Morpeth athletes claimed three podium finishes at the Kielder Marathon weekend of events, including a gold-medal double in the 10k.
Mark Snowball won Saturday’s 10k, which took place in heavy rain, in a time of 35:40, comfortably ahead of his closest challenger, Paul Turnbull of Tyne Bridge Harriers (37:27). And Rachelle Falloon – the club’s only other runner among the 540 participants - made it a Morpeth double as she was the first woman home and seventh overall in 39:33. The skies brightened substantially the following day as Mark returned for the weekend’s headline marathon event – a challenging, undulating full circuit of the reservoir. Understandably taking it a bit steadier this time, Mark finished in a time of 3:39:49 (34th place and 19th in the senior men category). Aberdeen-based couple Kyle and Debbie Greig celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in style by winning the male and female races respectively, and justifying the long trip down from north east Scotland. Kyle finished in 2.45.46, just under three minutes ahead of last year’s winner Russell Maddams of Keswick AC, with Debbie smashing the course record for a woman in 3:07:10, which earned her 5th place overall. There were 539 finishers in the marathon. First home for Morpeth in 3:12:14 was Kielder veteran Andrew Hebden who came 6th overall and 2nd men’s V40, and the club’s first female finisher was Anna Wright in 3:50:13 (62nd and 2nd women’s V40). Other Morpeth Harriers taking part included Matthew Briggs who was acting as a pacemaker for a friend (53rd in 3:45:12); Jane Kirby (81st in 3:56:25); and Mhairi Line (207th in 4:28:49). There was more Morpeth success in Sunday’s half marathon where John Butters claimed 2nd place and 1st V45 in an impressive time of 1:17:47. Richard Castledine was Morpeth’s only other competitor in the half marathon, finishing 91st in 1:46:17. There was just one Morpeth Harrier taking part in Sunday’s junior events - Steven Craske finishing 5th in the U16s race in 07:03. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
February 2025
|