Morpeth Harriers Senior Women will compete next season for the first time
in the upper echelon of their three divisions next season in the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League, following some excellent performances at the final meeting, held on today at Alnwick Castle Pastures. Heavy overnight rain, meant a very heavy muddy course for all, however Jane Hodgson truly revelled in the tricky conditions, as she worked her way through to second place from the Fast Pack, giving 200 seconds to a large proportion of the 300 plus starting field. Hodgson, posting a time of 27m41s, was easily the fastest time overall, and was only a mere sixteen seconds away from outright victory, which went to North Shields Poly’s Carla Maley, who had managed to hold on throughout from the Slow Pack. However, joy was to follow for Hodgson, when it was learnt that she had led her club to second place on the day behind Gosforth Harriers in Division 2 by two points, which ultimately meant that they had managed to take the Divisional title by a point from the same club. Supporting Hodgson’s leading effort were Gemma Floyd (14th) (3rd Div) (Fast Pack), Jane Briggs (81st) (20th Div) (Slow Pack), and Jane Kirby (111th) (31st Div) (Slow Pack). Winning the league title itself, is a just reward for a squad who have very much worked as a team, and with great spirit. Other Morpeth Harriers finishers in the Senior Women’s event were as follows Jilly Bell (168th) (Slow Pack), Sue Smith (189th) (Slow Pack), Jacinta Wake (195th) (Slow Pack), Carol Parry (198th) (Slow Pack), Jenny Glossop, making her debut, (257th) (Slow Pack), Claire Hiscock (276th) (Slow Pack), and Margaret MacDonald (278th) (Slow Pack), who now knows that her supporting run at the previous meeting was worth its weight in Gold.
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Morpeth Harriers Womens squad were particularly well represented at the annual Royal Signals Road Relays, held at Hetton Lyons Country Park on Saturday 18th February, which incorporated the North-Eastern Counties Athletics Association Championships. Morpeth Harriers Senior Women achieved a superb win in their 4 x 2.2mile Relay, which gave them their second North East title in succession in the event. Posting what was the second fastest time of the day of 12m18s, which was only surpassed by Sunderland Stroller Marathon International Alyson Dixon, who managed an excellent 11m53s on second leg, final leg runner Emma Holt brought the club home to victory by a margin of thirty seconds over second placed Jarrow and Hebburn. Earlier legs by Josie Cram (12m48s) (5th Fastest), Jane Hodgson (12m51s) (6th = Fastest), and Gemma Floyd (13m33s), had seen them always in a very challenging position throughout a tense battle with eventual Silver medallists Jarrow and Hebburn, Bronze medallists Gosforth Harriers, and North Yorkshire guests Richmond and Zetland. What was very clear to see here was the superb team spirit which engineered a most formidable victory. There were also some superb performances by the non-medalling Senior Women’s squads, who finished in sixth and twenty sixth places in strong fields respectively. The Morpeth B team performances came from Alison Brown (14m37s), Lorna MacDonald (13m20s), Gracie Hufton, an Under 17, making her debut in Senior competition (14m48s), and Catriona MacDonald (13m49s), which took them from seventeenth to their final ninth placing. There were some excellent and very pleasing performances from the Morpeth Women’s C team, and they were as follows Jane Kirby (15m53s), Susan Smith (17m15s), an excellent debut run from Frankie Wilson (15m46s), and Lindsay Turnbull (15m34s), which saw the squad rise from their early placing of 32nd. Overall, a truly excellent day on the road by the club. Photos from 2017 North-Eastern Counties Womens Road Relay Championships “Certainly, not a day for the fainthearted,”
a statement that applies to the efforts of all those who were either involved, or competed at the fifth and penultimate Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League Meeting, held for the second occasion at Thornley Hall Farm, near Peterlee, County Durham, on Saturday 11th February 2017. Despite heavy prolonged overnight rain, organisers still managed to get the ten-race programme underway, and thankfully all events were completed, with very few casualties, although there were several dropouts, as competitors attempted to master some of the most difficult conditions to be faced this Cross-Country season so far,conditions that severely lessened the usual attendance level. One individual who certainly tackled matters very professionally was Morpeth Harrier Senior Woman Emma Holt, who won her two-lap event with considerable ease from Durham City’s International talent Rosie Smith, and on level terms, as both were running from the Fast Pack, giving 200 seconds and 100 seconds respectively to a good portion of the 245-strong field of finishers, a little down on usual, mainly due to the very adverse weather conditions. Holt, very clearly the fastest in the race, won with seventy-six seconds to spare over Smith, with Morpeth’s Jane Hodgson, also producing a superb run from the Fast Pack to take third place, thirty-two seconds adrift of Smith. This meant that Holt and Hodgson also picked up on the day Harrier League Gold and Bronze medals respectively as a memento of their fine achievement. Another Morpeth Harrier who mastered the muddy conditions was Catriona MacDonald, who was fresh from a win in the Forfar Multi Terrain Half Marathon, the previous week. MacDonald ran very strongly throughout, to come through to finish seventh, also running from the Fast Pack, and was just over a minute behind her club colleague Hodgson. Completing the Morpeth Harriers scoring four was Margaret MacDonald, mother of Catriona, who having not run a Cross Country for some time, did very well to get around the two-lap course from the Slow Pack, to finish in 230th place. Margaret finishing was very much vital, as it meant that her club finished in fifth team place in Division 2 on the day, thus managing to maintain their status as league leaders going into the final fixture at Alnwick in early march, which will hopefully see them promoted to Division 1 for next season. Hopefully more club members will be able to turn out for that, if only to ensure that the superb combined efforts of Emma, Jane, Catriona, and Margaret, do not go unrewarded. The Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships, were held for the third time at Knowsley Safari Park, on Merseyside on Saturday 28th January. Morpeth Harriers Senior Women narrowly missed out on a team medal in their 8k event. The clubs Senior Women finished fourth, and were led home by Emma Holt, who produced an excellent individual effort to finish seventh, and just less than thirty seconds adrift of an individual medal. Superb additional team support in this event came from Josie Cram (26th),
Jane Hodgson (33rd), and a tenacious Gemma Floyd, who really gave her all to finish an excellent 64th in a top class field. The annual Durham Cathedral Relays, on Sunday 15th January 2017, were subject to a last minute course change, due to the usual circuit being rendered unusable on grounds of safety, because of conditions left by the snowfall that hit the region on Friday. The event was switched from the old Racecourse venue to the nearby Durham University Playing Fields at Maiden Castle, as Durham City Harriers were forced to make stringent efforts in finding a suitable course as, albeit not quite as testing, as a last minute, last ditch effort. Thankfully the threatened constant rain that had been promised, had abated by the time proceedings got underway on Sunday Morning, and runners faced conditions, that although were relatively soft underfoot in parts, were not quite as heavy as expected, and times for the two lap 3k circuits were therefore relatively fast. It was a winning day at the office however for Morpeth Harriers Senior Women, who won
from Gateshead Harriers, with early leaders Jarrow and Hebburn eventually finishing third. Josie Cram had the Morpeth team in second place on the first leg, clocking the second fastest time of the day overall of 10m46s, behind Gosforth’s Helen Warburton (10m42s). Helen King slipped to third on the second leg, posting a time of 12m42s, however Gemma Floyd’s 11m56s on the final leg was enough to seal a Morpeth victory. |
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