Al Macdonald travelled up to the Scottish Borders to take part in Saturday’s Yetholm Shepherds Fell Race in some wet and misty conditions.
Only some 42 hardy souls braved the 1100 feet of climbing over the 6.5 km course, with Al coming home 8th in 40 minutes, 2nd Over 60 behind world mountain age champion Colin Donnelly. The race was won by Lauderdale athlete Mark Wilkinson in 35 minutes with NFR member Karen Robertson 1st lass home in 44 minutes. Meanwhile new member Nicola McCoy ran in the Langdale Horseshoe in similarly tricky conditions exacerbated by fog with a challenging 21km and 1450m of climbing. Nicola was 175th and 13th O/40 in 4:15:21. The race was won by Tom Simpson in 2:13:47 with Louise Mitchell 1st woman back in 2:51:33. As the organisers put it themselves on their website, ‘The weather in October is rarely pleasant and the fells are often clagged in, making navigation difficult on a course with many pathless sections.’ Always good to hear a race prospectus that doesn’t pull any punches. There were two days of races at the Kielder Marathon Weekend, with the action getting under way on Saturday in the 10k event.
It was won by Sunderland Harrier Liam Taylor in a time of 34:31, Andrew Hebden was Morpeth’s first finisher in 4th place in 39:58 with Andriy Volkov 9th in 41:41 and Lindsey Quinn 27th and 7th female finisher in 44:34. It was a busy weekend for Andriy all right, who, not content with his efforts on the Saturday, also turned out in Sunday’s half-marathon while raising funds for Wateraid, where he managed a fantastic 28th place (1:32:44). Club colleague John Butters got himself onto the podium on the day after finishing 2nd for the third successive year in a time of 1:19:38, behind first home Simon Stockdale-Cook in 1:16:53. Sarah Kerr of Claremont RR was 1st female finisher in 1:28:43. Sadly, however, organisers Events of the North were made aware that the 1st placed runner in the Half Marathon was not actually who they said they were, and had in fact run in a borrowed number, not even bothering to attend the presentation – or come clean. The automatic disqualification that ensued gave JB the win, although not perhaps in the way he would have wanted, also robbing him of his moment at the top of the podium – while also generating a lot of adverse local newspaper headlines, the last thing the event or our sport wants. Matters were made worse with the revelation that a male athlete also lined up wearing a female athlete’s number, despite having been told well in advance that the number could not be transferred. Thankfully, he was persuaded to leave the course. There were well over 500 finishers in the demanding full marathon, which was won in a time of 2:49:05 by Keswick AC’s Russell Maddams with NSP’s Lucie Custance first female finisher in 3:18:38. Colin Archer was first Morpeth home in 3:35:17 with Anna Wright 41st , 4th woman home but 3rd O/40 in 3:37:11. Laura Mclean was 286th in 4:39:24 and Jane Briggs 368th and 5th O/55 in 4:53:34. As the organisers later quite rightly pointed out in a press release that condemned the actions of both the individuals who had been disqualified, their actions ‘tainted’ the weekend for other runners who were directly affected by what they did. Can we at Morpeth Harriers therefore remind all our members that numbers should not be swapped, sold or given away to other members of the club, however tempting or well-meaning that may seem to be, not unless an agreed process for doing so with the organisers has taken place (as happens, for example, at The Coastal Run within a set time window). There are very good reasons to do with injuries, accidents and safeguarding for this. The club will take a dim view of anyone doing so and individuals who are found out are likely to face sanctions from the sport’s governing body, whether locally or nationally. Lord knows it’s hard enough getting events on these days anyway and the last thing our sport needs is the adverse publicity this kind of things generates. Recording their best finish in many years, Morpeth Harriers’ Senior Men were just over a minute off a medal when finishing 5th at the English Road Running Association Six Stage Road Relays at the weekend.
Held as is traditional within the grounds of Sutton Park in the northern outskirts of Birmingham, the day once again featured the strongest clubs and the best runners from right across the country, with competition for Young Athletes over legs of 3.88 kilometres and the Seniors each completing 5.8k. Losing Scott Beattie, who had struggled all week following his first race in a GB vest at Riga, Latvia and had sadly to withdrew on the morning of the race, was certainly a blow to the team, although they still led the competition at the half way point. Finn Brodie was lead out man once again, his 17:43 getting the team back in 15th with Will de Vere Owen, promoted to the A team after his strong performance in the Northern event at Birkenhead, clocking 18:13 for 19th. All changed with GB international Rory Leonard on leg 3, however, with a barnstorming run of 16:38, the third fastest overall of the day, taking the team into the lead. With strong national outfits Leeds City AC, Aldershot, Farnham and District and Cambridge and Coleridge AC all having their own big hitters on last legs, it was always going to be a challenge to hang on, and despite good runs by Lawrence McCourt (17:54 for 2nd), Will Cork (18:15, 5th and Carl Avery (17:31, 5th), the club just slipped out of the medals, finishing in a time of 1:46:14. Leeds City - an ominously strong club these days - were winners in 1:44:36, just 10 seconds ahead of Aldershot, Farnham and District with Cambridge and Coleridge AC 3rd in 1:44:52. Fastest individual leg of the day was from Birchfield Harrier Omar Ahmed, who clocked 16:34. The B team also had a good afternoon, finishing a creditable 36th and 5th B team, ahead of the A teams of many of the 70 clubs who took part. George Lowry ran 18:24 on leg 1 (43rd), Sam Hancox had the team’s fastest stage with 18:07, moving the team into the top thirty (28th) with Phil Winkler getting up to 25th (18:29). Matty Briggs, creditably coming in as first reserve at very short notice, ran 19:49 (35th) and teenagers Liam Roche (19:21, 40th) and James Tilley (19:00, 37th) brought the team home (Belgrave were disqualified, hence the final place of 36th not 37th). No question of Morpeth not having the North East bragging rights, as neither Sunderland Harriers nor Tyne Bridge, who had both qualified, travelled to compete. Nor was there NE involvement in the Senior Women’s four stage race, where Aldershot Farnham and District A narrowly beat the next team, who were Aldershot Farnham and District B (58:07 to 58:19), with Leeds City given the same time as the B in 3rd place. Morpeth’s Under 17s were also one of only two North East teams to travel to the Young Athlete races, finishing a highly respectable 17th of some seventy-one clubs, with legs by Joe Close (12:26), Oliver Tomlinson (12:48) and Elliot Kelso (12:14). (TBH U/15 Boys were the only other NE outfit who ventured South). World Road Running Championships
Morpeth’s Scott Beattie collected his first Team GB vest when running in the 5k race at the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia at the weekend. Scott took 13 seconds off his previous best time when finishing 9th in 13:32, with the race won by Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet in a speedy 12 minutes 59 seconds, and will next line up alongside members of a strong Morpeth Senior Men’s team at the National Six Stage Road Relay Championships in Sutton Coldfield. Run Through Jarrow 10k There were over 900 finishers at the inaugural Run Through Jarrow 10k on Sunday, with a high-class field attracted to the fast and flat course on closed roads through the streets around Monkton Stadium. Won by Gateshead’s Callum Johnson in 29:31 with Sunderland Harrier Joe Armstrong 2nd in 30:40, Lawrence McCourt made 3rd with a time of 30:45. Connor Marshall was 6th in 32:20, with Peter Smallcombe also making the top ten in 33:31, and, like Marshall, running a pb. James Dixon was 3rd Over 40 in 29th with a time of 35:42, also a pb, with Connor Hall 67th in a pb of 38:04. Claire Calverley was the club’s only female representative, 244th and 5th O/45 in 45:50, with Elswick’s Sophie Pikett 1st female finisher in 35:30 ahead of Durham City Harrier Jasmin Wood in 36:41 with Louise Mitchell of Durham University 3rd in 37:49. Our internal championships for young athletes were recently held at Lancaster Park, with one lap for U/11s to U/17s and two laps for the U/20s.
As ever, it was great to see so many youngsters competing with such determination and commitment – well done all. Full results are available here. |
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April 2024
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