Gordon Smith Relays, 8th May 2024
A sunny, summery feel for this year’s Gordon Smith Relays, and we matched our Good Friday turnout, fielding 11 teams (though this time men and women were on equal footing, with 3 to a team). After last week’s mental gymnastics regarding age group rules, this one was pretty straightforward: each team of 3 must contain one ‘veteran’ (over 35 for women, 40 for men). Seeing as our vets tend to outnumber the youngsters, this didn’t present a problem!
There was a good atmosphere around the start, as people filtered through, the sunny conditions no doubt contributing to the positive mood. Come the start of the women’s race however, we were still waiting on one runner, unfortunately lost in the labyrinth of the Silverlink, with a phone about to run out of battery. Thankfully, after half an hour of running around in increasing desperation, Cate was eventually rescued by a passing Heaton Harrier, and escorted to the start. A quick switch moving Nicki up to second leg allowed some time for deep breaths, as well as admirable, calming support from teammates, and a complete and relatively composed team was able to run out successfully.
To no-one’s surprise, Mark Anderson was our fastest runner on the night, his now customary eye-watering pace seeing him almost a full minute quicker than his teammates. Zoë Jukes had an excellent run, making her debut in a Claremont vest on what must have been a slightly daunting first leg, and kudos to Hazel Juggins, stepping in as sub with a couple of days notice. Our fastest women’s team placed an impressive 16th out of 78!
Running on last leg, I experienced some initial minor discomfort from my current ‘niggle’, but it eased off fairly swiftly. It was an isolated run, those ahead mere distant specks, with a Ponteland man overtaking me in the woods just before the finishing straight. As mentioned, the conditions were very pleasant, though the headwind up New York Road was a little stronger than I would have liked, and there were welcome pockets of Claremonters cheering all around the course, most of whom I didn’t actually see due to being in race-tunnel-vision mode. I was slightly disappointed at my pace being somewhat down from Good Friday, though after not running much for the last few weeks, it was perhaps understandable. It was at least an improvement on last year’s performance.
Well done to our various runners who took photos on the night, especially Aoífe Monaghan, present supporting despite having had to drop out from running last week. Gill’s absence was ably compensated for by delicious offerings from Lynne, Hazel and Chloe (apologies if I’ve missed anyone), another successful event for Claremont.
| Women | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 16 | Sarah Kerr Sonja Fenske Kimberley Metson Team Time | 12:34 13:43 13:05 39:22 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 28 | Holly Porter Nicki O’Brien Cate Walker Team Time | 13:36 13:37 15:20 42:33 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 39 | Chloe Glover Julie Cross Anneliza Andreadi Team Time | 14:22 14:42 16:11 45:15 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 52 | Tara Hipwood Hazel Juggins Lucy Keating Team Time | 15:43 16:28 15:22 47:33 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 61 | Liz Denyer Anna Harvey Bluemel Lynne Cornell Team Time | 16:15 18:12 15:15 49:42 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 64 | Sophie Richardson Lena Lou Lucy Ward Team Time | 16:41 19:56 15:44 52:21 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 66 | Zoë Jukes Ann Smith Niamh Garratt Team Time | 17:26 18:59 16:05 52:30 |
| Men | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 31 | Mark Anderson Roberto Marzo Laurie Johnson Team Time | 11:01 11:58 12:05 35:04 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 62 | Paul Robinson Aaron Mansell Daniel Orlopp Team Time | 11:59 13:43 12:59 38:41 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 81 | Jim Crinnion David Devennie Howard Maclennan Team Time | 13:06 16:17 15:06 44:29 |
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 84 | Dean O’Brien Eddie Smith Jamie Harding Team Time | 14:05 15:53 15:07 45:05 |
