Tynedale Jelly Tea 10 Miler, 23rd August 2026

Mark Flynn sends us a jelly-legged report from Northumberland:

“Another Sunday morning of dragging Katherine and the kids out of bed, to stand in a field and watch me return far redder and exhausted had arrived this Sunday, and oh how happy they all were to be placed in said field this time in Matfen for the Tynedale Harriers yearly Jelly Tea 10 miler. A race that I understand, from speaking to many who have run it before, has been through many alterations and changes over the years.

As this was my first time, all I had to go off was what was placed in front of me and a handy (and as I found out, not always entirely truthful) YouTube video. I had been lucky enough to win the club’s free place, so felt the weight of expectation upon me from those who had also been in the ballot as I approached the start. Luckily I was joined by Lynne Cornell, who made up the other half of our small but determined Claremont team.

The start was down a gravel track at the side of Matfens main road, and as Lynne and I struggled to hear the starter making his announcements due to an underperforming megaphone, we hoped nothing important had been said as we were sent on our way.

The course itself was, as you can imagine for that part of Northumberland, very scenic, and much of the roads were hedge-lined, with the run passing through the villages of Stamfordham and Fenwick on the back-half, which were much welcomed changes to the long country roads.

The course was open road, but the cars that did pass were respectful and gave us runners lots of room, and a few of the cyclists gave us encouragement as they passed. The ever-increasing heat added an extra challenge to the run, but Tynedale Harriers had two well-placed drink stations at 3 and around 7/8 miles.

As the 8 mile drink station passed, I began to think that the handy YouTube video may have underplayed the mile and a half, as myself and a fellow runner from Jesmond Joggers were presented with a series of ever taller hills with slight dips in-between, before a downhill run back into Matfen and the finish line at the cricket club, to be greeted by my now slightly more awake but still unwilling support crew and some well needed jelly.”

Position	Runner	Time
52	Mark Flynn	1:20:43
64	Lynne Cornell (2nd VW60)	1:23:34