Welcome fellow readers both in Sunderland and around the world to the first in-depth edition of the Sunderland Harriers & A.C. monthly club newsletter.
Here you can read all things associated with the club from race results and reports, athletes profile pen pics, future race fixtures, club history, fun quizzes, future social events, and other general bits and bobs.

The first edition is very extensive as October has been a very busy month in terms of competitions and development. Make a cuppa, grab some biscuits and enjoy the read.

Who are Sunderland Harriers & A.C.?
The club’s history began in 1884 when it was founded as the Sunderland Athletic Club. In 1889 it was reorganised and took its present title. The first meeting of the newly formed Sunderland Harriers club was held on Tuesday 1st October, 1889 in the Central Coffee Tavern. It was decided that the club colours would be black pants and white jersey with black shield on the left breast and the letters SH worked in white on the shield.

The image above is of Sunderland Harriers & A.C. circa 1920 .... More history in next month’s newsletter.

RACE REPORTS AND RESULTS:

NORTHERN DE-LIGHTS FOR SENIOR MEN DOWN SHEFFIELD

Sunderland Harriers & A.C. had their best performance of the season at the Northern Cross Country Relays in Sheffield, where they finished in third place out of a total of 44 teams taking part.

Sunderland were led off by Joe Armstrong who ran the two-mile course in a time of 10:10 for the first leg and recorded the second fastest lap of the day - only one second behind Euan Brown, from Hallamshire Harriers (10:09).

Armstrong then handed over to his brother Scott, who clocked 10:31 and Jordan Scott completed the third leg in 11:38. Over-40s veteran Stephen Jackson brought the club home on the anchor leg in 10:45, securing a bronze medal for the team, with an overall time of 43:05.

This was the first time that the club have medalled at this event, much to the delight of Club Team Manager Jimmy Johnson who said “I knew we would do well today, I’m absolutely delighted for the lads and the club as a whole, hopefully next year we can go and win it.”

Jimmy had said to Stephen Jackson at training on Tuesday night that his gut instinct was we would win medals on Saturday.

Hallamshire Harriers, of Sheffield, topped the leaderboard, placing first with a time of 41:21 and Salford Harriers were second with 42:43.

CARROLL ON-SONG AS HARRIETTES HIT TOP SPOT

The second fixture of the North East Harrier League cross-country season was held at Lambton Estate in perfect weather conditions.

Sunderland Harriers’ women were out in force with a record turnout of 13 runners competing for the club in the handicap race. The team had another superb result to place fourth overall and now sit top of the league.

On a notoriously tough course, Grace Carroll led the team home from the fast pack in 28:56, clocking the fourth fastest time of the day over the four-mile cross-country course. Danielle Coulson followed, from the medium pack, in 32:31 and fast pack runner Jessica Fox recorded a time of 29:58. Kay Stephenson, from the medium pack, was the final counter with 33:30.

In the senior men’s race, 17 men turned out as Sunderland Harriers finished in fourth position and sit joint third in Division One. The royal blue vests were steered home by Jordan Taylor, who ran the six-mile course from the slow pack to finish in 41:59.

Under-20 Joe Willis continued his fine form and was the second counter running from the medium pack with a time of 39:46. Fast-pack man Liam Taylor finished in 38:22, Mark Head from the slow pack, clocked 44:51, with Kevin Johnson 45:31 and Norman Younger 42:35 completing the scoring.

Sunderland Harriers’ William Young finished second in the Under-17s boys’ race when clocking 19:47 as the team placed second overall with Ben Anderson 21:20 and Jude Graham 23:10 also counting for the club.

In the Under-17/20 girls race, Eve Tait made her cross-country debut and acquitted herself very well by finishing 27th.

In the Under-15’s boys and girls races, Josh Ebblewhite-Wood finished a fine 7th and both Sophia-Ann McCusker (20th) and Charlie Hodgson (44th) ran well in their race.

In the Under-13’s boys race, Theo Paxton continued his fine form on the country as he produced a determined finish to complete the course in 8th place, he was backed up by Oliver Anderson (36th), who also continues to improve.

In the Under-11’s boys non-scoring race, Oscar Paxton led the lads home with an eighth placed finished, backing Oscar up were Charlie Hitcham (38th), Johnny Archer (58th), and Drew Jameson (72nd).

Anna Butler just missed out on a podium finish as she finished 4th in the Under-11’s girls non-scoring race.

DEFTY DAZZLES IN CHICAGO

Across the pond three Harriers competed in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a race which is one of 6 marathon majors and is regarded as one of the fastest marathon courses on the planet.

Debbie Defty produced the performance of her life as she ran 3:28:11, a massive 3 minutes and 39 seconds personal best. This performance means that Debbie now has a Good For Age qualification time for the Berlin marathon.

However, Debbie will tackle the famous Boston Marathon in 2025 after obtaining the Good For Age qualification time at London this year.

Also competing in the Windy City was Tasha Steel who completed the course in 3:30:29, completing the trio of finishers was club secretary Richard Borrowdale, who crossed the line in 3:51:57.

GUNN-TOTING CRAIG IS BACK WITH A BANG

After almost 20 months of no racing, Craig Gunn returned to the racing circuit with plenty of fire in his belly.

At the Kielder 10k, a multi-terrain undulating course, Craig marked his comeback with a fine fourth placed finish completing the course in 36:20. Kevin Johnson (40:12) finished 17th.

Two weeks later, Craig was back toeing the line at the Hadrian’s Wall half-marathon, a course with a mixture of hills, tarmac, trail paths and plenty of grass with the odd bit of mud. Craig was rewarded with his hard work and endeavour as he cruised to victory in a time of 1:29:53.

Paula Goodson (2:24:47), Paula Brown (2:25:05), Ann Revell (2:25:56), and Nicola Hadden (2:28:15)also competed on the course built by the Roman Empire in 122 AD.

LASSES DASH TO PERSONAL BESTS DOWN IN LEEDS

Down in Leeds at the famous Abbey Dash 10k, a race well-known for its course to be superfast and producing many personal best times. The race lived up to its hype as four Harriers travelled down to Yorkshire, Jordan Scott continued his winter build up with a solid performance, crossing the line in 34:49.

Danielle Coulson was the first female Harrier home in 39:49, a personal best of 59 seconds. Next to cross the line was Charlotte Stidolph completed the course in 41:42, a personal best of 68 seconds. Completing the trio of female finishers was Jen Tomlin, who despite carrying a knock battled around the course to cross the line in 42:11.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF FOR ARMSTRONG AT JARROW

Joe Armstrong continued his winter build-up as he tackled the 10k distance at the Jarrow 10k on a fast and flat course.

With the leading runner, Kadar Omar well out in front, Joe sat with the chasing group and made his move with 3km to go. Despite not being a seasoned 10k runner, he showed his strength and finely tuned engine to break away from the chasing group to finish second in only his third 10k race.

Joe finished with a time of 30:39, equalling his personal best from the same race last year where he also finished in second place.

There were many more impressive performances from fellow Harriers in the race.

Jake Ridding (7th) continued his phenomenal run of form as he scorched his way to a 27 second personal best running 31:25. Michael Barker (16th) and Steve Rankin (17th) had a great battle between themselves running 34:18 and 34:22 respectively.

Sam Thurlbeck (35:06) Chris Newby (37:24 – PB), Rob King (37:37 - PB), Mark Head (38:49), Steven Gordon (39:36), Lewis Nagel (39:33 - PB), Paul O’Brien (44:09) and David Lash (46:33) completed the Harriers finishers.

JAKE AIN’T HALF HOT IN VALENCIA

The Valencia half-marathon is noted as one of the fastest half-marathon races in the world, it’s fast flat streets regularly attracting the best athletes on the planet.

Jake Ridding was going into the race on a rich vein of form, undoubtedly having the year of his life in the sport setting many personal bests across different distances. This race was no different as he ran the race of his life, running 67:26, knocking a whopping 60 seconds off his personal best of which he set last month at the Great North Run.

Jake was in great company throughout the race as he had the company of German female Olympian, Konstanze Klosterhalfen – a previous winner of the race. Unfortunately, that company distinguished in the latter stages of the race as the German used her experience to pull away from Jake.

The race was won by Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia), who broke the world half-marathon record by one second in 57:30.

UPCOMING RACES
Sat 09/11/2024: 10 Years of the Podium 5k, Barrowford, Lancashire
Sun 10/11/2024: Heaton Memorial 10k (inc. NEMAA & NECAA 10k Championships)
Sun 17/11/2024: Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile (inc. Northern 10 mile Championships)
Thurs 21/11/2024 Gateshead Harriers indoor Series - Match 1
Sat 23/11/2024: NEHL – Eltringham Farm, Nr. Prudhoe.
Sat 23/11/2024: Northern Athletics – Indoor Meeting 1, Sheffield.
Sat 23/11/2024: Benidorm Half-Marathon

NORTH EASTERN CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024

Club Team Manager, Jimmy Johnson, is now taking names for the above-mentioned race. Any athlete interested in participating, please register your interest by commenting on his post on the club Facebook page or via messenger.
The Championships will once again be held at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday, 14th December 2024, the course is pancake flat.
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, 27th November 2024.

THE CLUB ARE BACK ON TRACK

After months of no training on the track, we are finally under starters orders. The track at Silksworth Sports Complex, first built in 1982, has been in a bad state of decline in the last few years.

With the track borderline usable, action was taken by Everyone Active and the four local clubs that use the facility.
Funding of £240,000 was sought and plans were put in place for a fully brand new track.

A forecasted turnaround of 4 weeks to complete the new track, but only if the weather gods were playing nicely. It is safe to say the weather gods were acting the goat and it rained cats and dogs on and off for weeks.

Eventually the bad weather ceased and a fabulous new track has been built, the security fence and gates will be completed in due course.

The track is now open to all paid-up club members.
Tuesday and Thursday 1830-2000
Sunday 1030-1200.

T'IS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
The festive season is almost upon us, the Club would like to announce that this years Christmas Party will be held at The Barnes (upstairs function room) on Saturday 21st December 2024. Tickets will cost £5.00 each, included in the price is a disco, and a hot buffet. A raffle will also be held as the night goes on.

Bring your dancing shoes!!
Details of where to purchase and how to pay for tickets will be announced in due course.

ALL KITTED OUT
Club Team Manager, Jimmy Johnson and fellow committee member Sam Thurlbeck were invited to a meeting with local sportswear specialists Total Sport. The meeting was designed to acquire a range of Sunderland Harriers & A.C. training kit.
The owner, Darren Grant, collated a range of sample kit to take to the club committee for viewing and discussion.
After an overwhelming positive discussion it was decided to pursue the brilliant offer from Total Sport.

A generous discount of 30 per cent off all kit, along with discounted embroidering is not to be ignored.

The training kit brand is JOMA, a Spanish brand, and vitally it is very affordable and the quality is second to none. All kit will have the Sunderland Harriers & A.C. logo printed and embroidered on. It will be a lot cheaper than buying the likes of Nike, Adidas, Hoka kit.

Details on how to purchase the new training kit range will be announced hopefully within the next week or so.
The kit will make good Christmas presents.

LET’S GET QUIZZICAL

A light-hearted fun quiz, all running related.

Q1: Glenn Forster, represented Great Britain at the 1985 Marathon World Cup in Hiroshima, Japan. What position did Glenn finish?

Q2: How many times has Brian Rushworth won the North East Cross-Country title?

Q3: Which former Sunderland Harrier has most recently broke the 3-hour barrier for the marathon, and what was her time?

Answers will be revealed in next month’s newsletter.