Athletics:

Peter had an excellent race to finish 11th in a time of 36.24. Patrick Robson once again had a fine run to finish in 69th place in 42.30. First lady home for the club was the very consistent Sue Milburn who ran 42.39 to finish in 71st place. Performance of the day goes to our over 65 runner Ray Todd who had a magnificent run to come home in a super time of 47.37 and in 120th place.

Dave McDonald now running regularly came back in 139th place in 48.50,Helen Wright ran well and finished in 193rd place in 54.57, Catherine Mustill improving with every run finished in 216th place in 61 minutes.

At the Bowes show trail race on September 13 three Aycliffe runs took part. Peter Milburn had a great run to finish in second place in 38.28, not to be outdone George Reid put in a top performance to finish fifth in 41.00. In the junior race Matthew Bell finished in second place in a quick time of 11.00.

The 23rd running of the Great North Run saw 11 Aycliffe runners take part, two of the clubs runners John Burnside and Dave Middleton have now ran all 23 Great North runs a fine achievement in itself. First back for the club was Michael O' Sullivan who ran a personnel best time of 1.24.47 a great effort from the clubs distance runner. Andy Gaskarth found himself in a terrible starting position right in amongst the masses and had a fight on his hands after clocking 25minutes for the first three miles, but Andy put in a super quick remaining ten miles to finish in 1.27.23. Another top performer on the day was Mick Beadle who dug in to finish with a fine time of 1.33.12. Other Aycliffe finishes were Patrick Robson in a good time 1.34, John Burnside 1.35, Linda Connelly 1.49, Dave McDonald 1.49, Dave McKenzie 1.51, Dave Middleton 1.51, Lindsay Kay 1.57, and Dawn Gillies 1.59.

At the Junior Great North run Lewis Moses excelled with an excellent 3rd place, in his last attempt at this race, out of the 6,000 runners taking part.

Lewis 15.39 battled it out with the eventual winner Nathan Shrub of Morpeth 15.20and second placed Martin Wilson of Jarrow 15.24, to record his best placing in this event.

Other places for the club in this race were, Chris Kerr 19th in 17.02, Neil Robinson 20th in 17.04, 11 year old Chris Gaffney finished in 20.00 and nine-year-olds Ross Lathan 22.00 and Elliot Coatsworth 31.00 made up the team.

Ross Lathan was the club's only competitor at the Sunderland Harriers cross country for u11 runners, where he finished an excellent 15th in 10.34 over the 2k distance against many older boys.

Crook & District

At the Great North Run John Dennis was first home for the club in a time of 85m 10sec followed by Peter Shuttleworth 89-12, Martin Lowrie 89-50, Gerry Hehir 91-15 and Paul Charlton 91-40.

The previous day David Orr ran an excellent 24.29 for the Junior Great North Run, closely followed by sister Katie in 25.49.

At the Stanhope Common Fell Race, the penultimate event of the Durham Dales Fell Challenge, there were good team and individual performances.

Geoff Hewitson completed the very tough race in a time of 89m 57sec followed by Gerry Hehir 90.52, Martin Lowrie 92.05, Dennis Brown was second O-50 in 98.50, Martin Harbisher 1hr 40m.05 sec and Karen Partridge was partnered round by Mike Mallen in 1hr 57 mins.

Quakers RC

There was a good attendance at the Great North Run this year. Ian Scott had yet another tremendous race to finish 89th overall in a time of 1:16:33, followed by Nick Millar who slashed a couple of minutes of his time to obtain a personal best of 1:21:09. Stevie Snook crossed the line in 1:34:37. Caroline Davies competing as an elite lady finished 36th in a time of 1:35:15.

Others: Peter Smith 1:37:38, John Ross 1:46:18, Bill Frankland, 1:53:26, Diane Vaughan 1:53:29, Julie Giblin, 2:01:58, Diane Wright 2:05:26, Beverley Snook 2:05:26 and Richard Hughes 2:30:15. More results next week.

Only a week after completing his first marathon, Andy Henderson competed in the 23 mile self navigational Lockwood Bounder LDWA event. Andy was pipped to the post to finish 2nd in an excellent time of 3:06. Isabel Evans and Helen Hancock also competed in preparation for their Karrimor Mountain Marathon in 4 weeks time. Both finished in 5:53.

Results from Sundays Stanhope Common Fell race will be issued shortly. In the meantime, the next Durham Dales Fell Race will be held on Sunday, November 2. Ayhope Skyline consists of 2155 feet over 13 miles in Hamsterley Forest. Registration and start is from the Grove car park. GR 067 299. The course will be partially marked. Over 18's only for the main race. Start time is 11am. Entry fee £4.50 (includes forest tolls and parking). A 2 mile Junior Fell Race will be held at 11.15 am.

* The Quakers Running Club train on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings, 6.30pm from Hummersknott School, Darlington. All abilities and ages welcome. For further details see www.quakersrunningclub.co.uk.

Shildon

Shildon athletes were out in force at the recent Great North Run weekend with some excellent early season performances.

Some of the junior athletes began their winter campaign in the Junior Great North Run, despite only a couple of weeks training. Khalil Thompson was first boy home for the club in 18th place. Khalil was followed by Matthew Hewitson, Jalal Thompson, Simon Hewitson and Scott Thornton. In the girls event, the club produced some excellent performances.

Thirteen-year-old Abby Suffield was 5th girl home in a time of 18:52, closely followed by new recruit Alex Snook in eight. Less than a minute behind was Abby Wilson in 15th place.

The following day, it was the turn of the seniors in the Great North Run. Paul Best continued his excellent form, that saw him win the recent Kielder 10km, with a top 100 placing, recording a time of 74:42. A few minutes later, Leigh Towers crossed the finish line in under 80 minutes. First female back for the club was Angela Roxby in just over 1:40 hr.

* The club seniors meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings at the Stadium 2000 arena, Shildon at 6.15pm. In addition, there are senior - come and try - sessions on Fridays at 6pm at the same venue. The junior middle distance group and sprint group meet on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6pm at the stadium, whilst the primary schools group meet at the Sunnydale Leisure Centre at 6pm on Wednesdays. For further details contact Neil Lomax on 01388 776676.