Sedgefield Harriers - Running Club
Sedgefield Harriers was established in September 2005 and now boasts over 40 Members. We are a Club catering for both youth and adult runners, male or female who enjoy running whether it is purely for fitness or a chance to race.
Sedgefield Harriers' Three 'A's Affiliation application has been accepted (February 2006).
The official meeting place for the Club is Sedgefield Community Centre Sports Foyer, Sedgefield Village.
Visit our website at
www.sedgefieldharriers.com
First Anniversary
A little over a year ago I asked Sedgefield News to include an item suggesting a running club for Sedgefield. Anyone interested was asked to meet at the gates of the cricket club.
As I ran around from Queens Drive at the appointed time I had no idea what would be around the corner. I needn't have worried. On that first night there were 7 keen runners.
We have since built a solid membership of 40 and on our regular Wednesday club night we have between 20 and 30 runners treading now familiar routes around Sedgefield. We now have a coached training session on Friday nights for runners of all abilities, a 'long steady run' session on Sunday mornings and have recently introduced a 'joggers' session on Monday evenings which is at a more relaxed 'social' pace which suits new starters, lapsed runners and those just starting to get fit.
The Sedgefield vest (blue and white) has been seen at many races this year including 10k's in North Tyneside, Raby Castle and others; the London and Edinburgh Marathons; and many fell and trail races on the Durham Fells and the North York Moors. We have had competitors in local triathlons at Ripon, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Alnwick as well as at the UK Ironman in Dorset. There are 5 members in the Great North Run on the 1st of October.
The club runs a monthly time trial series and in August hosted its first invitation handicap. We hope to host a formal road race in Sedgefield next year. We have a developing junior section and some up and coming younger members who are achieving at local events on the track, the roads and cross-country. We have also become affiliated to UK
Not a bad start for a first year.
So this is a thank you for the enthusiasm and commitment of the people who have turned out winter and summer, rain and shine and who have taken the dream of a local running club and made it a reality and who have begun to make Sedgefield Harriers a local success story. This of course includes all those at the club but also includes Sedgefield Community College for the use of facilities, the Nags Head where we have a monthly social and Sedgefield News for giving us the lifeblood of publicity, which has helped to make it happen.
We have a lot of plans for developing the club in the future and we have some fabulous talented runners but we also aim to be a community club where everyone is welcome. It has been a great first year and we look forward to a great future. Thanks to everyone.
Ean Parsons
What do you do on Sundays?
What were you doing on Sunday 20th August? A relaxing Sunday, coffee and the Sunday papers?
Ian Blakemore from Sedgefield was at Sherborne Castle in Dorset. Nothing too unusual in that. Sherborne Castle is a popular tourist spot with stunning grounds two castles and a lake.
But at 6.00a.m. Ian was in the lake. 2.4 miles and 1hr 16 minutes later Ian was on his bike cycling through Dorset and Somerset and 6hrs and 11 minutes later he was running around the grounds of the castle and the nearby roads. At 5.20 p.m. - 11 hours 19 minutes and 56 seconds after he started, Ian had completed the UK Ironman Triathlon. This was only the second time that a full Ironman has been held in the UK.
Ian is in the police force in Durham and entered the Ironman with 2 colleagues from Aykley Heads. He is also a member of Sedgefield Harriers running club where he typically sets the pace for the faster runners on Wednesday evening training runs in and around Sedgefield. He has competed in a number of shorter triathlon events including, this year, the Ripon Triathlon, the Cleveland Steelman Triathlon and the Hartlepool Marina Triathlon, which he completed only a week after the Ironman.
But Ironman is a different prospect altogether and is a world event with races being held regularly in such places as Australia, Austria, Lanzarote, Nice, South Africa and Florida culminating in the Ironman World Championships in Hawii. The 'Sherborne' is a qualifying event for Hawii. Triathlon has become a popular event at shorter distances with the Olympic distance (1500m swim, 40km Bike Ride and 10k run) now becoming the standard. Great Britain now boasts the Triathlon World Champion in Tim Don who won his title in Lausanne, Switzerland on 2nd September.
At Sherborne there were 1500 entries in a top class international field. Leaving the water Ian was two thirds down the field - swimming being Ian's weaker of the three disciplines (he only gets to put in 3 x 1hr swim sessions per week!) but he progressed through the field on the bike and the run, being in the top third of the field for the bike and in the top 80 in the marathon with a time of 3hrs 41:26.
Ian typically trains on the bike with rides up to 80 miles and on the road running up to 20 miles. In an average week he will train for 15 hours and consume over 5000 calories per day. Before the race Ian felt he would be delighted to beat 12hrs so he was 'over the moon' with a finishing time of 11hrs and 19 minutes and 56 seconds.
The winner was Frank Heldoorn of the Netherlands in a time of 8hrs 36:38. Ian focused his training on the Ironman from October of last year, picking up intensity and distance in March and this was a truly inspirational achievement.
Everyone in Sedgefield must wish Ian warmest congratulations and best of luck for his future triathlon endeavours. (More details of Ian's Ironman, his training and experience will be available soon on www.sedgefieldharriers.com)
Jeanette Ives on (01740) 629778
jives@thinksmith.co.uk
or Ean Parsons on 07771 828 568
ean2005@hotmail.co.uk
