Having his first competitive outing for some time,
Morpeths Ady Whitwam finished tenth in the Watford Half Marathon, held on Sunday 4th February 2018. Whitwam posted a time of 73m52s, and was first Over 40 Veteran Man. David Nicholson added two more golds to his growing collection of veteran medals at the North East Masters Athletics Association Cross Country Championships held on marshy park land behind Darlington Rugby Football Club on Sunday afternoon (4th February 2018).
In a relatively small field, Nicholson was first over 60 male and for the third consecutive year also collected a team over 55 medal, this year supported by club colleagues Paul Bellingham and Peter Scaife. In addition to the individual and team golds, there was also success earlier in the day during the Men’s 65 and over categories, which was run over two laps instead of the later three and held in conjunction with the women’s race. Longstanding Morpeth Harrier member Walter Ryder, a stalwart of the competition for many years, made the journey down from his home in Scotland to take a silver in the over 80 men’s category while Paul Bentley picked up bronze in the over 70s. With Archie Jenkins also taking part in the over 65, the team of Ryder, Bentley and Jenkins were able to collect a further team silver. Report by Peter Scaife The re-arranged Run Nation Dalton Park 10k Road Race held on Sunday 4th February 2018,
had a total of 389 finishers that included two Morpeth Harriers. Paul Brown finished 61st in 40m40s, and was eight Over 50 Veteran Man, and John Clark finished 113th in 45m49s, and was fourteenth Over 40 Veteran Man. The event was originally meant to be held prior to Christmas, however was postponed due to bad weather making surfaces unsafe, and this was the second date that organisers were forced to consider for suitable action. Exactly a week after crowning herself in glory, in becoming the first Morpeth Harriers Senior Woman to ever win a Northern title, Mhairi MacLennan finished a well placed seventh out of 700, in the Women’s 6.5k event,
at the annual BUCS Cross Country Championships, held at a very wet and muddy Brunel University, in Middlesex on Saturday 3rd February 2018. Posting a finishing time of 23m14s, the Edinburgh University student was thirty-five seconds adrift of fellow European representative Harriet Knowles-Jones, who was representing Manchester University. MacLennan was certainly amongst good company behind the winner, names such as Phoebe Law (2nd), Phillipa Bowden (3rd), Emily Hosker-Thornhill (4th), 2017 English National Champion Jessica Judd (5th), and Jennifer Nesbitt (6th), with only a mere thirty-one seconds dividing all six finishers. Led by MacLennan, Edinburgh University finished fourth in the team race behind winners Loughborough, with Judd leading them home. In the Men’s Long Race, covering a total distance of 10k, Morpeth Harriers Jonnie Nisbet and James Young finished in 126th and 135th places, representing Stirling, and Lancaster Universities, who finished as twelfth and twenty fourth teams respectively. 343 finishers took part in the Men’s Long Race. The later run Men’s Short race, run over a 7.9k distance, saw Morpeth Harrier Phil Winkler finish in an excellent thirty seventh place, leading Leeds Beckett University to nineteenth team place. Winkler is certainly feeling a much welcome resurgence of true form, having finished as the sixth counter for his club at last week’s Northern Championships. Representing St Mary’s College, Winkler’s Morpeth Harriers club colleague Ryan Green finished in 175th place. There was a total of 561 finishers in the Men’s Short Race. Testing muddy conditions were faced by athletes at the annual Northern Schools Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, held at Barnard Castle School, County Durham on Saturday 3rd February 2018.
In what was very much the final stepping stone prior to the annual English Schools Championships, scheduled to be held at Temple Newsham, near Leeds in Mid March, the overall competition was won by a very strong North Yorkshire squad, who on the day, won the Boys section ahead of Northumberland, and finished third in the Girls section, which was won by a strong Cumbria. Northumberland, who as referred to in the previous paragraph, finished second in the Boys events, however could only finish fourth in the Girls section, which eventually resulted in them finishing fourth overall in the toughly contested affair. Durham and Cumbria finished second and third respectively, with only a mere four points dividing them. Several Morpeth Harriers were in action for Northumberland, with the best team performances coming from their Intermediate Boys and Senior Girls squads, who both had handsome team victories. On the individual front, the best club performer was Kieran Hedley, who earned himself a Bronze medal in the Senior Boys event, behind Josh Cowperthwaite of Cleveland. The Middlesbrough AC athlete was obviously seeking early compensation for losing out to Morpeth’s Rory Leonard in last week’s Northern Cross-Country Championships. On this occasion Cowperthwaite had the luxury of the non-appearance of the Northumberland Champion, who had another non-athletic appointment to attend, otherwise the result may well have proved to be somewhat different. Meanwhile Hedley led the Northumberland Senior Boys to an on the day third team place behind North Yorkshire, with further team support including Morpeth colleagues Taylor Glover (6th), as second counter, and Matthew Briggs (31st) as sixth counter. Morpeth athlete Alex Cunningham also ran well, emerging as seventh home in 34th place overall. Northumberland’s squad of Intermediate Boys won by a margin of twenty-seven points over Cleveland, with two Morpeth Harriers amongst their scoring counters. Ross Charlton performed superbly to finish sixth, and was second counter, behind his namesake Sam Charlton, who competes for Wallsend Harriers, and had claimed an individual Silver medal on the day, just losing out to Cleveland’s Archie Lowe, who had won the Under 15 Boys event at the previous weeks Northern Championships. Morpeth’s Daniel Melling came home as fourth counter in ninth place. Although just outside the scoring six, Morpeth’s Tom Balsdon also competed well by coming home in 20th place. Northumberland’s Senior Girls also produced an excellent on the day team victory, winning by a margin of twenty-two points over Cumbria, who were led home by race winner Imogen Burrow, who finished a mere fifteen seconds ahead of Rhian Purves of Gosforth Harriers, who led the squad home, and helped herself to a well-deserved individual Bronze in the process. Amongst Northumberland’s scoring counters was Morpeth’s Gracie Hufton. The teenager is very much in the form of her young life at the moment, and her placing of eighth as fifth counter for the squad was indeed another excellent run, amongst many that she has produced this season. Another Morpeth Harrier in action in this event was Kay Errington, who although was outside the counters can still be pleased with her performance. One year ago, Kay was indeed recovering from a horse riding accident, which could have ended her running altogether, the fact that she made it onto the Inter Counties Start Line, and finished 39th, is very much a bonus. Euan Duffin of Morpeth had an excellent run in the Junior Boys event, leading Northumberland’s squad home to fourth team place, in what was probably the closest team contest of the day, won by Cumbria, by two points from North Yorkshire, with Durham third, a further two points adrift. Northumberland, led by Duffin, who finished fifth, were only fifteen points adrift of Durham, and Duffin himself was only a mere four seconds adrift of an individual medal. Another Morpeth Harrier amongst the scoring six was Dylan Davies, who was fourth home for the county when finishing an excellent seventeenth. Although outside the scoring six, mainly because he took a heavy tumble during the event, a year young in the age group Sam Tate of Morpeth, eagerly picked himself up to finish in 38th place, as ninth home for the county. Other Morpeth Harriers in action in this event were, Dylan Gooding (58th), and Ben Waterfield (67th), who were eleventh and twelfth home from the county respectively. Morpeth’s Holly Peck led Northumberland’s Intermediate Girls home to fourth team place behind a strong Cumbria squad, who were led home in turn by race winner Olivia Mason, who competes for Border Harriers. Northumberland Champion Peck, finished in sixth place, and was supported in the team count by her Morpeth club colleague Lily Heaton, who was fourth counter when she finished in 33rd place overall. Although outside the scoring counts, Morpeth pair Ella Duffield and Kirsty Duffin finished in 41st and 44th places, as seventh and eighth home from the county. A truly excellent team result was achieved by Northumberland’s Minor Boys, who finished third on the day, but were only nine and six points respectively adrift of either first or second places. Playing a big part in this team performance were Morpeth pair Ryan Davies and Bertie Marr, who finished 16th and 17th with identical times, and were fifth and sixth counters. Although Joseph Hudspith was outside the scoring counts in 41st place, he managed to get around the difficult course. Other Morpeth Harriers in action on the day were Brad Brown, (Intermediate Boys), Rhiannon Hedley (Junior Girls), Sophia Cunningham (Minor Girls), and Adam Howliston (Minor Boys). It’s now a case of anxious waiting for some, to see if they have done enough to qualify for their place on that Northumberland team bus, bound for Leeds in March. County selectors are expected to make known their decisions very soon. |
Archives
March 2024
|