​Finishing fifth in the Intermediate Boys Race at the SIAB Cross Country International in Sefton Park, Liverpool on Saturday, Oliver Calvert helped  secure victory for the England team for whom he was third counter.
 
Calvert finished the 6.2 kilometre course in a time of 18 minutes 28 seconds, some seventeen seconds behind race winner Sam Plummer, with fellow England team member Harry Maxwell in third.
 
Calvert’s fine run capped an excellent second half of a cross country season where, after a difficult spell following illness in the New Year, he came second in the Northern Cross Country Championships and eleventh in the National. 

In the build up to forthcoming marathons, three members of the club took part in build up races as far away as Cheshire and West London.
 
Carl Avery travelled to Wilmslow, where he placed third in a quality field at the Wilmslow Half Marathon, part of the town’s Running Festival.
 
Finishing in a time of 1 hour 5 minutes 54 seconds, Carl was only beaten by Kenyan Dennis Kipemboi Cheruiyot, 2nd in 1:03:15, and Liverpool Harrier Jonny Mellor, who won in a time of 1:02:06.
 
Meanwhile, in his preparations for the London Marathon,  Andy Lawrence went several miles further, finishing 11th in the Hillingdon 20 miler in a time of 1:54:18 behind race winner Alexander Leptretre of Highgate Harriers (1:42:26).
 
Lawrence was only two places ahead of club colleague Ade Whitwam, 13th in 1:57:09 and first over 40 year old.
 
The previous weekend saw Ali Douglas win the Alnwick Castle 10k organised by Wild Deer Events in a time of 35 minutes 3 seconds. David Stabler was 3rd in 38:24 and also first Over 40. Also finishing from the club was Cinty Wake, 126th in 1:11: 12.
 
Jane and Richard Kirby took in the Leighton Hall Trail half marathon on the same day, with a great run by Jane seeing her finish as 2nd female finisher in 2:07:57 and 1st in her age category.
 
Richard was 37th overall and 7th O/50 in 2:16:55.

And finally, on 18 March, Andrew Hebden completed his first ultra marathon, the Spring Canal Canter in Leeds, part of the Grim Up North series. He finished in first place, covering the 32-mile course in 3 hours 58 minutes.

Ahead of the start of the new Track & Field season, the club is hosting a Try it/Trials night on Monday 3 April at the KEVI track. This is both to help prospective participants and team managers. Registration opens at 6pm and events will start around 6.30pm.

Coaches and parents are being encouraged to get as many of our younger members along to this event which is expected to run until around 8pm. The programme will include sprints, throws, jumps and middle distance (800).

The club’s 11–17 year olds will again compete in the North East Youth Development League along with clubs from across the region.
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The season begins on Sunday 23 April with a fixture at Jarrow.

Cross-country competition for Masters-aged athletes, categorised as competitors over 35, came to the North East on Saturday with the British Masters Athletics Federation Championships being held at the Rising Sun Country Park in Wallsend.
 
A challenging  course over the old spoil heap, which was made up of continual up and down sections giving runners little respite, was added to by the going under foot being boggy in some parts but firm and gritty in others, with at least one athlete coming a cropper.
 
A strong showing from clubs across the North East included some nine runners from Morpeth Harriers, who picked up three Silver medals, two of these team and one individual.
 
Two of these medals came in the first of the day’s races, for Women and Men Over 65, held over two laps of the course, some 5.8 kilometres in all.
 
The race itself was won by a flying Juliet Potter of Charnwood AC in a time of 22:04, with her sister Jane, also an Over 40, 2nd in 23:42. The remarkable Alastair Walker of Teviotdale Harriers made his long journey South worthwhile with an O/65 Gold and a 2nd place finish (23:08).
 
Morpeth’s first finisher was Gavin Bayne, 29th overall and 5th O/65 in 26:20. With David Nicholson 39th, and 4th O/75 Paul Bentley 102nd , the team picked up a well-deserved team O/65 Silver behind age group winners Warrington AC.
 
NSP picked up first Over 35s, with Vicky Gibbs first finisher, with Tyne Bridge first O/45s and 65s, and Elvet first O/55s.
 
Meanwhile Morpeth’s oldest competitor, the remarkable 86-year-old Walter Ryder, a club stalwart for several decades now, made his own journey from Wester Ross in Scotland worthwhile with a 2nd place finish in the O/85s.
 
Extraordinary as it may seem, Walter was in fact beaten into 2nd place by the day’s oldest runner, Ian Barnes of Darlington Harriers and AC, who finished two places ahead in a time of 47:36.
 
The day’s second race was for men between 35 and 65, with this time some three laps of 8.4kms in total to negotiate, and was won by Bristol and West AC’s Jarlath Mckenna, who has of course had a fine off-road season this Winter and never seems to tire of competing. He won with a winning time of 29:12, with Middlesbrough’s Greg Jayasuriya 1st O/35 and 2nd in 30:01 and Sunderland’s Stephen Jackson 3rd in 30:31.
 
Andrew Lawrence, currently in the full swing of demanding London Marathon training, was first back for the club in 17th place and 8th O/35.
 
There was, however, an unexpected but  very welcome team Silver for the club’s O/45s, with Lee Bennett 48th and 5th O/50, and O/40s Richard Glennie,  65th,  and Jason Dawson, 78th.
 
Paul Brown was the club’s only representative in the O/55s, gritting his teeth to come back in 122nd place in 45:32.
 
Gateshead Harriers, headed by Conrad Franks, were 1st team in the O/35s, with Leeds City AC travelling north to take the 45s and Cambuslang Harriers the 55s.
 
Well done to Heaton Harriers, and especially the tireless George Routledge, who did so much of the organisation, and to all local volunteers and supporters.
 
Clearly, one of the lessons is that there are medals to be won by clubs who get full teams out as was very clearly shown here, and we in the North East will have another chance when the BMAF 10 mile championships come North at the end of August to use the Tynedale 10. Make a note in your diary – also excellent run-out if you’re doing the GNR later.

Full results are available here.

KEVI student and Morpeth Harrier Oliver Calvert was Northumberland’s best individual performer at Saturday’s English Schools Cross Country Championships, held at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park.

Calvert, who also just finished outside the medals at the previous week's Inter Counties, which were held a few miles further north in Loughborough, produced an excellent run to finish seventh in the Intermediate Boys event, and was only a mere six seconds adrift of a podium place.

Race winner was Essex’s Sam Plummer, with Surrey pair Alex Lennon and Jacob Pearce claiming the minor podium places, with only 19 seconds dividing them.

Northumberland themselves, led by an in-form Calvert, finished in ninth team place, with fellow Morpeth Harriers Joseph Close, Elliot Kelso, and Ollie Tomlinson coming home as second, third, and fourth counters amongst the scoring six, finishing in 25th, 52nd, and 113th in a total finishing field of 327 competitors.

Team Honours in the Intermediate Boys event went to Surrey, with Kent and Essex claiming second and third team places.

Northumberland’s best on-the-day team performance undoubtedly belonged to the Senior Boys, who were led home by Gateshead Harrier Josh Blevins in thirteenth place.

Blevins was well supported in the team challenge by no fewer than five Morpeth Harriers.
Will Devere-Owen produced a strong individual run when finishing in 21st place.

Eight places behind him was James Tilley, while Liam Roche, Matthew Walton, and Joe Dixon finished in 66th, 100th, and 136th places, to close Northumberland’s scoring count.

Another Morpeth Harrier competing in the Senior Boys event was Ethan Phillips, who was outside the scorers in 167th place.

Merseyside took the team honours, with Kent and Surrey claiming the minor podium places in the total field of 314 finishers.

In her first outing in the English Schools Cross Country Championships, Emma Tomlinson, younger sister of Intermediate Boy Ollie, finished in 272nd place in the Junior Girls, emerging as the sixth and closing counter for a Northumberland squad, who finished as 34th team behind winners Surrey, with Sussex and London taking the second and third podium spots.

A total of 338 finished the Junior Girls event.

There were no other Morpeth Harriers in action in the remaining three events. The county’s Junior Boys finished 33rd, the Intermediate Girls finished 28th, and the Senior Girls finished an excellent ninth.