A week of heavy rain which had barely abated come Saturday morning made for some treacherous and challenging conditions which were the worst again could remember for a long time at the 33rd Saucony English Cross Country Relays at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on 2nd November 2019. With 10 events on the programme, from Under 13 girls and boys through to Senior Women and Men, over 1000 team entries were recorded for this year, with the younger age groups running laps of 2k and the Seniors up to 5k. First up for Morpeth were the club’s two teams of Junior Men. A strong A team featuring modern pentathlon specialist Ross Charlton on leg 1, triathlete Daniel Dixon on leg 2 and GB international Rory Leonard on leg 3 finished in 9th position in a time of 28 minutes 13.75 seconds, less than a minute off a medal. (Although since one team ahead of them was actually a school, this was effectively an 8th place.) Charlton’s clocking of 9:31.55 on the slightly shorter first leg had the team in 31st place, with Dixon moving them up nine places to 22nd in 9:31.85 and Leonard’s 9:10.35, the 5th fastest of the leg, getting them into the top ten. The ‘B’ team of Dan Melling (9:46.10), Connor Marshall (10:44.45) and Alex Cunningham (10:22.85) gained valuable experience when finishing in 36th place. The Under 15 Boys A team finished just outside the top ten – but again, less than a minute off a medal in a keenly contested race. Ryan Davies had the club in 29th on leg 1 (7:08.40) with Joe Dixon’s 7:17.60, 8th fastest of the leg, moving them up to 16th. Last leg runner Bertie Marr ran 7:34.50 to get the team to a very respectable 12th place. A young team with a great team spirit can only gain from the difficult day. The B team of Liam Roche (7:44.65), Will Devere Owen (7:53.30) and Matthew Walton (8:09.05) also did themselves great credit when finishing in 44th place. Two teams again competed in the U/17 Men’s race. The A team of Tom Balsdon (10:04.85 for 39th place), Rohan Bennett (9:59.45 for 24th) and Euan Duffin (9:59.9 for 17th) placed in a respectable top twenty position out of over 80 clubs running, although some places were lost when Bennett unfortunately came a cropper in the treacherous mud. Thankfully he was able to pick himself up and continue. Meanwhile the B team had their own misfortunes, with Ben Waterfield on leg 1 unfortunately missing the start and losing over a minute. The team of Dylan Gooding (10:43.9) and Dylan Davies (10:42.2) did well to recover to 59th. By the time the club’s Senior Women, competing in the event for the first time in a while, were ready to race the course had cut up badly for the 127 teams taking part. On the always crowded leg 1, Michelle Thompson came home in 12:44.4 with Josie Cram, back in competitive action after a long period of injury, having a good run in a time of 12:02.5, moving the team up to 50th. Last leg runner Rachelle Falloon, who had struggled all week with a debilitating virus and was as a result nowhere near the excellent form she has shown over the last few months, still managed to get round in 12:12.70 and the team therefore finished in a decent 36th position in a time of 36:59.60. Aldershot and Farnham won the race in 31:09.30 with Leeds City in 2nd and Cambridge and Coleridge 3rd. Biggest field of the day was in the Senior Men’s race, with nearly 200 teams in all. At the front of the race, it was again an apparently unbeatable Leeds City – surely the strongest men’s team in the country at present – again winning, in a time of 1hour 5 minutes 14 seconds with Cambridge and Coleridge in 2nd and Bedford and County 3rd. Missing leading runner and cross country specialist Carl Avery, Morpeth’s A team should be justifiably proud to have made a top ten finish, however, like their Junior counterparts. Chris Parr got the club off to a strong start, running 16:24.50 for 13th place and Sam Hancox moved them up to 7th with a super 17:01.25. George Lowry’s 17:23. 85 saw them drop just one place and youngster Alex Brown, fast becoming a veteran of national championships this year, again showed he was in no way overawed by the quality of the field around him, holding on to a top ten place with 17:30.90. The final time of 1 hour 8.20 minutes was less than two minutes off a medal and the team finished in a final position of 9th, second from the North of England behind Leeds City. Some 161 complete teams finished. The B team of Joe Armstrong (17:37.70), Phil Winkler (18:06.40), Ali Douglas and Jordan Scott were most unfortunate in that Douglas’ chip failed to register when he finished his leg, and so the team’s final time was not recorded. They were somewhere around 38th position numerically, however.
This was a real shame for Douglas, who had operated his own taxi service across Northumberland to get the team and Jim Alder there, and muddied his boot bringing the tent back. Commiserations to Ali, but overall all those who made the journey and ran in the difficult conditions should be proud of how they represented the club. Andrew Lawrence claimed victory with an impressive run in the inaugural Cragside Half Marathon
in wet conditions on the Rothbury estate on Sunday 2nd November 2019. On a testing, hilly course, Lawrence led from the start and finished in a superb time of 1:15:37, just over a minute ahead of South Leeds runner Jonathon Harding in second. It was the first time organisers Run Nation had hosted the winter event, to complement the popular 10k which takes place on the same course in the spring. Heavy rain made for difficult conditions on the first mile on a muddy track, before the runners completed two loops of the road which winds around the former home of industrialist Lord Armstrong. Morpeth’s only other competitor in the half marathon was Andrew Hebden, who finished fourth overall and first veteran in 1:24:03. Morpeth also tasted victory in the 5k race, where Mark Snowball led home a small field of runners in 17:53. In the 10k race, Paul Banks claimed sixth place in a time of 40:24 and 2nd in the V45-49 category; and Claire Walker was 51st and 7th in the female V40-44 category in 1:00:54. With the cancellation of the second consecutive fixture of Saturday’s North East Harrier League due to the previous week’s heavy rain, the main focus for many Morpeth Harriers was the Abbey Dash at Leeds on Sunday 27th October 2019.
With a reputation for some very fast times over the out and back course from the Headrow in Leeds City Centre to Kirkstall Abbey, returning to finish outside the iconic Town Hall, the 10 kilometre race run in support of Age UK once again attracted well over 6,000 runners and also included this year an inter-area competition and national honours, with teams from all four home nations. With minor changes to the course giving the best possible opportunity for fast times, allied to high class fields in both men’s and women’s races, a largely dry if breezy morning saw both men’s and women’s course records broken. At the front of the race, a hard fought battle between Omar Ahmed and Ross Millington went down to a sprint finish, with Ahmed winning in a new course record of 28 minutes 38 seconds by one second, with last year’s winner Adam Craig in third. In all, some nine runners ran sub 29 minutes and twenty nine sub 30. Ahmed’s time also meant that at long last the old course record of Mike Openshaw had been broken. In the women’s race, Cardiff’s Charlotte Arter ran a remarkable 31:34, the 4th fastest ever legal 10k run by a British athlete, with Abbie Donnelly 2nd in 32:00 and Beth Potter 3rd (32:05). Arter’s time broke the previous course record of Eilish McColgan set in 2016. Not far behind, however, was Morpeth’s Carl Avery, proudly wearing an England vest, and setting a new personal best of 28:58 in 9th place overall. Avery’s achievement was matched by no less than nine other Morpeth Harriers who all set new personal bests. Next home was young Sam Hancox, breaking his previous best by nearly one minute and running sub 31 for the distance for the very first time with a time of 30:16 for 35th place. Avery’s stable mate George Lowry, coached likewise by Lindsey Dunn, was 50th in 30:40, another pb. Behind him, Leeds based Phil Winkler was 121st (32:11 and a pb) and in his first ever 10k, teenager Rowan Bennett 137th in 32:34. Other Morpeth finishers included: Richard Johnson, 146th (32:40, a big new pb); Ali Douglas, 161st, (32:56, pb); Karl Taylor, 162nd (32:57); Jordan Scott, 191st (33:32); Jake Masterman, 200th (33:39, pb); Adam Pratt, 209th (33:46); Lee Bennett, 281st and 2nd Over 50 (35:02); Rob Hancox, 456th and 7th O/50 (37.34); Robyn Bennett, 472nd (38:13); Michelle Thompson, 630th and 9th Over 35 (39:36, pb); Tayla Murdy, 884th (43:20, pb); Paul Bellingham, 946th (43:47); Kevin Bray, 973rd (43:14); and Steph Robertson, 5096th (1:08:00). There were some other North East performances worthy of note, with young Josh Cowperthwaite clocking 29:35 in 19th place and Danielle Hodgkinson, running for the Armed Forces, 1st O/35 in 32:55. Guy Bracken was 124th in 32:19, but for once not 1st O/55, that honour going to Andrew Leach in 32:04. Morpeths Gavin Bayne was 1st Over 60 at the Locke Park 5 mile race at Redcar on Sunday 27th October 2019. 11th overall, Bayne recorded 31:39 for the three lap course with an age-graded rating of 85%. Morpeths Paul Bentley was 1st Over 70 in 40:39. |
Archives
April 2024
|