NoEAA Indoor Track & Field Open, Sheffield - 27th November 2004

The first of this Winter’s Indoor T&F fixtures, the NoEAA Open Meeting, was on Saturday 27th at the EIS Arena, Sheffield and Nick Outhwaite of Richmond and Zetland Harriers was amongst the whole Gateshead pole vault 'academy' squad who went down to compete. His Dad, John, commented later “it was an absolutely brilliant day, really good for them; they had a fun day, treated it as part of training and all the U17 and U15, boys and girls all got new PBs.” Nick claimed 1st place in the U15 boy’s pole vault with a PB 2m30 clearance.

Leeds Abbey Dash 10K - 28th November 2004

Ian Scott - Happy or what!

There was an early call for seven RZH runners, amongst the four thousand competing in the Help the Aged Abbey Dash 10K in Leeds on Sunday 28th, with the race starting at 9.30 am. A cold dry morning with a slight westerly breeze faced everybody although first thoughts were on the inflatable goalposts that marked the new start on Queen Street and the chip-timing mats. The race has grown into one of the most competitive in the UK and, despite the absence of any African mercenaries, there were good times recorded with the first six men under 30 minutes and the first four women under 35. A sizeable leading group headed up Kirkstall Road to the Abbey before Andy Norman of Altrincham “put the boot in” and came home a clear winner in 29:45, very pleased to trim his PB by 14 seconds. Steve Hepples of Loftus never gave up the chase but finished 15 metres and 3 seconds adrift with Alan Buckley of Gateshead, third in 29:53, making it a 1-2-3 for the North in the Inter-Area match. Northern X-C Champion, Helen Lawrence of Wirral AC, won the women’s race in 34 minutes exactly, ahead of Morag McDonnell of Chester-le-Street, over her shin problems to finish in 34:30 with Sue Harrison of Leamington in third another 7 seconds behind - and all three recording PB times.

James Wardman was number one Harrier on the day, finishing 59th in a chip-time of 33.49.55 - exactly two minutes slower than his time from 2001 but equally faster than his winning run at Snape and evidence that his return to training, after a year-out to finish his Civil Engineering degree course, is working. Conversely, Ken Harker, training and racing well over the country and having just missed-out on an Northern vest, finished 87th in 34.58.75 and seems unable to beat his 34 minute bogey with three such finishes in the past three years. This was Ian Scott’s first run at Leeds and he too was hoping for a fast time but “never got warmed-up” and, although not entirely happy with 36.46.65 and 136th place, knows “there’s more in the tank”. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Mike Brooks’ continuing good form when he won the M55 class for the second consecutive year, finishing 198th overall in 37.42.75. A little further down the field, Neil Piper competed in his fifth race in six weeks; his 43.21.70, for 650th place, was his fastest for some considerable time and is another stepping stone towards his RRC silver standard. Ian Hepworth enjoyed his run despite being hampered by a sore knee, finishing 1002nd in a time of 46.23.50 and Grete Buck was the seventh of the magnificent bunch, just outside the prizes for her class finishing in 58.32.70 for 2453rd place.