Durham City Harriers & Athletics Club

A huge congratulations to Stephen Hamil, who represented England in the Male Vet 50 category at the Swansea Half Marathon yesterday. Crossing the line in an impressive 1:20:04, brilliant achievement! 🧡

The whole club is cheering for you 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

What a morning🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻

An incredible 630 runners gathered at Maiden Castle yesterday morning, and what a welcome we gave them.

Over 50 volunteers were out in force: pacing runners to a goal time, marshalling the course, managing the funnel and scanning barcodes at the finish line. We wrapped up with cake, great chat and plenty of new faces asking about joining the club. And we had a little something extra for anyone who picked up a flyer yesterday.

Did you run parkrun yesterday? Comment below for kudos from the whole club 🧡

Are you heading to Durham parkrun this Saturday? 👟

We’ll see you there. You’ll find us pacing runners, marshalling the course and cheering you over the finish line.

Spot us in our orange vests, come and say hello, grab a slice of cake and look out for a little treat from the club (all will be revealed on the day) 🧡

Whether you’re a regular or thinking about giving parkrun a try, we’d love to see you there.

Durham parkrun - 9am, Saturday 6 June.

NEGP Track Round-Up 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏻

Some of the region’s quickest middle-distance runners competed for the Jimmy Hedley Trophy at Jarrow last week. Named after Steve Cram’s famous coach and held at the track where Cram* trained as a youngster, this prestigious 800m race attracts a quality field of seniors and leading age group athletes.

In the night, no one could match Will J who led from gun to tape, winning the trophy in an outstanding new PB of 1:52.97. Well done – a reward for your commitment Will!

Our athletes also dominated the 800m B race, with four outstanding performances. Joe S, took time off from exams to win in 1:58.4, followed by Arthur R (1:59) and James W (1:59) – all breaking 2 minutes for the first time – and Sam M finished fast in 2:02. Also on the programme, Shauna P ran a 800m pb of 2:49, there was a notable ‘recent best’ for club stalwart Jacqui H in the 200m (31.85).

We capped off a brilliant evening with the longer races: u-16 Evelyn P showed her potential with a very strong 3,000m debut of 11:17, while Henry E, still in the younger year of under 16s, took another big chunk off his already impressive 3,000m time, finishing under 9:30.

Congratulations to everyone. It was a great evening's entertainment and it’s fantastic to see several senior athletes mixing it at these events.

*we might need to tell some of our juniors who Cram is!

Did you race at the NEGP last week? Share your pics below for kudos from the whole club 🏆

📊 April parkrun round-up. What a month! 🏃

Harriers were out in force across April, logging 116 runs at 32 different events. Here are some of the highlights...

🥇 Course wins
Stephen took the win at Durham parkrun on 11 April, William topped the results at Wilton Lodge Park in the Scottish Borders on 18 April, and Rory claimed the top spot at Ushaw Historic House on 25 April. Brilliant running from all three.

🏅 Podiums
We had 8 podium finishes across the month, including Matthew at Crichton and Durham, Peter at Cotsford Fields, Cian at Chopwell Wood parkrun, and William, Rory and Stephen with their wins. Harriers on the leaderboards all month long.

🎉 Milestones
Three huge milestones in April. Stephen celebrated his 300th parkrun, Dionne reached her 200th, and Katharine hit her 25th. Massive congratulations to all three! 🎊

✈️ On the road
Harriers travelled far and wide this month. Diane headed to Rickmansworth parkrun to run with her daughter. William travelled to the Scottish Borders and came home with a win. Paul made it to West Sussex twice, Henry finished 4th in Swindon, and Megan found time for parkruns in both London and Inverness in the same month!

⭐ Most consistent
Several of us ran four times in April: Steven, Paul D, Neil, Stephen, Robert, George, Stuart, Cian and Marian. Incredible consistency throughout the month.

Great running everyone 🧡 Did you run parkrun in April? Share your pics below for kudos from the whole club.

🌟 JUNIOR APRIL ROUNDUP 🌟

What a month for our junior groups. Here’s what some of our young athletes got up to in April...

🏃 SPRINT GROUP

Our Sprinter of the Month is Arthur R. Arthur has navigated some injury setbacks recently, but his attitude in training has been brilliant and his sprint drill work has come on hugely. We’re looking forward to seeing him back competing very soon.

At the NEYDL on 19 April, all four of our sprinters delivered personal bests:

Orla I: 100m 15.78 > 14.59 | 200m 35.56 > 31.30

Samuel I: 100m 14.07 > 13.33 | 200m 29.25 > 27.60

Salem I: 100m 14.65 > 13.62 | 200m 30.56 > 27.88

Myles A: 100m 12.71 | 200m 25.60

A brilliant set of performances across the board.

🏃 MULTI-EVENT GROUP

George’s group continues to go from strength to strength, building on strong fundamentals with two new drills introduced this month. Training is ramping up for jumps and hurdles, with members making their NEYDL debut in April.

🏃 MIDDLE DISTANCE GROUP

A packed month of racing across track and road for John N’s group.

NEYDL (19 April): A strong turnout with PBs for Felix, Henry, Isla, Issy, Will, Jacob and Leonard. Special mention for Isla, who put in excellent marks in two new events: Triple Jump and 300m Hurdles.

Quayside 5km: PBs on the road too, with Will running 15:34, Leonard 16:54, and Jacob 17:46.

North East Grand Prix, Monkton (19 April): Eight of our middle distance athletes group ran 1500m and every single one smashed their personal best. Here are the times:

Under 14s: Felix 4:51

Under 16s: Henry 4:26 | Isla 5:02 | Evelyn P 4:59 | Eve H 5:19

Under 18s: Will 4:00 | Joe 4:04

Senior: Shauna 5:35

Will was just 0.13 seconds away from his first sub-4 minute 1500m. An incredible start to the season, everyone.

🏃 JUNIOR HAWKS AND EAGLES

An equally impressive month from our younger groups, in training and competition.

Sessions have varied brilliantly this month, from speed work on the track to runs through the woods, along the river, and out into the countryside with plenty of hills. The change of scenery has been a big hit.

Competition highlights:

Maya, William, Elsa, Euan, Aylin and Harriet took on the Sedgefield Neptune Relays, with some experiencing relay racing for the very first time.

Ellie and Euan made their NEYDL debuts, taking to it brilliantly.

Robert, William, Freddie and James ran in our Garlic and Bluebell senior 5k, finishing well up the field and more than holding their own.

Freddie has claimed a 1500m PB and Robert a 2k PB recently.

We also welcomed William, Emmy and Megan to the group this month. Great to have you with us!

🏅 PARKRUN

Rounding off a superb April: James with a junior parkrun PB, and Jacob A with not one but two junior parkrun PBs. Robert and James also both finished as first finisher at their respective parkruns.

What a month. We couldn’t ask for more from this group. 👏 Did your junior athlete compete in April? Share your pictures below for kudos from the whole club.

Plenty of activity on and off the track for our senior groups over the last couple of weeks.

On the track, we've been putting in the hard work with two great sessions - 12 x 200m hard with 200m recovery, and 6 x 800m with 90-second recoveries. Speed and stamina in equal measure.

On the grass, the groups have been mixing it up too. Taking on a 3 min / 2 min / 1 min increasing pace session with some primary school games thrown in for the warm-up and cool-down, and 12 x 90-second intervals at varying paces. Something for every runner.

We had a brilliant turnout for Summer Handicap #2 and the competition is already hotting up. If you haven't checked the standings yet, head over to the website for the latest results.

And the highlight of the last two weeks? Our annual Garlic and Bluebell 5k along the river. An incredible number of juniors and seniors came out to take part. What a way to celebrate the season. 🪻🌿

Did you join any of our sessions over the last two weeks? Drop your pictures in the comments below for some well-earned kudos from the whole club.

Last week our seniors took on three great sessions, an out and back riverside run, a fartlek session and a track night, all at Maiden Castle.

First up, a 25 minute out and back run along the riverside. Our first of the summer season and it didn’t disappoint! 😎 The aim was to run the return leg at a slightly faster pace, delivering a negative split. What better way to do it than with riverside views and the gang for company.

On Tuesday evening, we headed to the grass for a fartlek session in beautiful sunshine. Varying pace over different distances, this one is brilliant for building aerobic capacity and strength. There’s something about a sunny evening run that makes it feel that little bit easier! 💪🏼

On Thursday we were back at Maiden Castle for 4 x 400m/800m intervals with 60 second recoveries. Building speed endurance, lactate tolerance and mental stamina. This session really did have it all! 🏃🏻🏃🏼‍♀️

Three brilliant sessions and another great week for our seniors. Here’s to the next one! 🧡

Pic from our riverside out and back. If you look closely, you’ll spot a couple of Pier 2 Pier finishers tshirts.