Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers juniors receive prize from British athletics star Chris Tomlinson

In the Junior 2K race Harriers Eve Dixon and Lucy Surtees had a fantastic race in the Stockton Trail Race Series Junior 2K, storming to the finish line in unison to claim joint first placed 10-14 female in 14:39.

They both receiving a prize from Chris Tomlinson, the British long jump record holder and world silver medalist.

This was a fantastic result for Lucy and Eve who have worked very hard to gain speed and strength throughout the summer racing season.

In the final meet of the race series, five senior Harriers went in the 5k race around two laps of Cowpen Bewley Woodland Trail.

The course is mainly flat trail, though there is a good hill halfway round each lap to briefly sap the legs of strength. The race was won by Mike Jeffries in 17:28.

Keith Hutchinson of Harriers had his best race to date, placing 10th overall in 20:27.

Dave Wallace completed the race in 23:09, which was enough to win second place Vet55 overall for the seven race series.

Jan Naisbitt has gone from strength to strength this series, beating lots of her previous times over the seven courses, she powered home to finish in 26:33, followed by Claire Earle in 26:57.

Sam Dixon had a great run, beating her previous time around the challenging course by over a minute to complete in 29:00.

A team of four Harriers took on the challenge of the One Mile Relays staged by North York Moors Athletics Club at Stewarts Park, Middlesbrough.

An extremely competitive event, with the North-East’s finest runners converging to tackle the very difficult mile.

The mile is a hard event as it requires a lot of strength and speed and the ability to push hard when the body tires in the latter stages of the race.

The race was set around a one mile loop of the park, with teams of four taking on a lap each, handing over the baton after a short climb to the change-over area.

The team placed 6th overall of 71 teams in a collective time of 21:12 for four miles.

Ben Ward took on the first leg, coming home in 5:11 to hand over to Paul Wilson who ran a 5:07 leg.

Paul handed over to Jack who ran a brilliant 5:10 leg to hand over to Ian Waterhouse to bring the team home in 6th place in 5:44.

Paul Wilson’s lap was the fastest mile on the evening of 284 competitors, Jack Hutton ran the 17th fastest time, Ben Ward the 20th and Ian Waterhouse was the 77th fastest competitor on the night. A great result for a very strong team.

The Taylor Wimpey Tees Pride 10k was staged in Middlesbrough last weekend.

A fast and flat course, ripe for PBs if the weather is kind. It was quiet a warm and humid day but the harriers were out in force to test themselves over the 6.23 mile distance.

Paul Wilson was the first Harrier to cross the finish line in 34:52, with Simon Bennett next in 36:40 which was an excellent performance in light of his recent injury.

John Davis ran a great race, finishing in 38:13 with Gareth Foreman going under the 40 minute barrier for the second time in three weeks with a time of 39:50.

Richard Hodgson was next to power to the line in 40:34, with John Mansfield someway off his usual time to complete in 41:40.

Sarah Black was the first female Harrier to finish in 42:43, securing the first Vet40 prize.

Darren Armstrong was suffering from a cold in the run up to the race and, despite feeling ok to start, was ill during the race so took the final kilometres at a steady pace and completed in 42:57.

Peter Johnson ran to the line with a smile and a time of 47:38. Simon Lawlor was very pleased with his personal best finishing time of 47:53, with Neal Gillson next in 49:14.

Graeme Surtees ran 51:27, with Cary Surtees closing the gap between herself and Graeme with a very impressive time of 53:53.

Claire Earle ran an excellent 52:39. Pauline Ranson was well under the hour mark to finish in 57:04, with Julie McGrath storming to the end for a 59:17 finish.

Sam Dixon was next in 61:17, with Christopher McGrath completing the team effort in 72:14.

The following week, the town’s runners headed over to the Great North Run to take on the half marathon, alongside greats including Mo Farah and Mary Keitany.

It was an very hot day, with 952 athletes needing medical attention during the race.

The half marathon course is 13.1 miles, but the Harriers generally had between 13.2 and 13.3 miles logged on their garmins at the end, suggesting it is a few hundred metres longer than the advertised distance.

Or perhaps that was due to having to weave in and out of other runners to get a good pace going.

First home for the Harriers was Vaughan Godber in 1:23:37.

Vaughan is in training for a full marathon at the end of September in the hope of securing a good for age place at next year’s London Marathon.

If he continues to perform as he has been, there is no doubt Vaughan will achieve his goal.

John Davis ran an excellent race, completing in 1:25:49, Jack Hutton followed in strongly in a time of 1:30:30 with Ian Bilton next in 1:36:28.

Darren Smith knocked over 20 minutes off his previous course record, completing in 1:38:44 and raising over £400 for The Sick Children’s Trust at the RVI in Newcastle.

Graham Stevens ran a great time of 1:40:17, with Andy Lamplough next in 1:43:01, Dave Wallace in 1:44:47 and Peter Johnson 1:46:38.

Jo Beddow was the first female harrier to cross the finish line. Jo set herself the goal of completing the Great North Run following hip surgery earlier in the year and ran and excellent race to finish in 1:47:47.

A fantastic achievement considering she was on crutches not five months earlier.

Jo was supported all the way round the course by her twin sister Jane who crossed the line in 1:47:48.

Jason Unwin gave another Great North Run performance in 1:50:13, with Simon Lawlor next in 1:56:32.

Other club finishers clocked the following times: Graeme Surtees 1:58:05, Steven Howe 2:01:56, Cary Surtees 2:03:57, Nicola Swinbourne 2:04:10, Jon Bathe 2:05:57, Richard Hall 2:13:02, Pauline Ranson 2:16:01, Andrew Doughty 2:19:24, Smia Yasin 2:27:40.

Meanwhile, on the same day John Mansfield went to the Vale of York Half Marathon which is a new fast and flat course for 2014.

John had an excellent run, completing in 1:33:37 for a new personal best over the half marathon distance.