DK Mile 2024
The DK Mile is a series of 6, mile-long time trials, held on the first Friday of the month between April and September. It was started by Blyth Running Club in 2020, and subsequently renamed after the original course-measurer Dave Kitching after he passed away later that year.
Starting slightly further up from the start of the Blyth parkrun, runners set off in 4 waves, a minute apart, handicapped based on speed, and essentially run half of the parkrun course in reverse. As anyone who’s run by Blyth Beach will know (and it sometimes feels as if half the races in the North East are situated around this car park!) the conditions can vary wildly, depending on how windy it is.
The session, while a time trial, is designed to as near as possible replicate ‘race conditions’ to allow runners to test their speed over a mile. Four Claremont Road Runners took part in this years series, with Mark Anderson and Sarah Kerr attending all but the first session. Mark’s conservative estimate of his mile pace when entering, meant he was swiftly promoted from wave 3 to 4 (the fastest wave) after clocking amazingly fast times in May & June.
Their consistency and speed were rewarded by both winning awards for fastest in their age group categories over the series. After a calm, balmy couple of summer runs, the finale in September was suitable blustery, with thunderous clouds looming ominously as the pair were presented with their trophies.
Well done to all the volunteers at Blyth Running Club for giving their time to this once a month, for the knockdown price of £3.00 for 6 races!
| Runner | May | June | July | August | September |
| Mark Anderson (1st M50) | 5:22 | 5:15 | 5:17 | 5:14 | 5:15 |
| Sarah Kerr (1st F45) | 6:02 | 5:59 | 5:55 | 5:53 | 6:01 |
| Anton Mirafsari | 5:32 | 5:43 | 5:31 | ||
| Laurie Johnson | 5:27 | 5:23 |
