It has been another busy week for Aycliffe Running Club which started with two different races on Wednesday 26th July, including the Willow Miner Trail Race which was a 5.4 mile trail race set in beautiful woodland near Houghall College in Durham. Four members took on the very challenging and undulating course with Richard Trowles (43:45), Steven Dawson (49:57), Tamara Kirk (52:09) and Keith Hatton (55:27) all representing the club.
The second race of the night saw an amazing 18 members take part in the next race in the Darlington Trail 5k series. Representing the club were Richard Holland (20:53), Bernadette Cooper (22:12) who finished as second lady, Dave Blewitt (22:22), Daniel Tatham (23:44), Sarah Gill (25:14), John Burnside (25:22), David Stothard (26:02), Shelley Ramsey ((26:22) Carley Gibson (26:35), Sue Podmore (27:25), Yvonne Blewitt (28:53), Samantha Harding (29:58), Tracey Pickering (30:36), Eve Doe (31:46), Nicola Ingman (32:57), Emma Flynn (33:18), Cliff Pickering (34:01) and Ian Stothard (35:18).
On Saturday 29th July, one member took part in the aptly named Clockwise Commondale Clart which is part of the Esk Valley Fell Series of races. Shaun Dodd completed the course in a time of 54:56.
On Sunday 30th July, two members took part in the Derwent Trail Runners Red Kite Summer Race which is a challenging 8 mile trail race in the Derwent Valley. Representing the club were David Stothard (1:36:42) and Ian Stothard (2:08:33).
On Saturday, 25 members started their weekend with a parkrun, taking in the Harrogate, Sedgefield, Redcar, Riverside, Hackworth, Fountains Abbey and Leazes events.
At Harrogate, Carley Gibson (28:02) and Emma Flynn (32:22) both completed the course for the first time. Amazingly, this was the 50th different course that Carley had completed, with Emma now completing 57 different events, amazing achievements. At Sedgefield, John Surtees finished first in a time of 18:29.
Richard Holland completed the course at Redcar for the first time, finishing in a time of 20:20. At Riverside, Mark Bainbridge completed his 25th parkrun and first at this course, finishing in a time of 22:56.
At Fountains Abbey, it was the next of the clubs parkrun tourism events which saw 12 members travel to Ripon. Representing the club were Richard Trowles setting a new personal best for the course and equalling his personal best for any parkrun (18:11), Matt Muir also set a new parkrun personal best (19:05), Bernadette Cooper (22:02), David Stothard (26:13), Steve Williams (26:30), Keith Hatton (27:42), Catherine McDonnell setting a new personal best for this course (29:00), Viv Williams (29:42), Tracey Pickering (31:27), Kathleen Tonge (31:51), Richard Tonge (33:21), Cliff Pickering (35:16) and Ian Stothard setting a new personal best for this course (36:14).
If you are feeling inspired, and are interested in joining the club or want to take your running to the next level, you can turn up for one of our sessions. Our sessions cater for people of all abilities and we would be delighted if you wanted to join us to mark that next chapter in your life with running.
You can find out more by visiting or website ior our Facebook page. If you would like to chat with someone, then you can email ayclifferunningclub@gmail.com – Make this the time you get into running and join us to keep it going for many years to come.
