Prudhoe Miners Run, 3rd September

Yue Zhao, otherwise known by her Geordie name of “wor Joyce”, was the only Claremont representative in this annual 5 mile run. The race has a long history and it was, apparently, once popular with members of the town’s working men’s clubs before it died out shortly after the Second World War. Prudhoe Town Council revived the race following the London Olympics in 2012 and it is currently organised by Prudhoe Plodders.

Joyce described as a “good course”, but, being in Prudhoe, it isn’t flat. She finished in 137th place in a time of 57:07.

PS: After reading this post, Joyce sent me the following report.

“I described it as a good course, because it begins with a sharp down hill and follows up a long but mild uphill and finishes with flat. It wasn’t a boring course and was a good practice for me to manage my energy in different conditions. And, of course, it is because I got a PB for 5 miles. 

I entered this run because I wish to have a birthday resolution and I haven’t run a race more than 5k. When I saw the sign on my way to work in August and thought it would be a perfect choice: slightly longer than 5k and would be a manageable goal. 

I’m delighted with my result as I normally would need at least 1 hour to finish 5 miles. Geting 57mins is feeling great. The secret is I bench marked with a lady who is a retired teacher used to work in Prudhoe. She was behind of me in the beginning when it was down hill but over took me when the long uphill started. I motivated myself to try to keep the same distance with her and not to let the gap getting bigger. She was all the way in front of me until the last flat part. I was trying my best to catch up with her and even over took her just 200 meter in front of the finish line.  ( Hence, the best pace is the last 0.2km with 5.24/km.  )

I was bravely enough to speak to her afterwards to tell her that she was my bench mark and motivation.  She was unsatisfied of herself when she recognized me and said she was doing very well on the uphill and shouldn’t let me overtake just in front of the finish line.  

Overall, it was a good experience and might attend it again. However, if you are looking for a nice goody bag, this would not be the one. As there wasn’t a T-shirt but a sponsors’ mug. LOL

Hope this could be a help to anyone wants to run the event.”

Well done, Joyce.