NS Poly Grand Prix 6, 6th February 2024

Thankfully the recent strong winds dropped to no more than a fairly stiff breeze, though the temperature also dropped as the runners assembled at Whitley Bay for this monthly, handicapped race at the coast.

There were some excellent individual performances from the Claremont contingent. Anneliza Andreadi had a superb run to finish in 5th position; Laurie Johnson absolutely smashed it, running at an average pace of 5:50 per mile to plough through the field and finish 15th; Alex Harding also made the top 20, and Aoife Monaghan got a course PB. These performances contributed to a very good night for the 3 Claremont teams, who now sit in the first 3 positions in the team competition. The 3rd Wheelers lead, followed by The Full Claremonty with Rock’s Stars just behind.

In the individual rankings, Holly Porter is rewarded for her consistency by being in 7th place overall, with Alex, Rachel Hurdman and Laurie joining her in the top 20.

My own night was a bit less successful. Feeling a bit sorry for myself as I was sniffing and sneezing and not feeling my best, I jogged down to the start line for 7pm. I was chatting to the other Claremonters and keeping myself warm as I waited for my start time to be called. Then, one of the starters said “Make sure you have the correct number on” and called for the 9:30 runners to get ready. Suddenly I realised that I had forgotten to put my number on and it was still sitting on the shelf at home! I borrowed a phone from Dave Roberts and called Gill, hoping that she could at least have my number and pins ready for me – no answer! Panic set in and I put my head torch on and set off at pace through the darkness of Briardene as the shortest way back. Just as I was turning into our street, there was Gill in the car with my number and pins on the front seat – she had noticed the missed call and rung Dave. She dropped me as near to the start as possible, I tied my hoodie to the fence and started trying to pin my number on. 18:10 was called – I was 18:30. I had managed to get the two bottom pins on when my group set off. Still fumbling with the pins, I dropped one and was frantically trying to attach my remaining one at the top, when I decided to give in as my fellow 18:30 starters were already several metres in front!

I pushed on and must have been running a reasonable pace as I caught 2 of my group up well before the Spanish City, though I couldn’t check my speed as I had only just, belatedly, started my watch. We had caught a couple of other runners but the fasties started catching us as we descended into the darkness of the sea front, before the climb up and the turn for home. Now we were running into the wind, which probably slowed me a bit, and Izzy Neatrour, who is running brilliantly at the moment, caught me. I was just hanging on to her tail when Laurie sped past both of us, looking very strong indeed.

As we ran along the prom, I overtook, and was overtaken by, other Claremonters, but I was starting to feel it in my legs and on my chest. I passed Nicki O’Brien and commented to this effect and, indeed, competitiveness had gone from me and I was definitely in “don’t care about the time, just finish” mode. Nicki, however, is made of sterner stuff and got back to just pip me on the line. It was my slowest time of the season, but I possibly ran my fastest kilometre going back for my number!

The post-race photo confirmed that it was the best turnout of the season with 24 out of a possible 25 of the club running. So after a bit more chat, comparing runs etc, it was agreed to reconvene at the Toby Carvery in Shiremoor for re-fuelling. I set off on my cooldown jog back home to collect the car and join the diners. Halfway there, I realised that I didn’t have my Claremont hoodie on. So, back down to the front I went, where the good people of North Shields Poly were packing up. They had seen the hoodie and put it in the van. Thanking them profusely, I once again set off for home. A nice lady in a red car stopped to let me use the zebra crossing – it was Julie Cross so I cadged a lift!

We reconvened over plates piled high and much sniffing and coughing confirmed that I wasn’t the only one below par – so it makes the top of the table performances even more impressive.

There was one final embarrassment. As we were leaving, Laurie realised that he was wearing my hoodie and it was his that I had collected from the back of the van. We duly swapped and went home with, thankfully, no further incident. I promise to be better prepared next month!

Please note that Roberto Marzo ran but, for some reason, he is not in the results. We believe that he was 2 places behind Mark Anderson, which will push the rest of us down one.

Position	Team	Runner	Race Time	Actual Time
5	TFC	Anneliza Andreadi	38:55	27:25
15	RS	Laurie Johnson	40:02	20:12
17	T3W	Alex Harding	40:11	25:39
32	J&TH	Aoife Monaghan	40:31	26:01
40	TFC	Rose Hawkswood	40:36	34:46
45	T3W	Holly Porter	40:38	24:08
51	RS	Rachel Hurdman	40:45	27:35
59	TFC	Tara Hipwood	40:49	27:39
66	T3W	Alexia O’Rourke	40:52	32:22
70	T3W	Janet Palmer	49:53	31:43
81	TFC	Dave Roberts	40:57	23:27
103	T3W	Isabel Neatrour	41:06	22:16
121	RS	Luke Woodend	41:21	29:51
126	RS	Mark Anderson	41:26	20:16
135	TFC	Lena Lou	41:30	35:40
143	TFC	Nicki O’Brien	41:35	24:45
144	TFC	Tom Tinsley	41:35	23:05
152	T3W	Aaron Mansell	41:41	24:51
156	RS	Paul Robinson	41:44	22:14
160	TFC	Julie Cross	41:46	25:56
167	RS	Kimberley Metson	41:49	23:59
181	T3W	Kat Truong	42:06	29:16
191	RS	Nina Jensen	43:02	28:12