COLEDALE HORSESHOE FELL RACE, BRAITHWAITE, KESWICK. Saturday 8th April 2017 Four Morpeth Harriers toed the start line for this Catergory A race over 8.5 miles with 3002' of ascent. It was to be a baptism of fire for Gwenda, Les and Paul Waterston who were 'competing' in their first proper lake district race. For Gwenda things didn't start too well when she opened her bag to find that she had left her shoes back home in Bothal ! It was a surprising 2 minutes before poor Les got the blame for not packing them.........!!! Anyway it was the perfect excuse to visit Pete Bland's shiny red van and splash out sixty quid on some new lovely bright yellow Walsh'es ! She looked very smart but the effect was ruined when she went onto her 'derriere' in the only muddy patch of the whole race about 100 away from the finish line - it was quite a spectacular skid and slide rather than an out and out splat in the mud ! As for the rest of us - well we got round unscathed on a route that took in a huge climb up Grizedale Pike followed by a rocky scramble up the face of Eel Crag and some fast technical descents and a climb up to the top of Barrow. I came in 223rd just scraping inside 2 hours in 1.59.15, followed closely by Les Cavill in 230th in 2.00.14. Paul was next, (with very sore feet!) in 237th in 2.01.39 and Gwenda in 23rd in 2.12.33 - well done to the three of them !! We refuelled and rehydrated on tea, sandwiches and an ample supply of cake all included in the £10.00 entry fee and then had a post race debrief in the garden of the Coledale Inn with our mates from NFR. A really good day out ! The race was won by Chris Steele of Borrowdale Fell Runners in 1.11.35
and first lady in a new course record was Victoria Wilkinson of Bingley Harriers in 1.17.38 a really amazing performance. She finished in 8th position overall ! Well done to Ellenborough Running Club for hosting a superb event ! Kevin Bray News has reached the club on the passing of long serving
Morpeth Harriers & AC member Les Thain. Sadly Les passed away in the Palliative Care Unit at Wansbeck General Hospital on Monday 10th April 2017, aged 70, following a long hard battle with illness. Les will be most affectionally remembered as a “real character,” who for many years took particular responsibility for encouraging new beginners to the club, especially during the running boom of the 80’s. He also took personal responsibility for carrying out some of the tasks that were required in keeping the clubhouse in order, and until illness took over in early 2016, could be regularly seen in the clubhouse on Monday evenings. One of Les’s initiatives was to establish the clubs original Veteran’s Grand Prix competition, and he was appointed official scorer, making regular use of the clubhouse blackboard, although it has to be said, his personal artistry sometimes left a little to be desired. Les, was also involved in making sure that on course arrangements were in place for the clubs two road races, amongst other events, and very often despite adverse conditions, could be found knocking in posts, and erecting Start and Finish areas, nearly always with a fag in his mouth for added warmth. His own running career was relatively modest, although now and again he would figure prominently in age group results that were posted. He will be very fondly remembered by lots of Club Members, and in line with that, Morpeth Harriers & AC send Many Condolences to his close family. Les Thain Funeral Arrangements The funeral will take place at St. Bartholemews, Newbiggin by the Sea, NE64 6DP on Thursday 20th April. Meet from 10.00 for a 10.30am Humanist service that will take place in the churchyard before burial. He swims superbly, He cycles very proficiently, He runs like a true champion, and his name is Daniel Dixon, who is also Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys North Eastern Cross Country Champion. These attributes have now made Dixon No1 Youth Triathlete in England and Wales, following a very competitive Workshop/Championship run by Triathlon England, and held over two days in Loughborough, Leicestershire on Saturday, and Sunday 1st and 2nd April 2017. There was certainly no fooling about by Dixon as he exited the water in 4m22s, and holding second place to Rochdale’s Marcus Dey, who is already a leading light in British Triathlon. With only a fourteen second margin between Dixon and Dey going into the cycle phase on Day 2, it was up to Dixon to seize an initiative, and this he did with much aplomb, as he managed to outwit Dey, who seemed as though he wanted to ride out of all the effort being made by Dixon being slightly in front of him. When it came to the final phase, the 2.5k run, Daniel was more the master, and stole away from his rival, to post a total time over the three phases of 24m17s. Dey had meanwhile also been passed by Connor Bentley of Wrekin in Shropshire, who had a total time of 24m27s, with Dey taking third place overall in 24m32s. Another Morpeth Harrier taking part in the competition was Under 17 athlete Alex Cunningham, who finished further down the total field of 70 finishing competitors. Alex finished 54th, with a total time of 29m05s. For Dixon, it was indeed a fine achievement, being No 1 in England and Wales, and being up against lads who are nearly two years older than himself. It all bodes well for him as he goes into a quite frenetic Summer schedule of Triathlon competition at high level. At the annual English National Men’s 12 Stage and Women’s 6 Stage Road Relays, held at a sunny and very picturesque Sutton Park, in Sutton Coldfield, on Saturday 8th April 2017, Morpeth Harriers despite two weakened teams, still managed to finish in an excellent thirteenth place in the Women’s 6 Stage, and took thirty first place in the Men’s 12 Stage event. The Women’s 6 Stage, which involved two long legs covering just under 9k in distance, and four short legs covering 5.14k, saw Catriona Macdonald, having her first ever outing in a National 6 Stage contest on the long opening leg. With extremely talented athletes around her, she was not phased as she came home 25th out of 56 starting teams, posting a time of 33m38s, which at the time was just under 2 minutes adrift of the early medal protagonists, Swansea, Leeds City, and Southern Champions Winchester. Second leg saw Olympian Laura Weightman enter the fray for Morpeth, and she was really the catalyst for what was to become an excellent Morpeth performance, as she climbed a mammoth fourteen places to eleventh, posting what was to become the second fastest overall short leg time of 16m44s, which was slightly headed by Bristol’s Kate Maltby’s 16m38s, on the same leg, which put them into second place, between new leaders Leeds City, and third placed Winchester. Whilst a keen battle ensued over the remaining four legs for the minor placings between Bristol, Swansea, Winchester, and briefly Cambridge & Coleridge, Leeds City remained in front throughout, to eventually take the champions title by an excellent margin of nearly four minutes, as they posted a total time of 2hrs12mins44secs. Second went to Swansea (2hrs16min21secs), and third place went to Winchester (2hrs16mins35secs). Meanwhile Morpeth, courtesy of Josie Cram (19m52s), Lorna MacDonald (Long) (35m38s), Sarah Graham (20m45s), and debutant Mhairi MacLennan (18m22s), continued to maintain an excellent performance throughout, to eventually reach their final placing, which to their ultimate credit, also saw them finish as third from the North, behind winners Leeds, and sixth placed Rotherham Harriers, who had gone into the contest as Northern Champions. Considering they were missing the services of Emma Holt, who has still not recovered from her unfortunate injury sustained when warming up at last month’s Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, and Jane Hodgson and Gemma Floyd who were both unable to travel, this performance was quite remarkable, and a touch more than expected, so the outcome was most pleasing for the club. Unfortunately, injuries played a big part in Morpeth’s Senior Men fielding a much-weakened squad for their 12 Stage Championship, with Peter Newton, Ian Hudspith, and Nick Swinburn all missing notables, the latter with a recently diagnosed stress fracture. However, they did have one of their leading lights in competitive action, in the form of Jonny Taylor, whose 26m17s over the Long first leg, had the squad in the excellent position of fourth, and only ten to fifteen seconds adrift of early leaders Cardiff, with Bedford and Leeds City just ahead in second and third places respectively. Taylor’s time was just outside the top ten Long Stage times overall. Chris Smith lost very little ground on the Short second leg, posting a time of 16m06s. On third leg, which was a long leg, James Taylor got around in 29m24s, however pressure was certainly mounting around him from strong opposition as he finished 19th. Thomas Straughan on the short fourth leg, pulled a couple of places back, as he ran his clubs fastest short leg time of the day in 15m59s. The next three legs run by Andrew Lawrence (29m07s), Jake Masterman (17m34s), and Ian Harding (28m25s), who had just completed a night shift in the Care Home that he works at, saw the squad settled in 21st place throughout. Sam Hancox, who has only just recovered from injury, battled round the short eighth leg in 18m10s, to finish 23rd. Jordan Scott (29m41s), Rob Hancox (18m35s), and Karl Taylor (29m30s), saw the squad through to the final leg in holding 26th place. Due to another late withdrawal, Team Manager David Swinburne was very much forced into action himself on the final twelfth stage, to ensure that Morpeth finished as a team following all the earlier efforts, as he completed the short leg in 20m47, to finish 31st. This gave them a finishing position as ninth overall from the North of England, and second from the region behind Tyne Bridge, who finished 25th. Morpeth’s total finishing time of 4hrs 39mins35secs over the twelve legs was around twenty minutes adrift of a medal winning spot, however to the credit of those who rallied to Team Manager Swinburne’s call, they performed with a great deal of credit to the cause. The annual Blyth 10k, sponsored once again by Transped,
and organised by local neighbours, Blyth Running Club, was held on Sunday 9th April 2017. The race was won by Ross Floyd, with a finishing time of 31m55s, he also took the North-Eastern Counties Gold Medal, in the Championship, which was incorporated into the event, and it also marked Floyd’s first ever Senior Individual title. After being hotly pursued by his Morpeth Harriers club colleague Thomas Straughan throughout most of the out and back route from Blyth Harbour to Seaton Sluice, he eventually stole away in the hot and sunny spring weather, to record a seven second margin victory, and Straughan took a thoroughly deserved Silver medal, ahead of Shettlestone’s Daniel Bradford, who was a further ten seconds adrift. Straughan had competed well for his club in Sutton Park less than 24 hours earlier, so this medal was thoroughly deserved. Another Morpeth finisher who had also competed for his club in Sutton Park was Karl Taylor, who finished seventh in 33m26s. Next home for Morpeth Harriers was James Young, who placed 17th in 34m20s, just one place and eighteen seconds ahead of club colleague Jake Masterman, who had also run in Sutton Park the previous day. Morpeth Harriers took the Men’s Team title, courtesy of Floyd, Straughan, and Young, with Taylor ruling himself ineligible to count, for not wearing his club vest. Other Morpeth Harriers finishers were Matthew Boyle (38th) 36m51s, Thomas Innes (41st) 36m55s, Rob Hancox (42nd) (3rd O/50 Man) 37m02s, who had also run in Sutton Park the previous day, Dave Richardson (47th) 37m21s, Richard Castledine (71st) 38m25s, Gemma Floyd (96th) (3rd O/35 Woman) 39m36s, Alex Zeller (173rd) 42m59s, Paul Bellingham (174th) (5th O/55 Man) 42m56s, James McFetrich (201st) (26th O/40 Man) 44m01s, Vicky Gibbs (218th) (9th O/35 Woman) 44m52s, Norman Clark (274th) (4th O/65 Man) 47m21s, Jilly Bell (319th) (12th O/45 Woman) 50m37s, Sue Smith (357th) (9th O/50 Woman) 53m41s, and Dave Gray (424th) (10th O/65 Man) 57m39s. The event had a total of 545 finishers. |
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