Last updated at 16:43, Tuesday, 10 November 2009

FROM a field of over 1500 runners, Tynedale were well represented with nine ladies and five men completing the half marathon distance of the Cumbrian Run.lTHE 21 Tynedale Harriers who braved the elements in one of the region’s top annual cross-country fixtures at Temple Park in South Shields returned with an impressive haul of individual and team performances.

Conditions were a long way short of ideal for running 13.1 miles along a mixture of country roads and the streets of Carlisle.

The strong and blustery winds certainly affected times for most runners and this, together with the undulating course, made it a real challenge to record a good time.

Joanne Lee was first Tynedale lady in a time of 1:33:12 seconds.

This was actually faster than Joanne had completed the Dumfries Half Marathon at the end of September, showing she continues to make progress towards her target of sub-90 minutes for this distance.

Rachell Chinnery also had a good run in 1:34:57, winning a prize in her age category, and Jennifer Lapping was not far behind in 1:40:27.

This was slightly down on Jen’s Dumfries time of 1:35:24 but still an excellent time for the course/conditions.

Steph Bingham and Linda Smith were close behind the leading three Harriers, clocking times of 1:43:48 and 1:47:34 respectively; while Lucy Ellman, Christine Baker, Nicola Bell and Jane Gibson were all logged at just over two hours.

For the men, Hugh Bingham returned the best time at 1:24:34, 38th position overall and seventh in his age category.

Second for the club was Ian Brown who was also happy with his 1:27:35.

Ian was narrowly beaten into fourth Vet 50 position by two of his former club mates from Dumfries.

Balazs Somogyi finished in the top 100 overal, although at 1:30:57 this was well below the kind of time he is capable of, even on a wet and windy day!

Ian Bromley and Ian Gibson recorded 1:46:17 and 1:55:28 respectively, completing the entry for the men.

First blood went to the U13 boys. Led home by George Sanderson in seventh, with Toby Routledge in ninth and Matthew Jackson 10th, the trio were convincing winners of the team competition.

Tynedale had strength in depth too and finished a second team in ninth spot thanks to good runs from Dominic Morley, Fergus Robinson and Adam Todhunter.

Next up for the Harriers were the U15 boys where the club’s individual performance of the day came from Callum Mitchell.

Callum led from gun to tape and had an impressive winning margin by the end of the testing two-mile circuit.

With support from James Stewart, Mark Todhunter and Jonathan Currie the team finished a comfortable fifth.

The runners in the boys and girls U17 squads continued Tynedale’s rich vein of form.

There were individual fourth places for Samuel Hearn and club newcomer Rebecca Oram. Samuel had support from Simeon Greenwood in seventh and Dan Cunnington in 18th and together they secured third place in the team event.

Rebecca’s team mate Kate Lowdon finished in 18th spot.

A field of almost 250 lined up for the Senior Men’s event. Tynedale did well to finish five of their six runners in the top half of the field.

Ian Bromley and Hugh Bingham were separated by only a few seconds in 58th and 66th places respectively and, with Hugh Marsden in 97th, the team closed in 22nd overall.

Not far behind were Paul Hutchinson (103rd) and Peter Hearn (116th).

Douglas Henderson in 198th helped this threesome to 43rd spot in the team event.

First published at 09:49, Friday, 06 November 2009
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk