Bridges Of The Tyne 5M 2012

Report by Luke Bryant

The 10th July saw the first running of the Bridges of the Tyne 5 mile race. It was damp and relatively cool evening which made a nice change from the humidity of recent races (though I’m not sure the spectators felt the same way!). There were 5 Claremont runners in total and we had a bit of a chat and warm up before heading off to the start. There were around 300 runners lining up which made for a bit of a hectic start as the course is quite narrow.

The route began just before the Millennium bridge  and then went down past the Copthorne Hotel. From this point on the course is quite similar to our very own winter handicap race. There seemed to be a lot of sharp turns which were quite slippy in the wet and this disrupted the rhythm a bit and slowed things down. Just before the half way point there was a short hill before we turned around and headed back the way we came. A brief section on wet grass followed (not ideal in non grippy racing flats!), then down a few steps. From this point on it was a long straight run for the final 2 miles down to the finish. This is a fast section of the course but a bit of a head wind made things tougher and I found myself running pretty much on my own at this point and so the pace began to slip. As I approached the finish I realised I needed to push on to dip under 30 minutes but I just missed out with an official time of 30.02. Not as fast as I’d hoped for but a solid outing none the less. Thanks to Lorna for her enthusiastic support on the finishing stretch!

This is a race well worth doing next year and thanks to Tyne Bridge Harriers whose organisation was excellent for their first ever event.