It was a warm one for the 2022 Great North 10k with a mixture of sun and cloud and little breeze to offer relief. A decent sized event with a field of approximately 5000 runners (I didn’t have the opportunity to count them all).
Izzy Sharrock, Rob Dooley, Graeme Leathard, Kate Winstanley, Marcus Ketley, Chris Small (aka Alex D) and Tom Dowling were there to represent the JJ’s. A disjointed and unorganised arrival meant no full team photo (not helped by Alex’s rather cavalier lie in). We all made our way to the starting pens, organised in order of Elite followed by Orange, White, Green and Pink waves. I was starting to feel quite pumped up by the time the starting horn sounded, surrounded by all the other club runners jumping, flexing, prancing and clearly more prepared than I was.
The locals were out in their numbers cheering on the runners, especially from the Baltic to the Swing Bridge. Official looking camera men were out in full force, not trying to hide themselves behind bushes or trees as I have become customed to seeing (or not seeing).
To the obvious disapproval of Kate the route was a different to previous years, remaining rigid to the banks of the Tyne and forming a ‘little h’ shape. Starting from the Baltic centre, we ran along past the Sage, over the Swing Bridge and to Newcastle Business Park. Here we encountered a 180° turn heading sending us back to the Swing Bridge before turning right towards The Staithes. Another 180° turn sent us back past the Swing Bridge to the left and under the Tyne Bridge to finish at the Baltic. Quite a flat course, with a slight incline up from the Staithes, just when we least needed it. The Kitty Wakes behaved themselves, allowing the JJ’s to make for a clean finish. Kate had left over energy and managed a remarkable sprint finish.
We were rewarded with the customary medal a T-shirt and managed to partially regroup for team photos.
Results:
Tom Dowling 37:10 35th
Izzy Sharrock 44:42 212th
Rob Dooley 48:37 439th
Graeme Leathard 50:29 556th
Kate Winstanley 51:29 623rd
Marcus Ketley 53:00 722nd
Alex Dyter 01:04:44 1593rd
