THE club have been organising a 'Couch to 5K' course under the watchful eye of club coach Chris Lees.

After nine weeks of introduction and training, up to three times a week, the group were ready for reaching their goal at the local Parkrun at Catterick. To add to the occasion up to 20 officials at the event were recruited from the Bedale club led by Run Director, Paul Simpson. Four club members and regular Park runners, Will Retchless, Paul Ellis, John Hunter and Marian Hunter acted as Pacers to guide runners to a target time, with Anne Johnson taking up Sweeping duties with the final participants.

The weather was calm, and excellent for running at this time of year, with 170 setting off at the start. All the group were taking part in their first ever Parkrun and looked confident after the first of three laps.

Christopher Chambers led the group home in a time of 24-00, with Kathryn McCann next in 26-51. Beth Grayson finished well in 28-18, followed by Katie Watson in 28-19, and Rebecca Barker in 28-40, Jill Davenport in 28-47, Alison Barron in 30-15, Alison Grayson in 30-28, Jess Mallinson in 33-22, Chloe Rendall in 36-12, Marie Brant in 36-56 and Polly Oldacres in 36-56. All were presented with medals from the Running Club for their achievement, with all keen to continue their progress in the future.

Regular club members were also enthused to take part in their first parkrun with Ben Smith flying round in a time of 21-22, and Nick Hatch in 27-04. Henry Anderson continued his impressive form with a time of 21-35. Rebecca Smith is improving every outing and recorded a personal best time of 23-17 for 4th placed woman overall. Membership Secretary Helen Simpson had been following the Couch to 5K programme after sustaining a broken ankle injury a year ago and was very pleased to be in action again finishing in 32-47. Second claim member Lena Conlin usually runs much longer distances than 5K but enjoyed finishing a lot sooner in 26-01.

The previous weekend Lena had been taking part in the Town Moor Marathon in Newcastle. This was a seven lap traffic free course on good footpaths through and around the historic Exhibition Park. She completed the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 14 minutes and 20 seconds, finishing 1st in her age category. A weekend rarely goes by without Raymond Lightle taking part in a race and he was very pleased to finish the Town Moor Marathon just 8 seconds under the 4 hour mark, and also take 1st place in his age group.