So two weeks off running at the end of the track season was reduced to 9 days when I found out that the Northern Ireland Road Relay Championships were to be held on 3rd October. With Newcastle AC female members growing we would have enough to put out two teams and also be in with a shout of medals!

Starting back running after time off isn’t an easy thing. This is when injuries and niggles tend to happen as the body has gone into shut down mode, and when you start to spring runs on the legs again they tend to kick off with, “what on earth are we doing here, I’m still on my holidays!”

I’m not sure why I always think I will come back feeling refreshed and ready to ping out 70 miles a week again, with every year that goes by it’s definitely harder to start back again. I was walking down the stairs like John Wayne the morning after my first two runs, so yes DOMS happens to everyone!!!

A week and a bit back running and one tempo session with the club I felt I could run ok at the relays and was hoping to get the team into a good lead to kick start the race. My team mate Joanne Mills (who I used to teach a “few” years back) was on our second leg and Swedish-born Mari Troeng, who has been running well under the guidance of Joe McCann (lol), was on the third leg to take us home.

I didn’t have a laid back first lap by any means as the talented U23 Athlete Emma Mitchell and I were nip and tuck pushing each other on to get a good gap on North Belfast who were the favourites to win the title. As I approached the bell for the second and final lap I pulled away to create a small gap; I pushed the pace on further and came in to hand over to Joanne with a 30 second lead on North Belfast athlete Gladys Ganiel. Joanne had a strong leg too, pushing our lead further to nearly 60seconds!

Mari headed off and 59 seconds after that Breege Connelly (North Belfast) took off like lightening to try and close her down. On the final lap the whole Newcastle entourage were dotted around the course for support as Mari pushed for the finish line. Breege had clawed Mari down to within 8 sec with around 400m to go. The gold medals were so close but we needed Mari to hold form and sprint for her life. Joanne and I along with the Newcastle lads, who had their own races to be worrying about up next!, were all screaming and sprinting in with Mari all the way to the line. She finished 7 seconds clear to win and we smashed the ladies course record. We were so proud up on the podium and I believe we even brought a few tears to the eyes of the Newcastle AC lads!

A very memorable day in the history of Newcastle AC (a first NI title for the ladies) and a great foundation to build on to boost the number of female members in the club.