The 6th and final round of the Start Fitness sponsored NEHL takes place at Alnwick Pastures on Saturday.
Probably the most scenic of the NEHL venues, with panoramic views of Alnwick Castle in the distance, it’s almost a home fixture for us, run over a parkland course which shouldn’t be too muddy and on which, for once, the downhills are perhaps the most challenging, with lots of exposed tree roots and stony ground. There are usually good refreshment and toileting facilities, and the Morpeth tent will hopefully be, as ever, under the first tree on the right as you come down the hill. Please note parking will be at Alnwick Gardens once again and will cost – check NEHL facebook page and bring some change! A lot of people were rushing to make starts of Senior races last year due to not factoring in parking or walking from car park. There’s a lot to turn out for this time, with the club at the top of no less than four of the eight divisions (U/15 Boys, U/17 Boys, Senior Men and Women), but in addition it would be good to get some big numbers out, and complete teams in some of the categories where we’ve struggled to do so this season. Info on NEHL website and NEHL Facebook page. Still time to register runners who haven’t yet competed. Let’s finish the season in style. Thirteen Morpeth Harriers travelled across to the North West on Saturday to take part in the 2023 Saucony National Cross Country Championships, held in the grounds of Bolesworth Castle, south of Chester, close to the Welsh border.
The ancestral home of the Barbour family for over 160 years, the undulating course was a marked contrast to the many hillier and muddier venues experienced in past seasons, with one of the main challenges this time to negotiate some sections of long rough in the park land. Despite not bringing home any medals, the club once again gave a very respectable account of itself and was at the front of teams from the region. Best placed finishers were in the Under 17 Boys, for whom Liam Roche placed inside the top 20 in 18th place, recording 21 minutes 54 seconds for the 6 kilometre course. Liam was supported by Elliot Kelso in 47th position (22:36) and Bertie Marr in 60th (22:57) with Joe Close 119th (24:02). The team finished 5th overall, a strong placing, especially considering the absence of the squad’s two fastest finishers in the Northern Championships last month. Winners were Aldershot Farnham and District, for whom 2nd placed James Dargan was first back, with Shaftesbury Barnet’s Henry Dover 1st in 20:39 Morpeth’s other team performance came in the final event of the day, the Senior Men’s race over 12 kms, where nearly 1500 runners finished. Led home once again by Carl Avery, who has been in excellent form all Winter, the team finished just outside the top ten, 11th of 99 complete teams from across the country. Carl was part of a leading group at the sharp end of the race from the start, finishing in 11th place overall in a time of 36:56, less than a minute behind race winner James Kingston of Tonbridge AC, who won by a margin of six seconds from Jack Gray of Cambridge and Coleridge AC with David Stone of Shaftesbury Barnet in 3rd. The team prize was won, perhaps unsurprisingly, by Leeds City AC, whose sixth counter was 41st with the team winning by a margin of over sixty points from Cambridge and Coleridge, with Tonbridge in third. Carl was supported by Sam Hancox, having a much better run this time in 80th place (38:54), a rather under the weather Phil Winkler (102nd in 39:37), Matty Briggs (128th in 40:04), Connor Marshall (177th I in 40:48) and the indefatigable wheel man Andrew Lawrence (252nd in 41:52), with the club third from the North of England behind Leeds City and Salford Harriers, and first from the North East. Tyne Bridge were 60th and Sunderland Harriers 83rd , with Gateshead not fielding a team. In the U/15 Boys race over 4kms, Oliver Calvert ran well to place 11th (15:12) with club colleague Oliver Tomlinson putting recent injuries scares behind him in 49th (15:56). A shame the club couldn’t get four out, as the team would have had a good chance of top ten or higher. The race was won by Wolverhampton and Bilston’s Owen Ulfig in 14:40 Oliver’s sister Zoe placed 161st in the U/13 Girls race, where Birtley’s flying youngsters were one short, sad proof that it doesn’t just happen to us when we look well set to place. The Senior Women’s race over 8 kms was won by Sarah Astin of Belgrave Harriers in 29:28 ahead of Charnwood’s Gemma Steel (29:33) and Blackheath and Bromley’s Niamh Bridson-Hubbard (29:43). Team honours went to Charnwood AC ahead of Aldershot Farnham and District and Sheffield Hallamshire Harriers, with Leeds City 4th. Tyne Bridge were the only NE team to complete, in 21st position with Amy Fuller in 99th position. NECAA winner Philippa Stone of Middlesbrough AC was 18th in 31:07. Meanwhile Cat Macdonald travelled North of the border to Callendar Park, Falkirk for the Scottish Cross Country Championships, where, representing Bellahouston RR, she had an excellent run to finish in 10th place in a time of 39:40 for the 10 kms course. The race was won by Scout Adkin of Moorfoot Runners in a time of 37:15. Trevor Hodgson, Morpeth Harriers’ prolific Over 50 Veteran, continued his current run of excellent form when he took his age group 60m title at the North East Counties Indoor Track and Field Championships, held on 18 and 19 February at Gateshead College.
On the second day of competition, Hodgson won comfortably, producing a fine 7.54s, which not only gave him a much-prized Gold medal to add to the one he had won in Scotland seven days earlier, but it was a time that would have won him a British Masters title had he been able to travel to Sheffield to contest the event. It also sees him ranked as fourth in the world in his age group. Another Morpeth Harriers Gold Medallist at the Championships was Under 20 Woman Triple Jumper Charlotte Earl, who took her title on Saturday, producing a best of 11.51m. Also on Saturday, Morpeth Under 20 Long Jump specialist Abbie Ross won a Bronze medal, with her on the day best of 4.41m. Returning to Track action, Under 17 Women Freya Caygill and Amelia Hamlin won their way respectively to 60m A and B finals. Caygill qualified for the A final, finishing sixth, posting a time of 8.24s, whilst Hamlin was third in the B final in 8.47s. A busy Saturday at Hetton Lyons Country Park saw Morpeth field seven teams in the two races of the NECAA Road Relay Championships, with the club’s Senior Men once again retaining the Royal Signals trophy.
There were four club teams out in Race 1 for Senior and Veteran Women’s teams and Men Over 50, with the competition unravelling over four stages of 2.2 miles each. Winners in 2022, this year the club’s Senior Women were unlucky to finish just out of the medals in 4th behind winners NSP, with Elswick and Tyne Bridge filling 2nd and 3rd slots. Lizzie Rank clocked 14:32 on a feisty leg 1, which seemed to start with a furious scramble more like a formula one race, headed by younger runners keen to get to the first corner! Lizzie was followed by Lorna Macdonald (14:34) on leg 2, with Lindsey (14:22) on the 3rd. Cat took the last leg, recording the team’s fastest time of the day (13:02) for an overall time of 56:30. NSP’s winning time was a strong 51:24, although fastest leg of the day was run by Elswick youngster Poppy Old with an impressive clocking of 12:11. The Poly’s Charlotte Penfold, running in the Senior Team, ran 12:13, which would have been fastest Veteran time of the day had she run in the Vets team. Morpeth’s Women’s Veteran A finished as 8th Vets team, with Morag Stead running the team’s fastest time on leg 1 (13:26), also 3rd fastest Vets time of the day. Claire Calverley ran 16:05 on leg 2, Jane Kirby 15:33 on leg 3 and Jane Briggs 16:43 on the final leg for an overall clocking of 1:01:47. Elswick’s Veteran Women, headed home by Justina Heslop (13:17) were winners in the Vets category, with Sunderland Strollers 2nd and New Marske 3rd. Aly Dixon was credited with the day’s fastest Vets time of 12:27. It was good to see a second Vets team out this year, with the B team of Sue Smith (18:58), Margaret Macdonald (19:47), Pam Woodcock (19:27) and Shuna Rank (18:02) also having a run out, and finishing in 23rd with a cumulative time of 1:16:14. In the Men’s Over 50 competition, held at the same time as the Women’s race, Morpeth battled it out in another keenly contested category and were delighted to come home with team Silvers. Jason Dawson clocked 13:28 on leg 1 with Lee Bennett’s 12:36 on leg 2 reeling in a number of those ahead. Alistair Macdonald kept the club in contention with his 14:07 and Rob Hancox stayed ahead of the chasing NSP and Elswick on the last leg (13:15). The team’s final time was 53:26, with winners New Marske – a bit of an unknown quantity, as they don’t compete in the NEHL of course – recording 52:46 in 1st place. New Marske’s Martin Murray recorded the day’s 2nd fastest O/50 time of 12:27, with Crook’s Wayne Pearson just ahead on 12:24. The day’s second race included both Seniors and Over 40s, with some 54 complete teams finishing. As holders for the last few years, Morpeth’s A string proved, perhaps unsurprisingly, to have too much quality once again for the competition - although it was the performances of some of the club’s teenage tyros, eligible to compete at 15 in this event, that perhaps grabbed the attention. On legs 1 and 2 the Armstrong brothers, Joe and Scott, got Sunderland Harriers off to the best possible start, with Birtley, represented by Adrian Bailes and Chris Perkins, also in contention. For Morpeth, Sam Hancox, always happy to put himself in the firing line on what is usually the toughest leg, came back in 7th in 11:02 and handed over to specialist miler James Young. Making his Signals debut in front of new coach Steve Cram, James recorded 10:57 with the club moving up to 3rd. All changed on leg 3, with Alex Brown back to his competitive best and moving the team into the lead after only the first of the two laps. His time – recorded as 10:06 (though not by Alex himself), a course record – was the fastest of the day and meant that, thereafter, the race was pretty much competitively over. There was still work to be done, however, and it was good to see Chris Parr back competing after a good while out, and recording 11:02 on leg 4. At this point the lead had gone out to well over a minute, and it was really only a question of what the size of the final victory would be. Connor Marshall then ran 11:00 on leg 5 and Carl Avery 10:19, second fastest time of the day, on leg 6. The team’s total time of 1:04:26 was only some thirty seconds off the course record the club set last year, and a winning margin of nearly two and a half minutes over Sunderland, back in a distant 2nd , with Gateshead in 3rd (1:08:35). Remarkably, however, the club’s B team, featuring no less than four youngsters, then came in in 4th place (1:09:32). After Andy Lawrence had recorded 11:47 on leg 1, it was over to Oliver Calvert (probably the youngest runner of the day, having just turned fifteen), but he showed himself in no way overawed by the company, recording a hugely impressive 11:02. He was followed by teenage club mates Elliot Kelso on leg 3 with 11:29, Liam Roche on leg 4 with 11:26 and Ethan Phillips on leg 5, again with 11:26. Mark Snowball, drafted in at short notice to the B team following the late withdrawal of Adam Pratt with a back spasm, anchored the team to a fine 4th place finish with his 12:22 and an overall time of 1:09:32, less than a minute behind Gateshead in 3rd. The late injury meant that, unfortunately, the C team were one short, but nevertheless the combination of youth and experience in those who did run over the first five stages also gave a good account of themselves. Joe Close ran 11:34 on leg 1 with Mark Banks picking up on leg 2 in 11:29. Anthony Liddle ran 12:40 on leg 3 and Elliot Mavir 13:12 on leg 4. With Tom Balsdon recording 11:40 on leg 5, the cumulative time at this point of 1:00:41 saw the team inside the top ten. Meanwhile the Over 40s race was unfolding at the same time, with the organisers at long last differentiating the two competitions with a different set of coloured numbers. Experience has taught that this is a competition it’s hard to medal in, let alone win, without all your fastest O/40s out, and NSP had clearly set their stall out for this one, winning by over two minutes in 1:13:06 from Elvet Striders (1:15:09) and Sunderland Harriers (1:17:15), for whom Michael Barker on leg 1 ran the fastest O/40 time of the day, 11:43. Special mentions then for Morpeth’s three O/60s (two of whom are actually O/65s) who were happy to drop down to make sure the 40s team was complete and who in no way disgraced themselves. The first of those, O/65 Dave Nicholson, ran 15:07 on leg 1 to get the ball rolling, passing on to Richard Glennie who recorded 13:42. The team’s fastest time was set by Dave Stabler, whose 12:19 was one of the ten fastest O/40 times of the day. Gavin Bayne, like Nicholson an O/65, ran an impressive 14:05 on leg 4 with Jamie Johnson clocking 14:22 on leg 5. O/60 Neil MacAnany brought the team home in 14:23 for an overall time of 1:23:58 and 7th place. Well done all who turned out – always good to represent ourselves in numbers at this event, which is the North East’s premier Road Running Championship. Next week action returns to the country, with the last in the NEHL fixtures at Alnwick. Full results Four Morpeth Harriers travelled to Northern Ireland last week for the 31st running of the annual Armagh 5k on Thursday evening.
Organised by Armagh Athletic Club and attracting elite athletes from across the globe in search of the very fast times the course has traditionally offered, this time there were seven athletes under 14 minutes, with a remarkable 132 of the 469 finishers running under the 15 minute mark. Won by Henry Mcluckie of Shaftesbury Barnet in a time of 13:37, Carl Avery was first home for the club in 49th place in a time of 14:15. Carl was followed home by Phil Winkler, 74th in 14:27, Connor Marshall, 106th in 14:47 and Ali Douglas, 122nd in 14:55, with the team finishing in 7th place. The Women’s 3k was won by Alexandra Bell of Pudsey and Bramley AC in 9:02. |
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