No turning back now as we boarded the bus at the Leisure Centre for our weekend trip to Alton Towers for the hardest race of the year, “The Nationals”.
The bus arrived promptly at 3pm and 16 intrepid souls were on their way.

After an uneventful journey apart from confusion between the Navigators (Vince & Bob) and the driver (Sam) about “were we heading in the right direction” Sam won the day, but I must admit that the directions on the AA route map were hopeless between the M62 and M6. Our Scouts ahead were Brian & Adrian Bailes who were travelling down in their car to stay with friends in the area and were given us updates on traffic conditions ahead by text.

We arrived safely at our Stoke Talke Travelodge at 7:30pm. We were allocated our rooms, which were ALL rooms with Double Beds a single settee and pullout bed. Christine & Zak Scott had arrived earlier by car and were awaiting our arrival.

We all then met at 8pm in reception and drove out to find a pub where we could all eat and did we find one. 3 miles away was the Caldwell Tavern Carvery, we entered the pub and spotted the carvery and then the price £3:50 for adults and £3:25 for kids. I have never seen so many excited people rushing to the bar to obtain their meal tickets, then Christine Scott found out a large carafe of house wine was only £5 and all the beers were £2:05 a pint. 16 people were in heaven.

I wont mention names but some people could hardly carry their plates piled high with food (they must have lost money on the Birtley food). After all the food was consumed the drink flowed and a good night was had by all. It was then decided that we eat at the same place on Saturday. 14 People returned to the hotel by bus, Tommy & Bob stayed for 1 extra pint to travel back with Christine & Zak.

The big day arrived and we had breakfast at the Little Chef attached to the hotel and it was off to Alton Towers at 9am. The first part of the journey was ok, but the last 8 miles were through tiny country lanes and villages not made for today’s buses and cars. We arrived at Coach Park at 9:45 in plenty of time for the first race.

The club tent was pitched and it was off to check out the course and watch the first race where we had no competitors. I must say the course looked Ok until you came to the hill, it was almost VERTICAL and what a height. Some people were having difficulty walking up it!

Those who did not travel on the bus arrived, Brian & Adrian Bailes then Sophie Forster with her mam and dad. Then a distress phone call from Christine & Zak they were lost and apparently on the M6 going in the wrong direction. After giving them directions they eventually arrived still in plenty of time for Zaks race.

Anyone who has never been to the nationals miss the great sight of the mass start of every race from between 500 and nearly 2000 senior runners. It is very impressive indeed.

All the athletes did really well on this demanding course. The demanding start caused by sheer numbers of athletes caused some problems as did the HILL where apparently the number of athletes walking hindered those trying to run up the hill.

In the Under 13 boys race Robbie Loraine and Adrian Bailes were representing the club. Robbie had a good run to finish 92nd and Adrian finished in 142nd place. Robbie got of to a good start and was quickly into his stride whilst Adrian had a slow start and was moving quickly through the field only to be held up on the hill by the numbers of competitors walking, when he reached the top he continued to move quickly through the field moving up a considerable number of places.

In the under 13 girls race Sophie Taylor, Sophie Forster and Bethan Oakes competed for the club. All 3 had excellent runs to finish in the top hundred with them finishing 76th,79th and 95th respectively. Bethan is now awaiting news of her selection for the North east Counties vest.

In the senior ladies race Maggie Loraine warmed up only to feel an old injury and decided to do the right thing, not to aggravate the injury and did not start.

The senior men representing Birtley were Karl Oakes, Zak Scott and Patrick Kelly. All three had very good runs all beating their best times for the distance. Zak seemed to be floating over the now sticky surface to finish 307th, Karl started slowly but on the second lap worked hard to progress through the field and finished in 550th place. Patrick ran a steady pace throughout the race, although suffering with calf problems he finished the race in 1243rd position. Lee Millmore also had problems warming up and did not run.

Another member of the trip ran in the senior women’s race, Tracy Laws from Chester-le-Street had an excellent race finishing in 66th position. She is now awaiting a decision on her North East Counties vest. Good Luck Tracy.

Robbie Loraine learned that he had an important football match to play on Sunday at 10:30am, so he and Maggie had to leave that afternoon. A big thank you to the 2 Chester-le-Street ladies who gave them a lift home.

So it was time to pack the tent and drag those weary legs back to the bus, even the spectators had walked miles cheering our athletes on. The journey back to the hotel was not as bad as anticipated as most buses and cars had left earlier. All people were looking forward to was a nice shower and of course the CARVERY.

We duly met again in the reception runners with aching limbs but looking forward to the evening. However Karl’s wife was not feeling very well so she decided to stay at the hotel. We ere told the previous evening that the Carvery would be quiet until about 7:30pm, so when we arrived it looked ominous as the car park was full and yes the Carvery was full. We were told it would be about 1 hour before we could be seated together and then they could not guarantee that there would be any meat left, as they had been busy since lunchtime.

A consensus decided that we split into groups to guarantee getting a meal, which we did, and it worked a treat for everyone except Christine and Zak, apparently they ran out of meat just as they reached the counter. Christine managed to order fish pie, and Zak Garlic Bread?

The tables were groaning with the amount of food placed on them with, and a unnamed member of the group returned with a plate full of Yorkshire puddings which were devoured rapidly. After the exertions of the day some even had room for a sweet, ranging from Ice Cream, Chocolate cake and sticky toffee pudding.
Tommy finished the pudding off even though it was cold. Ugh! Was Janet’s reaction?

The drinks were going down well (for Zak anyway) and we stayed until 11pm when we returned to the hotel.

The next day the Little Chef was the venue for breakfast with platefuls of Full English being devoured. We had decided the previous evening to head towards Pooley Bridge in the Lakes and stop for lunch, however due to the weather (rain) the Trafford Centre in Manchester was our stopping point for lunch and maybe retail therapy.

It was here were Sam stayed with the Bus to protect the gear and was subjected to verbal abuse from the locals due to the 17 Seater Mini bus taking up more than 1 space in the car park (thickos or wot).

We left Manchester and just as we were approaching Scotch Corner Sam’s phone rang, it was the Travelodge, someone had left their shoes in the room could we come back and get them, NO, the shoes belonged to Sophie Taylor (sorry Sophie) and were her running spikes and arrangements were made for their return.

We arrived back in Birtley at 4pm. I think everyone enjoyed the weekend as people were talking about organising a trip next year for the event in London.

See you there.