies’ and over 65 mens race. In total, we had three complete teams representing Heaton in this race. A fast start and scramble by many to take the leading positions saw Heaton’s Ellie Reed in second position overall at the end of the first leg handing over to teammate Sarah Lemon. Ellie ran the second-fastest leg of the night (11.45) and was the fastest V35 leg on the night. Sarah had a strong run and the Heaton V35 team was in 3rd position overall going into the third leg. A sprint finish in the final 150m by third leg runner Laura Oldfield took back a position from Elswick and the first Heaton team home finished in 5th overall position. This team also picked up the 2nd fastest V35 team award.
There were also strong performances from our two other ladies’ teams. Nina Cameron, Alison Vaulkhard and Caroline Billis finished in 23rd overall (out of 37 teams). Jacqui Turner, Jenny Friend and Janette Kilgour finished 27th overall position with Janette running the 2nd fastest V70 time on the night.
Well done ladies!
Race 2
Next up was the men’s race and Heaton had five complete teams taking part. A fast start with athletes from 70 different teams taking part seen Heaton’s David Young in 3rd overall position and hand over the second leg to Mark Hope. David also ran the third-fastest overall leg time on the night. Mark as second-leg runner also had a brilliant run and held onto 3rd position going into the third leg. After recently returning from injury, James McKenzie took over from Mark and made this a very exciting race to watch. Tigger brought our first Heaton men’s team home in 4th place overall, narrowly missing out on 3rd place by only 2 seconds. In such a competitive field this was an excellent result.
Our other four Heaton teams also had some very fast performances with many of our members taking considerable amounts of time off what they ran last year. The hard work in training is paying off.
Well done to our other teams:
Dave Slater, Glen Rae and Jason Wall
Chris George, Andy Burden and Simon Jobe
Faz Kashafi, Dave Bullock and Luke O’Neill
James Waters, Paul Stutt and Stu Kelsey
Stephen McKenzie, Les Bellis and George Routledge
Thanks to all our masters’ runners and to the supporters that came to cheer on their clubmates.
The next relay events to get involved in if you have not already signed up for this week’s Gordon Smith relays will be Weetslade (June) and Gosforth Summer Relays (August). These are open to members of all ages and a brilliant way for newer members to get to know others at the club. Keep an eye out on Spond or Facebook for more information and polls to take part.
