Swaledale Runners

We had an amazing turn out for the first session of our latest Swaledale Shufflers C25km group. Fantastic job team - it was lovely to meet you all and we’re really looking forward to next week!
Get in touch with us if you are keen to get started with running or return to running after a break. We welcome all runners and have a session that will be right for you.

Club runs have now started up again on Tuesdays and Thursdays – hooray! We are of course following government and England Athletics guidelines to keep ourselves safe, so the clubhouse remains closed. For now we are concentrating on social runs in groups to suit people’s pace.

If you are interested in finding out more about the club, you can contact us via our Facebook page, or our Run Together page. 

During the latest lockdown members of Swaledale Runners have kept on running in all weathers. Many have taken part in virtual challenges, with a ‘complete not compete’ theme to keep everyone motivated. Some have been concentrating on the ‘Big Mountain Challenge’, with several runners reaching the top of Everest and beyond. We have tackled more unusual challenges and discovered that running backwards is a lot harder than it looks! There has been an alphabet challenge and a treasure hunt as well as plogging (jogging and litter picking) and a photo competition. Information about our virtual challenges, as well as the latest results, can be found under competitions above. As we gradually return to racing we will still be keeping some virtual competitions going: watch this space!

Running from home has been tough, but this did not hold back Jess Young who completed an incredible 100K run from her home in under 10 hours, raising over £1200 for the Captain Tom Foundation. You can read a report of Jess’s amazing achievement here.

Here is a link to the results of the Virtual Richmond Castle 10K. Congratulations to all who completed this event - it is probably even tougher when you have to complete it as a virtual race. Thank you all very much for your support.

While we have not been able to hold club nights in the usual way over recent months, club members have been out and about taking part in all kinds of challenges. 

Massive congratulations to Ian Oldham who completed the Classic Bob Graham Lakeland Fell challenge on 24/25 July traversing 42 fells, 66 miles, 26900 feet of ascent in in a time of 23.13. Great achievement, well done to him and all his team.

Well done also to Jess Young (20.26.52), Ros Blackmore (26.23.02) & Simon Hewitt (24.07.08) who all completed the Virtual Montane Lakeland 100 challenge and to Grace Gilpin who completed the 50 mile challenge in 9.54.25.

Swaledale Runners continue to impress in the Greener Miles Virtual Running challenges throughout June. The weekly events have a variety of races each week. These include "The Boomerang" - 10 x 4 miles Race - 30th May. "Points mean Prizes" - 6th June. The last three events have seen the Swaledale Runners come 9th each time out of roughly 40 teams. "National Three Peaks Hill Climbing Team Challenge" - climb the 3 highest peaks in the UK in the shortest time - 13th June. "The Even Bigger One - 24 Hour Challenge" - 24 members had to complete as many miles as they could in 24 hours they clocked up an impressive 548.61 miles. - 19th June. "The Pentathlon" - Five events - 27th June.

Martha McBarron and Andrew Fletcher showed a great trn of speed to come  4th and 5th in the NE Project 5k Dream Team Event.

On Tuesday July 21st Swaledale Runners met as a group for the first time since lock down for a social distancing run amd litter pick around Richmond.

Recent Results:

20/10 - Yorkshire Marathon - well done to Carrie Morrell - 5.15.35 & Catriona Riley - 5.56.16. Also on this date Jess Young had a great run at the Yorkshire 10 mile - 18th Female, 3rd in age - 1.10.47.
26/10 - Liz Sowter continued her post retirement resurgence and competed in the Grim Up North 20 mile event - Leeds to Shipley and back again along canal paths. She was 1st lady & 4th overall in a time of 3.16.51
26/10 - Ros Blackmore and her partner Mandy Goth were once gain victorious at the OMM Long score event. 1/4 Vet Ladies, 5/17 Ladies, 10/47 Vets & 64/168 overall.
27/10 - Stuart Clarkson competed in the Nav4 Ullswater 24 mile Challenge. Just happy to get round in 7.30 (ish).

02/11 - Jim Coldwell competed in one of his favourite fell races Dunnerdale, these are his thoughts:

OK, so the Black Combe race means the most to me; the Three Shires lives long in the memory; but…the best fell race? For me it’s Dunnerdale all the way. Less than 2,000 feet and at only about 5 miles it sounds like a simple up and down AS – but in reality it’s a mini Lakeland classic. With experience I now know that the closest is probably the Three Shires miniaturised by 50% - same hard climbs, tough descents, road crossing in the middle…or maybe it’s just me? I’ve had fairly fast times here, I’ve run with the local club (Black Combe Runners) over the route a number of times (including in the middle of the night) and it was my first real fell race. This year has been my most difficult since I had a real issue 11 years ago (another story that’s been told) and I’ve struggled with injury and then motivation. But…I loved the Dunnerdale today. Quicker than I thought I’d be (but not that quick), and as usual I bumped into a few folk I know from home (alongside the best fell runners in the country – see the results if you don’t believe me). Dunnerdale wins again for me. I’ll share, though, my conversation with my beautiful wife as I came in to the finish (alongside my two boys and greyhound Gem). ‘Did you get a pic of me coming in?’ – ‘Your days are over. Got some nice pictures of the dog though’. Fair enough actually!

03/11 - Tim Greenwood had another excellent Fell race at the Lockerton Limping where he was 3rd, Mike Keavney also had a great run.
Also on 03/11 Emily continued to run well at the Craggside Winter Half Marathon, 9th lady overall, 2nd in her age in a time of 1.49.32
Well done to Martin Randall who was 74th at the Derwentwater 10 mile - 1.11.25, Lucy Tulloch finished in 1.38.06.

There is a great article about our double celebration here on the England Athletics website.