Redcar seafront saw hundreds of runners covering the 13.1 miles route in the town’s annual half marathon. I was commissioned to do a commercial photoshoot along with Middlesbrough Evening Gazette and Darlington's Northern Echo press photographers to capture the fantastic event, it got under way by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jo Jackson.
Professional, amateur and wheelchair racers had travelled to Redcar, Teesside from all over the UK to try and beat their personal bests. Thankfully the weather was mostly sunny for the 100’s of spectators lining the streets to cheer the runners on.
Amazingly this was the 29th year of the Redcar Half Marathon, which was organised by Tees Valley Leisure. A total of 1,550 competitor’s took part in this years half marathon and the first wheelchair racer over the line was Simon Lawson, 29, of Maryport, in Cumbria, who was trained by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson (pictured above in green) and her husband Ian, who both also took part. Simon, who won the event last year, said: “The conditions were good and I enjoyed it.”
Graeme Taylor, 25, from Jarrow and Hebburn Running Club (No 210) was the first runner over the line in a very respectable one hour 10 minutes. The first woman to finish was 30-year-old Carolyn Summersgill, from Coulby Newham, who runs with Middlesbrough and Cleveland Harriers. “I didn’t expect to win,” she said. “It was a bit warm to start with but then it clouded over and got windy which cooled us down.
