Presentation Night

[Sat 14^th May]

Blyth Running Club recently held their Annual Presentation Night on Friday, 13th May at The Sea Horse Pub, Blyth and over 120 members and guests turned up to show their appreciation to the trophy winners. Before the presentation started the guests were treated to a performance by the club's very own crooner, Peter Brown. The presentation was then carried out by Club Chairman Kevin Freeman, with Susanne handing out the trophies. There followed a buffet meal and afterwards a disco until late into the night. A grand evening was had by all.

Below is a summary of the presentation and the awards given out.

Every year Blyth organise their own Grand Prix Leagues which consist of nine races with the runners divided into leagues according to ability and the runners best six scores counting towards their league position. In 2010, the races spread from the Lake District to Beadnell Bay, Carlisle to North Yorkshire and covered distances ranging from five miles to 14.5 miles.

Division One was remarkably tight with Robbie Barkley and Peter Brown fighting it out for first and second but Peter's non-appearance at the final race due to injury allowed Robbie a comfortable run to give him victory on the day and also in the division by one point from Peter, with Steve Walker finishing in third place. Robbie won 5 of the races, while Peter was first in three of them.

Division Two was just as competitive and close fought, and although Graeme Stewart was the first runner back in his league in the final race, it was not enough to overtake Steve Gillespie who won the league by 4 points, with Graeme in second place and Shaun Dodd taking third position, a further 4 points behind. Steve and Graeme both won three races each, but Steve's consistency over the year gave him the slight advantage over Graeme.

Division Three was another close affair, with Dave Bradley guaranteed first place going into the last race of the season, Heather Christopher, Dave Cox and Ian Baxter were battling for the remaining two top three places available. Heather had a good run at Brampton, winning on the day to give her second place in the division, just two points behind Dave. Ian managed to beat Dave Cox by one place at Brampton, resulting in them being tied for third place in the division on 61 points, five behind Heather. Both Dave and Heather won three races each, and like division two it was Dave’s consistency that gave him victory over Heather.

Although just as competitive, Division Four was easily won by Julie Lemin, who was first back in the six counting races, while second placed Ron Ingram had a two point advantage over Claire Riches who finished third. Although Claire was first back in her division in the final race at Brampton, this was not sufficient for her to overtake Ron.

In Division Five, Phillippa Baxter had a clean sweep in finishing first in her division in every race. This give Phillippa a healthy lead over second placed Heather Barrass, with Sharon Richardson in third position.

The leading Vets in the Grand Prix were all presented trophies and these went to Joe Frazer, Terry McCabe, Cath Young, Davina Lonsdale and Joanne Straughan.

Kevin also presented the Age-related trophies, where the athletes times were gauged against their age and compared to a set of standard tables, this was won by Cath Young with Terry McCabe second and Dave Cox and Robbie Barkley tying for third place.

The trophies for the Club’s Annual Handicaps were also presented and the Seniors was won by Julie Lemin, with Alison Lowes in second place and Louise Rawlinson in third, Andrew Henderson collected the fastest Male trophy and Julie Clarke the fastest female. Daniel Ord won the Junior Handicap, with Ryan Povey second and Sam Lawson in third place. Jake Jansen collected the fastest boy trophy, while Charlotte Ramsay was the fastest girl.

The winners of the Winter Series also received their prizes, with the seven individual race winners all receiving a Yellow T-shirt, these were:

Jordan Wright, Kenn Turnbull, Richard Shillinglaw, Rachel Falloon, Emma Freemna, Jordan Middlemist and Stephanie Ramsay.

The winning team were; Ron Ingram, Davina Lonsdale, Richard Shillinglaw, Ian Baxter, Heather Christopher, and Steve Gillespie.

The overall Winter Series winner was Junior member Charley Hedley, with another Junior, Calum Story in second place, while Junior member Lois Kankowski tied for third place with Dave Roberts.

The four Club Captains had made their selections in several categories and these awards went to Craig Birch for “Outstanding Track and Field Athlete”, Dave Bradley received the trophy for “Outstanding Distance Runner”, while Emma Freeman picked up the award for “Outstanding Cross Country Runner”.

Finally, the members also voted for their Sports Personality of 2010. Members used different criteria for their votes: which athlete had improved most during 2010, which athlete had contributed the most to the club during 2010 or who was the best runner during 2010.

This award was won by Junior Coordinator Keith Willshire.

The Junior Personality for 2010 was won by Scott Povey.