RUNNERS from the dale will take their place on the starting line for this weekend’s Great North Run.
Six members of Teesdale AC will be among the thousands taking part on Sunday.
Changes have been made to take into account the post-Covid situation and the course has been altered to reflect current conditions.
Instead finishing on South Shields sea front, the route will be “out and back”, starting and finishing on Newcastle’s Town Moor.
Up to 57,000 runners are expected to take part, but they will be set off in waves having been given specific time slots rather than the usual mass start.
Taking part from Teesdale AC are Louise Franks, Erica Dixon, Fiona Turnbull, Dave Palmer, Joanne Wall and Gail Fisher. Ms Franks will be taking part for the fifth time.
“It’s just the best half marathon – and probably the only one you get given beer on your way round,” she joked.
Meanwhile, four members of the club will head to the capital for the London Marathon, on Sunday, October 3. Amanda Pettitt, Caroline Hamilton, Barbara Crawley and Lesley Chapman will represent Teesdale AC.
Ms Pettitt will be taking part in her second London Marathon, raising money for the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK.
She said training for the event had been regularly interrupted as the date had been changed a number of times during the past 18 months.
“It’s now going well – I did an 18-mile run the other week,” she said.
