The annual two lap, 5k trail race took place round the grounds of Watergate Country Park in Low Fell on the evening of Thursday 22 August.
Won by U/23 athlete Lewis McConnell of Birtley in 15:40, there was a return to competitive action for Chris Parr, who was 5th overall in 16:19.
Next in were Jake Parmley, who was 23rd in 18:03 and Lee Bennett 26th in 18:16.
Cat Macdonald was 1st Woman home in 18:25, and Robyn Bennett 60th in 20:06, with Lee Cuthbertson 61st in the same time and Lorna Macdonald one place and one second behind.
Stephen Cessford was 77th in 20:35, Dave Nicholson 97th in 21:28, Andrew Dippie 122nd in 22:30 and Margaret Macdonald 199th in 27:35.
With the race incorporating the NEMAA off road championships, Lee was 1st in the Men O55s and Andrew 4th in the 0/60s, and Margaret 3rd in the Women O/60s.

Loansdean’s finest, O/65 Gavin Bayne was the last of three Morpeth Harriers in action at the World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, taking part in the challenging Men’s Half Marathon run over a hilly four-lap course around the city on Saturday morning in a big field composed of all age groups running at the same time.
Gav had his customary strong run to finish 11th overall in 1 hour 31 minutes and 42 seconds, and was second counter for the GB team.
Team mate Paul Mingay was 1st overall in a remarkable 1 hour 22 minutes 35 seconds, but with three to count in the cumulative time team competition, GB’s final counter could only manage 1:37:13.
Nevertheless that did mean he picked up his share of a team Bronze, and was at last able to enjoy a drink. Well done Gav. 

​Morpeth Harriers Over 50 Veteran Man Trevor Hodgson travelled to Gothenburg in Sweden to compete in the World Masters Athletics Championships.
Up against world-class opposition, he managed to finish first in his heat in 11.77s, to qualify for a later run semi final, where he finished third in 11.81s, resulting in him eventually qualifying for the final.
In the final itself, Trevor finished an accomplished sixth, producing a better time again of 11.74s, all of which were produced against strong headwinds.
To be fifth fastest overall in his opening heat, eight fastest in the semis, and eventually sixth in the final against the calibre of competition is indeed a very fine achievement.
Rounding everything off, Trevor certainly played his part in helping the Great Britain Over 50 Men’s 4 x 100m squad to second place behind USA in the A Final, posting a time of 45.88s.
Another Morpeth Harrier in action in Gothenburg was Nisha Desai, who qualified for the Over 40 Women’s 400m Hurdles by posting a time of 64.71s, which was good for winning her heat.
In the later run final, she finished third and won a fantastic Bronze medal, posting a time of 64.54s in front of her delighted parents, Hemant and Veena, an excellent way to round off another fiercely competitive season.
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Under 17 Woman Alexandria Hodgson, daughter of Trevor, threw a best of 48.44m in the Hammer competition to take a Silver medal at the Northern Athletics combined Under 17/Under 15/Under 13 Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at Derby’s Moorways Stadium on Sunday 11 August.
This Saturday 17th August, Alexandria travelled up to Scotland to take the Gold Medal in the Under 17 Women’s Hammer at the Eric Liddell Scottish Championships, held at Grangemouth Stadium in Falkirk, this time producing a best performance of 47.72m.
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Several Morpeth Harriers competed in the high profile Run Through BMC series of 800m events at Gateshead Stadium on Sunday 18 August.
Posting a personal best time of 1m53.21s, Ellis Hetherington finished fourth in the second fastest event.
Also competing in this race with Morpeth vests were Josh Fiddaman and Joseph Close, who finished sixth and eighth respectively in 1m53.78s and 1m57.43s.
In the third fastest race, Alistair Douglass finished fourth in 1m55.74s.
Peter Smallcombe finished second in the fourth fastest race, posting 1m57.19s, and in the fifth fastest 800m event, Bertie Marr finished fourth in 2m01.57s.
Morpeth’s only lady competing was Poppy Buck, and she produced a personal best time of 2m21.86s, to finish second in the J race.
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Finally, Charlotte Earl was a convincing winner of the Senior Women’s Long Jump at the annual Tartan Games Meeting, organised by Gateshead Harriers at Gateshead Stadium, also on Sunday, where she produced a best performance of 5.19m.

The sixth and final meeting of the 2024 North East Grand Prix series took place at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow on last Wednesday when 20 members of Morpeth Harriers figured amongst the competitive action.
Six of those members finished prominently in the fastest of three 3000m races.
The event was won by Gateshead’s Lewis Liddle, who produced a final lap storming finish to deny a Morpeth quartet featuring Will Devere-Owen, George Lowry, Joe Dixon and Bertie Marr, who finished second, third, fourth, and fifth, posting respective times of 8m35.13, 8m37.71s. 8m43.35s, and 8m44.43s.
Liddle’s winning time was 8m33.53s.
Other Morpeth Harriers in action in the race were Elliot Kelso (8th) 8m56.32s, and Ralph Robson (9th) 8m56.89s.
After running very prominently throughout the entire 3000m B race, Morpeth’s Oliver Tomlinson finished third in 9m31.82s.
Morpeth’s Lee Cuthbertson finished eleventh here, posting a time of 10m24s.
Dominic Harris, running his first event in a Morpeth vest, finished third in the C race in 10m42.38s.
Under 15 Girl Emma Tomlinson finished eleventh in 12m06.95s.
Morpeth Harriers were also prominent finishers in the later run 800m events.
In the fastest race, won by Gateshead’s Matthew Linsley in 1m53.45s, Josh Fiddaman finished second in 1m53.86s, and Joe Close was fractionally behind in third place in 1m54.48s.
Alistair Douglass finished fifth, posting a time of 1m54.85s.
In the eighth fastest 800m event, Under 15 Girl Fay Heatley, produced a new personal best of 2m43.23s, when finishing second.
Club colleague Zoe Tomlinson was sixth in 2m53.63s.
In the sixth fastest 800m race, Tabitha Robson finished seventh in 2m34.68s.
Veteran athlete Jason Dawson finished ninth in the fifth fastest 800m event, posting a time of 2m13.59s.
Morpeth sprinter Ellie Wickens finished seventh in the fifth fastest 200m event, posting a time of 29.13s.
Two Morpeth Harriers were in action in the Long Jump and Triple Jump respectively.
In the Long Jump, Abby Ross produced a best of 4.34m, and in the Triple Jump, North East Champion Charlotte Earl produced a best of 11.47m, to win the Women’s competition. 

​Competing in no less than his 5th consecutive Olympics, lifetime member Serod Al-Batochir completed the Men’s Marathon on Saturday morning in 71st place in a time of 2 hours 43 minutes 32 seconds.
 
Serod – or Ziggy to his many friends in the club – had in fact led the race for the first two miles, perhaps determined to put a Mongolian vest in front of the cameras and also to celebrate what will probably be his last Olympic outing, but clearly struggled after half way and was in fact the last athlete to finish, although finish he was clearly determined to do so.
 
Now 42 years of age, his time is a long way off his recent best outings, but his achievement in taking part in no less than five consecutive Olympics, and in such a tough event, remains outstanding and is unlikely, one imagines, ever to be surpassed.