King Edward VI School Senior Boys team, made up entirely of athletes from Morpeth Harriers, were again in dominant form in the English Schools Cross Country Regional Final, held in Middlesbrough’s Stewart Park on Saturday, with all of their scoring four in the top eight of a total of 32 finishers.
They were led home by Matthew Walton, who won with a mere second to spare over Darlington Harrier Alex Boyer, leading finisher for 3rd team Carmel College. 2nd team place went to Ermysted College of Skipton, North Yorkshire, who were 21 points adrift of the winning King Edward quartet. Other King Edward counts came from third-placed Will DeVere-Owen, sixth-placed Liam Roche, and eighth-placed James Tilley, with Bertie Marr, 11th and just out of the scoring count. The win means that for the second year in succession King Edward have qualified for the overall finals, to be held in Leeds on Saturday 3 December. Santry Park, Dublin was the venue for the best of British and Irish Masters cross country talent on Saturday, with just short of 400 runners from both the Home Nations and Ireland competing against each other.
With all those taking part pre-qualified through their national associations as a result of a rigorous selection process, it was always going to be a high standard of competition, and in the end it was the host nation Ireland who had the best of it with their both Masters Men and Masters Women overall winners. Winning her first England Masters vest, Jane Hodgson was a member of a winning England Over 40s team, who were one of England’s only two winning female teams on the day, their Over 60s also triumphing. Jane was 3rd counter in 21 minutes 40 seconds, running most of the race neck and neck with fellow team member and Vale Royal athlete Elizabeth Remondeau, the two credited with 17th and 16th overall. Charnwood AC’s Juliet Potter headed the team count in 21:05. With athletes grouped into five year categories from 35 – 70 (75 for the Men, for some reason), overall scores were then aggregated with both England’s Men and Women finishing behind the Irish in 2nd place. Big congratulations to Jane for winning her vest, the first we hope of a well-deserved many. With the competition moving to a new host nation in 2023, next year’s fixture will take place in Glasgow. Sunday morning saw the hosting of the Norman Woodcock Relays taking place at High Gosforth Park.
Now a three-stage mixed relay with legs of 1.66 miles taking place on the road running around the inside of the race course, this year’s competition attracted much the biggest entry of over 100 teams since the event moved to the current format and a higher standard at the sharp end too. There was also a change in the direction of the race, with a clockwise circuit this time out reducing congestion at the start – but also meaning a long climb back uphill in the final section of the race. A youthful team from Houghton Harriers, for whom Eva Hardie ran the day’s fastest female time of 9:05 (and who also featured up and coming Team GB triathlete Brandon Pye) were on the day winners in a time of 24 minutes 54 seconds with Birtley Harriers 2nd in 25:03. Past winners of the fixture and also 2nd last year, this time Morpeth had to settle for 3rd place with a clocking of 25:20. Drafted in at short notice and still only working his way back to full fitness, Ryan Davies ran a 1st leg of 8:19 for 8th place with local outfit Gosforth back home first. Despite running at Mansfield less than 24 hours previously, Rachelle Falloon was still keen to go out for the club’s A team on 2nd leg and, showing no ill effects from the previous day's xc, recorded the day’s third fastest time by a female runner of 9:12, moving the team into contention for a top-three finish. With leaders Houghton clearly away in the distance, it was a difficult job for last leg runner Alistair Douglas to both try and reel in the Elswick runner ahead of him while staying ahead of chasers behind. Recording the day’s 3rd fastest time of 7:49, Ali got the team into 2nd at one point but was himself chased down by Birtley’s flying Adrian Bailes, whose 7:29 was in fact the day’s fastest time. Next team back for Morpeth were the 0/40 vets for whom Dave Stabler ran 8:57, Kirsty Burville, in her first taste of relay action, 10:26 and Richard Glennie 9:50, the team finishing in 24th and frustratingly 4th 0/40. The 0/40s was won by Elswick for whom Justina Heslop ran a fantastic 9:16. NSP were 2nd and Gosforth 3rd. The Senior B were in fact neck and neck at the finish with the 0/40s and in 25th overall, with legs by Anthony Liddle (8:43), Becky Lawson (11:47 in her first race for many months) and Mark Snowball (8:44). Good to see in the 0/40s B a first competitive and muscular outing by Dave Marshall (10:01) in front of family, with Julie Vermaas managing to match Kirsty’s time to the second ((10:26) and Claire Calverley anchoring the team in 12:03 for 52nd place and 11th 0/40 team. No team out in the 0/50s sadly, with the NSP team of Norman de Bruin, Kath Davis and Vaughan Hemy winning in 30:21, Elswick a close 2nd and Ponteland 3rd. The club’s Over 60s team of Jim Alder, Pam Woodcock and Neil MacAnany were delighted however to pick up a team prize as 2nd in their age category behind North Shields Polytechnic. With Guy Bracken (8:49) now back in red and white the team were always likely to be chasing 2nd, but their time of 35:25 saw them finish ahead of any other competition. Jim Alder (‘the younger’) made a return to racing on leg 1 (11:49) with Pam Woodcock on leg 2 (13:45) and Neil MacAnany on 3 running a storming 9:51 to anchor the team. As noticeable as Neil’s run, however, was the customary misspelling of his surnane, which this time came out in the results as Neil Malawant, making him sound, as Claire later commented, like he’d stumbled out of the pages of a Thomas Hardy novel. ( And I even wrote it in capital letters on the declaration!) Four teams from Morpeth made an early start on Saturday to travel down to Mansfield for the English Cross Country Relays.
The well-attended competition for both Young Athletes and Seniors usually features some of the best runners in the country, and Saturday was certainly no exception with big fields in all ages and keenly contested races. Despite overnight rain and overcast conditions, the going underfoot in Berry Hill Park was largely still firm with one of the main difficulties the stygian gloom in the wooded sections, particularly in the last fixture of the day, the Senior Men’s, as the light began to fail. Morpeth’s Under 17 team were first up, with Elliot Kelso going out on first leg and completing the 3 kilometre course in 9 minutes 37 seconds for 26th place. Liam Roche moved the team up ten places on leg 2 with his clocking of 9:50, with Will de Vere Owen’s 9:20, the team’s fastest split, getting the team into a highly respectable 10th of 81 teams in a total time of 28:48. They were also 2nd team from the North of England, behind winners Rotherham (27:49). The club’s U/15s were unfortunately hit by the late withdrawal of Oli Tomlinson from illness on the Friday night, with Steven Craske commendably stepping into the breach at very short notice. In a keenly fought 95 team race, the boys finished in 57th place overall (22:57) with legs by Harry Armstrong (7:57), Oliver Calvert (6:30), who gained over 50 places on his leg, and late replacement Craske (8:29), and will certainly have benefitted from the advanced competition. A youthful team of the club’s Senior Women were next up, making a first appearance in the fixture for a number of years, and the day’s second largest field of some 139 teams was led home by Loughborough based club Charnwood AC, for whom seasoned team GB athlete Gemma Steel ran a scorching anchor leg, with Lincoln Wellington 2nd and Aldershot Farnham and District 3rd. Lizzie Rank went out first for Morpeth, completing the 3km stage in 12 minutes dead and coming back in 78th place. Robyn Bennett moved the team up some six places with her 12:52, while Rachelle Falloon, whose determined efforts had been very responsible in getting the team there, ran the day’s fastest time for the club of 11:25 for a final position of 59th. The team did have the distinction of being first back from the North East, with only Elswick Harriers also making the 340-mile round trip. Well done to all three for making the long journey to represent the club. Final event of the day was the four stage Men’s race with longer, 5km stages, where, as expected, Leeds City AC were once again a dominant force with GB internationals Phil Sesemann and Emile Cairess both running. Despite not leading throughout, the Yorkshire outfit finally won in a time of 1 hour 1 minutes 29 seconds, with Cambridge and Coleridge 2nd and Aldershot 3rd. Will Cork headed Morpeth’s challenge, with an excellent clocking of 15:50, which was also the team’s fastest, to come home in 17th place. Subsequent legs by Phil Winkler (16:30 for 22nd), Matthew Briggs (16:55 for 25th) and Connor Marshall (17:19) saw the team unfortunately slip out of the top twenty, but their 27th of 198 teams was another consistent performance that represented the club well. They too had the distinction of being first North East club, with only Sunderland and Gateshead represented in 38th and 40th, and were also the fourth from the North of England. Well done all who travelled down on what’s always a long but interesting day out. It’s always good to see North East success, so definitely worth mentioning that Birtley’s flying Under 13 Girls beat off all competition to win their fixture. Good News from over the Atlantic, where Morpeth Harrier Rory Leonard has recently returned to competitive action.
He finished second in the Senior Men’s 8k Cross Country event at the Big 12 Championships, held in Lubbock, Texas on 28th October in a time of 24 minutes 10 seconds behind race winner Alex Maier (23:55). He was representing his University, Oklahoma State, who were victorious in the event. (Ageing teddy boys and fans of Buddy Holly will no doubt be aware that the town was Holly’s birthplace.) |
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