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Lots going on at Sedgefield Harriers

8th March
Launch of our Chequered Flag Challenge.
Following the F1 Grand Prix season as it moves to race tracks around the world, members are recording the number of laps they complete as they run, jog or walk on the day. Just a bit of fun, but members have got involved wherever they are in the country, or indeed the world.
22 March XC
The last race of the XC season has seen our men’s team win the Third Division of the Harrier League and gain promotion to Division 2 for next year. Congratulations to all the men that have participated this year. And a great season for the women and juniors too, getting more teams out, with some outstanding individual performances. Congratulations to Emma Lee who won the Sedgefield Harriers XC trophy for 2025.
22 March
Annual Presentation evening.
A wonderful event celebrating everything positive about our club – recognising performance across the Time Trial, Grand Prix, Track and Field and Cross Country, but also the contribution that members make in terms of volunteering in all sorts of ways. Congratulations to all our winners.
Coaches – congratulations to Vicky Fawcett and Harriet Morris on successfully completing your level one coaching courses. Harriet is continuing to lead the Core Stability session on a Monday and has joined the Juniors coaching team on a Wednesday; and Vicky has joined the rota for the Tuesday evening senior session. And a welcome return by Helen Letts, who having stepped down from coaching juniors, couldn’t keep away and is not only helping at junior sessions when required but is now also providing support to Enya, Claire and Tracy at the Monday Beginners and Improvers session. The Club is reliant on people giving their time to coaching others so thanks to all our coaches and volunteers.
Ibiza half marathon – if you are going to run a half marathon, why not travel somewhere special? Congratulations to Georgina Letts, Anna Haycock and Sadie Abel who all ran great times in Ibiza. Unusually this was an evening event and the ladies were glad of a paddle in the sea at the end, though it was only marginally warmer than the North Sea!
Hawkshead Lakeland coffin run – congratulations to the three members of the Walker family who participated in this 16km trail race. An outstanding result for Abbie, finishing 3rd woman, and David secured 2nd place in the MV50.
Pie and Peas Muddy Roads 5k – great support for this local race with members running and marshalling on a lovely Spring evening. Apparently the pie and peas are quite an incentive!
Training sessions – April brings a welcome return to Hardwick Park for our training sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays – a chance to enjoy mother nature as we train.
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Curtain Comes Down On The XC Season

Twenty-two Harriers took on the final fixture of the North East Harrier League at Eltringham Farm.

What a fantastic way to bring down the curtain on what has been a season of cross-country that will live long in the memory. Well done to all who took part in any of the XC events this season, you’re all superstars!

p.s. an extra special Well Done to Emma who was awarded the Cross Country Runner of the year at the club’s annual awards evening last night!

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Race Rundown: Berlin Marathon, 24th September 2023

By Cat Miller.

I’m not a road runner and despite having run many marathons and ultra marathons, I’ve only actually run 2 marathons on road – my first in Edinburgh in 2018 and London Marathon in 2021. London Marathon gave me a flavour for running the Abbott World Majors and from then I decided to make it my mission to complete them all and earn my 6 stars.  I entered the ballot for Berlin Marathon last year not really thinking I’d get in.  We’ve all seen the year after year disappointment of London which took me 6 attempts for a place so I fully expected Berlin to be the same.  Low and behold I was successful in the ballot on my first attempt!

We flew over to Berlin on the Friday afternoon arriving in time to go straight from the airport to the Expo to collect my number before it closed.  That in itself was an amazing experience. It’s held at the old Tempelhof airport complete with more merch stalls than I’ve ever seen and a hot air balloon sitting on the airfield.  Number collected and the carb loading began with a lovely Italian meal just near our hotel.

As avid parkrun tourists we weren’t going to let Saturday pass without ticking off another country on the list, however the Berlin ones were cancelled due to the marathon so any we did was going to involve a train journey.  Looking at the parkrun map we realized that there was a Z location in the form of Ziegelwiese only just over an hour’s train journey away. Never being ones to turn down the opportunity for a Z (we have already completed one alphabet and are close to a second) alarms were set for 5.30am and off we went to the train station.  We won’t discuss how much the train tickets cost but lets just say John is still whinging about it now!  Another Z bagged we headed back to Berlin to watch the finish of the inline skating race and to check out the finish area near the Brandenburg gate. The day finished with one of the best steak meals I’ve ever eaten and a happy John as he’d sampled a few pints of Wheat Beer!

Sunday morning it wasn’t too early a start as my Wave wasn’t starting until 1030am so I had time for breakfast and an easy walk to the start area from the hotel.  When I arrived at the start area I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people! You certainly don’t see that many people on the trails.  I got quite emotional thinking about how proud my Granda would have been – he was a keen marathon runner and lived through both wars only dying last year aged 92 – and he always loved following my running and hiking adventures and this was probably the biggest one yet.  That emotion stayed with me throughout the whole race and I’m not ashamed to say I cried several times including as I crossed the finish.  The start experience was incredible, every wave got the same treatment with a celebrity starter (no idea who it was though) and music and fireworks and it was just incredible!

The race itself is one of the flattest marathons there is and I didn’t know how to handle it! My usual race mantra is slow up the hill, fast down the hill and steady the flat but I couldn’t do this on the Berlin course so I just had to run! Of course I went out far too fast and completely blew up at 10 miles when the sun came out. For the rest of the race I jeffed it 1 minute walk, 1 minute run and having this time to focus really helped tick the miles over.  It was such a hot day but the water stops on the course were plentiful as was the fresh fruit at many of the stations which was greatly appreciated.

It was also a really well supported course and I don’t remember there being any part of it where there weren’t people watching on.  The finish for this marathon is just incredible though.  For the last few miles you are weaving back through the city streets then you make a turn and head towards the Brandenburg gate.  It was interesting watching people who thought that was the finish line when in fact it was 400m further down the road! John was waiting for me right at the gate and managed to capture some great pictures which were much better than the official ones which I did not pay £30 for!  I think that last 400m were my fastest of the race! Over the finish line, medal collected and my second star in the bag.

I’d highly recommend this race to anyone just for the incredible experience.  Now I’m hoping I’m as lucky with the ballot for Chicago next year 😊