Organiser Brendan Foster clearly has a hotline to the Director of Weather for once again the event took place in near perfect conditions.

After torrential rain on Saturday, there were clear blue skies, in which the aerobatics of the Red Arrows inspired later finishers, strong sunshine and a pleasantly cool breeze for race day.

The weather was appreciated by runners and spectators alike and the crowds of well wishers along the route were bigger than ever. Every few miles bands played enthusiastically but for many participants it was the free beer provided by a South Shields pub at 12 miles that made it all worthwhile.

In a field of more than fifty thousand, James Mulvaney was thrilled to finish in the top 100. His 1 hour 14 minutes 31 seconds was good enough for 62nd place and confirms his recent great form. Andy Delaney was also pleased with his trip to the NE which netted him a personal best time of 1:27:45 – comfortably in the first 500 finishers.

The consistent Dave Robson (1403rd) returned 1:35:35 while Karl Glover (1763rd, 1:37:26) also beat the 1:40:00 barrier. Just outside that target, Dave Brooks (2569th, 1:40:43) was pleased with his improvement over recent outings over this distance and David Twizell (8135th,1:52:37) recorded his best ever time in seven attempts at this great event.

The Northern Road Relays at Hartlepool drew teams from across the region to a sunny Hartlepool.

The Blackpool Wyre and Fylde sextet performed creditably coming home 35th in a large field. Stuart Robinson led off in 30th place with 17:29 for his five kilometers. Chris Essex-Crosby (19:38), Phil Leybourne (17:57), Gary Johnstone (20:51), Chris Lloyd (19:23) maintained the momentum before John Wright completed the anchor leg in 17:58.

In Nothern Athletics Young Athletes Road Relays the BW&F AC u13 boys took 11th place. The team of Alex Cross (12:11) Ben Everson (11:20) and John Curran (13:45) featured a superb leg from Ben that was second fastest of the day.

In the u15 event, Joe Gigli (10:42) was 10th fastest overall and with Adam Weightman (11:39) and Alex Nash (12:16) secureed 15th place. Luke berry (13:35) and Greg Nash (14:44) participated in the u17 event.