Hainford 5K – 7th September – Thanks to Lucy M for this:
As tempting as it was to stay in and watch the Great North Run on TV on Sunday, 7 September, we decided instead to make our way to Hainford, a village just north of Norwich, for their annual 5k fundraising race—which also happened to be one of this year’s club championship events. One of the great things about the Hainford 5k is the relaxed sign-up process; you can simply register on the day, and all the proceeds go towards supporting the local community you’re running through.
We arrived with the weather forecast promising a hot and humid day. Parking was in the well-organised car park some way from the start with volunteers to signpost the way. We walked part of the route up to the village hall, we paid our £5 entry, picked up our numbers, and enjoyed the friendly, laid-back atmosphere. With a shorter run, play park and relaxing atmosphere it was no surprise it attracted families to take part or just watch.
The 2k run was 1st to go and we cheered the in, before heading off as a group to the start line. As the Norwich 10k was also on the same day the start felt like a quiet parkrun. Relaxed, friendly and, since there was no chip timing, with small numbers you felt close enough to the start line to not feel you’d lost time just getting over the line.
The route was a figure of 8 through part of the village, well marshalled and signed. Although open to the traffic everyone was patient of the runners coming through. The best part was how flat the route was and with such a hot day more than half the route was under the shade of the trees. This led to the group I was running with, all who joined the club after this years couch to 5k, all getting personal bests! All followed by the added bonus of a coffee truck and ice cream van just at the end of the finish tunnel.
Hainford really was just as we were told. A friendly, welcoming 5k without all the modern trappings of how many races have evolved over the past few years and I’m really looking forward to it next year.
(posting this anyway)
Great North Run – 7th September – Thanks to Lynne:
I recommend a cuppa and a biscuit, or even a whole packet, before you sit down to have a read. Sorry I rambled on a bit.
This has to be my absolute favourite day of the year, this was my 4th time and every year has been different. The Great North Run is one of the largest mass participation events in the world, this year there were 60,000 places, although slightly fewer than that made the start line.
This iconic half marathon event was originally started by Brendan Foster in June 1981 when it was advertised as a local fun run, with 12,000 runners taking part. Brendan was a hero of mine from back in the 1970’s, particularly when he was competing in the summer Olympics in 1976. Surprisingly I was house captain at my secondary school, Whinney Hill in Durham, competing for the county during my teenage years. That seems an awfully long time ago now.
The race starts on the central motorway around the eastern side of Newcastle upon Tyne where all runners assemble. The route quickly crosses the river Tyne via the iconic Tyne Bridge into Gateshead town centre, turning east down the Felling bypass, towards Sunderland then through South Shields to finish the last mile along the seafront.
As usual we stayed in South Shields at a little hotel 1 mile from the finish line. If you ever consider running this half I’d definitely recommend staying near the finish, NOT the start. Mainly because it will take you longer to get back to Newcastle than it takes you to run the race. After a warming hotel breakfast I left about 8am and walked from our hotel, down into Shields to catch the metro, and my £6 travel band got me to Newcastle Haymarket station. It’s a lovely way to start the day, building the excitement and anticipation, packing into carriages with loads of other runners. Conversations overheard are usually hilarious, for example one first timer wanted to understand how her bag placed on a baggage bus got to the end before she did. The logistics of the whole thing are pretty remarkable. I chatted to a fellow runner, who commented, “he’s speedy”, when he noticed the yellow/white striped race number, “these guys start just behind the elites”!
For the 3rd time I was in pink wave, the largest group, which always includes a huge range of abilities, with an even bigger range of personal reasons for running this challenging course. My training hadn’t quite gone to plan so I wasn’t sure how my body would respond.. So this year I decided I was going to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy myself, which is exactly what I did.
Once off the metro I joined the snaking crowds up through the university and towards the town moor, where the runners hubs were positioned. Luckily Seb and I managed to meet up before we both made our way to pink. I kept an eye out for Lucy and Andrew but knew they would be in different waves to us, and it was a bit busy!
We walked down from the town moor to the motorway, which was already rammed full with runners. The elites and celebrity runners were all near the front and everyone else snaked back into the distance as far as we could see. I was looking forward to hearing the. haunting guitar chords of “Going Home” from the film Local Hero. This Marc Knopfler classic signals the start of the race every year and it touches my soul every time I hear it. I just have to try and forget it was played at St James park, where Newcastle United played. (more of this later).
The worst part of this mass participation event is the very long wait, penned on the motorway for what seems like forever. This year it was almost 2 hours before we crossed the start line, at 12.31. My latest ever start, so unsurprisingly I was surrounded by lots of people who would be walking most of the route. Hence it was a struggle to get going, finding a comfortable pace and a rhythm took some doing. The long wait beforehand, fully hydrated, made for an uncomfortable start, and an enforced toilet stop before 5k, which was very annoying, but unavoidable. Once I got going and found my pace I reminded myself to make the most of the slight downhill at the beginning. I’d opted to keep left before the Tyne bridge so I could go through the underpass and join in the “oggi-oggi-oggi” chants, this always makes me smile. In the same way that approaching and running over the Tyne Bridge makes me emotional. We used to drive over here, from Durham to Newcastle, when I was a kid, with my brothers and sisters all packed into our car, to visit my grandparents. This place holds a lot of memories for me.
I was enjoying the run and on reaching 10k had sampled a good selection of the roadside snacks from the amazing crowds. An entire smorgasbord of variety, including jelly babies, Haribo, orange segments (need a slippery when wet warning) ice pops and my favourite, ginger snaps. Sadly the beer provided by a local running club, between mile 10 and 11 had run out by the time I got there. I’d also attempted to high five all the enthusiast little people, with their homemade placards.
It turns out a bit of enforced rest and recovery beforehand can lead to a great race, also the lack of pressure I’d put on myself had a positive impact on how I was feeling. We were now approaching the halfway marker and I was still feeling good, unlike several of my fellow runners, some of whom were using more colourful language when they realised they were only half way!
The crowds at this race are like no other I’ve ever seen. They enjoy their own little roadside parties, whilst cheering us all, from start to finish. By now I was feeling fairly confident that my time would be “not too shabby for an old-un” and I was enjoying all the different bands, positioned along the route to entertain and motivate us all. I knew there was a bit of a slow , sneaky climb ahead along John Reid Road, so I kept my cadence up and my arms moving and did my best. All those hill repeats up to Holkham obelisk were worth it. Then at last, the sea came into view in the distance. I speeded up, down the hill, to the left turn at the bottom, to run the finish straight along the seafront. I knew there was still quite a way to go, so I didn’t over-egg it.
It started to rain lightly, just as the finish line came into view and I gave everything I had left to get myself over the line. I’d done it. I stopped my watch, but didn’t look at it, this year the time didn’t matter.
So, a “wee” bit slower than my 4 previous races but I was happy with 3.03.12
Another GNR medal for my collection, with a story of its own to tell. Bizarrely, none of the organisers had noticed the mistake within the medal design. In place of what should have been Newcastle and the river Tyne, we got Sunderland and the river Wear. Slightly embarrassing for the organisers, even Brendan Foster didn’t notice, the monumental error made it to the national news.
This was no doubt particularly upsetting for all the Newcastle United supporters who ran the race this year. The rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland is long established, even within my own family. However since I spent most of my school life in Durham and crossed the river Wear twice a day, to and from school, but more importantly I painted my rucksack red and white (yes we used to do stuff like this), in May 1973 when Sunderland won the FA cup (beating Leeds 1-0), I really don’t mind the error. I’ll treasure it it like I do all my medals.
I should just mention, as always Jim was at our usual meeting point when I finished, with all my stuff, warm clothes, flat coke, crisps and a hug.
Happy running
Lynne
Coastal Half Marathon – 20th September – Thanks to Cat Foley-Wray
Ever since moving to Norfolk at the end of 2020 I’ve always wanted to do the half and for one reason or another haven’t managed to. This year I thought just enter and do it as if you wait for ‘the perfect time ‘, that’s never going to happen, so I entered, and it was great!
We registered and started at Burnham Overy Staithe. Registration at the village hall was great as it had a back garden where you could get out of the hustle and bustle and do any pre race stretches etc. A few more toilets would be a suggestion for next year.
The whole route follows the Coastal path so for me It was my ideal terrain as I love trail, especially the beach. I knew it wouldn’t be particularly muddy or wet as it’s been so dry lately, so not running in trail shoes wasn’t an issue.
We left Burnham, add in here that the leader of the marathon went past the half marathon start just before we set off! – what a machine Rob Skillings! After setting off from Burnham we headed to Holkham Beach, then through the woods and onto the hard path down to Lady Ann’s and on to Wells beach café before going along the beach road down to the quay. We then followed the path onto the marshland towards Stiffkey, seeing all the creeks was lovely, and finally entering Morston for the finish.
I took lots of photos en route as it’s such lovely scenery and some of the route I hadn’t been to before, so it was lovely to explore at the same time.
I found it a flat route with light undulation in the first few miles through the dunes and woods. Nothing particularly scary!
There were always people around, whether fellow runners or members of the public walking the path too which was nice as people really do give you a boost, especially if you know them. Then there were aid stations every few miles with club volunteers.
I wasn’t sure how far I’d get before my mate Mr Jeffing joined me (run/walk) and he appeared quite early at 7/8 miles😂. It worked well as I decided to walk for around a minute at the start of each mile then run until the next mile, it definitely was a good way for me and the miles seem to get ticked off nicely (if you can call it that on tired legs!)
I thought it was great that there were tail walkers in both the half and full marathon (no idea if this is the norm in trail events) but along with generous cut off times it was certainly an event where you could walk it all and know you wouldn’t be alone, which is reassuring.
I met Alex and the boys in Wells for a quick hello and photo then Jeffed the rest of the way. I don’t think my heart rate went up much for the whole distance so that’s a good takeaway for me, but I did have tired legs through lack of endurance, which was to be expected!
It was lovely to finish at Morston Quay as it’s so pretty and also good facilities.
Over all a beautiful, easy to follow route. I’d recommend it and hope to be back next year.
Well done and thanks to RntS for hosting for the first time and congratulations to all who took part.
