Saturday sees the return of the Harrier League at Thornley Farm, Peterlee (sat nav DH6 3LY).
As ever with XC, it’s all about the numbers, so we’re looking for another big on the day turn out to consolidate and build on what the club has done over the country so far this season. Timings are the same as previous fixtures, and can be found on the NEHL website if you’re not sure, where you can also check packs. If you’re not registered and want to run, please contact the club either by email or phone asap. Some dry weather should, hopefully, mean the going is a bit easier under foot than in previous years. Refreshments are normally also available at the venue. Best route is down A19, then take the A181 immediately after Peterlee. Link to directions here. Only two fixtures to go now! Hope to see you there. The NEMAA XC Championships for 2023 took place at the Croft Circuit, Dalton-on-Tees on Saturday with five Morpeth Harriers in action over the two race programme.
Race 1, for Women and Masters athletes Over 65, saw four of those five running, with all of them winning medals. Gateshead’s Gilliam Manford was 1st home, winning the O/40s category, with club colleague Kim Grimoldby 2nd and 1st O/35. NSP’s Vicky Gibbs, late of this parish, was 3rd and 2nd O/40. Dave Nicholson, 5th in the race, was pipped by a mere five seconds to the O/65 title by Hartlepool Burn Road Runner Dave Wallace. Thereafter, Paul Bentley was 1st O/75 and 30th overall, Archie Jenkins 2nd O/70 and 35th. Most remarkable run of the day was undoubtedly our own Walter Ryder, still the club’s oldest competitive runner at the age of 85, and making his annual trip to the North East from his eyrie in Wester Ross to pick up his Gold medal. His passion for competition is an example to us all: well done Walter! Race 2, for Masters Over 35, was won by the ubiquitous Jarlath Mckenna of Bristol and West by nearly a minute, ahead of Sunderland Harrier Stephen Jackson in 2nd and Tyne Bridge’s Michael Hedley 3rd. Paul Brown had his first run out in a good while, finishing in 39th place overall and 12th Over 55 (actually the most keenly contested category, and proof the average age of runners must be going up). Northumberland were very easily the clear winners at Saturday’s Northern Schools Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, held at Silksworth Complex.
The event was the final stepping stone before the English Schools Championships, scheduled to be held at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park in March, and the performances of several athletes from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers, cemented their possibilities of earning a place on the County Bus for the much coveted trip. Northumberland were victorious in both the Male and Female sections, and their overall margin of victory over second placed Durham was all of around 160 points, with North Yorkshire third, and Cumbria taking the Wooden Spoon. The event victories of Morpeth’s Joe Dixon (Senior Boys), and Ollie Calvert (Intermediate Boys) were the obvious highlights, Dixon winning by four seconds from Northumberland Team-Mate Josh Blevins of Gateshead Harriers, and Calvert winning by four seconds from North Yorkshire’s Jack Sanderson, who competes for Settle. Dixon, who led Northumberland to Senior Boys team success, was joined in the triumph by fellow Morpeth Harriers Will Devere-Owen (5th), James Tilley (6th), and Matthew Walton (9th). Other notable Morpeth performers in the Senior Boys event were Ethan Phillips (12th), Ryan Davies (13th), Liam Roche (14th), and Bertie Marr (20th). There were fifty-seven finishers in the Senior Boy’s event. Calvert also led Northumberland Intermediate Boys to team victory over North Yorkshire, with Morpeth Harriers club colleague Elliot Kelso coming home in third place as the second counter for the county. Fourth counter for the winning Northumberland Intermediate Boys was another Morpeth Harrier in the form of Joe Close, who finished twelfth in the field of sixty-eight finishers. Unfortunately, Morpeth Harriers other entrant in the Intermediate Boys event, Oliver Tomlinson, suffered a leg injury during the race, struggling home outside the scoring counters in 28th place. In contrast to this, Tomlinson’s younger sister Emma had an excellent run, and finished eleventh, and third counter for a third placed Northumberland Junior Girls squad. Other Morpeth Harriers taking part in the Junior Girls event were Megan Potrac and Molly Roche, who finished 62nd and 65th respectively in a seventy-five strong field, however both were outside the scoring counters. Caitlin Flanagan of Morpeth Harriers finished 28th in the Senior Girls event, but was outside the scoring count, where Northumberland had their sole Female team victory. George Mavir was the only Morpeth Harrier running in the Junior Boys event. He finished 63rd in a field of seventy-four finishers. The club had three athletes lined up in the Minor Boys event. Ewan Line had an excellent run, coming home in 12th place overall in a field of sixty-four finishers, and was third home for a Northumberland squad who finished as second team. Other Morpeth Harriers in the line-up were Reuben Jones, and Jack Rothwell who finished 25th and 37th respectively, however were both outside the scoring counters. As a result of his individual effort, Line may find himself included in a Northumberland Year 7 squad to be selected for another English Schools Cross Country event, to be held a week after the older Championships, at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough. Three Morpeth Harriers took part in the Minor Girls event, Faye Heatley, Sophie Pledger-Heywood, and Abigail Potrac finished 32nd, 50th, and 61st in a 66 strong field, however all three found themselves outside the scoring counters. Athletes must now wait patiently as County Selectors ponder over their decisions, however, some will already know their fate after Saturday’s performances. The last weekend in January saw the Wild Deer Events Druridge Bay 10k and half marathon take place on the Sunday morning.
As if the previous day’s exertions in the Northern XC at Blackburn hadn’t been enough for him, Ali Douglas took the 10k title in 35:28 with Dave Stabler 3rd and also 1st O/40 in 39:01. Hannah Williams of NSP was 1st female finisher in 43:29 and also 9th overall. The Half Marathon was won by Gateshead’s Conrad Franks in 1:14:05 with Fiona Sim 1st Woman home in 1:30:59. There were three Morpeth Harriers out, with Anna Wright 24th and 2nd O/40 in 1:34:48 and Jane Kirby getting the drop on husband Richard again, Jane 44th in 1:39:28 and 5th O/40 and Richard 48th in 1:40:20 and 8th O/50. The weekend saw the Northern Cross Country Championships held at Witton Park in Blackburn. Under louring Pennine skies and mizzling rain, the challenging, hilly course included a number of sections of very heavy going, with one of the club’s contingent losing a shoe to the mud mid race. Organisation by host club Blackburn Harriers couldn’t be faulted, however, with excellent marshalling, toilet and catering facilities – all they need to sort out is the town’s impenetrable one-way system next.
With a respectable overall turn out , the day’s medal count for Morpeth included three fine individual Silvers and one outstanding team Gold, allied to a number of other strong performances across most age ranges. Millie Breese got the ball rolling early doors in the Junior Women’s 5.9 km race. Still working her way back to her competitive best, she was nevertheless 17th in a time of 24:20, with the race won by Cleethorpes AC athlete Ella Greenway in 22:16. The first of Morpeth’s medals came early in the day’s proceedings and courtesy of the club’s talented Under 17 athletes, with the team spearheaded by Joe Dixon, who looked in great shape following his success in the North East Schools. Always at the front of the leading group over the 5.9 km course, Joe only lost out to Liverpool Harrier Liam McCay (20:03) in the run in by the narrowest of one second margins after giving it a real go in the finishing straight, with fellow North Easterner, Brandon Pye of Houghton Harriers, in 3rd. Joe was followed home in close order by team mates Will De Vere Owen in 9th, Bertie Marr 12th, Liam Roche 14th, Ryan Davies 19th and Elliot Kelso 21st. With the first four making a total of a miserly 38 points, the club picked up a Gold after finishing comfortably at the top of the team count, but in fact both Ryan and Elliot would have comfortably been scorers for 2nd and 3rd place clubs Wirral AC (109 points) and Trafford (113). The day’s second individual Silver medal followed shortly after in the U/15 boys where Oliver Calvert competed strongly throughout the 4.3 kilometre course, only losing out by a mere three seconds to George Wilson of Cleethorpes AC (14:48). It was a great return to form for Oli, who had been forced to pull out of the Sherman Cup only three weeks ago following a heavy virus. Keighley and Craven AC were team winners. Calvert was supported by club colleague Oliver Tomlinson, who was unfortunate in losing one of his spikes in the sucking mud when well placed in the top ten on the first lap of the course. Credit to Oliver who battled on gamely with only one shoe, finishing in 28th and then going back to thankfully retrieve the lost footwear. There were three Morpeth runners in the U/15 girls race over the same distance, which was won by Rotherham Harrier Isabella Wright in 16:44. Megan Potrac was first back for the club in 89th, with Molly Roche not far behind in 94th and Charlotte Marshall 132nd, and all three will have benefited from the step up in competition. Sadly there were no blue and white vests out in the U/13s (3..2 km), which was won by Hallamshire Harrier Thomas Thale in 10:53, but Emma Tomlinson looked strong in the matching girls race, coming home in 32nd place (13:47). The U/13 girls was notable also for the North East’s only individual Gold, with Birtley Harrier Olivia Murphy showing a clean pair of heels to the rest of the field and in addition leading her club to a remarkable team Gold, with the Graham twins 3rd and 4th and final counter Niamh Phillips 20th. Currently these Birtley youngsters seem unstoppable. The club had no runners in the U/17 women, won by Amelie Lane of Wharfedale Harriers, and only one representative in the Junior Men’s 7.4 km race. In his first run after a good few weeks out following a virus, Ralph Robson placed 54th (29:50) with local lad Matt Ramsden of Blackburn Harriers winning in 24:34. Penultimate race of the day was the Senior Women over 7.4km, where Cat Macdonald found the course playing to her strengths. She had a tremendous run to make the top twenty in 19th and was still looking strong at the end. The race also aw one of the day’s biggest margins of victory, and was won with a runaway lead of over 40 seconds by Hallamshire Harrier Phillippa Wilson in 27:11 with Middlesborough Mandale’s Phillippa Stone (who had won the North Easterns in December ) 2nd in 27:52 and Ambleside AC’s Scout Adkin 3rd in 27:57 (were her parents To Kill a Mockingbird fans, one wonders?). With runners in 5th, 7th, 8th and 15th, Leeds City were, unsurprisingly, 1st team on only 35 points with Hallamshire not far behind on 45 and Vale Royal 3rd (89). NSP were 1st NE team on 219, with Charlotte Penfold 41st and Jacqui Penn 44th their leading runners. Final race of the day, the Senior Men’s, saw another terrific tussle at the sharp end where an in-form Carl Avery went toe to toe with Salford Harrier Joe Steward at the front of the field for three laps of the 11.5k course, only getting dropped in the last kilometre by the younger man and having to settle for Silver. It was a terrific return to form for Carl, who had been Northern champion at Harewood House back in 2018 and has worked with way back to his best in 2022 with some strong performances over the XC after previous serious injuries. With six to count, he led the Senior Men’s team to a strong 6th place finish with Leeds City AC perhaps unsurprisingly dominant (six in the top 25 for a total of 93 points) over Sale Harriers in 2nd (155) and Hallamshire 3rd (170). Tyne Bridge did well to make the top twenty in 16th ahead of Durham City (17th) and Sunderland (19th). Phil Winkler (19th) had another good run to make the top twenty, Sam Hancox was 47th and Connor Marshall 62nd, while Ali Douglas and Andy Lawrence battled it out together for 86th and 87th places. Further support came from Alex Cunningham, 109th, Adam Pratt 116th and Mark Snowball, 254th. Just short of 500 finished the race, the day’s largest field. Congratulations who to all who took part, not just the medallists, and also to parents and supporters. It’s always good to see the club represent itself, and the region, with distinction. Action moves to the National at the end of February. Please note: entries for this are closing soon, so if you are interested in running, do make sure you have been entered. If not, contact the club urgently. Full results from the Northern are available here. |
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