The Saltwell Road Races 2009
Lee Morgan posts this report..
The winter fixture list at this time of the season is swarming with cross country races. The Harrier Leagues, North Eastern and Northern Championships take up most of the weekend races throughout December and January.
However, sneaked in between all this cross-country are the Saltwell Road Races. This 10k race, billed as the oldest surviving road race in Britain is not as popular as it was in the halcyon days of the 80s and 90s. The memorable battles when Cram and McLeod would go toe to toe along the Team Valley and up Chowdene Bank may be long gone, but a well organised event with a friendly atmosphere over a very testing course meant more than 200 runners would get one final 10k time in the bag before they said goodbye to 2009.
Myself and six Wallsend compatriots braved the frosty conditions (or was it just to get the complimentary whisky miniature and engraved glass?) and toed the line for the Saturday morning start. The course was three and a half laps in and around Saltwell Park. It was mostly uphill or downhill, with a 600-metre stretch towards the end of each lap being the only flat part of the course. This made it difficult to judge your pace and it wasn't thought that many PBs would be on offer.
Tony Carter, however, must not have read the script. His 34.00 was a PB by 9 seconds and earned him a great 5th place. Just recently back from Austria, it was good to see 'Carts' back in form and the green and gold at the sharp end of such a prestigious race. Behind him, Mark Hall ran a solid 37.24, a great time over such a hard course. I had my customary 'go off canny then pick people off' lazy run. However, overhearing a spectator saying 'didn't he used to be Lee Morgan' made me buck my ideas up on the last lap. I was followed by John Ross with Ged Lee just about holding off the stubborn attentions of Dave Rowe. Our sole female representative was Kathryn Robertson who, despite not easing off from her hectic training schedule, continues to improve with every race and was satisfied with her time and performance.
It was a freezing day, a tough course but we all went home with smiles on our faces. Don't try this race if you want a PB but if you want to compete in a well organised, friendly event over a testing hilly course the Saltwell 10k is not to be missed.
The results were not available at the time of writing. However, upon publication today I noticed that as well as Carter's 5th place, Mark Hall was 4th V40, the mens team were 3rd and Kathryn was 2nd V35!
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