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Silver For Morpeth Men At National 12 Stage Road Relays !
At long last the Southern and Midlands dominant grip on the
Mens English National 12 Stage Road Relay title was loosened,
when Leeds City and Morpeth Harriers finished in Gold and
Silver medal positions at a warm and sunny Sutton Park,
Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham on Saturday April 14th.
That result paid great testimony to the Northern Championship
held at Sunderland two weeks previous when both clubs battled
out a thrilling finish with Morpeth Harriers coming out as Northern Champions.
However on Saturday Leeds City came out stronger by just over two minutes
after grabbing the lead on seventh leg through a very much in form James Walsh.
Morpeth's drive for glory was not to be diminished however as they
battled on relentlessly over the final five legs to emerge as first time
Silver medal winners despite a last ditch effort by Southerner's Belgrave
to deprive them of a taste of elevated glory.
The sheer determination of Commonwealth Games Bronze
medallist Mark Hudspith (27m17s) on the long Leg Eleven prevailed however,
to hold off an equally determined Paul Freary of Belgrave,
to allow final leg runner Mark Brown the cushion of twenty eight seconds
as he set off to claim prized Silver medals.
Brown's efforts held firm as he increased Morpeth's advantage to
sixty one seconds at the finish line with his excellent short stage clocking of 15m08s.
Earlier, things hadn't happened positively for Morpeth Harriers until Leg Six,
when Nick McCormick, who was to have run a long leg,
was forced onto the short option by the late withdrawal of Dan Samuels.
Undaunted, Nick set about carving through the opposition in front of him
to climb a mammoth eight places with the fastest short stage
clocking of the day of 13m39s, and the fifth ever fastest short
stage clocking on the now well established course.
The earlier legs had seen Morpeth very much on a seesaw situation,
as they went from Michael Morris's 27m28s which saw
them hit a Leg One placing of twentieth through to Martin Scaife's
fifth leg clocking of 26m53s which saw them in tenth place.
Jonathan Taylor's National 12 Stage debut for Morpeth
on second leg saw him clock an excellent 15m06s which saw him
rise to thirteenth spot, and despite not being pleased with his clocking of 27m47s,
third leg runner Chris Sampson still managed to claw a further three places to tenth,
which meant he had clearly played his part towards the positive end.
Fourth Leg runner Jonathan Young kept up his excellent form with
a splendid short stage clocking of 15m19s to take his club up to seventh place.
The aforementioned Scaife and McCormick kept the
Morpeth efforts going on Legs Five and Six.
Unfortunately Morpeth's seventh leg runner Neil Wilkinson succumbed
to faster efforts around him and slipped to fifth with his clocking of 28m07s
being passed Leeds City, Cardiff and 2006 Champions Newham and Essex Beagles
who were starting to show through for the first occasion of the afternoon.
Team Captain David Swinburne went for damage limitation on Leg Eight,
and although he slipped a further two places to seventh with his clocking of 15m24s
the gaps were small enough for ninth leg runner Ian Hudspith
to get Morpeth back amongst the medals in second place with the
days seventh fastest long stage clocking of 26m08s.
On Leg Ten Morpeth Harriers replaced Samuels with Terry Wall
and he held firm with a splendid 15m26s, allowing Mark
Hudspith and Mark Brown to determine their clubs final fortunes.
Morpeth Harriers also fielded an incomplete B team which spanned six legs.
Ben Harrison clocked their fastest long stage time of 28m51s
with Robert Balmbra getting their fastest short stage time of 16m47s.
Unfortunately Nathan Shrubb picked up another injury when running
the long third stage and was forced to almost a crawl through the closing stages.
Hopefully this injury may not see him out of action for a lengthy period.
The North East had a good day at Sutton Park as Chester Le Street Ladies
made the medal rostrum for Bronze in their 6 Stage event.
Despite finishing fifth in the Northern Championship Morpeth Harriers
could not field a team at Sutton Park with leading
runners Jane Mooney and Kate Chapman rendered
unavailable owing to other commitments.
Mens 12 Stage Leading Results
1st Leeds City AC 4hrs11mins31secs
2nd Morpeth Harriers & AC 4hrs13mins42secs
3rd Belgrave Harriers 4hrs14mins43secs
4th Newham & Essex Beagles 4hrs14mins54secs
5th Cardiff AC 4hrs16mins20secs.
Other North East Results
Gateshead Harriers (45th) 4hrs46mins46secs
Chester Le Street (51st) 4hrs53mins04secs
North Shields Poly (62nd) 5hrs09mins00secs.
Womens 6 Stage Leading Results
1st Charnwood 1hr41mins14secs
2nd Aldershot Farnham & District 1hr14mins23secs
3rd Chester Le Street 1hr41mins56secs.
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Durham Cathedral Relays
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men had a very strong turnout at the
24th running of the Durham Cathedral Relays on Sunday 21st January.
Such was their force, the clubs Team Management decided to mix their
three squads which although gave victory to main rivals Sunderland Harriers,
served to give the event one of the most exciting races
it has witnessed in a good number of years.
The Wearside outfit always had to be on their metal as during the early
stages Morpeth's B and C teams were very much to the fore with
the A team being slightly adrift after a steady start.
Indeed it was Morpeth's B team who held the lead on Leg One
after a superb run by Dan Samuels which saw him come home with
a second fastest clocking of the day of 8m30s for the two lap
3k course set on the Old Racecourse near to the Durham City riverbank.
Morpeth C were in fourth place with Mark Brown's excellent 8m40s
and the Morpeth A team were down in twelfth through David Swinburne
who is on the road to recovery after illness,
but will not be too disheartened with his clocking of 9m07s.
Things changed however on the second leg as Brian Rushworth
grabbed the lead for Sunderland which he maintained throughout.
Meanwhile Morpeth's C team went into third place through
Neil Wilkinson's 9m03s and the B team went back to eighth
as another comeback man Terry Wall struggled a little
in the wind hence his clocking of 9m36s.
Morpeth A teams hopes were boosted by Tom Ranger's
rise to seventh with a good 8m53s.
Ranger is also on the comeback trail and he judged his
effort carefully to come through nicely on the second lap.
This set things up nicely on the final lap.
It was Gavin Massingham for Sunderland, Terry West for second placed
North Shields and Mark Hudspith in third for Morpeth C
Nick McCormick set off in seventh place for Morpeth A
and Ian Hudspith was very close behind in eighth place for Morpeth B
As the final lap progressed Massingham was holding onto his lead,
but a very interesting race was developing behind him.
McCormick was literally eating into everything in front of him and had
got up to second place with around five hundred metres remaining.
Massingham's lead held out however but only by nine seconds as McCormick
crossed the finish line in the fastest time of the day of 8m22s
which was fractionally outside the course record.
At the commencement of the lap Massingham had a twenty eight second
advantage over McCormick which showed the true power and enormity
of the Morpeth mans superb run to cut down such a deficit.
Morpeth C finished fourth with Mark Hudspith clocking an excellent 8m44s,
and brother Ian brought the Morpeth B team
home in sixth place with an excellent 8m39s.
Under 17 athlete Marc Cochrane can feel well pleased
with his run for an incomplete Morpeth D team,
and he will have gained great experience from the outing.
Morpeth Harriers Over 50 Veteran Men can feel justifiably
proud of their efforts to win their category title when they
finished overall seventh in the Veteran Mens 3x3k event.
They finished well clear of second placed Blaydon
who were seventeenth overall,
and North Shields finished third in twentieth place.
Archie Jenkins produced an excellent 10m27s
on leg one to finish tenth overall.
Les Atkinson livened things up on leg two
as he rose to fifth with a superb 9m36s.
Third leg runner Gavin Bayne lost very little ground
as he only slipped to seventh with his clocking of 11m29s.
Morpeth Harriers Ladies decided not to field a team in their event,
in favour of saving their efforts for this weekends
North of England Cross Country Championships being held in Manchester.
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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Farringdon, Sunderland on Saturday 13th January.
A superb run by Morpeth's Marc Cochrane saw him comfortably
win the Under 17 Mens event at the third Start Fitness sponsored
North Eastern Harrier League meeting held in very blustery conditions
at Farringdon, Sunderland on Saturday 13th January.
Giving 2m20s to a couple of Slow Pack athletes, he eventually chose to leave
it all to the final hill before passing long term leader Cameron Rutherford
of Tynedale to win with thirteen seconds to spare. In the Under 15 Boys event Morpeth finished as second team
being led home by Oliver Craig and Stephen Cochrane who used their
Slow Pack starts to good effect by finishing third and sixth respectively.
Alistair Douglass closed the Morpeth score when he came
through to finish eleventh from the Fast Pack.
In the Under 13 Boys event Morpeth finished as seventh team.
A Christmas holiday in Australia posed no ill effects for Jack Hepple,
who despite running from the Fast Pack, came through to
finish thirteenth as the clubs first counter.
Further team support came from Jonathan Anderson (22nd) (Slow Pack)
and Daniel Bewick (31st) (Slow Pack)
Sadly Morpeth only managed to field four runners in the
Senior Mens event, so could not close as a team.
Andrew Lawrence's excellent run to finish 20th from the Medium Pack
now sees him rise to the Fast's.
Morpeth's other finishers were Alistair MacDonald (36th) (Slow Pack)
Richard Driscoll (101st) (Slow Pack) and Paul Bentley (210th) (Slow Pack)
In the Senior Womens two lap event Morpeth convincingly won the team race
with Jane Mooney having an excellent run from the Fast Pack
to place third to lead them home.
Further excellent runs were also had by Gwenda Cavill (8th) (Slow Pack)
and Aiveen Fox who discarded her Slow Pack start in favour of a run with
the Fast Pack and came through to an excellent ninth place.
Thankfully Aiveen has now pushed her North Eastern Cross Country
disappointment of twisting an ankle well to
the back of her mind, and is set to make amends
at the Northern Championships in Manchester at the end of the month.
Running from the Slow Pack, Morpeth's Natalie Young was untouchable
in the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event,
and won with nearly two minutes to spare over her closest rival.
In the Under 13 Girls event Mariska Simpson clocked the equal fastest time
when she placed fourth running from the Fast Pack.
She led Morpeth home to third team place with further support coming from
Ellen Welsh (18th) (Fast Pack) and Katie Tiffin (21st) (Slow Pack)
Morpeth's Under 15 Girls finished as fourth team with Stevie Goodfellow
producing an excellent determined performance to lead them home in sixth
place from the Fast Pack and as third fastest overall.
Further counts came from Catriona MacDonald (10th) (Slow Pack)
and Sarah Bewick (25th) (Fast Pack)
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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Berry Edge, Consett on Saturday 6th January.
Morpeth Harriers, Laura Weightman, Rachel Denton,
Marc Cochrane and Mark Brown all produced five star performances
at the second Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
meeting held at Berry Edge, Consett on Saturday 6th January In her first competitive outing since she won the Under 17 Womens
North Eastern Cross Country Championships last month,
Laura Weightman took the opportunity to test herself before the forthcoming
Northern Championships, and although she had very little major opposition
she managed to haul her way through the field giving a 2m20s advantage
to win by a margin of forty five seconds over her nearest rival
in the combined Under17/Under20 Womens 5k event.
Giving 1m10s to over nearly half of the field in the
Under 13 Girls 2.5k event,
Rachel Denton carved her way through to a thirty four second
marginal victory over her nearest rival.
Hannah Rank despite feeling unwell leading up to the event competed
well to finish fourth also from the Fast Pack, and with Mariska Simpson
also coming through well to finish sixth from the Fast Pack
Morpeth took the team race from Shildon.
Although not a race winner Marc Cochrane was easily
the fastest competitor in the Under 17 Mens 5k event where he
came through well from the Fast Pack to finish third.
Running from the Fast Pack Mark Brown came through excellently
to finish ninth in the Senior Mens 9k event.
He was fastest overall by twelve seconds over recent Saltwell Road Race
winner Chris Parr and will take great satisfaction from this effort.
Morpeth finished second in the Division 1 team race with further support
coming through excellent runs by Mike Hegarty (17th) (Medium Pack)
Paul Waterston (25th) (Medium Pack), Alistair MacDonald (33rd) (Slow Pack)
Ross Floyd (37th) (Fast Pack) and Archie Jenkins(42nd) (Slow Pack)
Morpeth Harriers Team Captain Gwenda Cavill was the clubs
lone representative in the Senior Womens 5k event,
and she produced an excellent spirited performance
to finish ninth from the Slow Pack.
In the Under 15 Girls 3.5k event Morpeth Harriers
three finishers saw the club to fifth placed team.
First home was Louise Cairns who finished 16th from the Slow Pack.
Stevie Goodfellow who has been dogged by knee problems
struggled somewhat when she finished 24th from the Fast Pack.
Catriona MacDonald closed the Morpeth score when
finishing in 27th place from the Slow Pack.
Alistair Douglass is still awaiting a confidence boost after his injury
dogged North Eastern Championship, and this clearly showed when
he could only place 21st from the Fast Pack in the Under 15 Boys 3.5k event.
He took some time to catch his clubmate Philip Shuttleworth
before just passing him in the finish straight.
Shuttleworth finished one place behind Douglass,
also running from the Fast Pack.
Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers had a complete
no show from their Under 13 Boys section.
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Great Edinburgh Cross Country
Top class runners were thwarted by horrendous windy conditions
and a very wet course at the prestigious Great Edinburgh Cross Country
events held at Holyrood Park on Saturday 13th January.
In the Mens 4k event Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick,
who has won this race for the last two consecutive years
was up against six times European Cross Country champion,
Ukraine's Sergiy Lebid, and also Britains top athlete in 2006,
European Cross Country champion Mo Farah.
The runners had to complete 3 laps of the course with the
wind howling around them although it was to their
advantage during the first half of the course.
Mo Farah and Nick McCormick took up position behind early leader
Angus McClean from Team Southampton.
Mike Skinner from Blackheath and Sergiy Lebid were also in the leading pack.
After about 4 minutes of running Nick McCormick kicked into the lead with
a sudden surge on a downhill stretch of the course,
but he was closely tracked by Mo Farah, Segiy Lebid and Mike Skinner.
At the halfway point in the race Mo Farah started to stretch out
and went into the lead opening up a large gap, but Segiy Lebid kept
with him and they started to run away from the rest of the field.
As the bell rang for the final lap Mo Farah was still in the lead
but Segiy Lebid was closing down on him.
A little further behind was Blackheaths Mike Skinner in third place
and in fourth place was Nick McCormick.
Segiy Lebid was now tracking Mo Farah all the way into the wind working
very hard and both men were showing signs of getting tired.
With about 300 metres to go Mo Farah had about 4 or 5 metres on Segiy Lebid,
but within sight of the finish a devastating surge of speed
from Segiy took him past Mo Farah and he crossed the line in 12m20s.
Mo Farah finished just a second behind him, and Blackheaths
Mike Skinner finished third in 12m25s.
There was a bit of a gap before Nick McCormick and Irelands Gary Murray
rounded the final bend and raced to the finish crossing the line almost neck and neck.
McCormick was given the nod by the judges for fourth
with the clock showing 12m43s which was twenty three seconds adrift of Lebid.
Also in the race were Morpeths Ian Hudspith and Chris Sampson who can feel well pleased
with their performances at this level as they finished 16th and 18th respectively
with excellent clockings of 13m12s and 13m22s
Two other Morpeth Harriers Dan Samuels and Michael Morris
competed in the 4k event and theyfinished in 26th and 27th places
in respective times of 13m40s and 13m43s.
Another race held at Holyrood Park on Saturday
was the Tesco Junior Great Winter Run.
At this event Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes produced a superb
7m55s to win the Under 11 Girls 2k race.
Sarah is absolutely delighted to have added this title to the
Tesco Junior Coastal Run event that she won last June in Sunderland.
Her clubmate Steph Purvis also ran well when finishing fourth in 8m08s.
Steph almost got second place but lost out
in some fast finishing in the final 100m.
Just to let you know that we have had confirmation
from a race official this afternoon (16.01.2007)
that Stephanie Purvis was actually third in this race.
The official has viewed video footage and confirmed
that unfortunately due to a problem with
her chip she was registered as 4th place.
Her friends and family were waiting for her to be presented
with the third place trophy when someone elses name was called out.
She was very disappointed, however a new trophy is on its way to her.
A great result for Morpeth Harriers - 1st and 3rd.
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MBE For Jim Alder !
Just over 40 years after winning a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal
for the Marathon in Kingston, Jamaica,
Morpeth Harriers most famous member Jim Alder has picked
up an MBE in the New Year Honours List.
Since winning that Gold Medal, Jim has gone on to become a
North East Sporting icon and has mentored at least 20 Internationalists
since he first joined his club in 1959 at the age of 19.
At the height of his own career Jim won his beloved
Morpeth to Newcastle Road Race on five occasions and was
very much at the forefront of its organisation up till its finalisation in 2004.
That events demise hurt Jim more than anyone,
and to this day he believes that the race could still be held despite
the insistence of safety issues demanded by the authorities.
Road Running and athletics in general has continued to play a very
big part in Jim's life, and he is still to be seen especially at
Morpeth Harriers Clubhouse on a Monday night encouraging his
latest batch of Senior Athletes who bring continued success to the club.
Jim shares the other part of his life devoted to his beloved wife
Kathleen and his children Ian and Susan along with three grandchildren.
Even at the age of 66, Jim refuses to pack in work as he helps son Ian
make a new life in the building trade, an area which he himself worked
in his younger days when he used to run both to and from Stannington Hospital
everyday as part of his punishing training schedule.
Jim, now living in Ellington, describes his receiving of this
latest honour as very flattering, and the fact that it is for his athletics.
He goes on to say that his relationship with Morpeth Harriers
is indeed a pleasurable one, and is furthermore buoyed by the excellent
membership the club has, plus the tenacity of club organisers within.
From a club point of view, the honour bestowed upon Jim is not
only well deserved, but also long overdue, and when this former orphan
makes his trip to Buckingham Palace in a few months time he will go with
a sense of pride shared with everyone who has known him,
and once received he can truly raise the roof with his immortal chant "Geronimo."
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Morpeth 11K Road Race
London Irish athlete David Wardle made a Happy New Years Day
return to Morpeth after a gap of three years to win the
Harriers annual 11k Road Race for the third time.
Wardle was hard pressed in the early stages of the event by
2006 winner Mark Brown and Neil Wilkinson of the host club,
however he managed to pull clear on the climb up to Mitford Steads
and crossed the finish line on the Stanners in 33m47s
to record a fifty one second marginal victory.
Brown also eventually managed to pull clear of Wilkinson to claim
second place by a margin of seven seconds.
Fourth place went to another Morpeth runner Nick Swinburn,
who had won a Fell Race at Rothbury on the Morning of the event.
Swinburn's time was 35m55s, and the placings of Brown and Wilkinson
along with him meant that Morpeth had made a clean sweep in the team race.
Morpeth runners also filled fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth places.
They were David Swinburne (36m33s), Les Atkinson (1st Vet) (36m57s)
Paul Waterston (1st Over 40) (37m19s) and Nathan Shrubb (38m15s)
For Shrubb, a previous winner of the event, it was of particular relief
as it was the first time he had managed to finish a race in nine months,
as virtually the whole of 2006 had been written off by serious injury.
In fact he was having serious doubts as to whether he would be able to
continue in the sport, and this run hopefully will spur
him to a welcome return in the near future.
The Morpeth domination sequence was broken by Darlington's
Simon Rutherford finishing in ninth place in 38m57s.
Andrew Lawrence of Morpeth finished tenth in 39m20s.
The Ladies Race was won by Jayne Goble of North Shields Poly
who finished 25th overall in 43m54s.
Not far behind her in 27th place came the second lady finisher
in Mary Ferrier of Gateshead Harriers who clocked 44m08s.
Third lady home was Morpeth's Gwenda Cavill who was 41st in 46m24s.
Altogether 122 finishers took part in the Alderbuild sponsored event
and were set on their way at the bottom of Dogger Bank on Mitford Road
by the Mayor of Castle Morpeth Coun Geoff Proudlock,
who wished all participants a Happy New Year and Good Health
and Fitness throughout the forthcoming year.
Along with the Mayor, Morpeth Harriers would also wish to thank Ted Phizacklea
and his First Aid Team, Morpeth Rugby Club for the use of their clubhouse,
Jim Alder (Alderbuild) for his generous sponsorship,
Peter Carmichael and George Patterson as co sponsors,
and last but not least all their members and friends who turned out to help on the day.
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