Sunderland Harriers continued their success in road relays as they ruthlessly put strong opposition to the sword at the well organised Gordon Smith road relays at Wallsend on a nice mild Wednesday evening.
27 athletes, 18 men and 9 women represented the club in both races on a single lap 2 mile course.
In the men's race, despite Calum Johnson toeing the line it was our A team that stepped up to the plate and strangled the life out of the opposition with a record-breaking performance, leading from gun to tape to win by a street or two, knocking 30 seconds off the course record.
Scott Armstrong got the Royal Blues off to a brilliant start, making a break for home from the 1st mile marker to come in with a time of 9:31, Chris Parr (Morpeth B) and Lewis Liddle (Gateshead) were 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The second leg saw Stephen Jackson who had just turned 40 as had Conrad Franks (Gateshead) set off with the latter giving chase, unfortunately he didn't have enough in the tank as Jackson produced a superb performance running 9:43 breaking Ian Hudspiths course record for a veteran by 6 seconds. This gave us a 48 second lead over Gateshead going into the last leg.
Joe Armstrong had the task of bringing home the victory, he set off in determined fashion and sauntered round in a brilliant time of 9:16. Joe's time would have obliterated the course record but that honour went to Calum Johnson who ran 9:12 trying to eat into our lead, unfortunately the gap was too big to close down as we won by 44 seconds.
Morpeth A team were a distant third place, however they did just enough to clinch a podium place as our B team of Craig Gunn (10:02), Sam Thurlbeck (10:47) and Jake Ridding (10:11) were 9 seconds adrift in 4th place.
The C team of Nathan Reed (10:24), Chris Dwyer (11:17) and Adam Hughes (10:13) finished 12th.
In 22nd place was our D team of Michael Rodenby (10:54), Paul Collins (11:50) and Jonathon Collins (10:46).
Our E team of Dillon Revell (12:04), Darren Dodd (11:50) and Chris Bell (11:33) finished 33rd.
The F team of Steven Gordon (11:44), Andrew Hughes (11:59) and Jimmy Johnson (14:49) finished 55th.
In the women's race our A team of Amy Callaghan (12:14), Jess Fox (11:59) and Vicky Haswell (13:17) produced a much-improved performance from last year as they finished 8th.
The B team also broke into the top 20 as the trio of Jen Tomlin (12:47), Claire Cook (13:14) and Charlotte Stidolph (13:15) finished 16th.
The C team, which was a mixture of youth and experience finished 61st. 17-year-old Niamh Campbell got them under way with a time of 17:05, marathon runner Deb Defty came back in 15:43 and 15-year-old Hannah Hughes (17:16) brought the team home.
It was a great night for the club, which delighted Club Team Manager Jimmy Johnson.
"I'm very delighted that we won tonight, very happy indeed. We led from start to finish, but was I surprised?
The answer is no, this due to the fact that the lads are in great shape and training very well. This gives the lads the confidence going into races and I can put my trust and belief in them to perform well and deliver the goods.
I was anticipating a very close race given that ex-national XC champion Calum Johnson was toeing the line, but unfortunately my lads took the race by the scruff of the neck and ran the hearts, lungs and legs out of the opposition.
Overall, I thought all 18 of us that raced in the men's race competed exceptionally well and this bodes well for the future.
It was a much-improved performance from last year from the women's teams too, 9 lasses battling out, a fantastic 8th place augers well in terms of going forward and it is a small step in the right direction. It was also very pleasing to see two of our youngsters in Hannah Hughes and Niamh Campbell competing amongst the seniors, long may it continue.
We simply don't stop there, as an individual, as a team, as a Club, we must build on this success. We have relays next month and I'm currently plotting our path to success. I'm excited at the prospect of leading both the men and women's, commitment and hard work will see us reap the rewards."