Hughes comes of age to become race King of Penshaw Hill
Sunderland Harrier Adam Hughes became the youngest winner of the Penshaw Hill Race when he took the title at the age of 17.
Indeed,hehasjustcelebratedhisseventeenthbirthdayby winning the race and taking the prime prize by being the first runner to reach the top of thehillfirstontheopeninglap.
And this was no easy race for the youngster as he was up against clubmate and defending champion Liam Taylor, who has been in good form of late, but had been recovering from a chest infection.
It was Hughes who dominated the proceedings as he was never headed throughout and clocked 16.42 at the finish with Taylor on 17.13.
Hughes said: “I really enjoyedtherace,butitwastough. It was hard going from the off.
"I’m delighted with my run and now need to do a little less racing as I have been over doing it a bit.”
Hughes’ training pal Alex Seed finished fourth in 18.10 and Hughes’ father Andrew finished 11th in 20.57.
First woman to finish was Gateshead’s Kim Simpson in ninth, who also won the prime award and second was Claire Cook of Sunderland Harriers.
Penshaw Hill Race Top 20 results: 1 Adam Hughes (Sun Harr) 16.42, 2 Liam Taylor (Sun Harr) 17.13, 3 Paul O’Mara (TyneBridge)17.47,4AlexSeed (SunHarr)18.10,5PeterFarnie (M45) (Birtley) 18.23, 6 Peter Grimoldby (Gates) 19.15, 7 Paul McLachlan (Sun Harr) 20.07, 8 David Lash M45 20.29 (Sun Harr), 9 Kim Simpson (F35) (Gates) 20.34, 10 William Fenwick, (Ashington) 20.45, 11 Andrew Hughes (M40) Sun Harr 20.57, 12 John Tollitt (M55) Tyne Bridge 21.47, 13 Carl Robinson (M45) Sun Harr 21.54, 14 Dale Wilkinson (Sun Harr) (M55) 22.19, 15 Claire Cook (F40) Sun Harr 22.13, 16 John Coates (M45) (Unattached) 23.02, 17 Natasha Steel (F) (Sun Harr) 23.32, 18 Barry Young (M60) North Shields 24.22, 19 ShaunBagley(SunHarr)24.41, 20, Trevor Barrs (M65) (Sun Harr) 24.51.
Sunderland Harrier Scott Armstrong recorded 4.04.55 for 1,500m to finish eighth in the British Milers Club A race at Chester-le-Street.
OtherSunderlandHarriers competingwereAdamHughes with a PB of 4.06.07 in the B race for fourth, and Alexander Seed with eighth (4.36.36) in the C race.
Sunderland Harrier Craig Gun finished runner-up in the Elswick Harriers Newburn River Run recording 26.29 to finish behind Jarrow and Hebburn’s Peter Smallcombe (26.06). Richard Johnson of Morpeth was third with 26.38.
Vicky Haswell won two events in the North East Masters Championships at Monkton. The Sunderland Harrier won the javelin 23.11and the 400m 1.14.38.
Sunderland Harriers tonight compete in the Claremont Road Runners three stage relays at Lockey Park Wideopen.
The relay is run in teams of three:Eachteammustinclude atleastonepersonagedover35 and at least one woman (they can be the same person). Each leg is approximately 2.6 miles and includes a hill which is a frequent topic of conversation at the end of the race.
Team manager Jimmy Johnson has selected the following teams: Team A: S Jackson, J Fox, N Reed. Team B: C Gunn, C Cook, S Rankin. Team C: S Thurlbeck, T Steel, J Ridding. Team D: A Hughes C Stidolph, J Johnson. Team E: C Compson, A McCourt, M Makaveli. The relay race is overadistanceof2.6milesand over a course of tarmac, fields and tracks. The race starts at 7.30pm.