Chris Wright

Sunday 28 May saw the family at Raby Castle, Staindrop, 10 miles or so west of Darlington, eldest daughter to do the 5k fun run, myself to do the 10k, organised by Teesdale AC. The strong breeze of Saturday hadn't abated overnight, and it told in the faces of the youngsters finishing the fun run. It wasn't going to be a day for fast times! The last time I did this race, it was one loop round the Estate, starting and finishing by the castle. I'll always remember setting off near the front of the field, and as we were getting into our stride, a herd of red deer were gallopping parallel to us, to the right. The rest of the herd were to the left of the road, and the leading deer jumped right across the roadway, right in front of us! The leading runners and the galloping herd were on a collision course, when one of the larger animals veered off and away from us, taking the rest with her. A close call! This time, the route was a two lapper. Now I quite like laps, as you get to kn...

I rode in Steve Willis' Treasure Hunt from the pub at Holly Hill, Richmond in January 2006 and found it hard going that day! I didn't get at all far in the 2 hours. Back to the same start/finish location on Saturday 27 May for a 3 hour event with SI punching et al. I was looking forward to exploring a different part of the area this time, but there was a strong westerley breeze (gale) blowing, so it looked like I would have to head out west again as I did in January and come home with the wind behind. Based on my performance in January, a fairly nice loop presented itself which I thought would be achievable, but with some 'cut offs' available. So off I rode towards Hudswell, then across the moor to Downholme, then down to the Swale crossing. After this, I could either go out-and-back to 23, then through 28 and on to 24, or through 23, out-and-back to 24 and out-and-back to 28. After climbing up to 23, I decided to keep on, in an effort to minimise the climb. But the out...

This year's 5km Tees Forest Trail Races have certainly taken a 'step up' in terms of turnout. The first race at Wynyard Country Park in April had 103 runners, whilst 118 turned out for the race at Pinchinthorpe race on Thursday 25 May. In fact many races are experiencing record fields - the David Lloyd 10k at the Tees Barrage on May Day was full before the day (350 I think). Not only are the size of the fields getting better in the Trail Races, the quality is improving too, attracting some class runners like Rob Cole. I dropped two places compared to the 2005 race, but was 15 seconds faster than last year - a most encouraging sign!

I did a mountain duathlon several years ago up in Kielder - 6 mile fell run up Deadwater Fell, 15 mile mountain bike ride, then the fell run in reverse. I was tired after that! I didn't come across duathlons again until the 'Foot & Mouth' year - the path round the river near Stokesley had been reopened and they were the only races going. After a few goes on my mountain bike, I eventually invested in a road bike. Haven't managed to do too many since - maybe 2 or 3 each spring out of the 6 or 7 staged. This year, however, I have now managed 3 - the latest on Wednesday 24 May. They have now moved from Stokesley to Ingleby Greenhow after problems with car parking. Having been to the gig on the Tuesday and thus not trained, my legs were quite fresh, and I managed to take 15 seconds off each run. Unfortunately, it was a little windy and I couldn't seem to get the bike riding right - 45 seconds down on my time of 2 weeks ago. Overall then, I slipped 15 seconds - need t...

Tuesday 23 May saw me travel down to the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds to see my second gig of the year - the first was three months ago - Fairport Convention at The Sage, Gateshead. This time I was off to see the other group big in Folk Rock - Steeleye Span! Steeleye were actually the first group I ever saw live, back in the late 70's, at Middlesbrough Town Hall. I was still at 6th form, and I'll always remember having to miss the encore to catch the last bus back to Guisborough. I guess I must have seen Steeleye 20+ times over the intervening 30 years - I still think they are great, and all such great musicians. I particularly enjoy Ken Nichol on lead guitar - I always thought Bob Johnson's playing was very understated and restrained, but Ken can, and will, really let rip when appropriate. Come to think of it, when Peter Knight brought on his electric fiddle, that was quite 'heavy'! I thought the latest versions of Bonny Black Hare and Good Times of Old England ...

Went to the EBOR Windy Pits Regional Event on Sunday 21 May with the family. Weather was forecast to rain some time after 11am - our start times were 11.30!! The kids got back in the dry, but I ran the last third of the course (no. 3, M45L - 5.8km) in increasingly heavy rain. Thought I'd set off reasonably well, but the splits show I was still very sluggish over the first 4 or 5 controls - some 2 mins down on Alastair within 10 mins! The first tricky bit was 8/9/10 in the area from which the map gets it's name. Was sure I came out of 8 in the right direction, but then stopped, thought I was too high up the spur so turned left downhill. It all still seemed to make sense, so went back up the spur, and there was no.9 - if I'd gone on for another 2m before stopping I'd have seen the flag. 2 mins lost! Same thing 16/17/18 - took the safe route to 16, using the pheasant pen corner to attack 16. Originally, I was going to retrace my steps to the pen, run to the other corner an...

Computers - I've been using them for nearly 30 years and still haven't got the hang of them! So I'm going to give it a try - starting from now!!