Stuart Pailor Memorial (Old Monks) Race, 8th January 2017

Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers hosted the Stuart Pailor Memorial (Old Monks) Race on Sunday 8th January.  The race was held in memory of Stuart, a member of the club for almost five decades and was a prolific long and ultra-distance runner.  

Stuart joined the club and immediately set to work as a race official, timekeeper and adjudicator and took on the role of Club Secretary.  Later he became Vice President and then elected President. He was a vibrant, active, very well loved member and ambassador for the club, earning the respect of both the north east and national running communities, and was known as ‘Mr Burn Road’ to his much loved club members.  

 

The club hosted a post-race buffet in the village hall and raised £265 for one of Stuart’s favoured charities, Macmillan Cancer Support.  Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers matched this amount and a total donation of £530 was made to the charity.

 

The race attracted a field of 300 runners to Hart Village.  The 5.4 mile route took runners from the Front Street, down Butts Lane and right along a trail for around a kilometre until they reached the dene. Here runners had a very challenging section of mud and climbing. Once they had climbed out of the dene there was a stretch along the railway line to momentarily get their breath back until descending into the dene near Monk Heselden and another climb out. The two mile of road stretching back to the finish line would be easy going in itself if runners had not had two challenging sections of hills in their legs. Instead, the final two miles were extremely punishing as runners pushed to finish.

 

The race was won by Sedgefield Harrier Mike Jeffries in 33:00.  Burn Road had a number of runners in the leading group for much of the race.  Richard Darling edged ahead of Simon Bennett and Paul Wilson in the final stages, claiming third overall in 33:47.  Simon Bennett was fourth overall in 33:55 and Paul Wilson sixth in 34:06.  Excellent runs from the top three, with Paul Wilson claiming the first Male Vet 40 prize. 

 

Vaughan Godber was the fourth Harrier to cross the finish line in 35:19 which led to the club successfully claiming the team prize for the first four from one club to cross the line.  Each received a bottle of champagne kindly donated by Waltons Clark Whitehill Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers.

 

The fifth of Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers 41 runners in the race was Paul Stephenson, injury free and fit he powered to the line in 35:45 (16th).  Steve Morrison was next in 35:50 (17th), followed by Anthony Oliver (19th) in 36:07.

 

Bryan Astill had a great run, finished 26th overall in 37:34, with John Davis just behind in 37:50 (29th).  

 

A minute later another stream of Burn Roaders raced to the finish line, led by Leigh Owbridge finishing an impressive 37th in 38:50.  Chris Williams claimed 41st place in 39:45, with Ian Bilton following in 41:05 (50th).

 

Simon Lawlor was very pleased with a time of 41:20 (52nd), with club President Ian Cook next in 41:40 (58th).  Ian ran the course with fellow Harrier and Hartlepool Rovers Rugby mate Gareth Foreman who finished in 41:41 (59th). 

 

Bill Hornby had a great run, finishing 70th in 43:01.  Bill was followed in by Hartlepool’s first female over the line, Cheryl Laycock, looking fresh as she completed the 5.4m race in 43:11. 

 

Phillip Thompson was next in 43:31 (74th), followed by Neil Simon in 44:04 (79th) and Greg Swinbourne in 44:27 (84th).

 

Burn Road’s second female was Sharon Stephenson.  This was Sharon’s first race back after months off due to an injury to her foot.  She dug deep to cross the line strong in 44:46 (88th) and won the prize for first Female Vet 45.

 

The Burn Road Runners kept coming, with Nigel Shaw next in 45:03 (91st), Carl Marchant in 45:04 (92nd) and Andrew Bate 45:05 (93rd).   Triathlete Scott Llewellyn was next in 45:51, the 100th runner across the finish line.

 

Alan Robson ended his run in 46:48, with Bradley O’Donoghue next in 47:09.  Graeme Surtees raced to the end in 49:31, with Darren Smith close behind in 49:47.

 

The third Burn Road female was Jan Naisbitt in 50:01, with Dave Clouston next in 50:12.  Peter Johnson pipped Lesley Strickland to the line in 51:09, with Lesley 51:14, followed by Angela Lawlor in 51:26.  Angela was pleased with her run after a 5k PB at Hartlepool parkrun the day before. 

 

Cary Surtees ran a well-paced race to finish in 53:41, with triathlete Shelley Woodward next in 43:49.  Another triathlete, Kelly Turnbull, was close on Shelley’s tail, finishing in 57:02, with Pauline Ranson next in 58:04. 

 

Runner Julie McGrath and Triathlete Christine Bruce both had good runs, with Julie edging to the finish line in 58:44 just ahead of Christine in 58:48.  Christopher McGrath completed the 41-strong Burn Road Harrier Squad in 73:43.

 

This weekend sees club runners taking on the Brass Monkey at Half Marathon at York and the next fixture in the North Yorkshire South Durham Cross Country League at Ormesby Hall. 

Link to Official Results

Link to photos courtesy of Karl Edwards

 
 

Race Fixtures

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Race Results

2022 Marina 5 Road Race
2022 Stuart Pailor Memorial (Old Monks) Multi Terrain Race
2018 Stuart Pailor Memorial (Old Monks) Multi Terrain Race

Results | Report

2017 Stuart Pailor Memorial (Old Monks) Multi Terrain Race
2017 Marina 5 Road Race
 
2016 Marina 5 Road Race

Results | Report

2014 Old Monks Multi Terrain Race

Results | Report

2013 Old Monks Multi Terrain Race
Results | Report

2013 Marina 5 Road Race
Results | Photos | Report

January 2012 Old Monks Multi Terrain Race
Results | Report

July 2011 Old Monks Multi Terrain Race
Results | Report