Leazes Park was off this week due to a food festival, giving regulars the chance to roam. Run directors Rose Hawkswood and David Lydall took a short hop south with Tara Hipwood to Fulwell Quarry, where they joined Catherine Young, Tara and Catherine finishing 3rd and 1st lady respectively.
Town Moor saw a hefty turnout, with 12 Claremonters in attendance, Lily Crouzier the only one to PB. We’ll happily count José Gallego Parilla among this number, briefly back in town after returning to his native Spain last year.
Another 1st lady for Sarah Kerr at Rising Sun. Mark Anderson finished 2nd overall, Nicki O’Brien and Eddie Smith joining him in earning course PB’s. There was a lot of coastal action, with further course PB’s for Lena Lou at Druridge Bay, Peter Noble at Whitley Bay, and Chris Jones in the shadow of Alnwick Castle. Ailsa Ralph smashed herself a parkrun PB in Ashington, and Jim Crinnion hit a nice round 150 parkruns not-out at South Shields.
Towards the opposite coast, Paul Robinson and Luke Woodend both pitched up at a “pancake flat” Penrith, and were rewarded with some swift times. A little further south, David Devennie returned to the familiar Lytham Hall near Blackpool.
We had a couple of overseas travellers this week, Alex Taylor rocking up in Poland’s fifth-largest city to ‘do the Poznan’ (one for the non-football fans to Google). However, in arguably the most impressive performance of the day, evergreen Joyce Archibold was at the ever-popular Zuiderpark in the Netherlands. Not only did Joyce finish as the top runner in a field of 221 based on age grade, said age-grading was over 99%, putting Joyce only a matter of seconds behind the fastest ever time by a woman in her age group!
There was a foreign trip of sorts for myself and Cate Walker, visiting family in Edinburgh. We opted for Holyrood, a much-vaunted course that skirts around the edges of Arthur’s Seat in a single loop. It lived up to everything we’d been told, both good and… challenging.
Starting on the flat Queens Drive, the road quickly turns up a hill that winds round the base of Arthur’s Seat, spending approximately the first mile steadily ascending 87 metres/285ft. After puffing our way to the top of that climb, it levelled out, and the hillside route offered the promised breathtaking and panoramic views of the city, throwing in a scenic loch for good measure.
Then the trade-off: a very long and steep descent, as we hammered downhill for what felt like ages, before levelling off again with a few hundred metres to go, finishing on the grass in sight of the start line. As we’d later find out, Sonja Fenske was running the same course, but we missed each other in the 500-plus throng. Would recommend for the views alone, the first hill is honestly over and done with quicker than you’d think!
