At Right Lines, we love collaborating on projects, and of course many of those are for great clients. However, others are community initiatives, when passionate professionals contribute to something that doesn’t pay the bills, but certainly feeds the soul.
We recently had the privilege of being involved in staging the Northern Cross Country Championships in Sedgefield. It’s a big, significant event, and it was quite the coup to bring it to our part of County Durham. Of course, that wouldn’t have been possible without the input of a lot of local organisations and individuals. Once Northern Athletics had asked Sedgefield Harriers about the possibility of hosting the championships, the work began.
First and foremost, Durham County Council allowed us to hold the event in beautiful Hardwick East Park (as a runner, I can confirm that it’s a really good cross country venue). Then Sedgefield Racecourse agreed to be the base for event parking, which was crucial. Once these two aspects were in place, we were able to plan the rest, which also involved many local businesses and venues, including Sedgefield Cricket Club, Number Four Sedgefield (butties for the marshals and officials), Start Fitness and Ramside Estates (event catering). We recruited scores of volunteers for the day (no event like this is possible without an army of ‘high viz heroes’) and spread the word.
Fast forward to last Saturday, and almost 2,000 runners, and loads of spectators descended on Sedgefield – from the North East, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Humberside, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and the Isle of Man. Among them were many of the country’s best athletes, some of whom have represented their nation at international events.
The event went so smoothly that I was even able to don my spikes and club vest, and have a run out! The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, which is really heartening.
Together, we’ve demonstrated that Sedgefield can host major events – effective, positive collaboration at its best!
You can hear me talking about the event with Gary Philipson on BBC Tees (from 2:17:27 in) HERE, and there’s a great drone video of the start of the senior men’s race HERE. Meanwhile, other than the start line selfie, these great photos were taken by another local contributor, Ian Dunn.
> Chris.
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