Trevor Hodgson, Morpeth Harriers’ prolific Over 50 Veteran, continued his current run of excellent form when he took his age group 60m title at the North East Counties Indoor Track and Field Championships, held on 18 and 19 February at Gateshead College.
On the second day of competition, Hodgson won comfortably, producing a fine 7.54s, which not only gave him a much-prized Gold medal to add to the one he had won in Scotland seven days earlier, but it was a time that would have won him a British Masters title had he been able to travel to Sheffield to contest the event. It also sees him ranked as fourth in the world in his age group.
Another Morpeth Harriers Gold Medallist at the Championships was Under 20 Woman Triple Jumper Charlotte Earl, who took her title on Saturday, producing a best of 11.51m.
Also on Saturday, Morpeth Under 20 Long Jump specialist Abbie Ross won a Bronze medal, with her on the day best of 4.41m.
Returning to Track action, Under 17 Women Freya Caygill and Amelia Hamlin won their way respectively to 60m A and B finals.
Caygill qualified for the A final, finishing sixth, posting a time of 8.24s, whilst Hamlin was third in the B final in 8.47s.

​A busy Saturday at Hetton Lyons Country Park saw Morpeth field seven teams in the two races of the NECAA Road Relay Championships, with the club’s Senior Men once again retaining the Royal Signals trophy.
 
There were four club teams out in Race 1 for Senior and Veteran Women’s teams and Men Over 50, with the competition unravelling over four stages of 2.2 miles each.
 
Winners in 2022, this year the club’s Senior Women were unlucky to finish just out of the medals in 4th behind winners NSP, with Elswick and Tyne Bridge filling 2nd and 3rd slots.
 
Lizzie Rank clocked 14:32 on a feisty leg 1, which seemed to start with a furious scramble more like a formula one race, headed by younger runners keen to get to the first corner!
 
Lizzie was followed by Lorna Macdonald (14:34) on leg 2, with Lindsey (14:22) on the 3rd. Cat took the last leg, recording the team’s fastest time of the day (13:02) for an overall time of 56:30.
 
NSP’s winning time was a strong 51:24, although fastest leg of the day was run by Elswick youngster Poppy Old with an impressive clocking of 12:11. The Poly’s Charlotte Penfold, running in the Senior Team, ran 12:13, which would have been fastest Veteran time of the day had she run in the Vets team.
 
Morpeth’s Women’s Veteran A finished as 8th Vets team, with Morag Stead running the team’s fastest time on leg 1 (13:26), also 3rd fastest Vets time of the day.  Claire Calverley ran 16:05 on leg 2, Jane Kirby 15:33 on leg 3 and Jane Briggs 16:43 on the final leg for an overall clocking of 1:01:47.
 
Elswick’s Veteran Women, headed home by Justina Heslop (13:17) were winners in the Vets category, with Sunderland Strollers 2nd and New Marske 3rd. Aly Dixon was credited with the day’s fastest Vets time of 12:27.
 
It was good to see a second Vets team out this year, with the B team of Sue Smith (18:58), Margaret Macdonald (19:47), Pam Woodcock (19:27) and Shuna Rank (18:02) also having a run out,  and finishing in 23rd with a cumulative time of 1:16:14.
 
In the Men’s Over 50 competition, held at the same time as the Women’s race, Morpeth battled it out in another keenly contested category and were delighted to come home with team Silvers.
 
Jason Dawson clocked 13:28 on leg 1 with Lee Bennett’s 12:36 on leg 2 reeling in a number of those ahead. Alistair Macdonald kept the club in contention with his 14:07 and Rob Hancox stayed ahead of the chasing NSP and Elswick on the last leg (13:15).
 
The team’s final time was 53:26, with winners New Marske – a bit of an unknown quantity, as they don’t compete in the NEHL of course – recording 52:46 in 1st place. New Marske’s Martin Murray recorded the day’s 2nd fastest O/50 time of 12:27, with Crook’s Wayne Pearson just ahead on 12:24.
 
The day’s second race included both Seniors and Over 40s, with some 54 complete teams finishing.
 
As holders for the last few years, Morpeth’s A string proved, perhaps unsurprisingly, to have too much quality once again for the competition - although it was the performances of some of the club’s teenage tyros, eligible to compete at 15 in this event, that perhaps grabbed the attention.
 
On legs 1 and 2 the Armstrong brothers, Joe and Scott, got Sunderland Harriers off to the best possible start, with Birtley, represented by Adrian Bailes and Chris Perkins, also in contention.
 
For Morpeth, Sam Hancox, always happy to put himself in the firing line on what is usually the toughest leg, came back in 7th in 11:02 and handed over to specialist miler James Young.
 
Making his Signals debut in front of new coach Steve Cram, James recorded 10:57 with the club moving up to 3rd.
 
All changed on leg 3, with Alex Brown back to his competitive best and moving the team into the lead after only the first of the two laps. His time – recorded as 10:06 (though not by Alex himself), a course record – was the fastest of the day and meant that, thereafter, the race was pretty much competitively over.
 
There was still work to be done, however, and it was good to see Chris Parr back competing after a good while out, and recording 11:02 on leg 4.
 
At this point the lead had gone out to well over a minute, and it was really only a question of what the size of the final victory would be.
 
Connor Marshall then ran 11:00 on leg 5 and Carl Avery 10:19, second fastest time of the day, on leg 6. The team’s total time of 1:04:26 was only some thirty seconds off the course record the club set last year, and a winning margin of nearly two and a half minutes over Sunderland, back in a distant 2nd , with Gateshead in 3rd (1:08:35).
 
Remarkably, however, the club’s B team, featuring no less than four youngsters, then came in in 4th place (1:09:32).
 
After Andy Lawrence had recorded 11:47 on leg 1, it was over to Oliver Calvert (probably the youngest runner of the day, having just turned fifteen), but he showed himself in no way overawed by the company, recording a hugely impressive 11:02.
 
He was followed by teenage club mates Elliot Kelso on leg 3 with 11:29, Liam Roche on leg 4 with 11:26 and Ethan Phillips on leg 5, again with 11:26.
 
Mark Snowball, drafted in at short notice to the B team following the late withdrawal of Adam Pratt with a back spasm, anchored the team to a fine 4th place finish with his 12:22 and an overall time of 1:09:32, less than a minute behind Gateshead in 3rd.
 
The late injury meant that, unfortunately, the C team were one short, but nevertheless the combination of youth and experience in those who did run over the first five stages also gave a good account of themselves.
 
Joe Close ran 11:34 on leg 1 with Mark Banks picking up on leg 2 in 11:29. Anthony Liddle ran 12:40 on leg 3 and Elliot Mavir 13:12 on leg 4. With Tom Balsdon recording 11:40 on leg 5, the cumulative time at this point of 1:00:41 saw the team inside the top ten.
 
Meanwhile the Over 40s race was unfolding at the same time, with the organisers at long last differentiating the two competitions with a different set of coloured numbers.
 
Experience has taught that this is a competition it’s hard to medal in, let alone win, without all your fastest O/40s out, and NSP had clearly set their stall out for this one, winning by over two minutes in 1:13:06 from Elvet Striders (1:15:09) and Sunderland Harriers (1:17:15), for whom Michael Barker on leg 1 ran the fastest O/40 time of the day, 11:43.
 
Special mentions then for Morpeth’s three O/60s (two of whom are actually O/65s) who were happy to drop down to make sure the 40s team was complete and who in no way disgraced themselves.
 
The first of those, O/65 Dave Nicholson, ran 15:07 on leg 1 to get the ball rolling, passing on to Richard Glennie who recorded 13:42.
 
The team’s fastest time was set by Dave Stabler, whose 12:19 was one of the ten fastest O/40 times of the day.
 
Gavin Bayne, like Nicholson an O/65, ran an impressive 14:05 on leg 4 with Jamie Johnson clocking 14:22 on leg 5.
 
O/60 Neil MacAnany brought the team home in 14:23 for an overall time of 1:23:58 and 7th place.
 
Well done all who turned out – always good to represent ourselves in numbers at this event, which is the North East’s premier Road Running Championship.
 
Next week action returns to the country, with the last in the NEHL fixtures at Alnwick. 

Full results

Four Morpeth Harriers travelled to Northern Ireland last week for the 31st running of the annual Armagh 5k on Thursday evening.
Organised by Armagh Athletic Club and attracting elite athletes from across the globe in search of the very fast times the course has traditionally offered, this time there were seven athletes under 14 minutes, with a remarkable 132 of the 469 finishers running under the 15 minute mark.
Won by Henry Mcluckie of Shaftesbury Barnet in a time of 13:37, Carl Avery was first home for the club in 49th place in a time of 14:15.
Carl was followed home by Phil Winkler, 74th in  14:27, Connor Marshall, 106th in 14:47 and Ali Douglas, 122nd in 14:55, with the team finishing in 7th place.
The Women’s 3k was won by Alexandra Bell of Pudsey and Bramley AC in 9:02. 

Whilst Road and Cross Country action has been very much at the forefront of the club’s attention in recent days, some of our Track and Field specialists have been perfecting their talents in the indoor arena, with some excellent results being produced, and it is hoped that some of those achievements will prove fruitful in the forthcoming Summer campaign.
Top of the tree in terms of current form in the Morpeth Harriers ranks, is undoubtedly Under 20 athlete Charlotte Earl.
On Sunday, Charlotte achieved a new personal best of 11.70m in the Triple Jump, in the combined England Athletics Under 20, Under 17 and Under 15 Indoor Championships in Sheffield.
Aside from the English Schools, this was her first taste of a national championships yet she did not let this faze her in the slightest. She showed a great level of maturity and composure with her first round attempt of 11.62m, which bettered her PB by 30cm, set at the Northern Indoors in January. Despite the elation from this early performance, Charlotte kept her focus throughout and was rewarded with another PB in the sixth round of 11.70m.
This performance gave a her a final position of 6th in a hotly contested competition. This was even more impressive given she was only ranked 11th on paper and just to make the cut would have been an achievement - but she far surpassed that.
It’s not always possible for that those that have provided the closest support to an athlete to all be present to witness such a great performance, so it was even more pleasing for Charlotte to have both her Mum, Dad and coach, Vina Desai, with her on the day.
From the very young to the Veteran age, and Morpeth Over 50 sprinter Trevor Hodgson achieved individual gold in the 60m sprint at the Scottish Masters Indoor Championships at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Sunday, posting a time of 7.57s, just a mere fraction outside his personal best.
Another Morpeth athlete involved in Indoor action on Sunday was Matthew Waterfield.
Waterfield, who is now studying back in Loughborough, and has reverted to the slightly longer distances, competed at the Manchester Indoor Meeting at Sport City over 600m for the first time, finishing second in his heat, producing a time of 1m21.33s, just outpacing Gateshead’s Matt Linsley, who finished third.
Two Morpeth Harriers were in action at the fourth Gateshead Indoor Meeting held at Gateshead College on Thursday 9 February.
Under 17 Man Ben Hope competed in both the 60m Hurdles and 60m Sprint events.
In the Hurdles, he produced a best of 9.33s, and in the sprint, a best of 7.83s, taking a whole second off his previous figures.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier and also Under 17 athlete Freya Caygill finished second in her heat of the 60m in 8.37s, the fifth fastest in her age group.

​The fifth round of the Start Fitness sponsored North East Harrier League took place at Thornley Farm just south of Peterlee on Saturday, with the club recording two team wins to add to the one Gold, two Silvers and two Bronze medals won by individual athletes.
 
With the sun shining down on a course that is normally the muddiest of the season, this time it was more of a question how short to go with the spikes or even to wear trail shoes over the very uneven, pitted ground.
 
Under 11s were again the curtain raisers and it was good to see the club’s youngest competitors turning out in numbers.
 
Lucy Raper was 10th in the Girls race, with Zoe Tomlinson not far behind in 14th. Erin Burns was 25th with Emily Hodgson 28th.
 
For the Boys, Jacob Thompson came home 10th with Eli Mcsparron 33rd.
 
Michael Leeson was delighted to pick up a Silver in the U/13 Boys event in front of proud father Andy, later to run himself, with the team of Leeson, Thomas Roche (8th) and Evan Laude (35th  from Fast) finishing 3rd behind teams from Heaton and Blaydon Harriers. A good turn out in a squad which has improved as the season has gone on also saw William Hawkins 44th from Slow and Daniel Vermaas 45th from Fast.
 
Emma Tomlinson narrowly missed out on a medal in the U/13 Girls, coming home in 4th from Fast with Faye Heatley 11th, also from Fast. Disappointingly, the team were, however, short of a final counter.
 
Finishing 4th in the U/15s, Dan Burrow was later upgraded to a Bronze following the disqualification of the North Shields Polytechnic Harrier in Silver who was found to have run from the wrong pack. Supported by Stephen Craske (5th) and Ben Moll (23r d from Fast) and Harry Armstrong (30th, again Fast), the team finished 2nd to Tyne Bridge Harriers and stay top of their division.
 
Molly Roche had a good run for 8th in the U/15 Girls with Megan Potrac 17th from Fast, although again, there was sadly no third team counter.
 
Will de Vere Owen was the winner of the club’s one individual Gold, coming home at the front of the field in the Under 17s race with colleague Bertie Marr picking up the Bronze. With Joe Close in 8th, the team were comfortable winners overall despite a number of absentees, and will surely, like the 15 Boys, go on to claim the team title.
 
The club’s final individual medal came in the penultimate race of the day, the Senior Women’s,  courtesy of another outstanding run from Jane Hodgson in what is proving to be a very fine season for her. Finishing 2nd to Tyne Bridge’s new recruit, Lucy Coates, running from Slow, Jane ran the day’s fastest time for the distance (25 minutes).
 
With Cat Macdonald second fastest in 6th place, Claire Calverley 28th  from Slow and Mhairi Line final team counter in 112t  from Medium, the team finished in 4th place on 73 points behind Tyne Bridge (37), Jesmond Joggers (46) and Tynedale (54).
 
There were 11 finisher for the club in total, with Linzi Quinn next in in 123rd and Jane Kirby 154th, both from Fast. Fran Robson was 249th, Margaret Macdonald 265th and Jill Bennett, choosing one of the toughest fixtures for a comeback run, 276th.
 
Just over 300 finished. Still several points ahead in the overall standings of on-the-day winners and nearest rivals Tyne Bridge Harriers, the club will be hoping for a big turn out in the final fixture at Alnwick Pastures in March to try and secure the title.
 
Just over 400 finished the Senior Men’s race, with Morpeth recording their 4th team win of the competition to improve further what was already a very healthy lead at the top.
 
Blyth’s Ellis Hetherington was overall winner in 34:15 with Gateshead Harrier Joe Wales 2nd in 34:40 and Durham’s Alex Aldridge 3rd (35:00), all from Slow.
 
Fastest run of the day was our old friend Jarlath Mckenna, guesting for Bristol and West and finishing 7th in 31:39. Birtley’s Chris Perkins was some 11 seconds behind him in 8th.
 
The Morpeth count was headed by James Tilley in 14th in  his first run from Medium Pack, with Rob Balmbra gaining promotion to Fast Pack in consecutive races by finishing in 20th from Medium. Already running from Fast, Matt Walton was 31st.
 
Thereafter, Andrew Lawrence was 4th  counter in 39th, Mark Banks 43rd from Medium with Richard Glennie making the final count for the club with a great run, 91st  from Slow. 
 
There were another eight finishers from the club, with Andriy Volkov just missing out from the team score in 144th. Anthony Liddle was 165th from Medium, Mark Snowball 198th from Fast, Lee Bennett 234th from Fast and Dave Nicholson 298th. Andy Leeson was 302nd, Steve Johnstone 312th and Paul Turnbull 383rd, all from Slow.
 
The final team count was 104 to Gateshead’s 114 and Tyne Bridge’s 127. A resurgent Durham City turned up in force and look set for promotion back to Division 1.
 
Well done to all who ran at what is perhaps the league’s most unpopular venue.
 
The final NEHL fixture is at what has traditionally been one of our favourite venues and a happy hunting ground close to home, Alnwick Pastures on 4 March. Put the date in your diaries now, and let’s get some complete teams and big numbers out to clinch another successful season.