Summer Grand Prix 2021

First of all, just how good was that?!?
After a Covid enforced 2 year hiatus, our Summer Grand Prix came back with a bang, and a bloody brilliant bang at that!
It seemed like a small army of Green and Gold had descended on the Rising Sun, whether that was to to run, compete or cheer each other on…
Sometimes you forget how special this club is! 💚💛

But you’ve not opened this to read me getting a tad emotional at it all, you want to know how our 47 runners took flight around the 2 mile, multi-terrain route.
The racing conditions were perfect and even the handicapper was in an unusually generous mood.
There were plenty of new faces, familiar friends and even the odd returning club legend or 2 poised at the starting line.

In terms of results there could only be 1 one winner, a young man, who despite being injured actually asked for his handicap to be reduced!

🏆 Matthew O’Donnell
🥈 Rob McMahon
🥉 Elaine Davidson

As for fastest times, Tom Sursham continued his blistering form recording 10:39, with Emily James leading the ladies home and following up her 5k PB last week, with a 13:45.
Our juniors impressed once again, with Hugh Fenwick and Megan Pattinson topping the charts with 13:36 and 14:02 respectively.

The rest of you all contributed to a brilliant night full of smiles, sprint finishes and blossoming rivalries. You should all be thoroughly proud of yourselves in making it such a special night.

You can find the full results here;

I’d like to shout out to Ami Welch on her first night running with us, it was always going to be a baptism of fire. However, in her excitement she turned off route, unbeknownst to her, following a non-Wallsend runner. She still completed the course, albeit with an additional .77 mile to her name, showing true Green and Gold tenacity, finishing to a rapturous reception.
We hope you’ll be back at our next one Ami 🤞

Finally a huge thank you to all the volunteers, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible to have such a brilliant night.
There’s to many of you to name and I’ll only end up forgetting one of you if I tried!

See you at the next one… Watch this space! 💚💛