Pier to Pier 2017
A must do annual run for anyone who wants to recapture the joy of running after 12 months of gruelling x-country meetings, energy sapping 5k/3k WG/ SGP races, HMs, marathons, triathlons, iron mans and whatever other events you lot put yourselves through in pursuit of your passion and your PBs.
This is surely one of the most beautiful runs in the country. Following the stunning North Sea coastline from South Shields to Roker via Souter Lighthouse with no fixed route, just start on the beach in Shields and finish on the beach in Sunderland, and enjoy.
So most of us decided to do just that and treat this as a run not a race. But not Gez Davidson. Having lived in South Shields he had never run this before and he stormed around coming an impressive 50th out of almost 1200 runners in a time of 46 mins and 46 secs for the 7/7.5 mile course. Well done Gez.
The rest of us weren’t quite so quick taking around an hour to complete the course. And there were good Samaritans all around. Thanks Anna French (2nd green and gold home) for waiting at the gate after overtaking me and offering refreshments when you thought I was in trouble. And well done to Mick Day who gave up his race to help a runner from another club who was in real trouble and needed ambulance assistance.
It was great to see Jackie Garnett in a green and gold vest after her valiant efforts in spearheading the organisation of the TOG and GS relays. Sarah Graham impressively finished in the top 400,( in 399th place to be exact), and Lyndsay Day and Jeanette Gibson made up the Wallsend octet. A fun time was had by all.
Full results here.
If you want to do this next year then sign up early as there were no places available on the day.
Alan H