Claremont @ Weetslade, 25th June 2025
As ever, the sun shone on Lockey Park and the Weetslade Country Park for our annual relay. While I am sure the good weather was appreciated by all the volunteers and spectators, I think the runners might have welcomed a cooler evening as they were, to quote Kate Bush, “Running up that Hill”.
So well done to our 3 teams, many of whom were Weetslade debutants! One of our runners, Peter Noble, provided this fantastic account of his experience:
“As a relatively new member of Claremont Road Runners, I’d been looking forward to our much talked about Weetslade Relays and when I found out I’d been chosen to run I felt a mix of excitement, pride and – having recce’d the course and seen that hill – a challenge ahead!
Arriving at Lockey Park early doors, the atmosphere was already buzzing with all the clubs swarming in and lots of familiar faces. I was greeted as I always am from the Claremont team, with smiles and Laurie handing me my race number. After a bit of a race strategy chat with Anton – we settled on basically just leg it until you get to the hill, leg it up the hill then hang on! – my next thought was warm-up.
Myself, Katy and Aaron had a nice team jog around most of the course to get a feel for it, once again taking in the size of the hill, and I felt more at ease and ready to go. After having a chat with volunteers and getting some photos I realised I only had about five minutes until race start! As the sun was shining and it was pretty humid, I ran back to the clubhouse to get a quick drink and then on to the race.
Whenever I am running first leg and find myself in the starting pen with either Harry or Mark, my first thoughts are how long I can stay close to them. I know they will disappear from view eventually but I have to keep them in sight as long as I can!
Fantastic news from our race director Rose before we began the race, £3 from every team entry was going to our selected charity – The Great North Children’s Hospital Fund and then, bang – we were off. I got a bit stuck behind everyone at first and thought I need to find a way out. I managed to squeeze through on the inside of the first turn and then started to find my stride.
The mixed terrain makes this course more of a challenge than the other relays I’ve done and definitely more fun. I was happy to be passing a few runners early doors and also still having Mark in sight approaching the hill. I was determined not to let that hill kill me off and gave a good effort to the top, even overtaking a few! I knew from our recce, the view from the top is nice but I didn’t have time to think about it this time, I was starting to feel it now and Mark was long gone. Fortunately the next section was a nice long downhill so I just tried to keep the legs moving at a good pace.
I was starting to feel the heat and humidity now and the next section was the hardest, a hairpin turn followed by some undulating trail path. A couple of runners passed me at this point but cheers from all the Claremont team kept me going and a shout to pick my legs up made me realise I had more energy in the bank.
After turning the corner off the trail path I managed to finish strong along the grassy straight, cross the finish line, into the funnel and I was spent! After a nice recovery sit down, there was great camaraderie amongst the teams with everyone congratulating all the finishers and chatting.
After cheering the rest of the Claremont runners on, the end of the race showed the best of the Claremont spirit, with Yana, who gave an immense effort in her leg, having a difficult moment. Everyone still present jumped into action to support her, including a couple of resident Claremont doctors, Lily & Katy, on hand with their medical expertise! We were all happy to see Yana up and smiling not long after that.
My biggest takeaway from Weetslade – We’d love to win a race but there’s also pride in being part of a club that champions fun, inclusivity, teamwork and supporting each other, not just PB’s.”
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 25 | Mark Anderson Lily Crouzier Luke O’Neill Team Time | 15:35 18:00 16:11 49:46 |
| 74 | Peter Noble Aaron Mansell Katy Adkins Team Time | 17:05 21:32 20:11 58:48 |
| 93 | Jim Crinnion Jo Perthen Yana Bevan Team Time | 18:10 23:09 21:57 63:16 |
