Young Harriers Clayton and Brown take Grand Prix titles

There were excellent performances from Alnwick athletes on the day and some great rewards for those who had regularly competed this season.

Alfie Temple ran the best sprint of the day winning the year 4 boys 75m race in 12.7s. Also on the track Erin Belisle (Y5) ran well in the 600m to complete the race in 2min 19s and finish in third place.

Alex Knight entered his first event for the Alnwick team and finished strongly in all his events, a great achievement having only had two practice sessions before the day! Evie Godden also performed consistently across all the events to complete a good season.

In the overall Grand Prix the athletes scores are added together from all the events and medals are awarded to the highest scorers.

Olivia Temple and Talia Thompson performed brilliantly and managed to achieve bronze medals in the girls Y5&6 age categories, whilst Gregor Batley managed an excellent silver medal in the boys Y6 competition.

Billy Clayton and Lauren Brown have had excellent seasons with both athletes setting new personal bests and breaking club records.

Billy (Y5) won the boys Grand Prix and Lauren (Y6) the girls.

Furthermore they both won the overall competition for the highest scores achieved across all the age groups. Their achievements are well deserved and a reward for their consistent effort, perseverance and enthusiasm over the last three years!

All the junior athletes who have competed this season have done so with enthusiasm and have displayed excellent team spirit. They have represented the club in an admirable way and have been a pleasure to support.

* Steve Carragher further improved the fastest 5k of the year by a Harrier at the Sunderland 5k on Wednesday, July 13, thanks to a blistering 16.41!

Also taking part were Dominic Harris and Mark Hume. Well done to Dom who knocked a few more seconds off his 5k best to finish in 18.20, whilst Mark, from the male 70 category, was round in 31.51.

On Saturday, July 16 Druridge Bay Parkrun celebrated its 100th event! There was the usual excellent run from Carole Page, though she was unable to make it a fourth straight win in the race. She did, however, improve on her time from last week to finish in 21.31 and was 3rd female finisher. Next Harrier home was Sarah Gray, followed by Samantha Fender.

Results: 26-Carole Page 21.31; 34-Sarah Gray 22.34 (65.66%); 69-Kim Bronze 25.45 (59.16%); 78-Samantha Fender 26.28; 96-John Ross 27.47 (57.23%); 130-Jayne McKenna 30.27; 143-Mark Hume 32.05; 157-Nell Gair 33.30.

The fastest time of the day by a Harrier came courtesy of Ross Anderson at Gateshead. Ross finished fifth overall in 18.52.

At Workington both Richard and Gay Eastoe were victorious in their aged 60 categories. Richard finished 29th in 22.26 and Gay came 45th in 25.33.

Finally Kirsty Steed took part in the Durham Parkrun finishing 282nd in 48.26.

At the opposite end of the running spectrum from 5ks many, many congratulations to Harriers Ian McAllister and Shelley Coates for completing the Saint Cuthberts Way 100k race that day.

The race starts at Holy Island and ends at Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

Ian finished this mammoth race in 43rd place in 18.51.35, whilst Shelley was 50th in 19.36.39!