Good Friday Relays

I believe that the Good Friday Relays is something of an institution in the North East running calendar, but this was my first experience of the event.  I have to say that it was very well organised by Elswick Harriers, everything running smoothly and on time.  My other early impression was that average age of the runners was much lower than at a Harrier League event, and not only were they younger but they were faster as well.  As if to emphasise this point, Morpeth Harrier’s Ladies team were led home to victory by Olympic 1500m finalist Laura Weightman.

The course starts on the road and goes down a bit of a hill, before rounding a roundabout and coming back past the start.  This means that there is a lot of support for s stretch and then it turns the corner onto a path lined with trees on both sides.  This was a nice stretch to run on – dry underfoot and protected from the elements by the trees.  The third leg runners in the men’s race needed that protection as our interminable winter decided to deliver a short sharp blizzard of snow, though it was the poor runners waiting to start the 4^th leg in their vests that I felt sorry for.

I also discovered that 2.2 miles is a hard distance.  Being shorter than what we normally run, the temptation is to push yourself as hard as you can and then see just how long this lasts.  In my case that is about a mile and a half!  Still I was more than happy with my time.

Claremont had two Ladies and two Men’s teams – a Senior one and a Vet one, but in both cases the Seniors included Vets to make up the numbers.  I think that we all posted respectable times and can be happy with our efforts.

The Senior Ladies were a very respectable 17th out of 38 Senior teams.  The Mens Veterans were also 17th but out of 28.