THE FINAL weekend before Christmas saw the 10K league series completed, festive prizes on offer and a parkrun anniversary being marked.

The final 10K league race of the year took place up at Saltwell, the oldest surviving race over the distance in the country. Over a fairly undulating circuit around the park, Brian McLaren finished the three lap route in 45:23 followed by Rebecca Howard (45:46), Ty Hankinson (48:22), Shaune Eland (50:56), Ed Griffiths (51:16), Rob Gillham (51:31), Margaret Hunter (54:08), David Ledgerwood (57:14), Anna Hardy (57:14), Andrew Dixon (58:44), Darryn Wood (1:04:31) and Lucy Bendle (1:05:05).

Six runners headed over to Loftus for the Poultry Run, where once again, entrants had a chance of winning some turkeys for their efforts! First home for the club over the undulating and partly off-road 8 mile distance was Michael Ladyman in 1:02:36, followed by Stephen Moore (1:08:00), Nigel Eddy (1:09:15), Michelle Boshier (1:12:39), Colin Bearpark (1:18:35) and Emily Beaumont (1:31:44).

Several Quakers spent the weekend taking part in this year’s running of the McTaggart Trot, a charity fundraiser in aid of St Teresa’s Hospice. 37 of our runners took part in the event, held at Barton, where 52 teams of three each had someone running legs of 3.5 miles, 7 miles and 11.5 miles. Paul Roberts was on the team which won the event, with Kyle Cook on the second placed team, while the trio of Gemma Marshall, Rebecca Howard and Michael Joyeux came in fifth. Also running were James Simpson, Andrew Dixon, Michelle Scruby, Lisa JJ, Dave Blewitt, Diane Vaughan, Sue Woodcock, Daniel Orton, Olly Moore, Sharon Carr, Marc Ellis, Sarah Watson, Rob Gillham, Anna Hardy, Gavin Armstrong, Julie Whinn, Rebecca Bowes, Michelle Dale, Lisa Alderson, Tracey Plaiskitt, Darren Alderson, Fred Tennant, Paul Pomfret, Richard Hughes, Andrew Vernon, Dave Jones, Paul Dalton, Fin Fox, Nicola Herraghty, Dan Rowlands, Diane Adkins and David Ledgerwood.

Midweek had seen another of the night-time 5K trail races held around the Tees Barrage. Despite a few wrong turns, Kyle Cook finished in second place overall in 18:20, along with Dan Rowlands (21:29) and Brian McClaren (22:40).

The other 5K race of the week took place over at Ropner Park in Stockton. Over a three lap route around the park, Peter Rowley finished in 24:13 along with Andy Whittam in 29:12.

The previous week had seen the seventh and final event in this year’s Hardmoors Trail series, on this occasion held over at Roseberry Topping. In the marathon distance, Emily Beaumont and Michelle Boshier finished together in 8:05:00, with Mark and Wendy Colling also coming in as one in 9:09:48. In the half marathon event, Michael Joyeux claimed a full house of wins for the series, winning for the seventh time this year in 2:06:58. Dave Jones finished in 3:20:38, along with Rebecca Bowes (3:20:40) and Sandra Cass (5:38:55). Meanwhile in the 10K race, Abbie Willson completed the distance in 1:55:36.

In the Saturday morning parkruns, Dave Jones finished the fourth anniversary run at South Park in 18:20, followed by Rob Dent (19:32), Andrew Vernon (19:58), Brian Martin (20:06), Mike Brown (20:28), Phil Rutter (21:24), Billy Harris (21:31), Luke Minall (22:07), David Whittle (22:26), Louise Trainor (23:38), Nigel Eddy (24:16), Elizabeth Kennedy (24:26), Dale Chapman (25:13), Lewis Boshier (25:47), Gary Read (25:48), Iain Clyde (25:49), Michelle Boshier (25:49), Neal Harper (26:22), Pamela Barrass (26:27), Gill Colling (27:58), Lee Morris (28:17), Gemma Marshall (29:33), Olly Moore (29:34), Sally Singleton (30:54), Mark Trowles (30:56), Michael King (31:45), Michelle Scruby (32:22), Barbra Barker (34:39), Rachel Ryan (36:44), Jan Waite (41:07), Adrian Dent (42:54) and Paul Ryan (50:10).

At Hackworth, Alex Kiel was first across the line there in 16:55, while at Sedgefield, Emily Beaumont and Karen Dove finished in 32:09 and 34:23 respectively. At Albert Park, Michael Thompson completed the run there in 20:38 along with Stephen Moore in 23:57, while Lena Rusa travelled to Fountains Abbey, finishing there in 32:21.

Quakers Running Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm at Abbey Road Playing Fields. For more information visit our website: www.quakersrunningclub.org.uk

Submitted by Rob Dent