Saturday’s ERRA National Relays took place once again at Sutton Park in the Midlands with the six stage Senior Men’s race held over a 5.84 km hilly loop while the three stage Young Athletes races covered some 3.88 km.
Having qualified comfortably in the Northern Road Relays last month, the club’s Under 15 and Under 17 boys teams both took the next step onto the national stage and, while missing out on medals, could come away with their heads held high after strong performances. First in action were the U/15s who finished in 7th place with a cumulative time of 39 minutes 54 seconds, with the race won by Birchfield Harriers in a time of 38:50. On first leg Oliver Calvert had the team in 5th place with a time of 13 minutes 3 seconds, but Oliver Tomlinson got them into 2nd with 13:23 on leg 2. Joe Close on last leg ran 13:26 with the team finishing as third team from the North of England and comfortably inside the top ten. They were followed by the U/17s who managed to go one better when finishing in 6th. Will de Vere Owen ran the team’s fastest time of the day (and the 9th fastest overall) when clocking 11:55 on leg 1 for 4th place, with Ryan Davies on leg 2 going out to 6th (12:36). Last leg runner Bertie Marr’s clocking of 12:21 saw the team maintain this position, although they were somewhat unhappy to finish behind fellow North Easterners Gosforth Harriers in 5th. The team’s cumulative time was 36:52 with the race won by the very strong Wirral AC outfit who had also won in the Northern Relays, in a time of 35:34. The Morpeth team do have the satisfaction of knowing, however, that they have another year at this age group and can return to challenge in 2022. The Men’s 6 stage was a very keenly contested competition with Aldershot and Farnham AC, for whom Luke Rowe ran the fastest time of the day (16:33), winning in 1:42:44 ahead of Leeds City AC (1:43:47) and Shaftesbury Barnet (1:44:06). Morpeth’s team, which featured several runners returning to competition in the blue and white, were all close to each other in terms of leg times and, after leg 2, never outside the top ten, but were unable to challenge for the honours on this occasion. Cameron Boyek on the as expected very fierce leg 1 ran 17:35 and came home in 20th place. Joe Armstrong (17:51) had the club upto 16th on leg 2 and George Rudman moved them into the top ten with his 17:37 for 9th on 3rd. The team’s fastest leg of the day was recorded by Finn Brodie on leg 4 with his 17:21 moving them into 7th, and though they slipped one place on George Lowry’s leg 5 (18:03), Alex Brown ran 17:29, the club’s 2nd fastest time, to get them back into a final placing of 7th with a cumulative time of 1 hour 45 minutes and 56 seconds. They did have the satisfaction of being 2nd team from the North of England behind Leeds City AC and ahead of all the clubs from the North West. The only negative note would surely be that poor Liam Roarty was left on his own to run 17:51 on leg 1 for an incomplete B team. Surely a club with such a strong Senior Men’s set-up should be capable of filling at least one other team, as many other clubs on show did? Rescheduled from April, the 67th Three Peaks Race, also known as ‘The Marathon with Mountains’ was held last Saturday in pretty grim weather.
The course is 23.3 miles with 5,279ft of climbing over the Yorkshire 3 Peaks of Pen-Y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. Heavy wet air led to low cloud over the hills and slippery underfoot conditions but that proved no problem to our own Matthew Briggs who finished in a superb 18th position and 3rd under 23 in 3.28.03. He was followed home by John Butters who was having an ‘easy’ run out after his two races at Kielder the previous weekend. John ‘cruised’ round in 3.50 and looked really comfortable. Next in was Mike Steven closely followed by Gwenda Cavill (who yarked her knee on the last descent) but unfortunately Gary Mason got pulled at the last time check. The race has a long history detailed on its website and it is a massive logistical operation to get it on. It’s a really big deal in the Yorkshire Dales and the number of spectators and support out on the course is fantastic. The organisation is superb but I suspect the organisers are a little disappointed with turnout this year – 800-plus entries yielded only 460 starters and 417 finishers, probably a result of a lot of events being crammed into this post-lockdown period and turnout down all over the place. If you fancy a challenge next April, have a look at the website above for entry qualification – lots of the route is runnable so you need to have miles in your legs but also strength for some steep climbs – the leaders powering up Whernside was really impressive. Well done to the five Morpeth Harriers who took part and commiserations to Rich Kirby (who put his back out the day before the race) and Steve Haswell who missed out due to a long bout of Plantar Fasciitis – hope you are both back running soon. The weekend’s athletics action was dominated by marathons, with the annual Kielder Marathon weekend taking place in the west of our county while Sunday saw the return of the Virgin Money London Marathon to the capital. The Kielder Marathon weekend has steadily grown in scale and now offers a wide range of different sporting challenges, with an individual and team Run – Bike – Run event on the Saturday along with a 10 kilometre race which has grown in popularity. Sunday sees both Half and Full Marathon events take place, as well as Junior races. Autumn announced its arrival in no uncertain terms on Saturday, with some atrocious conditions and outbursts of torrential rain that dogged the 600 plus field in the 10k race. The weather couldn’t deter Morpeth’s Mark Snowball, however, who took a fine victory with a time of 35 minutes 45 seconds. Snowball’s nearest challenge came ironically from his twin brother Chris, the ex Ashington Hirst runner, now competing for Wakefield AC, chasing him all the way with a time of 36m 37s. Over 45 John Butters confessed to struggling with the cold but still came home in 4th in 38:18. .
Finishing 6th overall, Claire Duck of Leeds City AC made her journey north worthwhile as first female finisher with a very decent time in the circumstances of 38m 32s. Morpeth’s Laura Mclean was 128th and 32nd female finisher in 54m 41s. Sunday’s runners were grateful that conditions had improved a little for the day’s Half and Full Marathon events. Remarkably, after his previous day’s exertions, John Butters put himself on the start line once again and this time had a much better outing, coming home in 2nd place overall in a time of 1 hour 18 minutes, some 33 seconds behind race winner David Holmes who clocked 1:16:39. The field of 634 proved the half marathon to be the most popular event. Low Fell’s Anna Mclean was first woman home in 1:38:31 and Louise Burt Morpeth’s only representative, 214th and 50th female finisher, just outside the two hour mark in 2:00:10. The full marathon was won by a runner from Keswick AC, Russell Maddams, who made it back in under three hours with a time of 2:54:25. Regular participant Morpeth’s Andrew Hebden, though very short of training, still managed to finish in 13th place overall in 3:16:45. The first female finisher was Jo Ballantyne, 33rd in 3:35:08. Further down the field, 2011 race winner Jane Hodgson trotted round with her brother and ex Morpeth RUFC first team skipper Paul Mooney, the two finishing together in 4:39:52. Meanwhile there was another winner for Morpeth Harriers, with Sophie Pledger coming home first in the Under 11 1.5 km event in a time of 5:06. There were some 36,000 finishers in Sunday’s London Marathon, moved this year from its traditional slot in April after having been cancelled altogether in 2020, and run this year under fine, dry and cool conditions which were ideal for fast times. Ethiopian Sisa Lemma ran the 6th fastest ever time on the course when winning in 2:04:31 while Ethiopian Joyciline Jepkosgei took the women’s race in 2:17:43. There were only two Morpeth Harriers who took part this year, experienced Over 40 Gary Jones some way off full fitness but still easily breaking the three hour mark in 2:52:33 for 1211th place, and Paul Banks (O/50), 2426th in 3:03:10. Three of Morpeth’s talented young athletes were also chosen to run for the North East in the British Road Racing Championships event for young athletes. An inter-area competition, this is held at the same time as the London Borough Challenge and run over a much shorter distance of 2.6 miles on the final section of the course from Temple Place to the Mall, which enables youngsters to get a feel for the big city occasion. Will de Vere Owen was 25th and third counter for the NE in the U17 men in a time of 7m 41s. An under the weather Millie Breese was 40th and 4th counter for the matching U17 women in 9:05 and Joe Close 51st and 4th counter in 8:39 in the U15 boys race. There were two Morpeth Harriers in action at Berlin in the weekend in the celebrated Berlin Marathon.
Andrew Lawrence had his best marathon for a while with an excellent clocking of 2 hours 35 minutes and 2 seconds for 129th place while Ady Whitwam, now an Over 45, was 695th in 2:53:35. The race itself was won by Ethiopia’s Guye Adola in 2:05:45 with compatriot Gotytom Gebreslase taking the women’s race in 2:20:09. After over a year and a half out, North East cross country action resumed at the Harrier League fixture at Wrekenton on Saturday afternoon with well over 1300 runners taking part across the age ranges.
It certainly didn’t feel like cross country weather however, with temperatures in the high teens and the uneven ground hard under-foot hard and unyielding to those participants who still chose to wear spikes. The traditional curtain-raiser for the day was again the keenly contested Under 11s race over a mile, where places are given on the day but not league placings for the season. There was plenty of enthusiasm on display, with over fifty in both the boys and the girls races representing twenty four of the region’s clubs. Morpeth’s sole representative was Euan Line who, in his first Harrier League outing, was sadly misdirected when well placed and so ended up well down the field when he had been in a position to place much higher. Nicholas Surtees-Brown of Elswick recorded an impressive 6 minutes 15 seconds for the boys and Nell Graham of Birtley an even more impressive 6m 13s for the girls. While it was disappointing post lockdown to see no Under 13 Boys in action for the club, the Under 13 girls built on their decent team performance at the Northern Road Relays last week to place third team here behind North Shields Polytechnic Harriers and Durham City. Run over two miles as a scratch race rather than a handicap, first home for Morpeth was Emma Tomlinson, 8th in 11:04 behind race winner Katy Otterson of NSP in 9:52. Molly Roche was 12th in 11:21 and Charlotte Marshall completed the scoring count, 14th in 11:38. Iris Dungait was 25th in 13:15 and Megan Potrac 30th in 13:29 in a pleasing club turn out. There were impressive individual and team performances in the following U/15 and U/17 boys races, although it was disappointing however to see no U/15 girls running. Improving on team medals at Redcar last week, both age groups saw Morpeth take team wins and there were a number of individual medals won also. A keenly contested U/15 race saw NSP’s Ben Broats win in a time of 8:43 over the two mile distance with Morpeth’s Joe Close 2nd some nine seconds behind and colleague Olly Calvert 3rd only one second behind. Emma’s brother Olly finished the scoring count, 5th in 9:01. Elliot Mavir was 10th in 9:46 and Stephen Craske 21st in 10:27. The three to count team took a narrow victory over NSP by two points. It was a more emphatic victory in the U/17 boys race where Bertie Marr raced to victory over the two lap circuit in 17:16 with team mates Ryan Davies, now looking good again after some late Summer injury worries, 2nd in 17:24, Matt Walton 4th in 17:36, Liam Roche 5th in 18:02 and James Tilley 7th in 18:23. The margin of team victory to the next placed club, Durham City, was a resounding 29 points. The combined U/17 girls and U/20 women’s race was won by Holly Waugh of NSP in 19:25 with Millie Breese not far behind for the club in 20:06. Kate Gaffing was 10th in 23:01 but, with Abi Leiper sadly having to drop out, the club unfortunately failed to close a scoring team. There were over 400 women and 500 men in the day’s final two races, the women completing two full laps of the hilly circuit and the men three. Cat Macdonald produced the fastest women’s time of the day, an impressive 28:49, when coming home in 16th from Fast Pack with a five minute handicap, and Jane Hodgson, no stranger to the course, ran the day’s 2nd fastest time of 29:11 in 21st. The team count of four was made up by Gwenda Cavill, 76th in 31:26 and Robyn Bennett, in her first competitive outing for over two years, 116th in 32:45. With so many runners at the front out of slow or medium packs, Morpeth’s team place was only 7th, but that situation will surely improve as faster runners are promoted. It was also good to see eleven Senior women turning out for the club with surely more to come at Druridge Bay in a fortnight. Morpeth’s other finishers were: Lindsey Quinn, 143rd out of Fast in 33:35; Claire Calverley, 159th from Medium in 33:53; Laura Shaw, 177th from Slow in 34:32; Laura Mclean 190th from Slow in 35:06; Sarah Routledge, 199th from Slow in 35:27; Sue Smith, 226th from Slow in 36:23 and Jill Bennett, 231st from Slow in 36:30. Over 75 veteran Paul Bentley also exercised his right to run with the women, finishing in 282nd place in 38:51. The race was won by Blaydon’s Emily Baines in 25:14 from Slow Pack with Jess Fox of Sunderland Harriers 2nd and Elswick’s Katarina Bonner 3rd. The team race was won by Elswick with NSP 2nd and Gateshead 3rd. Having lost the Senior Men’s title they had won for two consecutive years to Sunderland Harriers in the much disrupted and then truncated 2019/2020 season, it was important for the club’s men to get off to a good start here, and this they did with both individual and team wins for Morpeth in the final event of the day with some 17 Senior Men turning out. Although early leader Joe Anderson dropped out after the first lap, having perhaps ‘overcooked’ it in the heat, Liam Roarty replaced him at the front, also running from Slow Pack, and was never seriously thereafter troubled, winning in a time of 32:57 with Houghton AC’s Chris Coulson 2nd in 33:40 and South Shields Harrier Mark Hodgson 3rd, both also from Slow. Second for Morpeth was Ali Douglas (‘I’m only running because I got up too late to do a parkrun!’ - and thank goodness he did), coming 12th from Medium in 35:53, and Over 50 veteran Lee Bennett ensured his promotion once again from Slow Pack with 20th in 36:57 as third counter. In his first ever run in a blue and white vest, George Rudman, newly transferred to the club, ran one of the day’s fastest times, 28th in 37:34 with a five minute Fast Pack handicap and was 4th counter. Finishing 5th and 6th for the club were Anthony Jannetta, also running in his first ever NEHL fixture, 30th in 37:39, and Jordan Scott, 58th from Fast in 38:59. The team’s final scoring count was only 65 points, well ahead of rivals Sunderland with 108 and Tyne Bridge with 119. The day’s fastest time was by Michael Hedley of Tyne Bridge with 31:57. Alistair Macdonald did well to finish in the top 100, 85th in 39:33, and there was a return to cross country action for the first time in over a decade for Mark Davies, 130th in 40:45 (‘I should be at home with a barbecue!’ was all the words he could manage later). Other Morpeth finishers, all from Slow Pack, were: Eric Adams, 168th in 41:41; Mike Winter, 208th in 42:36; Dave Nicholson, 250th in 44:01; Paul Brown, 259th in 44:14; Steve Johnstone, 264th in 44:20; Neil McAnany, 265th in 44:22; Paul Bellingham, 351st in 47:06; and, managing comfortably to escape the ‘lanterne rouge’, Peter Scaife, 394th in 48:51 and Andrew Dippie, 461st in 53:10. Some 511 finished. The next fixture is on Sunday 10 October, at Druridge Bay, very much home turf for the club. For a full list of fixtures for the season see the Harrier League website. |
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