A memorable Saturday of running that combined literal and metaphorical ups and downs with a whole gamut of emotions saw Kevin Bray, Bob Sewell and friend Jon Punshon complete their 48-mile, 30-summit Joss Naylor Challenge in the Lake District recently, in the process raising nearly £5,000 for Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide in memory of their close friend Shaun Scott.
 
Starting just after midnight, the three made it back in a super time of 21 hours 38 minutes, with all three very grateful for the tremendous support given them across the course of the day not just by members of Morpeth Harriers but of other clubs. The pictures below give some idea of the nature of the day.
 
Having originally hoped to raise just £1,000, their current total stands at well over £4,750 – and it would be great to see them reach the magic £5,000. Visit their JustGiving page if you would like to make a contribution.

​Clive Cookson 10k
 
There were over 400 finishers at the popular Clive Cookson 10k over at Whitley Bay last Wednesday evening, but with only three Morpeth Harriers this time amongst them.
 
Ben Clarke was 95th in a time of 40 minutes 36 seconds and Stephen Cessford not far behind in 99th (40:47).
 
Linzi Quinn was 137th overall and 8th Senior Female in 42:31.
 
The race itself was won in 33:12 by host club North Shields Polytechnic Harrier O/40 James Anderson in 33:12 with Elswick’s Luke Hilliard 2nd in 33:33 and Wallsend’s Thomas Surshan 3rd (33:43).
 
The women’s race was won by fellow NSP athlete Charlotte Penfold in another speedy time of 34:45 which saw her finish 12th overall,  with fellow NSP runner Steph MacLean-Dann 2nd (37:59) and Tynedale’s Diane Foster 3rd (38:13).
 
Great Manchester 10k 

Rob and Sam Hancox travelled across to Manchester at the weekend for the very popular Great Manchester 10k, which was won by Eritrean born Italian Eyob Faniel in 28:27 with Marc Scott 2nd in 28:31 and Stewart McSwiyn 3rd (28:36), with Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Peres Jebchirchir  1st and 2nd female athletes (31:14 and 31: 59) with Hallamshire’s Calli Thackery 3rd.
 
For Morpeth, Sam was 32nd overall in 31:45 and Rob 198th in 39:04. 

Just 28 points divided the top five teams in the first Northern Athletics North East Premier match of 2023 held at Morpeth’s KEVI Athletics Track on Saturday.
For their part, Morpeth Harriers, the day's hosts, finished an equal third with Darlington Harriers, behind winners Gateshead Harriers, who managed to defend a late challenge from New Marske Harriers.
The combined team of Chester Le Street/Durham were a close fifth, but well ahead of North Shields Poly, who earned an early wooden spoon.
A lot of strength in the Morpeth performance came from the Men’s events, where they had no less than three double victories in Track events.
Connor Marshall won the 800m A Race, and Under 20 athlete Bertie Marr took the B race.
Respective times were 2m02.5s, and 2m04.4s, both just outside their personal bests.
Moving up to the 1500m, Alex Brown took the A race in 3m59.8s, and Mark Banks won the B Race in 4m19.8s.
Later Brown also took the A Race of the 5000m in 15m45.0s, whilst Alistair Douglass took the B Race in 16m25.5s, in what was his first ever time in the distance on the track.
Banks claimed his second win on the day, when he cleared 1.65m to win the High Jump, and he also finished third in the B race of the 200m in 26.5s, partnering the returning Sean O’Hara, who finished fourth in the A race in 23.9s.
O’Hara, who had not competed individually since 2019, did well to finish third in the 100m A race in 11.9s, being partnered in the B race by Over 50 Veteran, who superbly clocked a season’s best of 12.3s, when finishing second in the B race.
Team Manager Mark Snowball added his support to the Morpeth team, when finishing second in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase in 11m49.6s, and fourth in the 400m Hurdles in 77.0s.
Snowball also finished fourth in the B string Long Jump with 3.91m, partnering Hans Paulsen’s A String effort of 4.44m, which saw him finish fifth.
Paulsen also finished fifth in the A string Triple Jump with 9.06m, and also fifth in the Javelin A string with a personal best of 23.31m.
Over 50 Veteran Jason Dawson secured more points for Morpeth when finishing second in the Javelin B string with 22.33m.
Unfortunately, Morpeth were missing their specialist thrower Hayden Richards, who was absent for personal reasons.
In the Men’s 4x100m Relay, Morpeth finished third, courtesy of Sean O’Hara, Trevor Hodgson, Hans Paulsen, and Anthony Liddle, posting a time of 47.8s.
Mark Banks, Liam Roche, Alistair Douglass, and Connor Marshall combined to bring the Morpeth Men’s 4 x 400m squad home in second place in 3m45.6s.
The Women’s track events saw Nisha Desai emerge as the only Morpeth winner, posting a time of 63.6s in the 400m Hurdles.
However, there was good support in the Women’s sprints, where Under 20 athlete Mia Belton finished second in both the 100m and 200m A strings, posting respective times of 13.4s and 27.6s.
B String support in both of these events came from Ellie Wickens, who clocked 14.3s and 29.2s respectively.
Caitlin Flanagan finished second in the A Race of the 800m in 2m32.4s, and Tayla Douglass was second in the B Race in 2m55.8s.
Morag Stead and Tayla also combined in the Women’s 1500m, where Stead finished third in the A string in 5m11.4s, and Douglass finished third in the B string in 6m06.1s.
On to the Women’s Field Events, where Charlotte Earle and Olivia Gent produced superb results for Morpeth in both the Long and Triple Jumps.
Earl won both the Long Jump (5.10m), and Triple Jump (11.27m) A Strings, and Gent was second in the B string of the Long Jump with 3.98m and won the B string Triple Jump with 9.12m.
Claire Reid did her usual share of the work in the throw’s events, finishing second in the A String Shot Putt (9.39m), third in the A string Discus (27.97m), and fourth in the A string Hammer (23.64m).
Olivia Gent finished third in the B string Shot Putt (5.49m), Vina Desai was second in the B string Discus (12.74m), and also third in the B string Hammer (15.00m).
In the Women’s Javelin, Nisha Desai threw 19.83m to finish fourth in the A string, with Olivia Gent finishing second in the B string with 15.55m.
Morpeth Women’s 4 x 100m Relay squad finished second, courtesy of Nisha Desai, Ellie Wickens, Olivia Gent, and Charlotte Earl in a time of 54.1s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st Gateshead Harriers 297.5pts, 2nd New Marske 283pts, 3rd = Morpeth Harriers 275pts,
3rd = Darlington Harriers 275pts, 5th Chester Le Street/ Durham City 269.5pts, 6th North Shields Poly 168pts.
 

Twenty-two athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC were amongst the many who competed at the annual North East Counties Association Track and Field Championships held at Middlesbrough Sports Village on Saturday, and Sunday 13 and 14 May.
There were some truly excellent performances from the club's contingent, and a total haul of 15 Championship medals were achieved amongst them.
Top of the Morpeth performers was undoubtedly Joseph Close, who won two Gold Medals.
The Under 17 Man probably travels more miles than most, living in Berwick, he made two trips to the Teesside venue, to take firstly, the 1500m title on day one, where he produced a winning time of 4m11.92s, five seconds adrift of his personal best.
​He was pushed most of the way by his Morpeth club colleague Elliot Kelso, who was rewarded with a Silver medal from his finishing time of 4m12.63s, which was also around five seconds adrift of his best.
Another Morpeth athlete in action in the 1500m was Oliver Tomlinson, who finished sixth, posting a time of 4m29.22s, which was again around five seconds adrift of his personal best for the distance.
Close returned to the venue on day two to take the 800m title, where he posted a winning time of 2m00.67s.
Again, Morpeth had a second athlete on the podium, and that was third placed Elliot Mavir, who can feel well pleased with his new lifetime personal best for the distance of 2m06.48s, taking almost three seconds off his previous figures.
Another Morpeth Track Gold Medallist on day one was Veteran athlete Morag Stead, who despite finishing third in the combined Under 20/Senior Women’s 5000m Final, it was two Under 20’s Katie Francis of Birtley, and Elswick Harrier Imogen Bungay who finished ahead of her.
Stead’s finishing time was 18m33.71s, in what was her first outing over the twelve and a half laps for seven years.
A third Gold Medallist on day one from Morpeth was Edward Gardiner, who won the Under 20 Men’s Discus with a best throw of 37.31m, which was marginally a new personal best.
Another two medals were achieved on day one by Morpeth athletes, and they were Peter Smallcombe, who won a Bronze in the Senior Men’s 1500m, posting a new personal best of 4m00.53s, however, he also returned on the second day to take the 800m title, plus the Gold Medal, producing also a brand new personal best of 2m00.52s, taking almost eight seconds off his previous figures.
Connor Marshall of Morpeth finished fifth in the Senior Men’s 1500m, two places behind Smallcombe, in a time of 4m05.12s.
Molly Roche won a Bronze Medal in the Under 15 Girls 3000m Final, her first outing over the seven and a half laps, and she produced a time of 12m23.10s for her efforts.
After missing out on a medal chance in the Under 17 Women’s 80m Hurdles, where after she won her heat in 12.92s, Morpeth’s Victoria Hodgson returned on the second day, to take Silver in the 300m Hurdles in 46.63s.
Despite improving her time in the 80m Hurdles Final to 12.80s, it was only good for fifth place.
A second Medal for the Hodgson family was achieved on the second day, when younger sister Alexandria took the Under 15 Girl’s Hammer title, with an on the day best throw of 39.79m.
On day two, Under 15 Girl Emma Tomlinson, younger sister of Ollie, won a Bronze medal, posting a time of 5m16.40s.
Her Morpeth club colleague Charlotte Marshall, younger sister of Connor, also finished twelfth in the event, posting a time of 6m18.38s.
It was certainly a super Sunday for Morpeth athletes, as Charlotte Earl won the Under 20 Women’s Triple Jump title, with a best of 11.49m, after winner her heat of the Under 17 Women’s 300m in a new personal best of 43.32s, Amelia Hamlin improved to 42.74s in her later run Final, where she took the Silver Medal, and in his first ever championship, Ethan Phillips won a Bronze medal in the Under 20 Men’s 800m, posting a time of 2m00.36s.
There were also a number of good performances from Morpeth Harriers who were slightly adrift of the medals.
Liam Roche ran a season’s best of 4m01.30s, when finishing fifth in the final of the Under 20 Men’s 1500m, and his Morpeth club colleague Bertie Marr was one place behind him, posting a personal best time of 4m01.95.
Joe Dixon, who is still trying to edge his way back to full fitness, finished tenth in the event, in a time 4m14.46s.
Caitlin Flanagan finished sixth in the Under 20 Women’s 1500m, posting a time of 4m57.49s.
On day one, Under 17 sprinter Conner Phillips went out in the heats of the 100m finishing seventh in his event in 12.54s, and on day two, he also went out in the heats of the 200m, despite posting a personal best of 24.75s.
Morpeth’s youngest competitor, Zoe Tomlinson, sibling of Emma and Ollie, enjoyed her first championship experience in the Under 13 Girls 1500m, finishing ninth in 5m55.94s.

Sunderland City Runs 

Ross Floyd made a return to competitive action for Morpeth in Sunday’s Sunderland City Runs, recording an excellent 33 minutes 34 seconds in the 10k race for 5th place behind home town winner Liam Taylor of Sunderland Harriers (32:17), with the women’s race won by NSP’s Charlotte Penfold in 34:59.
 
On the same day, Andy Leeson ran in the Half Marathon, recording 1:35:58 in 119th place. The race itself was won by an athlete who must have travelled a long way, Lewis Macalpine of Stornoway Running and AC in 1:10:34, with local lass Aly Dixon of Sunderland Strollers first female back in 1:19:03.
 
Prague Marathon
 
Meanwhile, further afield Carl Avery, who has had a remarkable six months of top class competition both over the cross country and on the roads, had another outstanding run to finish the Prague Marathon in a time of 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds. Carl was 18th overall in a race won by Kenyan Mutiso Alexander in 2:05:09 with Ethiopian Edessa Workewesh clocking 2:20:42 as first female home.
 
Les Allcorn 10k 

Tuesday evening saw the running of the Les Allcorn 10k, held once again in the scenic grounds of Hulne Park just outside Alnwick, with a fantastic one-two-three for Morpeth.
 
Thomas Prentice was 1st home in 34:19 with Rob Balmbra just under a minute behind in 2nd (35:17) and John Butters 3rd and first veteran (36:25).
 
The first female finisher was O/40 Felicity Smith from Elswick in 42:48 with Saltwell’s Joanna McNeill 2nd (44:10) with Lindsey Quinn, in her first outing since London, picking up 3rd in 44:41.
 
Other Morpeth finishers included: Lee Cuthbertson, 7th in 37:54; Mike Winter, 20th and second O/50 in 42:53; Robyn Bennett, 32nd and 8th female in 45:47; Jane Briggs, 45th and 2nd O/50 in 49:31 and Rich Kirby, 46th in 49:42. Some 91 finished, with the club picking up both Men’s and Women’s team prizes.
 
In the earlier held Junior races, dominated by athletes from home club Alnwick Harriers, U/13 Jack Dhawar was 18th overall in 13:41.
 
British Athletics Inter Counties Marathon Running Championships 

Cat Macdonald represented the North East Counties at the above championships held in the Howgills at the weekend, with two laps of a very tough 14 k up and down course which took in some 760 metres of ascent and descent over the summits of Winder and Arant Haw near Sedbergh.
​
Coming home in 1 hour 12 minutes and 28 seonds, Cat finished as 1st counter for the NE and 13th female finisher, with the team 5th overall behind local winning outfit Yorkshire.