Having popped its head through the curtains a week or so ago and decided to go back to bed, Spring finally made an appearance on Sunday, just in time for the increasingly popular Sand Dancer Multi-Terrain 10k in South Shields, incorporating this year’s NEMAA 10k Multi Terrain Championships.
Under long-awaited blue skies, the record field of 400 assembled at the start on promenade adjacent to The Leas included 24 in the royal blue vest of Sunderland Harriers, another impressive demonstration of the club’s strength in depth.
In both men’s and women’s races Sunderland came agonisingly close to taking their respective team titles, only for the men to be denied by Crook, losing out by only 17 seconds, whilst the women originally thought they had won, only to have the prize snatched cruelly away later when it emerged that following a mix up in the distribution of numbers, Tyne Bridge were, in fact, the winning team.
The men’s scoring quartet were led home in eighth place by Michael Edwards, followed by Ian Ritchie in tenth, Michael Heskett 17th and Alan Hodgson 26th, who also placed 3rd MV45 in the NEMAA race.
Darren Stoker was next home in 36th place, just dipping below the 40 minute barrier, closely pursued by Tony Allinson (whose time of 40:39 was identical to 2015!) and Tony Thompson, who brought his fine form from Hartlepool back up the coast to win the NEMAA MV60 title in 58th.
Dean Phillips (61st), Shaun Bagley (77th), Allan McManus (81st), Karl Robinson (83rd), Anthony Erskine (103rd), Gary Fox (113th) and Vince Emmett (124th) completed the men’s line-up.
Michelle Avery led home the women in 8th place, clocking 41:40 just one place and four seconds clear of Judith Thirlwell. Vikki Cotton was able to build on that foundation to complete the scoring in 17th place with 44:03, some 3 minutes faster than last year.
Rachael Moore placed 30th in the women’s race, with Deborah Smith 73rd, Susan Clughen 78th, Kim Fox 80th, Debra James 82nd, Mandy Roche 137th and, knocking a whopping 6:23 off her time from 12 months ago, Margaret Thompson finished 139th.