Weekly Update w/e 16th April

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Club Championship Points can be found here

Race Result

You will have seen that our Track will be unavailable to train on as it undergoes a full refurbishment from March 13th. Work has actually already started with the lighting in and around the athletics track. We expect the work to happen over a 12 week period so should be complete by the end of May, if not sooner!

New Tarmac has been overlaid at the track

The Training page on the website continues to be updated to reflect any temporary arrangements, but if you have any questions at all on the sessions below, please speak directly with your coach

You will have seen that the membership renewals have now gone out and Tom has communicated with you all about how to renew these. Our Track with new facilities should be complete by the end of May and we should all see the benefit of having a new track and structure of the complex moving forward. We are looking at the cost for track membership to ensure we remain competitive and still offer excellent value for money with new higher tariffs imposed on the club. These higher costs will also ensure that the track is maintained and cleaned to ensure we have the best track around for at least the next 20 years and with security fencing around the track and no football on the centre pitch we are confident that this will be great news for Darlington Harriers now and in the future. As a reminder OF THE KEY DATES from Tom;

• 1^st April – England Athletics will mark all memberships for renewal – COMPLETED
• 2^nd April – DHAC will email out a payment link from EA to renew. You have until 1^st May to complete payment (reminder emails may be sent during this time). Your payment amount will be based on your existing membership unless you advise otherwise.
• 30^th April – Final reminder sent to all members yet to make payment
• 2^nd May – Members that did not renew will be marked as such, and their accounts will be resigned from the club on both the EA portal and the club website

After the 2^nd May 2023, you are free to re-join at any time by reapplying via https://darlingtonharriers.com/join/

Thank you to everyone in advance for (hopefully) making this as seamless as possible, but if you have any questions at all, please drop a message to 07458 125 721 via WhatsApp/SMS.

DON’T FORGET THERE ARE SPACES AVAILABLE ON THE BUS FOR SUNDERLAND EVENTS, MICHAEL WATSON IS OUR CONTACT FOR THIS SO PLEASE REACH OUT TO HIM IF YOU ARE INTERESTED mikewatson0609@hotmail.com

Friday night saw the club hold it’s annual awards night at Central Hall, Dolphin Centre to celebrate and give recognition to the athletes and officials of the club for their hard work, dedication and support to the club and athletics. I hope everyone who came along had a good night and I wanted to thank everyone who has supported the club over the last year.

How winners are decided: Track & Field winners are provided by coaches on performances, XC is performance based while road awards are based on club championship rules. Coaches choice is as it says on the tin (down to individual coach(coaches)) while members votes are counted up for each category.

Big thank you to Ed Lamb and his wife Emma for organising the nights raffle and Hilary Bevan, Karl Murray and Sarah Johnson supporting the giving of awards.

In addition to the winners listed below we also had a number of recognition certificates given which can be seen in the pack below.

Slides for the evening can be found here which has all the winners listed. The video that Lewis provided for the night can be found here with lots of photographs from the brilliant Karen Harland here

Some of our brilliant Senior team who dominated the division last year below.

Sunday saw the return of the Kieran Maxwell Legacy event at Middlesboro sports village, an event superbly organised each year by Mark Tallon with support from inside and outside the club. This event has become a very popular fixture on the athletics calendar with many athletes supporting the charity and memory of an inspirational young man who shone so brightly. With over 300 athletes competing on the day the event raised over £2500 which is a tremendous achievement and a nice figure to give to the charity. Well done to everyone who was involved in the event.

Results from this event can be found here and photos from the day here

Sunday saw the return of Manchester marathon, a 26.21m run which is pretty flat and fast run but it’s still a very long way and an event that becomes a mental battle the longer the run goes on. Gareth Kyle who has been in excellent form of late ran superbly putting in a GFA time of 2:52:24 and reaping the rewards of all the hard miles he’s been putting in. Jake Brown who has been training with Gareth for his first ever marathon ran an excellent 3:12:23 ahead of dad Ian who also ran a superb 3:24:35 and mum Pauline in 3:36:29. Sandwiched between the parents was Peter Armstrong who completed the run in 3:35:58 while Paul Dunne also eased under the 4hr marker by some margin in 3:47:45. Brian Thompson also completed the marathon finishing his first in 4:56:06. Great work Brian. Whatever times you achieved, it’s a huge accomplishment to just get round and you should all be immensely proud. Full results for the day can be found here

Taking part in the relay event on the day was Nathan Price who was raising money for Manhealth and splitting the distance with 3 friends. An excellent achievement and all for a great cause.

Another event to take place at the weekend was the Vale of York 5/10mile event which takes place on a very fast and flat course and ideal for all you PB hunters out there. On the day it was Trevor Mitchell who was first of our two to finish in a time of 1:18:24 with Stephen Gardner crossing the line in 1:21:31. Great running by you both!

Full results can be found here

Hilary Bevan was in trail action this weekend at the Swainby Sweep 16 mile race, a race which takes runners around the North York Moors, from Swainby village via Scarth Wood Moor, Oak Dale, Osmotherley Moor Uplands and sections of the Cleveland Way. The hills were alive to the sound of music too by the look at the photo below. Results for the fixture has still not been released but can be found here when available.

Amy Pickworth was in action at the Lakeland trails 16km race which starts and finishes at Hawkshead. The follows a circuit along a footpaths and bridleways, taking in panoramic views of Windermere and the surrounding peaks of the Coniston Hills, the Langdales and most of the Lakeland fells. On the day Amy finished first lady in a time of 1hr 31:17. Great work Amy. Full results can be found here

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