Darryl Davison writes…
Set in and around the Derwent Walk, the George Ogle Memorial Race is only in its second year of running. It’s a trail run, roughly 6 miles, consisting of 2 flat miles at the beginning, 2 miles undulating with some bad boy hills and just under 2 miles blasting down the Derwent Walk from the Viaduct to the finish.
I headed across to the race with John Tollitt, the journey was smooth enough and John seemed well prepared bringing ever type of footwear imaginable apart from normal running trainers!!!
Our tactics were simple, if the entry cost was more than £10 we would race it, any less and we could take in the view. At £12, we had to put in a bit of effort.
The first couple of miles went off okay, I settled in with a couple of guys from Tynedale and John pushed on ahead. After two miles or so the terrain started to move up hill and it was at this point that John decided to go for a lie down in the nettles. The rest of the race was uneventful enough, some uphill, some down and amazing scenery. I managed to get back onto the trail with two miles to go just in front of John and a bit behind two Tynedale runners who I’d spent most of the race running with. I settled into a bit of a rhythm, didn’t panic and hoped to do them on the finish, it seemed to go to plan and I out gunned them with about 400 meters to go.
I finished in 10th place at 37.20 which was as much of a shock to me as my girlfriend Liz who didn’t have the camera ready thinking I would be in much late.
John shortly followed at 37.59 and 14th place.
The race was won by Brendan McMillan from Claremont in 32.32.
Overall a wonderful race, superbly marshalled, and one I’d recommend to all of TBH next year.
The full results can be found on this website http://www.pb-fitness.co.uk/ (on the right hand side).
FYI: George Ogle was one of the North East’s leading athletics administrators, who sadly passed away in 2010 following a long battle against cancer. George had a colourful career as an athlete before taking up admin duties and was involved in athletics for over 50 years.
5 Responses
Great report and cracking run Darryl. Would recommend this to anyone who fancies a ‘bit of off road’ (but hopefully not in the nettles). Cheers for the Jaffa Cakes Lizzy.
Great report Daryl. An interesting concept correlating entry fee to the amount of effort you put in. Dare I say it, but if you do the GNR, you might be in with a shout!!
Well done lads and excellent report Daryl. You’re making some quality progress with your running. If we charge you treble for an entry for the Bridges of the Tyne race does that mean you’ll be taking Carter down?
Ha! I think it would take more than an inflated entry fee to take Tony down the way he’s running!
just ply him with treble vodka’s BEFORE the race. then you might be in with a shout.