The sun continued to shine on the Silksworth Sports Complex, where Sunderland Harriers host their annual 5k races incorporating the NA 5k Championships.
The women’s race is always away first and pre-race favourite, Danielle Hodgkinson had shown her speed on Monday night, when winning a 1500 race. The fast, measured Silksworth course produced one women’s time under 17 minutes, 3 under 18 minutes with a further 3 under 19 minutes.
Danielle Hodgkinson headed the field from the start, to win in a time of 16.31 and was followed all the way by Charlotte Penfold, who in turn had Georgia Campbell chasing her all the way. 4th place was Danielle Smyth, 5th was Robyn Bennett and the first vet 35, Alice Smith, was in 6th place overall.
The team results were: Sunderland in 1st, Tyne Bridge in 2nd and North Shields Poly in 3rd.
The men’s race started 35 minutes after the women’s, but again produced some fast times, with 5 men under 15 minutes and an astonishing 21 men under 16 minutes. A group of 5 athletes were closely packed behind leader, Dominic Shaw, as they looped round for the 2nd lap. When next seen, they were sprinting home to the finish line, with a clear gap between Dominic Shaw and 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed athletes. It was only on the line where Sam Hancox, in 14.48 headed Alex Brown in 3rd by 1 second, with Tom Charlton in 4th just 2 seconds behind Alex.
The teams were: Morpeth 1st, Tyne Bridge 2nd and Sunderland 3rd.
All the NA medals were presented by NA President, Kevin Carr, shortly after the races finished.
Women’s Results:
1st: Danielle Hodgkinson, Wallsend Harriers, 16.31
2nd: Charlotte Penfold, North Shields Poly, 17:10
3rd: Georgia Campbell, Jarrow & Hebburn, 17.39
Teams:
1st: Sunderland Harriers, 26 points – Alice Smith 7, Jess Fox 8, Sarah Knight, 11
2nd: Tyne Bridge Harriers, 33 points – Mairi Clancy 9, Kathryn Stevenson 10,
Rachel Adamson 14
3rd: North Shields Poly, 34 points – Charlotte Penfold 3, Katherine Davies 13,
Christine Burns 18
Men’s Results:
1st: Dominic Shaw, New Marske, 14.33
2nd: Sam Hancox, Morpeth Harriers, 14.48
3rd: Alex Brown, Houghton Harriers, 15.49
Teams:
1st: Morpeth Harriers, 21 points – Sam Hancox 2, Thomas Straughan 9,
Joe Armstrong 10
2nd: Tyne Bridge Harriers, 23 points – Tom Charlton 4, Carl Smith 6, Mark Fenwick 13
3rd: Sunderland Harriers, 49 points – Oliver James 5, Kevin Jeffress 16, Ian Dixon 28
Report Ken Smith
Photos Eillen Inghan