There were nearly 650 finishers on Sunday morning at the second running of the new Morpeth 10k, organised once again by national event organiser RunThrough.
 
Although offering the same spectacular town centre start and finish as last year, this year’s race was made all the more challenging as a result of organisers RT being denied use of last year’s popular out and back two lap circuit to Mitford due to continued roadworks at the High House Lane junction, and so having to find an alternative route.
 
So this year’s run was certainly not one for the faint-hearted, incorporating a number of strength-sapping short but steep climbs, the route taking runners immediately uphill via Newgate Street all the way as far as the turn for Fulbeck, then taking a sharp dip up and down to cross the Cotting Burn before climbing over the new bridge crossing the Morpeth bypass before proceeding all the way out to the pretty village of Hebron, then returning via the same route.
 
Given the challenging course and conditions that were both breezy and muggy, race winner Lee Davies of North East Project ran a remarkable 31 minutes and 41 seconds, nearly a full two minutes ahead of Sunderland Harrier Jake Ridding (33:30) and third placed Rudy McLeod (35:39).
 
Equally impressive was the time of Steffi Luke Edwards of Leeds City AC, 1st female finisher in 38:18. Amy Callaghan of Sunderland Harriers was 2nd in 40:36 with Over 55 Sunderland Stroller Wendy Chapman running an impressive 41:01 for 3rd.
 
As well as providing marshals for  the event, there were ten Morpeth Harriers vests out on the course, with Andrew Lawrence 4th in 35:8, team mate Lee Cuthbertson 9th in 36:08 and Tom Innes just outside the top ten in 11th (36:33). Tayla Douglas was 7th female finisher in 42:27.
 
Kirsty Burville was first female O/45 back in 41:53, with Mike Winter running the fastest O/55 time of 43:51 and Richard Sill fastest O/70 of 50:03. Jill Bennett was 2nd female O/50 in 54:03 and Richard Glennie 3rd male O/50 in 43:14. Jimmy Dixon was 26th in 38:41.
 
A big thanks from the club to all the marshals, young and old, current and ex members and their families who turned out to help. The club (and the organisers) are extremely grateful.
 
Hopefully the event will be back on 2024’s easier course – assuming the roadworks on the Mitford Road ever get completed.
 
Blaydon Race 2025
 
The previous Monday night’s Blaydon Race, held as ever on the 9th of June, saw Morpeth’s Carl Avery finish once again in 2nd place behind four consecutive times winner Calum Johnson of Gateshead, who ran the evening’s fastest time for the 5.9 mile course of 28 minutes 6 seconds, Avery finishing in 28:31 with club colleague Finn Brodie 3rd only a second back.
 
There was also a top ten finish for Morpeth Harrier and St. Andrew’s University student James Tilley, who finished 6th with an excellent clocking of 29:40.
 
With Connor Marshall placing 17th in 30:24, the club were once again winners of the team prize.
 
Ex Wallsend Harrier Sonia Samuels, now an Over 45 veteran and running for Sale Harriers, was 1st female finisher in 32:07 with Houghton’s talented Under 20 Charlotte Dillon 2nd in 32:31 and Hallamshire Harrier Lucy Cardno 3rd in 33:17.
 
Taking a break from the hills, Catriona Macdonald was 6th female finisher in 35:02.
 
In all, some thirty-two blue and white vests crossed the finish line before the rain set in at Blaydon to dampen spirits, with what seemed then a very long wait for buses (which then went on a Cook’s tour of South Tyneside, before depositing wet through runners outside the Baltic). A link to the full results is here: The Blaydon Race
 
Scottish Hill Running Championships and Inter Counties Mountain Running Championships
 
Over the previous two weeks Cat had previously been running very well over her preferred terrain in the fells.
 
Competing in the Yetholm Hill Race on 1st of June around a circuit of hills just over the border in the Halterburn Valley, she was 1st woman back in 1 hour 15 minutes and 18 seconds to be crowned Scottish Hill Running Champion.
 
Two weeks later she represented the North East Counties in the Inter Counties Mountain Running Championships at Pen-y-Ghent, finishing in 5th place overall and first from the North East.
 
Morpeth’s Lawrence McCourt was 7th in the Men’s race with Matthew Briggs 66th, both members of a five man NE Counties team.
 
Fair Day Fun Run
 
The biggest turn out for many a year got the Morpeth Fair Day off to a grand start, with nearly 150 finishers.
 
Won by NSP’s Ethan Hughes in a time of 5 minutes 6 seconds, there were then four current Morpeth Harriers filling the next few places, with Luke Thompson 2nd in 5m 37s, Joseph Fawcett 3rd in 5m 38s, Mason Ellison 4th in 5m 56s and Will Fawcett 5th in 5m 59s.
 
Fayola Gesinde was 1st female finisher, 15th in 6m 49s, with Ellie Fea 2nd and 18th in 6m 56s and Amelia Turnbull 3rd and 19th in 7m.
 
Niamh Balmbra was 4th female, also in 7m and younger sister Maia 48th in 8m 38s, with Joe Dhawar 21st in 7m 2s and Tristan Quinn 43rd in 8m 23s.
 
It’s always good to see how well this little run goes, and especially pleasing to see Morpeth Harriers, and the family of Morpeth Harriers, represented. Thanks to Paul Waterston who’s once again done a sterling job of organising the event on behalf of the club, and to the entry and results team, who coped with the pressure of large numbers commendably calmly.

Posting a new personal best time of 1m52.62s, Alistair Douglass finished fifth in the sixth fastest of ten 800m races at the BMC Birmingham University Grand Prix on Saturday 7 June.
At the second day of competition at the Northern Athletics combined Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 Track and Field Championships held at Wavertree Stadium in Liverpool on Sunday 8th June, Morpeth’s Under 15 Girl sprinter Sophie Pledger won her way through to a very tough 300m Final by finishing second in her heat in a time of 43.04s.
In the final, she just missed out on a medal, when she finished fourth in 42.75s, which was just slightly adrift of her personal best time.

The club faces the prospect of relegation from Division One of the North East Senior Development League after a shortage of athletes again left the team managers short of options in the second round of fixtures at Shildon.
Having finished bottom of six clubs in their opening fixture at Whitley Bay, George Patterson and Poppy Buck were determined to achieve a better result this time around.
But two late withdrawals among the men on the eve of the match and a no-show by one of the selected female athletes was compounded by the absence due to injury of experienced thrower Claire Reid.
What did help however, was North Shields Poly fielding a much weaker squad, which eventually led to them occupying the sixth placing on the day, with Morpeth eventually finishing fifth.
The cumulative finish, however, still sees Morpeth in sixth place, with relegation looming, unless fortunes can be turned round over the final two fixtures in June and July.
At Shildon, the club had a total of 16 athletes - 11 men and five women - in action, hardly enough to mount a meaningful challenge.
However, it must be said, that those who had chosen to take part, did their level best to achieve some relatively positive results.
A great deal of praise goes to Under 20 sprinter Ellie Wickens, who competed in five events, (her maximum allowed).
She finished fourth in the A races of both the 100m and 200m, posting respective clocking’s of 13.4s, and 28.6s.
Unfortunately, having no B race competitors to accompany her cost the club dearly.
Wickens also gave much-needed support in the Women’s Field events, finishing fourth in the A String Javelin (13.6m), sixth in the A String Discus (17.0m), and second in the B String Triple Jump (9.3m).
Olivia Gent finished third in both the A String Long Jump (4.71m), Triple Jump (9.82m), and fifth in the Shot Putt with a best of 5.59m.
Vina Desai, also competed in no less than four Field events for Morpeth during a hard day, where she also officiated on behalf of her club.
Her best result came in the B String Javelin, where she was third with 7.53m.
She also finished fifth in the B String Shot Putt with a best of 4.36m, fifth in the B String Discus with 11.4m, and sixth in the A String Hammer with 14.4m.
Other Women’s track duties were shared between Women’s Team Manager Poppy Buck, and Holly Lawrence.
Lawrence achieved Morpeth’s sole Women’s win when she took the 1500m in 5m08.27s.
She also finished third in the 3000m in 11m03.57s.
Meanwhile Buck finished second in the 800m in 2m22.82s, and third in the 400m in 67.3s.
There were some good results achieved by Morpeth in the Men’s Track events.
In the 1500m, Ethan Bond finished second in the A Race in 4m08.11s, and Under 20 athlete Ollie Tomlinson, making his Senior debut, took the B Race in 4m14.88s.
Another Morpeth competitor in the Men’s 1500m was Tom Innes, who posted a time of 4m38.24s.
Innes also finished third in the Men’s 3000m in 9m47.71s.
Tom Balsdon finished second in the Men’s 800m A Race in 2m01.46s.
Veteran athlete Jason Dawson finished second in the B Race in 2m10.56s, and Andrew Lawrence also finished in 2m32.18s.
Alistair Douglass ran a superb 51.8s, when finishing second in the A Race of the 400m.
Ben Harding also ran well to take the B Race in 56.6s.
Another Morpeth finisher in the 400m was Paul Bellingham, who clocked 70.45s.
It was good to have seasoned sprinters Harrison Scott and Sean O’Hara back in action for the club.
In the 100m A Race, Scott finished second in 11.3s, just missing out for victory, and he also placed second in the 200m A Race in 23.2s.
Meanwhile O’Hara was second in the B Races of both the 100m and 200m in respective times of 11.8s, and 23.5s, only missing out by a hairsbreadth for victory in both.
Other 100m and 200m performances for Morpeth came from Alistair Douglass (12.37s), Ben Harding (13.0s), and Paul Bellingham (30.87s).
Morpeth managed to finish second in both of the Men’s Relays to Gateshead Harriers.
In the 4 x 100m they clocked 47.7s, and in the 4 x 400m they managed 3m48.73s.
The Men’s Field events saw Harrison Scott finish fourth in the Long Jump (4.47m),
Fellow sprinter Sean O’Hara finished fourth in the A String Shot Putt with a best of 7.24m, and Tom Innes was fifth in the B String with 4.65m.
In the Javelin, Jason Dawson was sixth in the A String with 25.1m, and throwing the Senior Weight for the first time, Ollie Tomlinson was fourth in the B String with a best of 22.5m.
Also in the Javelin, Tom Innes managed a best of 15.57m.
Tomlinson also threw Senior Weight for the first time in the Discus, managing a best of 17.5m for sixth in the A String.
Alistair Douglass threw 16.4m for sixth in the B String.
It’s going to be an uphill battle to maintain divisional status over the remainder of the season unless more support comes on board from within the club.
More athletes of both genders will be required in both A and B sections at Whitley Bay on Sunday 15 June, and once again at Shildon on Sunday 19 July.

MATCH RESULT
1st Gateshead Harriers 472pts, 2nd Darlington Harriers 391pts, 3rd Wallsend/Blyth 377pts, 4th Blaydon/Elswick 288pts, 5th Morpeth Harriers 264pts, 6th North Shields Poly 251pts.

Twenty athletes - 11 male and nine female - turned out for Morpeth Harriers second round North East Youth Development League fixture on Sunday 18 May at Whitley Bay, on a day which yielded eight individual wins.
New Under 17 Man throws specialist certainly performed to expectations, winning both the Javelin and Discus competitions by comfortable margins, with on the day best efforts of 18.20m and 26.50m, respectively.
He only just missed out on a hat-trick of wins in the Shot Putt, to New Marske’s David Banks, producing a best Putt of 7.99m.
It was good to see Under 17 Male sprinter William Hodgson back in action.
He finished second in both the 100m and 200m, clocking 11.9s and 24.2s, respectively.
Hodgson’s Twin Sister Alexandria was the pick of the Under 17 Women performances, winning the Hammer with a best throw of 51.20m.
Mya Young did well in both the Under 17 Women’s 200m and 300m A Races, finishing second in respective times of 28.4s, and 45.1s.
Emma Tomlinson finished second in the 300m B Race in 50.4s.
Tomlinson also finished third vin the 800m in 2m34.71s.
In the Under 17 Women’s 1500m Charlotte Marshall finished third in 5m50.25s.
Marshall also finished second in the Shot Putt, producing a best of 5.5m.
One of Morpeth’s best results of the day came in the Under 15 Boy’s Javelin, where Mason Gaylor won the A String by producing a best throw of 23.10m, and club colleague Jack Dhawar won the B String with a best throw of 16.80m.
Another Morpeth performance in the Under 15 Boys Javelin came from Jacob Thompson, who produced a best of 9.71m.
Under 15 Boy sprinter Charlie Townsend made an excellent choice to compete in the Long Jump, which he just won by two centimetres over Blyth’s James Floyd, with his best of 4.47m.
Jacob Thompson finished third in the B String with 2.91m.
Townsend also finished second in the 100m in 12.9s.
He also went on to finish second in the B Race of the 200m in 27.2s, giving good support to Mason Gaylor’s A Race performance of fourth in 27.0s.
Other Morpeth 200m performances came from Hector Beere (28.98s), and Jacob Thompson (34.99s).
Beere also finished fourth in the 300m in 46.5s.
Gaylor completed an excellent personal day, by finishing third in the 1500m in 4m32.50s.
Jack Dhawar was fifth for Morpeth in the A Race of the Under 15 Boys 800m, posting a time of 2m36.44s, and Jacob Thompson was fourth in the B Race in 2m45.92s.
Heidi Wilkinson and Sophie Peace were both winners amongst the Morpeth Under 15 Girls performances.
Wilkinson, who won a Silver medal in the 3000m, and just lost out for Bronze in the 1500m in the previous weeks’ County Championships was a clear front runner in the three and three quarter lap event this time round, winning the race in a time of 5m06.41s.
Meanwhile Peace had a true zest for hard work, as she competed in no less than three events herself.
She won the Long Jump with a best of 3.99m, winning by 3cm over Blyth’s India Gorvett.
Peace went on to finish third in the Under 15 Girls 200m A Race in 29.2s.
Zoe Tomlinson finished fifth in the B Race of the 200m in 33.8s.
Tomlinson also finished sixth in the 800m in 2m45.47s.
She also threw 11.6m in the B String Discus for second place, supporting Lucy Raper’s A String placing of third with 14.7m.
Raper also finished fifth in the A Race of the 300m in 53.6s.
Four Morpeth Harriers took part in the Under 13 Boys events.
Joseph Clasper finished second in the A Race of the 200m in 30.2s, and Luke Thompson finished fourth in the B Race in 34.8s.
Clasper also finished third in the 800m A race in 2m45.41s, and Joseph Fawcett finished second in the B Race in 2m49.99s.
Younger brother Will Fawcett also competed in the 800m, posting a time of 2m52.88s.
Luke Thompson finished fifth in the 100m in 16.1s, and eighth in the Long Jump with a best effort of 2.95m.
Morpeth Harriers had only one competitor in the Under 13 Girls events.
Izzy Cromar finished sixth in the 800m in 2m44.19s.
Clearly a great deal of hard work was put in by the squad from Morpeth Harriers who turned up and competed on the day, however, more needs to come from within the club to improve on a current lowly position over the two remaining fixtures.
MATCH RESULT
1st Blyth/Alnwick 782pts, 2nd South Shields/Elswick 631pts, 3rd Chester Le Street/Durham City 624pts, 4th New Marske 491pts, 5th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 436pts, 6th Morpeth Harriers 383pts, 7th Tynedale/Prudhoe 345pts, 8th Heaton/Tyne Bridge 204pts.
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Two Morpeth Harriers were in action at the BMC Meeting held in Bury, Manchester on Saturday 24 May.
Alistair Douglass produced a personal best time of 1m53.44s in the fifth fastest of a series of 800m events.
In the fastest 5000m, Finn Brodie produced a season’s best of 14m18.44s, when finishing seventh of thirteen in the race.

Under 15 rising star Sophie Pledger finished fourth in the 200m Final at the annual Northern Athletics combined Under 15/Under 17 Inter Counties Track and Field Championships held at York on Monday 26 May.
Representing the NECAA, Sophie was rewarded with a new personal best for the distance, when she posted a time of 26.89s.
Sophie’s season has made an excellent start when she won two Gold Medals respectively in the 200m and 300m at the recent NECAA Track and Field Championships.
Hence her very worthy selection to represent the region in York.
Sophie is pictured in her North East colours.

The second meeting of the North East Grand Prix series for 2025, took place at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium, on the evening of Wednesday 28 May.
Seventeen Morpeth Harriers were in competitive action, and several new personal best performances were achieved, plus the club enjoyed seeing four of its participants achieve individual event wins.
Under 15 Boy Mason Gaylor was one of those individual successes, winning the sixth fastest of the 800m events, setting a new personal best time of 2m12.31s for the two-lap event.
In the fifth fastest 200m, another Under 15 Boy from Morpeth, Charlie Townsend, produced a winning new personal best time of 27.03s.
Ellie Wickens produced a season’s best of 28.34s, as she crossed the finish line first in the sixth fastest 200m event.
Charlotte Earl won the Senior Women’s Long Jump, producing a season’s best effort of 4.89m.
Having his first event for some time, Under 17 Man Thomas Roche produced a new personal best time of 2m24.44s, as he crossed the finish line in second place in the seventh fastest 800m.
Also competing in this event in Morpeth vests were Emma Tomlinson, and Roche’s slightly older sister Molly, who finished tenth and eleventh, posting respective times of 2m30.44s, and 2m33.68s, both personal bests.
In the third fastest 3000m, Under 15 Girl Heidi Wilkinson produced a new personal best time of 10m46.81s, when she finished third.
Having one of her best ever runs, Under 17 Woman Charlotte Marshall finished fourth in the tenth fastest 800m event, posting a personal best time of 2m44.48s.
In the fastest 800m, which was run for the Jimmy Hedley Cup, and was won by Tynedale’s Magnus Riddell in a new personal best time of 1m52.05s, Morpeth’s Alistair Douglass and Joseph Close finished sixth and ninth, posting respective times of 1m54.67s, and 1m56.66s.
Ethan Bond finished sixth in the second fastest 800m in a season’s best time of 2m03.73s.
In the eighth fastest 800m, Under 15 Girl Zoe Tomlinson finished eighth in a new personal best time of 2m38.80s.
Moving back up to 3000m, in the fastest of the seven and a half lap events, Joe Dixon clocked a season’s best time of 8m49.64s, when finishing sixth.
In the second fastest 3000m, Ollie Tomlinson, Thomas Innes, and Lee Cuthbertson finished sixth, eighth, and tenth with respective times of 9m30.89s, 9m32.97s, and 9m41.97s, the last mentioned, a new personal best.
In the Long Jump, Under 15 Boy Charlie Townsend placed as equal third, producing a best effort of 4.11m.
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James Tilley secured an excellent victory in the 3000m A Race at the Loughborough Open on Wednesday 28 May.
The Under 23 St Andrews Student went into the event as fifth fastest, however he posted a season’s best of 8m38.37s, when winning from Norfolk Student Billy Eccles (8m 39.54s).
Fellow Morpeth Harriers Will Devere-Owen and Matthew Walton, both studying at Loughborough, finished seventh and tenth respectively in times of 8m46.34s, and 8m59.78s.