Like many of our road races these days, the course has had to be changed on a number of occasions over the years due to traffic restrictions and road closures but the course around Gosforth Park Racecourse is now starting to establish itself as a popular one amongst runners.
North East Runner had a trip around one lap before the race and recorded the experience to give you an idea of what the runners were up against. Click here to see the video clip.
From the gun it was 27 year old Gateshead Harrier Marc Elliot that took the lead. While others were settling into the race and finding their pace, checking out the opposition, Elliot simply got on with the job in hand and even after the first half mile had established a lead of around 50 metres.
It was still all to play for in the final lap but Elliot continued to run strong and as hard as he tried, Cook could not close the gap. A strong finish helped Elliot come home in 25.30, which was 24 seconds clear of second place. It was a confident run by the Gateshead Harrier, to take a race by the scruff of the neck and to lead from gun to tape was certainly a brave, but admirable thing to do.
Morley finished strongly for 3rd place in 26.01 and had the distinction of leading Tyne Bridge to victory in the team race.
Slotting into a group of very good club runners, Stead was able to maintain a very good pace and even though the win wasn't assured until the last lap, she was in control all the way. Her winning time of 28.11 gave her victory by 18 seconds.
The race for second place was the one that kept everyone guessing though. In her attempt to hang onto Stead, Josephine Stone from Mandale was well clear but chasing her down was seasoned campaigner Alex Snook of Jarrow.
Going into the last lap it looked as though Snook had done enough but could not quite get close enough to make a strike, the gap between the two just 5 seconds at the line.
Yet again, it was a well organised event by Elswick Harriers. The course was well marshalled and despited some runners being lapped, there was never any confusion and everything ran smoothly.
Five miles is not a distance that is run too often, a lot of athletes tending to go for 10k races as they are able to compare times with other events. However, this race is a great test as a good spectacle as it pits those who are quick over 5k against the solid 10k performers and the results can be very interesting. North East Runner certainly recommends the race for 2013.
Well done to all that took part. For full results, visit the Elswick Harriers website by clicking here.
We also had our video cameras around the course, click here to view our footage.
As well as that we will be showing some of the usual great pictures from the guys at Sportypix, in the meantime, see some of our own.