The Club Championships for young athletes will take place on Monday 11 September over the traditional one-lap course of approximately 1.30 miles at Lancaster Park.
If you have not already put your name down on the notice board and wish to run, please get down to the clubhouse promptly (ie well before 6.45 pm) next Monday so it can be added. Runners will be taken up to the course from 6.45 pm with the aim of getting the first race for Under 11s and 13s off by 7.15 pm. Thereafter the U15s and 17s will run, with a new two lap race for U20s last off. This is an excellent opportunity for all young athletes at the end of the summer holidays both to test themselves against their club colleagues and to get in a sharpener before the start of the cross country season, as well as helping team managers with team selection. Any help from parents to marshal is appreciated, but can we please request that, to avoid possible parking difficulties and complaints from residents, parents and spectators walk up from the club if at all possible – the route through the woodland only takes ten minutes. Taking only just over two hours, Cat Macdonald was 2nd female finisher in the historic Ben Nevis race at the weekend.
One of the country’s oldest and certainly most iconic fell races, the race starts and finishes in Fort William before a circular route taking in the summit at 4409 feet, and is certainly both ‘daunting’ and ‘a very special event’ as the organisers quite rightly proclaim. Representing Bellahouston Road Runners, with whom she is registered to run when across the border, a fine descent saw Cat get ahead of multiple winner Sharon Taylor towards the foot of the mountain to finish in a time of 2 hours 6 minutes 23 seconds, a matter of minutes behind York Knavesmire Harrier Rose Mather who was 1st female home in just under the two hour mark. This year’s race was blessed by some balmy conditions for once and featured some 431 hardy finishers in all, and was won by remarkable Scotsman Finlay Wild of Lochaber AC for the 12th consecutive year with a time of 1:35:26. Alistair also ran well, finishing 128th and 2nd Over 60 in 2:20:08, with Gary Mason finishing in 337th in 3:00:31 as one of the contingent of Northumberland Fell Runners who travelled to the event. Weekend round-up Also taking on a big challenge was Claire Calverley, who completed the Bullock Smithy Hike Ultra 56. With runners competing through the small hours of Saturday into Sunday in unseasonably warm conditions, it was no surprise to see so many drop-outs, with only 154 of the 280 who had entered completing. Never one to shirk a challenge however, Claire was 20th overall, completing in 14 hours 33 minutes and finishing as 3rd female home. Closer to home, the Anne Allan Alnwick Trail Race charity run took place in the Ingram Valley on Saturday. Run in memory of the much-missed Alnwick Harrier, the race raises funds for MND with this year the third running of the event. Fittingly perhaps, Alnwick’s Nick Briggs was a winner in 32 minutes 41 seconds for the 9 kilometre event, with Lindsey Quinn 4th overall but, as last year, 1st female finisher (42:09). Club colleague Steve Haswell was 3rd in 38:58. Also taking place at the weekend was the Essity Prudhoe Miners 5 Mile Race, organised by the somewhat modestly named local club Prudhoe Plodders. Won by Sunderland Harrier Liam Taylor in 36 minutes 34 seconds, Morpeth’s Tom Prentice, now being guided by club president Jim Alder MBE, was 2nd in 26:38. Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in action at Sunday's Tartan Games, held once again at Gateshead Stadium, and they gave a very decent account of themselves, with performances that included two event wins, one second and one third place.
Sean O'Hara placed 4th in the Senior Men's 100m in a time of 11.50 seconds, a season's best, with the race won by New Marske Harrier Caleb Hanif in a pb ime of 11.10s. In the same race the tireless Anthony Liddle was 7th in 12.32s. Liddle was back in action later in the 400m where he placed third this time with a pb of 55.29s. Freya Caygill was second in the U/17 100m in a time of 13.19s with Gateshead's Millie Wilkinson winning in 12.55s. Amelia Hamlin was a winner however in the U/17 300m in a time of 44.34s. Finally, it was great to see Bobbie Griffiths back in action in a blue and white vest, turning her arm over once again to win the Women's Javelin with a best throw of 35.84 metres. There was a string of medal-winning performances at the Watergate Trail Race 5k last week, which also incorporated once again the NEMAA Masters Championships.
Run over a relatively fast, two-lap, off-road course in Watergate Park, Lobley Hill, and hosted by Low Fell Running Club, the race certainly proved popular with Morpeth Harriers old and young looking for something to bridge the gap between the Track and Field and Cross-Country seasons. Won by an in-form Adrian Bailes of Birtley AC in 15:25 with Sunderland Harrier Liam Taylor 2nd and also 1st O/35 (15:39) and Birtley’s Lewis McConnell 3rd (15:50), Elliot Kelso was first back for the club, 4th in a time of 15:54 and in the process collecting the prize for fastest Junior athlete by a big margin - as he had indeed confidently predicted he would in the clubhouse the previous Monday! Elswick’s Justina Heslop, now an O/40 vet, was first female finisher in 18:35 with TBH’s Kathryn Stevenson 2nd and also 1st O/50 in 18:56. Birtley’s Chloe Bailes was 3rd Female and 1st Senior in 19:05. It was a keenly-contested race between Robyn Bennett, Lorna Macdonald and Lizzie Rank for Morpeth, with all three neck and neck having good runs and coming in 3rd, 4th and 5th Seniors in 19:41, 19:48 and 19:49 respectively. Shuna Rank picked up 1st O/55 in 22:48 with Margaret Macdonald 3rd in the same category (27:16). Pam Woodcock was 1st O/70 in 28:31. Stephen Cessford was 35th and 9th O/35 in 19:42, but there were four further medal winning performances from James Dixon, Andrew Ball, Lee Bennett and Al Macdonald. James was 3rd O/40 in 17:28, Andrew 2nd O/45 in 17:13, Lee (who must be itching to move up to the 55s in December) 2nd O/50 in 17:49 and Al 2nd O/60 in 20:06. Well done to medallists and all who ran. Sam Hancox added the Tynedale 10 to an impressive list of local victories this Summer that already included the Bridges of the Tyne and the Newburn River Run.
Many of you will remember the old Tynedale 10 of course, aka The Jelly Tea, originally held over an enjoyably scenic course running from the back roads just outside Hexham via Corbridge town centre, thence down to Bywell with a finish at Ovingham Middle School. Sadly, the chicane through Corbridge and some irate local residents did for that one and, after an abortive one year foray up to Hexham racecourse, the Jelly Tea reverted to a variant of the old course, starting from the Middle School and then going out to Styford before turning round and reversing the route. That course went too however and this year we were promised a new one, and one which had originally been flagged as hosting the BMAF Championships. Well it was certainly new, taking place on the old Ouston airfield at the Albermarle Barracks (which had also hosted the Elswick Relays back in April) but didn’t include the promised championships, sadly. Often run as a warm-up for the GNR, the race did incorporate the NECAA 10-mile championships however, with a two lap course which Rob reports as ‘very hard going into the wind and a bit more undulating than expected - and neither easy nor fast.’ Sam already had a one minute lead after the first lap, which he extended to over two and a half minutes by the end, winning in a time of 53:11 with Sunderland Harriers Jake Ridding and Liam Taylor 2nd and 3rd in 55:51 and 56:30 respectively. Andy Lawrence also had a good run, coming in 5th in 57:17, as did Shaun Land, 16th in 1:02:20. Rob was 34th and 2nd O/55 in 1:07:32 with Gavin 38th and 1st O/65 in 1:09:30. Dave Nicholson was 2nd in the same category in 1:15:47, and 64th overall. Matty Boyle was 135th in 1:36:43. Linzi was the club’s only female representative, 77th and picking up a prize as 3rd Senior female in 1:18:33, with the women’s race won by Elswick’s Andrea Banks in 1:07:09, with Sunderland Stroller Julie Pescod 2nd but only 4 seconds back in 1:07:13 and Blaydon’s Emma Cartwright 3rd (1:10:17). Some 172 finished. Sad to report that the old Jelly Tea, which those long in the tooth will fondly remember queuing for in the Middle School, then enjoying sitting down to eat at uncomfortably low tables, now takes the form of a cup of jelly and a sandwich. Bah humbug! Scafell Pike Trail Marathon On the same morning but on the other side of the country, Jane Kirby and Anna Wright, two ladies never known to shirk a hard run, took on the hugely challenging Scafell Pike Marathon, sponsored by Salomon. Run from Keswick via Borrowdale, the preamble for the event is absolutely clear about the difficulty involved, openly stating it takes place over ‘tough mountain trails’ and is ‘not suitable for novices.’ As if all that wasn’t hard enough, some highly inclement weather in the form of driving rain and howling winds added to the joy. So it’s good to report that both Anna and Jane did themselves proud, picking up prizes to boot. Anna was first back, 93rd and 3rd O/40 in 7 hours 11 minutes 10 seconds, with Jane 108th and 3rd O/50 in 7:31:09. The perhaps appropriately named Ricky Lightfoot won in 3:53:41 with Holly Wootten 1st female finisher in 4:35:08. |
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