North Shields Poly Grand Prix #2, 4th October 2022

A lovely mild evening greeted the assembled runners for the first ‘proper’ grand-prix handicap race of the season at Whitley Bay, the forecast rain and wind considerately holding fire. A great relief to those who’d experienced the previous October’s fixture, which saw Rose Hawskwood practically swim her way to victory in the heart of a raging storm.

10 of our 16 sky-blues are picking up where they left off from last season, with Ben Hardy and Rachel Hurdman taking on the darkened promenade for the first time tonight. The mainly flat course follows the road past the links, before turning off at Spanish City. After ambling along the promenade for a few minutes, there is a brief dip down to sea level, before surging up the ramp back to the prom, and returning north to the start, this time taking in the beach-side of the links.

It was a strong turn-out for our teams, with only 4 runners absent due to a mixture of injury, work and holidays. The race started at 7pm, with Paul Robinson the final Claremonter to cross the start line at around 7:20. Everyone managed to navigate the ‘black spots’ down by the sea, where illumination is patchy at best, without incident.

Close to 200 people were taking part this evening, making for a crowded final stretch along the prom as various handicaps coalesced. The turn back up to the main road came later than expected compared to last year’s route, which caught a few of us off guard as we were confronted with the finish funnel a good few hundred metres earlier than usual! A welcome change however, as it eliminates the dreaded uphill slog past the Briar Dene pub to the end.

Massive well done to Ben, leading the club home in a fantastic 18^th place! Congratulations to everyone on their fantastic runs, hardened veterans and newcomers alike seemed to agree it had been a good one. Especially heartening to see Mark Anderson back, after several frustrating months out with achilles injuries. Despite obvious rustiness, Mark still put in a characteristically swift shift, finishing as 3^rd fastest Claremonter.

It may only be 2 races into the series, but some impressive performances (and admittedly better luck with fewer absentees) have left ‘The Full Claremonty’ sitting in a dizzying 2^nd place in the overall team standings, with ‘Rock’s Stars’ a little further back.

Special mention to Tara Hipwood and Nicki O’Brien, who’d run half-marathons at Cardiff and Kielder barely 48 hours before, and Nina Jensen for showing up after running the full marathon distance at the latter! As ever, Nina showed little sign of weariness to knock out another quality effort.

There are two sets of results below. The first shows the times and positions in the race itself, and the second shows the Grand Prix positions after the first two events.

Points are awarded according to finishing position (1 point for 1st place, 2 for 2nd etc.) with points penalties for no-show’s (180 points per runner for this fixture).

Race Results
Position	Runner	Gun Time	Chip Time
18	Ben Hardy	40:34	23:24
39	Laurie Johnson	41:01	22:11
43	David Roberts	41:07	23:57
62	Paul Robinson	41:28	21:38
69	Luke Woodend	41:32	28:22
88	Nicki O’Brien	41:50	24:20
90	Maria Dueñas	41:52	24:22
92	Rachel Hurdman	41:56	29:26
98	Nina Jensen	42:03	26:33
99	Mark Anderson	42:04	22:34
103	Tara Hipwood	42:07	28:37
150	Rose Hawkswood	44:08	37:18

Grand Prix Standings (after 2 rounds)
Position	Runner	Team	Points (races)
4	David Roberts	The Full Claremonty	52 (2)
12	Laurie Johnson	The Full Claremonty	95 (2)
15	Tara Hipwood	The Full Claremonty	105 (2)
21	Maria Dueñas	Rock’s Stars	112 (2)
39	Nicki O’Brien	The Full Claremonty	141 (2)
58	Paul Robinson	Rock’s Stars	161 (2)
63	Ben Hardy	The Full Claremonty	165 (2)
68	Nina Jensen	The Full Claremonty	174 (2)
109	Tom Tinsley	The Full Claremonty	225 (1)
120	Luke Woodend	Rock’s Stars	230 (2)
173	Rachel Hurdman	The Full Claremonty	282 (1)
179	Mark Anderson	Rock’s Stars	289 (1)
194	Rose Hawkswood	Rock’s Stars	306 (2)
211	Lena Webster-Costella	Rock’s Stars	335 (1)
–	Jacob Easton	Rock’s Stars	370 (0)
–	Janet Palmer	Rock’s Stars	370 (0)

Grand Prix Standings (after 2 rounds)
Position	Team	Points
2	The Full Claremonty	297
27	Rock’s Stars	752