What a lovely day us ladies had at Alnwick XC yesterday better than shopping any day. Nice to see so many turnout. We had a few newcomers Jacinta Wake and Jane Kirby who both put in steady performances. Hopefully the hills and muck didn't put them of too much. Even the lack of tent did not deter us as we huddled together for warmth although getting changed proved a bit more difficult. It was nice to see the return of Jane Hodgson as well, her first XC this year. The course was quite difficult with unexpected hurdles fortunately the rain stayed off until the men's race. They are made of tougher stuff anyway. The best bit was hot coffee and homemade flapjacks at the end courtesy of Jacinta Wake.
We were very kind and shared them with the Men who needed the sugar to see them through three rounds of that course. All in all an excellent turnout by Morpeth Harriers Senior Women which saw us finish fourth in Division 2 on the day, a result that will hopefully see us avoid the drop into Division 3 next year. Carol Parry
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After nearly a two month absence of action, the Start Fitness North Eastern
Harrier League got under way again on Saturday 5th March, with the fifth fixture being held at the Pastures in Alnwick. Despite heavy overnight rain, the ground at Alnwick in most parts was reportedly fairly firm, however there were the odd sections that remained soft, which progressed to mud as intermittent showers prevailed throughout the proceedings, especially during the final event on the ten race programme, for Senior Men. An excellent turnout by Morpeth Harriers Senior Women saw them finish fourth in Division 2 on the day, a result that will hopefully see them avoid the drop into Division 3 for next year. They were led home by an excellent performer in Gemma Floyd, who ran really well over the two lap course as the rain started to build up. She finished fifth from the Medium Pack, posting the fifteenth fastest overall time of the day. One of the athletes ahead of her in terms of time however was club colleague Jane Hodgson, who running from the Fast Pack, finished an excellent 25th as Morpeth’s second counter, posting the sixth fastest time overall, and looks to be well on her way to fitness following childbirth. Third home for Morpeth was Gwenda Cavill, who finished 69th from the Slow Pack, and closing the club’s scoring count was Jane Briggs, who finished 144th from the Medium Pack. Not far behind Jane in 161st and 162nd places were Sue Smith and Carol Parry, both running from the Slow Pack. For Parry, it was her first Harrier League appearance for the club. Other Harrier League debutants for Morpeth Harriers were Jacinta Wake and Jane Kirby, who finished in 188th and 189th places from the Slow Pack, in the field of 278 Senior Women finishers, which was an excellent effort. Despite the low temperatures, enhanced by freezing fog,
there was still an excellent turnout of enthusiastic competitors, who turned out at the University Sports Ground in Durham for the very popular Cathedral Relays, on Sunday 17th January 2016. With the previous weekends athletics programme in the region being completely wiped out by wintry conditions, all were eager to spring into competitive action, none more so than the contingent from Morpeth Harriers Senior Women’s squad. Morpeth Harriers Senior Women finished in 14th place. Alison Brown was eleventh on the first leg with her clocking of 12m00s. Claire Walker slipped back a little on the second leg with 14m58s; however fortunes were revived somewhat on the third and final leg by Gemma Floyd, who clocked 11m56s. The first ever Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League to be held at Druridge Bay Country Park in Northumberland, on Saturday 28th November 2015 will certainly be a memorable one, both in terms of conditions, which could easily be described as soft and very muddy underfoot, and for organisation, which in the main was excellently carried out by Blyth Running Club, who despite a couple of on the day mishaps, emerged with a great deal of well earned credit. What they could not make to order however was the weather, which ranged from strong winds, squally showers, which in turn worsened the already damp underfoot conditions to almost swamp-like at the culmination of the ten event programme. In the Senior Women’s 6.2k event, Morpeth Harriers finished
as fifth team in Division 2 behind Wallsend Harriers. Scoring counts came from Gemma Floyd (4th) (Slow Pack), Catriona MacDonald (27th) (Medium Pack), Gwenda Cavill (124th) (Slow Pack), and Jane Briggs (152nd) (Medium Pack). Also competing for Morpeth Harriers in the Senior Women’s event were Shuna Rank (154th) (Slow Pack), and Sue Smith (187th) (Slow Pack). |
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