During 2021 Graeme Dockwray introduced himself to the running group. He lives in Gateshead where he is a member of Low Fell Running Club, regularly running the Saturday Morning Park Run in Saltwell Park, Gateshead.
In March he will be in GA and plans to run the Benidorm 21k on 5th March.
Graeme started running with a small group in the late 70’s when he was about 15, running every Saturday from South Shields to Sunderland (about 12 miles).
Like a lot of runners at that time he entered the first and second Great North Run (1981 & 1982) finishing in an incredible time of 70 minutes. The winner of the races in 1981 and 1982 was Elswick Harriers and future Olympian, Mike McLeod, who finished in 63 minutes. We don’t know Graeme’s finishing position but there were very few in-front of him, and so at the finish he was asked to meet Mike where he was asked to act as a running partner for Mike, pacing him in 5km and 10km road races. In 1984 Graeme joined the army for 4 years where he was selected to run for the army, winning many races over 5k and 21k distances, but in between time, when he was on leave, he would continue to act as a pace maker for Mike McLeod usually taking over the pace making with 5km to the finish. Mike McLeod had a distinguished running career representing England at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 where he won a silver medal in the 10,000 mtrs, the best performance of a British athlete at the time. Speculation still reigns over whether he should have been awarded gold. Also among Mike’s achievements are the two wins he had in the Golden 10,000 mtrs which were the fore runner to the World Championships.
Graeme turned his attention to Kendo and is now a 5th Dan, but he took up running again to help his step daughter prepare for the Great North Run and it was about this time he joined Low Fell Running Club and now he runs every other day with a race every month. He is still producing good times, 19 mins for 5km, 40 mins for 10km and 90 mins for 21km, and is still winning races in his age category.
I expect good things from him in Benidorm in March. John and I will be running the 10km in Benidorm on the same day but we won’t be anywhere near Graeme’s time.
Upcoming local events:
Benidorm 10km & 21km 5th March
Perleta 10km plus 6.3km walking
event 6th March
Elche 21km – 12th March
If you want to join us contact Geoff 0044/ 747 685 1356
