Not many athletics clubs can boast medal winners with birthdays 70 years apart, but Darlington Harriers is enjoying some outstanding successes at both ends of the age spectrum.

More than two generations separate the promising juniors who are excelling at regional level and club president Ian Barnes, the driving force and inspiration behind the highly-successful Darlington parkrun and a veteran runner who regularly represents England at international level.

Ian, who is looking forward to celebrating his 80th birthday in December, is as proud as anyone that one of the region’s oldest clubs continues to attract a new influx of members who are as determined to keep winning medals as he is.

While Ian was picking up a silver medal in the British Masters 5k championships this summer, the club’s youngsters were enjoying another season of achievement on the track. Harriers have earned an enviable reputation over the years for the quality of their junior coaching, and 2014 has been another year of celebration.

Their junior girls have swept all before them at cross-country, with a particularly talented group of Under-13s excelling at local league, county and regional levels. Stella Jones was a convincing North-East winner earlier in the year and followed up with another gold medal in the Durham Schools Championships.

Katie Noble, Lucy Erin Hunter and Ellie Phillips were also medallists at county level and there seems to be a conveyor belt of young talent coming through the ranks, with India Pentland and Megan Noble both making a big impression this season.

The cross-country success was recognised at national level when Harriers celebrated a record eight call-ups for the English National Championships at Castle Donington in Leicestershire, with Katie Noble, Lucy Erin Hunter, Stella Jones, Emily Alderson, Matthew McGuire, James Wood and Ben Tinkler all earning selection.

On the track, Lucy, Stella, Josh McClay, Reece Naisbitt, Bradley Davies, Joseph O’Hara and Sam Griffin all won medals at the North-East Championships at Gateshead.

But it’s not just the juniors who are setting the pace. Harriers’ senior group has enjoyed a welcome revival in recent months, with several talented new recruits swelling their teams in local road races and cross-country meetings.

Sue Phillips, another veteran international, sits near the top of the British rankings at the shorter road and track distances and was selected to line up on the elite start for the popular Blaydon Race from Newcastle in June.

The club also boasts two Great North Run ever-presents, Paul Kelly and Harbard Singh, who have run every edition of the world’s biggest half-marathon since it started in 1981.

Harriers don’t just run races, however. They also organise them. The club’s annual road race, the Pitstop 10k, attracts hundreds of runners to Croft Circuit every July, with Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson a regular competitor in the wheelchair race.

Croft is also the venue for one of the regular local cross-country fixtures and road relays organised by Harriers. Headquartered at Eastbourne Sports Centre off Hundens Lane, the club also hosts regular track and field meetings.

Field events are also well catered for by Harriers, whose coaching team of Robin Rutherford, Andy Woodward, Helen Bowles, ex-Scottish international high jumper Angela Richings, Caroline Auld and new recruit Tim Dredge are all qualified to give expert advice on all disciplines from jumps and throws to sprints, middle distance and hurdles.

For a club that is 123 years old and still going as strongly, the future looks brighter than ever. And they have a warm welcome for new members on their Tuesday and Thursday training nights at Eastbourne (6.00pm start).