Newburn River Run, 15th June 2022

Summer arrived just in time to make it a very warm night for this year’s Newburn River Run, a 5 mile race along the Tyne Valley. Heather Steel and Laurie Johnson were the entrants from Claremont and they finished very close together, Laurie just pipping Heather by 2 places.

The following is a report from Laurie:

“On a warm, sunny Wednesday evening, around 230 runners assembled by the riverbank for Elswick Harriers annual Newburn River Run. No fewer than 46(!) of these were Saltwell Harriers, using the run for their own club race.

Traditionally the course has taken in both sides of the Tyne, heading East towards Wylam and crossing the bridge there. However, due to erosion on the south bank, a new 5 mile out-and-back course along the freshly surfaced waggonway had been devised for this years event.

The first mile was a congested affair, with runners funnelling along the dusty river path. Things started to open out once the newly laid path was reached.

It was a little on the warm side, with many grateful for the water station just before the half-way turning point. Thankfully the path is lined by trees, meaning we were at least nicely shaded for the duration of the race.

Heather Steel and I were the only Claremonters participating (though we bumped into Anthony Liddle, still a Claremonter but who now has Morpeth Harriers as his first claim club, pre-race), and after trading places two or three times during the race, we finished within seconds of each other.

A lovely, bucolic setting for summery evening run by the river, with a goody bag, sandwich and crisps thrown in at the end.”

Position	Runner	Time
83	Laurie Johnson	34:57
85	Heather Steel	35:05