Perfect conditions for the 26 of you who turned out to run in
this years “accurate” 5k Christmas Handicap around Lancaster Park on Wednesday December 12th. After Mike Steven and I sorted out the results we arrived back at the clubhouse to tension in the air as people waited for Mike to fire up the computer – it felt similar to what was happening 350 miles away in a Committee room in Westminster. I was playing the part of Sir Graham Brady and loud cheers rang out as I proclaimed Jilly Bell as the winner of the race and NOBODY can take that away from her for the next year ! Mike had actually tipped Jilly to win when he saw my handicapping “guesswork” – sorry that should read skills ! Some difficult decisions followed as Mike and I tried to ensure that no-one got more than one prize but just like Theresa we found trying to please everyone is nigh on impossible ! Jilly was followed home by Larry Clarke and Andrew Richardson who had both submitted dodgy times but reaped the benefits at the prize table. Claire Hiscock was awarded the “BUFF OF INTEGRITY” prize for being closest to her submitted time ! Fastest on the night were Thomas Innes in 17.19, run virtually on his own, so a great effort from Tom. He was followed by Paul Banks in 18.28 and Phil Walker in 18.29, two more great performances. From the Ladies Cat MacDonald ran an excellent 18.49, followed by Jane Briggs in 21.19 and Jilly Bell in 22.53 – well done ladies ! In terms of the all important (especially when you get to my age) %age effort, the holy grail of 80% was breached by Neil McAnany at 81.38% and Phil Walker at 81.06% - great effort guys ! Special mention to Joe Dixon who finished 8th overall at 12 years of age. Not only does he mix it on the roads, he can hold his own in the buffet too ! Thanks to Dave Taylor on the lead bike, Linda, Hamish, Pam, Jane & Wendy Dixon for time keeping and recording duties and to Mike Steven for results BUT special thanks to all of you for turning out to run and support the event – hope you enjoyed t ! Happy Christmas & and best wishes to you all, Kevin Bray The Telford 10k, on Sunday 9th December 2018, which is one of the fastest races of its kind,
attracted a total finishing field of 1,240 finishers, who included Morpeth Harriers Carl Avery and Helen King. Avery finished in 24th place overall, posting a time of 30m16s, and King finished 432nd, and was 4th Over 40 Woman, with a time of 39m49s. Rory Leonard of Morpeth Harriers, experienced extreme disappointment at the hands of a fellow competitor in Sunday’s European Cross-Country Championships on Sunday 9th December 2018 in Tilburg in the Netherlands.
Twice during the event he was spiked, seeing a double removal of one of his own spikes, which resulted in him eventually having to struggle home in a lowly 71st place, and well adrift of the leaders, whom he had been well up with in the early stages. He did recover however, to line up with the remainder of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad on the podium, to collect a team Silver medal. A truly excellent club performance saw Morpeth Harriers Male athletes win all the possible five team titles at the annual North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships, held at a very windy Cardinal Hume School, in Wrekenton, Gateshead on Saturday 8th December 2018. In addition, the club also had respective team Silver and Bronze medal successes being achieved by their Senior and combined Under 17 and Under 20 Women’s squads. Six individual Championship medals were also achieved on the day, five Silver, and one Bronze, perhaps ironically, no Gold, four of those medals coming from their Male contingent, with two being won by their Female athletes. The clubs Senior Men very much led the way, winning their 12k Championship, run over four laps, for the seventh consecutive year, by the closest of ten-point margins from Durham City, with Gateshead Harriers a further forty-one points adrift in third place. Finishing in eighth place overall, and eighty five seconds adrift of race winner Greg Jayasuriya of Middlesbrough and Cleveland, and fifty one seconds outside the individual medals. Andrew Lawrence led the squad home, with a very solid performance, only one place and a few seconds ahead of club colleague Jordan Scott, with another two Morpeth Harriers Ross Floyd and Thomas Straughan, also mere seconds adrift with solid performances to finish tenth and eleventh places respectively. It was clearly evident, that with four of the six required counters already home, that Durham City were breathing down Morpeth’s neck in team affairs, however Alistair Douglass’s 29th placing, gave the club a little bit of daylight. Relief was not seen however until Thomas Innes came home in 65th place to complete a winning count. 346 finishers took part in the Senior Men’s event, with other Morpeth performances coming from Lee Bennett (82nd), Will Clark (99th), Rob Hancox (108th), Paul Waterston (125th) James Johnson (162nd), and David Nicholson(193rd). An absolutely superb individual performance by Taylor Glover, possibly his best ever, saw him lead Morpeth Harriers Under 20 Men to a four-point margin team win over Middlesbrough Mandale, who were led home by race winner, and individual Gold Medallist Josh Cowperthwaite, who had got away early in the 8k three lap event, to win by a margin of thirty-six seconds. Glover, and his Morpeth club colleague Alex Brown were the only two to give chase, and working together, they slowly narrowed Cowperthwaite’s early lead, and eventually it was Glover, who stole away to take his well-earned Silver medal, with Brown taking the Bronze. Morpeth’s team victory was confirmed as Matthew Briggs came home in sixth place, and just over a minute outside the minor medals. A very close race at the front of the Under 17 Men’s 6k two lap event, saw Morpeth’s Daniel Dixon having to settle for second place, and a Silver medal, behind Wallsend Harrier Sam Charlton, who won with twenty-nine seconds to spare, with Houghton’s Will Bellamy, taking the Bronze medal, three seconds adrift of Dixon. Dixon was overjoyed to lead Morpeth Harriers to a six-point team victory, with further excellent support coming from Ross Charlton (5th), and Daniel Melling (8th). Third team place and Bronze medals went to the Bellamy led Houghton team. Morpeth’s other Under 17 Men’s performances came from Tom Balsdon (10th), Rowan Bennett (13th), and Brad Brown (33rd). Despite having some illness problems, Morpeth Harriers youngest Male performers rose to the occasion well, by producing two excellent Gold medal winning team performances. None more so than the Under 13 Boys, on their single lap 3k event. Losing key athlete Bertie Marr to illness late on, the squad battled hard to take team gold by a five-point margin over Durham City, being led home by an equally delighted Ryan Davies, who finished second, taking an individual Silver. Davies actually was very close to winning the individual title, only losing out by a mere two seconds to Blackhill’s Tom Slane, after passing him in the closing stages, scenting a chance of snatching victory. Unfortunately, a last ditch, last gasp effort by Slane won him the Gold. Supporting Davies in the Morpeth team win were Joe Dixon (7th), and Joseph Hudspith (12th), each excellent performances. Other Morpeth Harriers in the 77 finishers in the Under 13 Boys field were Adam Howliston (33rd), and Sam Dent (35th). The clubs Under 15 Boys won on a last man countback situation in their two lap 4k event, to win team Gold, after finishing on a level points score with Gateshead Harriers. It was a very close team race in this event, with North Shields Poly only a mere point adrift for Bronze team medals. The Morpeth squad were dealt a hefty blow on the eve of the event, when Dylan Davies, older brother of Under 13 Boy Ryan, was forced out of action with a chest infection. Ben Waterfield was Morpeth’s leading finisher, placing ninth, with further scoring counts coming from Dylan Gooding (11th), and Euan Duffin (18th), doing well to finish, after suffering an asthma attack during the event. It was fortunate that Duffin was able to finish however, as his placing guaranteed a Morpeth victory, as their next finisher was Ben Walker, who finished 25th, and his finish would have seen the club back in third spot. Morpeth’s other finisher in the field of 65, led by Birtley’s Chris Perkins, was Matthew Walton, who was 41st. In the Senior Women’s three lap 8k event, Morpeth’s Emma Holt clearly showed that she is back somewhere close to her best form, finishing second to Jarrow and Hebburn’s Georgia Campbell, only losing out for Gold by a margin of thirty-six seconds.
Holt also led her club to team Silver behind Jarrow and Hebburn, losing out for Gold by fourteen points, with Gosforth Harriers third, eight points adrift. Assisting Holt in the Morpeth team count were Gemma Floyd (7th), Rachelle Falloon (9th), and Vicky Gibbs (58th). Other Morpeth performances in the field of 231 finishers were Claire Calverley (77th), and Lesley Chapman (152nd). Bronze team medals were won by Morpeth Harriers combined Under 17/Under 20 Women’s squad in their 6k event, run over two laps. Holly Peck ran superbly to take the individual Silver, finishing 83 seconds adrift of Darlington’s India Pentland, who is a year older. Peck led her squad home, with further good team support coming from Gracie Hufton (19th) (7th U/20), and Ella Duffield (20th) (13th U/17). Other Morpeth runners in the finishing field of 38 were Lauren Cummings (25th) (17th U/17), and Kay Errington (27th) (9th U/20). Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Girls finished as sixth team in their two lap 4k event. First home was Rhiannon Hedley, who finished in eighteenth place overall, with further team support coming from Rebecca Bradley (21st), and Olivia Carruthers (32nd). Morpeth’s other finisher in this event was Laura Melling, who was 43rd in the finishing field of 58. The club had two finishers in the Under 13 Girls single lap 3k event, which attracted a field of 65. Molly Baker finished 36th, and Catalina Chaundler was 47th. The Non-Scoring Under 11 events that preceded the Championship events attracted a total of 118 runners, sixty-five in the Boys race, and fifty-three in the Girls race. Two Boys from Morpeth Harriers toed the start line. Oliver Tomlinson finished sixth, and Toby Marr was 59th. Leaden skies and a grey sea offered a forbidding welcome to the 184 runners who took part in the 59th running
of the annual Blyth Sands Race on Sunday afternoon (2nd December 2018). High tides had meant the race being moved from its traditional 11 am start to 1 pm, but even at that time there was little firm sand on which runners could gain good purchase, and many competitors reckoned post race that the conditions under foot were among the worst in the last decade - little firm sand, many troublesome stones of all sizes and a lot of rivulets and pools to negotiate. ‘The course is always the same but never the same,’ as one runner aptly commented later. The race did see, however, one of the closest finishes in recent times, as Over 55 veteran Chris Morley of North Shields Poly, with a 5 minute handicap off scratch, came through the field to pip two-times winner and Over 70 vet Mark McNally of Elswick Harriers in the finishing funnel. McNally, who as an Over 70 had a generous 11 minutes, was hugely disappointed to be beaten in this fashion and later admitted he had had no idea he was being hunted down, looking as he was for a hat trick of wins; he had indeed held what looked like a commanding and insurmountable lead having turned round at Seaton Sluice. In third place was a runner who had travelled a long way: Jarlath Mckenna of Bristol and West who, as a senior male, also recorded the day’s fastest time, 30 minutes 16 seconds. First woman home was O/45, Jeannie Brady of Tynedale, and 9th overall in 39m 56s. There were seven Morpeth Harriers taking part in total. Neil McAnany was first home for the club, 19th overall and 4th O/55 in what is currently a very tough category. He was followed home by Richard Johnson, 8th fastest on the day and 26th overall, and Gary Hall, 37th and 3rd O/45. Paul Bellingham and Peter Scaife, both O/55 vets, were 44th and 47th respectively, and O/60 Richard Sill 52nd. Archie Jenkins, a stalwart and past winner who never misses the race, completed Morpeth’s competitors in 111th. Morley’s triumph as race winner was somewhat dampened later by his disqualification from the team event for failing to wear a club vest. This meant Heaton Harriers were awarded the team prize, with Tyne Bridge Harriers in second and North Shields Poly demoted to third. Report by Peter Scaife |
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