Now that the national lockdown restrictions are gradually easing, we have restarted club sessions in groups of up to 6. As Sports Central is still closed, we are using the bandstand in Exhibition Park as our meeting point and base, though some interval sessions will start at different locations. We are trialling Spond as the …

Kris Axon has been out doing his stuff on the trails of North Yorkshire again, winning the Hardmoor Trails 13.1 Trail Race. Billed as a half-marathon, it is actually a gruelling 16.5 miles (always knew they couldn’t count in Yorkshire!), with a total climb of 3,630 feet. I would be impressed if I could get …

Catherine Young has recently run in a couple of contrasting 10K races. Firstly she went down to Dalton Park on a bitterly cold, windy day to tackle a tough course that ends with a steep climb! This Sunday, 25th April, Catherine went to Teesside for the Middlesbrough Endeavour Graded 10K. Much better weather and a …

Not content with just running, Michael Teasdale and Julie Cross entered a run-bike-run duathlon at Derwent Reservoir. This is what Michael had to say: “It was great to be doing an actual, non-virtual event (funnily enough the last event I did pre-COVID was another duathlon – Try on the Tyne). The ride at Derwent Reservoir …

Even if we couldn’t run the handicap as usual, it was nice that we could run in groups of up to 6 and a number of us took advantage of this to start together and have an element of competition over the hills on the “real” Town Moor course. Others chose their own 5K route …

Richard and Marie Slack have been out racing again around Raby Castle in County Durham. It is a beautiful venue and sounds like a really nice course, where I am sure the local deer population will have added to the splendour of the views. “Another Sunday in freer times, and the first of many held-over …

Three hardy Claremonters headed down to North Yorkshire to brave the weather for the Swainby Sweep Fell Race. A big well done to all 3 and congratulations to Kris Axon on winning the race. This report from Richard Slack: “Great pleasure to again write a race report for the club!  And what a delightful trail …

Once again, the Good Friday Relays was a virtual event with competitors running 2 miles on a course of their own choosing. There were fewer Claremont teams than in other virtual relays, perhaps because virtual race fatigue has set in. Or maybe it was because we had just had our own 2 mile challenge. We …

For our latest, and perhaps final, lockdown amusement, we had a bit of fun with blind dates! Our Cilla (aka Nina) and our Graham (aka Tom) drew random pairs of runners to on a “blind date”. The idea was that each person would run 2 miles as quickly, turning the blind date into a speed …

Now that we are gradually coming out of lockdown and can start running again in groups of 6 for the first time since before Christmas, I thought it time to look back at what we had done to keep ourselves fit and amused. We started the year by running from Land’s End to John O’Groats …

How long does it take to play a game of Snakes and Ladders? In Claremont Road Runners case, 24 days! Our latest lockdown challenge saw the Lads take on the Lasses in a game of virtual Snakes and Ladders. The idea was that the roll of the dice was based on the average mileage run …