12-STAGE ENDS IN 13TH AFTER BRAVE MORPETH EFFORT

Morpeth's 12-Stage team assembled at Sutton Coldfield

Many of  the country’s leading runners were assembled at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield to the north of Birmingham on Saturday for the English Road Running Association 12 Stage Relays, with Morpeth Harriers the sole representatives from the North East of England.
 
With six long legs of around 5.4 miles and six shorter ones of 3.2, the competition unfurls over a long 4-hour-plus timeframe, with the lead often changing hands several times in the course of an afternoon.
 
Saturday’s race was, perhaps unsurprisingly, dominated by clubs from the South of England, with Tonbridge AC winning out in an overall time of 4 hours 13 minutes 11 seconds over nearest rivals,  Highgate AC (4:13:24). It must have been a bittersweet silver medal for the north London outfit however, who had led for much of the race and, going into the last leg, were actually nearly one minute ahead of the Kent club having been in front since leg 5 and only caught in the last mile. Bedford and County AC were 3rd in 4:14:25.
 
Similar misfortunes befell Leeds City AC, who had been expected to be in the thick of the action, with their first leg runner suffering a debilitating asthma attack on the start line and trailing in way down the field in 49th. Thereafter, the Yorkshire club did well to recover for 5th place.
 
Morpeth were themselves hit by an unfortunate late injury to George Lowry, who might have been expected to run one of the fastest legs for the club, with an ever-willing Graeme Cook drafted in at very short notice for his first-ever 12 stage.
 
Sam Hancox got the club off to a decent start on the 1st long leg, with a time of 26:43 for 15th place, with teenager Joe Anderson clocking 16:50 on the next, short leg for 24th. With long and short legs alternating thereafter, Finn Brodie ran Morpeth’s fastest long leg, 26:12, on leg 3 as the club moved into 14th, with Ali Douglas recording 16:25 for 15th on leg 4.
 
Carl Avery, himself nursing an injury, got the club into 11th and in sight of a top ten finish on leg 5 (26:43) with Tom Innes only slipping two places on leg 6 (16:30). Alex Brown’s 26:30 moved the club into the top ten as the race moved into its second half and Phil Winkler’s 15:53 got Morpeth up to 8th after eight legs, its highest position on the afternoon.
 
Despite being hit by a troublesome stitch during much of his run, George Rudman managed to maintain the position with 28:26 on the 9th leg, with Connor Marshall’s short leg of 16:16 and Matthew Briggs’s long leg of 28:10 keeping the club in 9th on legs 10 and 11.
 
With Graeme Cook recording 18:04 on leg 12, the club unfortunately slipped out of the top ten, finishing in 13th place overall out of some 53 complete teams, with a final combined time of 4:22:42. Once again, Morpeth were well placed however among Northern teams, with only big city outfits Leeds, Salford Harriers and Sheffield’s Hallamshire in front.
 
The day’s two fastest long and short leg times came courtesy of Belgrave Harrier Nick Goolab and Cambridge and Coleridge’s Tom Keen, who recorded times of 25:23 and 15:10 for the long and short legs respectively.
 
Another fully committed and strong performance from all of those who made the long journey South and, with a lot of teenage talent coming through behind them, the prospect of improving the position and even challenging for medals in the future. Congratulations to all.