Athletics
TWO members of Teesdale AC, both in training for half marathons, took part in the Stanhope 10 miler race on Sunday.
This challenging hilly road race for just 150 runners was well-organised by the charity ManHealth.
Starting from the Stanhope showfield there was plenty of space for the warm up and staggered start for social distancing. After a loop of the showfield it was a tough climb up the hairpin bends and all the way up to the top before the sun shone on the descent into Bollihope.
There was a pleasant respite with steady downhill running following Bollihope Burn until the halfway point before the last big climb over Hill End. The last 3.5 miles tracked the River Wear back past Stanhope and over the bridge before looping once more around the showfield.
First timer Steve Moss finished in 1hr24.09mins and Katy Smith ran an incredible 20 minutes quicker than last year with a time of 1.38.42.
A bottle of Barnard Castle beer and a water bottle were welcome rewards for all the finishers to take home.
This was the first organised race attended by members of Teesdale AC for many months, with runners searching out competition and motivation but making do with virtual runs during the lockdown.
The dedicated Teesdale AC team of Fiona Turnball, Trudy Layton and Tricia Child are regular recorders of their 30 minute weekend runs in the "Weekly 30" activity organised by UK Athletics.
Teesdale AC restarted training sessions for members several months ago following guidelines from England Athletics.
Three bookable sessions are held each Tuesday and Thursday in different locations around the town and are proving very popular with returning athletes and new members.
Additional sessions focusing on developing running technique are now also held on Wednesday mornings.
New members are welcome and all the details about training including how to join are available on the club website teesdaleac.com together with contact information.
