Tyne Tunnel 2K and Great North Run

Our Stockport wheelchair athletes are continuing to go from strength to strength with some tremendous performances over the weekend. Coach Rick Hoskins tells us all about the squad’s latest successes.

The annual Tyne Tunnel 2K, which took place on Friday 14th September, is described as the ‘fastest wheelchair race on the planet’. The first kilometre is downhill, and the second uphill kilometre sees competitors reach speeds in excess of 45mph.

Athletes travel from all over the world to take part. Stockport Harrier Stuart Bloor finished 5th in 5-48 and Anthony Gotts finished 12th in 8-15.

Stuart and Anthony stayed in the North East and took part in the Great North Run wheelchair race on Sunday. They were joined by fellow Stockport Harrier Kirsty Grange. This was Kirsty’s first half marathon and she had only been invited to compete three days before when several female competitors dropped out.

Despite her lack of preparation time, Kirsty came third in a time of 1-32-56. In the men’s race, Stuart finished 5th in 53-53 and Anthony finished 10th in 1-17-07.

Well done to our fantastic Stockport Harriers.

Great North Run

Well done to all our Stockport Harriers runners took part in the Great North Run on Sunday. We had great results from our runners as well as our wheelchair athletes.

Jenny Knass came 17th overall in a time of 1-21-32. Steve Shaughnessy came first in the men’s 55-59 year old category in a time of 1-24-20, and Jayne Lawton ran a personal best time of 1-27-59 to come third in the women’s 40-44 age group category. Paul Payne finished in 1-17-53, coming fifth in the 45-49 age group category.