NS Poly Grand Prix, 7th April 2026

After last year’s shortened edition, tonight’s Grand Prix finale took place on the traditional course, an 8.4km/5.2 mile out-and-back from St Mary’s Lighthouse, a bigger feat of endurance than the 5.5km we run for the rest of the season.

We are often at the mercy of the coastal wind’s whims during this series, and were treated to a pretty textbook offering on this occasion: draining headwind on the way out, coasting back on an appreciated tailwind to the finish.

As ever, it was nice to actually be running in daylight after a long winter, and wind aside, it was a pleasant, clear-skied night for it. Unfortunately, with Easter holidays one of the main culprits, we had our lowest turnout of the season, with only 11 of a possible 24 Claremonters making it to the start line. Unlike the last couple of years, none of our teams were in with a shout of a podium finish, so it didn’t matter too much.

It’s always an impressive dash to the finish, along the curving promenade with the lighthouse looming into view as the last corner is rounded, people straining to overtake and claw back a few crucial positions. Three of our runners finished impressively high up on the night, with Cate Walker first across the line in 10^th. Lena Lou was close, just 4 places behind, and true to recent form, improved her previous course best by over 15 minutes! Anna Round finished well in 26^th, with a large gap to the next Claremont Road Runner. Roberto Marzo was our fastest finisher on the night, with a typically strong run.

Everyone safely home, we gathered for the standard windswept group photo, before some of us headed off for the end-of-season buffet at Cullercoats Crescent Club. It seemed it wasn’t just our teams that were depleted, with well over 100 runners missing, and this was reflected in a seemingly smaller attendance at the awards presentation. There was the usual excellent spread, with curry (both chicken and vegan) and pulled pork the highlights.

Once everyone was satisfied, the awards began. Lena collected her customary NSP training top alongside Peter, the pair having finished 3^rd and 1^st respectively back in November’s race. An absent Dave Roberts was also rewarded on points scored in the opening 10k in August.

Vaughan and Ivan, chief organiser and handicapper, confirmed they were handing over the reigns for next year, after diligently pulling everything together (and suffering the abuse that comes with it!) for the best part of a decade, and received deserved riotous applause. Another heart-warming moment occurred, when a Poly athlete and Grand Prix stalwart currently undergoing cancer treatment, was the recipient of one of the raffle prizes.

The Grand Prix series is a fun way to ‘race yourself’ as well as others in a handicap format, on a fast, flat course, over six months of the year, gauging your own progress each month, with potential team and individual rewards a nice side-benefit. Would recommend considering next season if you’ve yet to try it out.

As is my wont, some stats to round off the season.

• Tara Hipwood, Rose Hawkswood and Peter Noble were the only Claremonters to run in all 7 events this season, with a further 8 runners (Aaron, Alex, Anna, Cate, Dave, Dean, Lena, Nicki) only missing 1.
• Sadly there’s often a casualty in there somewhere, Anton Mirafsari and Tom Tinsley both belatedly transferred their places to Terry Franklin and Zoë Jukes, with injuries meaning neither took part after running in August and September.
• In the individual league table, Dean O’Brien stayed ensconced in the top 5 from November onwards, climbing to 2^nd in February, dropping to 3^rd in March, and perhaps only slipping out of the top 3 to finish 5^th due to missing the final race. Anna Round was in the final race, and her surging run saw her jump up to end in 10^th place.
• In terms of individual races, notable top 10 finishes saw Peter and Lena Lou finish in 1^st and 3^rd in November, after Peter had already come 5^th in September. Alex Harding was 6^th in February, Rose Hawkswood 10^th in March.
• After having teams occupy each podium place over the last two seasons, the highest position any of our teams reached this time was The Full Claremonty climbing to 10^th in March. They finished in 11^th, with Rock’s Stars 16^th and True Blood Blues 20^th (out of 36).
• As mentioned previously, only 11 turned out for the final race, but previous months saw us consistently hover between 19 and 16 runners in attendance.
• Harry Mawdsley was, predictably, the fastest of our runners on every occasion he took part, his fastest time of 18:42 (that’s around 5:30 mile pace!) coming in November. For context, the course record is an eye-watering 17:15.

_{For some reason, this month’s results only give the ‘finishing minute’ for the gun time.}

Position	Team*	Runner	Race Time	Actual Time
10	TBB	Cate Walker	52	41:44
14	RS	Lena Lou	52	37:26
26	TFC	Anna Round	53	40:53
71	RS	Laurie Johnson	55	36:02
106	RS	Tara Hipwood	56	40:33
108	TFC	Roberto Marzo	56	32:36
125	TBB	Janet Palmer	56	50:42
129	TFC	Rose Hawkswood	56	43:42
142	RS	Nina Jensen	57	41:48
144	TBB	Peter Noble	57	36:58
152	TBB	Aaron Mansell	58	50:21

_{* TFC=The Full Claremonty, TBB=True Blood Blues, RS=Rock’s Stars}