North Tyneside 10k, 31st March 2024
As for the Good Friday Relays, the weather was very kind to us again for this Easter Sunday morning 10K in sunny North Tyneside. Indeed, it was a pleasant surprise to be able to congregate outside in our vests and t-shirts as opposed to cramming into the Sports Centre to keep warm!
The route was the same as last year, so starting with an immediate downhill to the river. So, although it is a fast start, the number of runners prevents you from getting carried away too much (as I always used to do on the early, steeper downhill on the old course!). Passing the Fish Quay, the field then started to spread out as we headed towards the mouth of the Tyne. I had started with Laurie Johnson and tried to see if I could spot him further ahead, but to no avail. He was way further up the field on his way to an excellent time of 38:38 – thus absolutely smashing his previous time in this race of 45 minutes. It just shows the amazing progress he has made in the last couple of years.
The turn up to Tynemouth Priory is the first real challenge as it is quite a steep climb, then it is fairly plain sailing through Tynemouth to Cullercoats and Whitley Bay. There was a fair amount of encouragement from the spectators, particularly around the Spanish City and then the final 2K is along the Links to the finish near St Mary’s Island. By now I was starting to tire, but knew that I was on for a decent time, so gritted my teeth and tried to maintain my pace. I seemed to have a constant stream of runners passing me in the last 800m or so, and I was glad to cross the line.
A look at my watch, happy with that, collect t-shirt, drink of water and I could relax in the unexpected sunshine and welcome other Claremont Road Runners in as they crossed the line. There were some very good performances too – Lynne Cornell finished 3rd in her age group and Aoife Monaghan went under 50 minutes for the first time and Gill Milne broke the hour barrier (after injury and very little training). I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I was 1st in my age category – happy days!
Position | Runner | Time |
78 | Laurie Johnson | 38:38 |
136 | Eric Adams | 41:06 |
156 | Tom Tinsley (1st VM65) | 41:42 |
270 | Chris Jones | 44:17 |
363 | Mungai Wairia | 46:09 |
438 | Aaron Mansell | 47:29 |
449 | Lynne Cornell (3rd VF60) | 47:38 |
521 | Aoífe Monaghan | 49:02 |
526 | Nina Jensen | 49:06 |
647 | Liz Denyer | 51:06 |
786 | Tara Hipwood | 53:10 |
868 | Brian Hegarty | 54:35 |
1024 | Hazel Juggins | 57:01 |
1127 | Janet Palmer | 58:29 |
1220 | Gill Milne | 59:57 |
1787 | Lena Lou | 75:18 |