Pelaw Grange Stadium is a

Greyhound Board of Great Britain The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is the organisation that governs licensed greyhound racing in Great Britain. It does not govern independent tracks or Northern Irish tracks and therefore has no jurisdiction over them. History It was f ...

regulated

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

track located at North Lodge in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, between

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...

and

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

. The stadium has a restaurant and a number of bars and has been owned by the McKenna family since January 1965. Racing takes place every Friday and Saturday night as well as Sunday evenings.

Origins and opening

A greyhound track situated north of Chester-le-Street was constructed and named after Pelaw Grange a nearby country house and farm directly to the east. It was reportedly built in 1944* by a man called George Towers to the south of Drum Road and directly next to the railway with the back straight running parallel to the east side of the railway. It served the local population in the area with independent racing (unlicensed). The entire area was a hot bed of greyhound racing with links to the mining communities that lived in the county of Durham. It is also believed that there was a larger greyhound stadium just to the north in Birtley. The stadium was taken over by Joe and Joyce McKenna in January 1965 racing every Thursday and Saturday. The racing consisted of level and handicap races over distances of 241, 410 & 570 yards with an inside hare. The McKenna’s son Jeff eventually became the track promoter and he continued to offer independent racing taking the role of General and Racing Manager combined. Facilities improved over the years with the 360y circumference track becoming all-sand in the eighties. Competitions were introduced called the Newcastle Rose Bowl & Whitfield Oaks. There was computerised tote, car parking for 200 vehicles, three bars and two glass fronted stands.

Licensed racing

In 2005 Jeff McKenna and his wife Theresa changed over to race under rules after sixty years as an independent track. The application to the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom. History The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the r ...

was passed and the switchover took place on Monday 22 August with the first racing on the Thursday 25th 2005. The track installed Graeme Henigan as Racing Manager and there was also success from local trainers in National competitions including a National Sprint title for Clounlaheen trained by Mick Hurst. The track today runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunchtime with the current Racing Manager being David Gray. The track celebrated fifty years under the McKenna’s in August 2015 by hosting a

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

television fixture for the first time featuring a meeting sponsored by Pin Point Recruitment. In 2018 the stadium signed a deal with

ARC ARC may refer to: Business * Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s * Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services * ...

to race every Sunday evening. In 2021, Jaguar Macie trained by Pelaw Grange attached Graham Rankin won the

Ladbrokes Puppy Derby The Monmore Puppy Derby also known as the Premier Greyhound Racing Puppy Derby for sponsorship purposes, is a greyhound competition held at Monmore Green Stadium. It was inaugurated in 1943 and was has also been known as the Midland Puppy Champio ...

and the

Northern Puppy Derby The Northern Puppy Derby is a greyhound racing competition held annually at Newcastle Stadium. The race is confined to puppies (greyhounds under the age of two years old). It was inaugurated in 1994 at Sunderland Stadium but was switched to sister ...

Track records

Current

Former

References

External links

Official site
{{coord, 54.87708, N, 1.57875, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Greyhound racing venues in the United Kingdom