​The curtain for the county’s  show season came down at Alwinton Show, but not before the keenly contested Fell Race had taken place.
 
And once again spectators were able to witness the customary victory of Nick Swinburn, running for NFR, who finished in a time of 18 minutes 2 seconds for the roughly 2.5 mile course.
 
Nick was over two minutes ahead of 2nd place runner, NFR and Morpeth’s Richie Hughes (20:43) who also collected a decent pay packet after a good run.
 
There were in fact four club members in the top ten, with Ethan Philips 4th in 21:16, James Tilley 7th in 21:36 and John Butters 8th and 1st veteran in 21:41.
 
Millie Breese was 2nd Senior Female in 23:56 with Alnwick’s Ellie Price 1st and 13th in 22:44.
 
Fran Naylor also ran, and was 55th, and, like JB, also turned out at Druridge! 

There were three Gold and two Bronze team medals for Morpeth Harriers at the North East Counties Athletics Association Cross Country Relays held at Thornley Farm, Peterlee on Saturday.
 
By contrast with the often challenging muddy conditions that usually appertain for the Harrier League at this venue in the New Year, competitors were pleased to find this time some largely dry if uneven going on a blustery but fitfully sunlit afternoon.
 
The first set of team medals  were won by the club’s delighted Under 15 Girls, with the team comprising Megan Potrac (10 minutes 11 seconds), Molly Roche (10:43) and Charlotte Marshall (10:46) for a combined time of  31:40. Darlington Harriers and AC were the winners in 28:02 with North Shields Polytechnic Harriers 2nd (30:01).
 
The first Gold came in the following Boys U/15 race, where, after first and second legs by Steven Craske (9:24) and Oliver Tomlinson (7:52), Oliver Calvert got the team into 1st place on the last leg with the day’s fastest time of 7:36 for a total time of 24:52. Harry Armstrong also ran the 1st leg for an incomplete B team in 9:32.
 
Perhaps unsurprisingly after recent national performances, the U/17 A and B teams dominated their race.
 
The A team of Joe Close (7:58), Eliot Kelso (7:36) and Bertie Marr (7:45) were 1st back in 23:19, less than 45 seconds ahead of the B team of Liam Roche, making a return to competitive action in 7:53, Elliot Mavir (8:21) and Ryan Davies (7:38).
 
The fastest U/17 time of the day (7:15) was run by Houghton Harrier and promising triathlete Brandon Pye of Houghton Harriers,  with Kelso and Davies recording the 2nd and 3rd fastest.
 
Earlier in the day, there had also been three U/13s out in the Boys and Girls races, but in sadly incomplete teams.
 
Grace Cunningham (10:55) and Emma Tomlinson (9:43) ran strongly in the Girls race, with Tomlinson recording the fastest leg. A third runner would undoubtedly have helped the team to a medal.
 
Meanwhile Thomas Roche was the sole representative in the Boys race in 10:16.
 
The club’s final Gold of the day was won in emphatic style by the U/20 Men, with Ralph Robson (10:38), Matthew Walton (10:17, the day’s fastest time) and Peter Smallcombe (10:23) finishing nearly three minutes ahead of nearest rivals Durham City AC.
 
The final medal of the day for Morpeth was another Bronze, won in the combined Women’s Senior and Masters race, with Jane Kirby (14:32), Julie Vermaas (14:25) and Gemma Floyd (13:09) finishing in a total of 42:06, NSP’s Masters winning in 40:24 ahead of Elswick Harriers in 2nd (41:54). Floyd’s was the 2nd fastest Masters time of the day, with the Seniors race won by Houghton Harriers in 38:03, just ahead of Gateshead (38:11).
 
The only disappointment was the club not turning out any teams in either of the Men’s fixtures, with Houghton again  taking the Senior title ahead of Sunderland and Gateshead, and Tyne Bridge the Masters ahead of Elvet Striders and Sunderland Harriers. Let’s hope to rectify this next year!

​Action moved to Druridge Bay on Sunday for the 2nd round of the North East Harrier League.
 
On an afternoon of better than expected weather with only a stiff south-westerly to contend with, this time round there were only two team  victories, but a good turn out across the age groups and some fine individual performances made this a more than satisfactory afternoon on what is almost home turf for us.
 
The first of the team victories came, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the U/17 Boys for whom Marr and De Vere Owen both turned out again despite the previous day’s efforts at the National relays, Will also managing the day’s fastest time.
 
Will was followed home by Elliot Mavir in 6th, Elliot Kelly 14th from Fast, Bertie Marr in 16th and Joe Close 22nd. The victory sees the team comfortably established at the top of their division.
 
The second win was courtesy of the club’s Senior Women, for whom Kirsty Burville on her debut in blue and white placed 3rd.
 
Durham City athlete Alice Crane actually ran the day’s fastest time of 23:43 from Slow Pack to come home several minutes ahead of Hannah Williams in her 1st race for NSP since moving from the club (Morpeth Harriers will probably know her as Shuna’s older daughter).
 
With Cat Macdonald 7th from Fast Pack in 24:32 and Jane Hodgson 11th and only 8 seconds behind, both from Fast Pack, it only needed Jane Kirby, only a week after the Kielder Marathon, to make 12th place for the team to complete their 2nd dominant performance of the season so far.
 
Another fine turn out by the Senior Women included also Anna Wright in 109th from Medium; Lindsey Quinn 154th from Fast; Lizzie Rank 163rd from Fast; Julie Vermaas 213th from Fast, and Fran Kirby, 335th from Slow.
 
With a final scoring count of another miserly 21 points - also 21 ahead of next club Tyne Bridge - there is now already a healthy 7 point margin in the overall division to next club Heaton Harriers, with the prospects for the remainder of the season looking extremely positive if numbers stay high.
 
Although the club’s Senior Men could only manage  4th place on the day, they still remain at the top of their table.
 
Once again the scoring count was headed by young Matty Walton, who defied his Medium Pack finish to come home in 8th place in 34:11 after another splendid run.
 
Ralph Robson, also promoted from Wrekenton, was not far behind, 18th in 35:33, with the third of those promoted to Medium after Wrekenton, John Butters, also having an excellent run to come home 31st (36:25).
 
Making not just his Harrier League but also, like Kirsty, his first run in blue and white, Andriy Volkov was 95th (40:11) with Anthony Jannetta 114th (37:59) and Anthony Liddle 124th (38:17) making up the scoring front six.
 
A decent turn out of another eleven Morpeth athletes included also Ed Hillier, just outside the scoring count in 130th from Slow; Richard Glennie 147th from Slow; Mark Snowball 165th from Fast; a returning Will Clark 177th from Slow; Al Macdonald, 219th from Slow; Lee Bennett 221st from Fast; Jason Dawson 260th from Slow; Neil MacAnany, 267th from Slow; Steve Haswell, 291st from Slow; Steve Johnstone, 331st from Slow and Paul Turnbull, 511th, also from Slow.
 
Fastest run of the day was by Kieran Walker of NE Project in 31:35, with two Newcastle University students, Luke Davis and Edward Petitt, coming in 2nd and 3rd, and all running from Slow Pack.
 
A resurgent Gateshead Harriers were on the day winners with Tyne Bridge in 2nd and NSP 3rd. Morpeth remain at the top of the overall table on the same points as TBH but having won one fixture.
 
The U/15 Boys were 2nd on the day to Durham City, with Oliver Calvert running the day’s fastest time in 5th place. Oli was supported by no less than 5 fellow team mates, with Oliver Tomlinson in 10th, also from Fast, Stephen Craske in 16th, Harry Armstrong 23rd, Ben Moll 25th and Dan Burrow 30th. The team head their overall table beside Gateshead Harriers.
 
The U/15 Girls were most unfortunate in that a confusion over numbers and names saw Megan Potrac unfortunately disqualified despite finishing well. Iris Dungait in 9th headed the team home with Charlotte Marshall 25th.
 
Once again Tabby Robson was the club’s only runner in the U/17/20 race, but like her older brother she had a very good run to come in in 6th place, ensuring promotion to the next pack up.
 
There were however full teams out in the Under 13s, with the Boys in 7th and the Girls in 8th.
 
Daniel Vermaas was first back for the club in 22nd in the Boys event, with Michael Leeson 31st on his debut and Evan Laude in 36th from Fast Pack. The team placed 7th and are 6th overall.
 
The U/13 Girls are unfortunate in that all their runners come from Fast Pack, but this will surely balance itself out as the season goes on. Emma Tomlinson was 17th, running one of the day’s fastest times, Faye Heatley 27th and Grace Cunningham 47th. The team finished in 8th but are nicely placed in 5th overall with a good chance of moving up the table.
 
The day’s activities had been once again kicked off with the U/11 races, where Morpeth had no less than six U/11 athletes running.
 
In the Boys race, the club’s own ‘Thompson Twins’, Jacob and Jack (not of course actually related, but then neither were the band, who took their name from the bumbling detectives in Herge’s Adventures of Tintion - as fans of cheesy 80s pop will no doubt remember) were well up the field in 2nd and 4th, Jacob only 5 seconds off the day’s winner. Eli Mcsparrow was 34th also.
 
Lucy Raper was also well up the field in the Girls race, coming home 4th, with Zoe Tomlinson 13th. The field also included Jane Hodgson’s daughter, Emily, who competed in her first ever proper race and came back in 25th place in front of some very proud parents.
 
A link to full results is here: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2022-23/Druridge/
 
The next fixture is at Lambton Castle in County Durham on Saturday 29th October. No Lambton lions – and hopefully no malevolent worm either – but a scenic backdrop of the castle and a proper xc course. Put the date in your diary if you have not already done so, as the competition is certainly hotting up.

View Stuart Whitman's gallery of images from the day:
Senior men
Senior women
Juniors

​Two Morpeth teams travelled to the English Road Running Association Autumn Relays at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday, with the highlight of the weekend undoubtedly the team Bronze won by the club’s Under 17 Men to add to the Gold won in the Northern Relays in Manchester some two weeks earlier.
 
Featuring the best in the country, competition was inevitably even more intense, and to come away with a National medal is no mean achievement.
 
Held over 3 stages of 3.88 kilometres per leg, the same trio of athletes featured for the club as at Manchester, so it was once again Ryan Davies who led out for the club on the 1st leg, clocking 12 minutes 7 seconds for 9th place. Early leaders Rotherham AC took an early lead with Zak Ferguson recording the day’s 2nd fastest time of 11:38.
 
Bertie Marr moved Morpeth up one place on leg 2 with his 12:18, but there was still an awful lot to do on the final leg for Will de Vere Owen.
 
But posting the day’s 5th fastest time of 11:48, Will proved himself more than up for the challenge, with the team recording an overall time of 36:13 for a fine 3rd place.
 
Winners Cambridge and Coleridge AC, for whom Isaac Morris recorded the day’s fastest time of 11:36, were the overall winners in 35:16 with Rotherham (who Morpeth had actually finished ahead of in the Northern) having to settle for Silver in 35:57. Congratulations to all concerned, and also to the loyal parental support team who travelled, as well of course to coach Mike Bateman.
 
The club’s Senior Men also made the long journey to Birmingham worthwhile with a fine 12th place in the Men’s event, this time held over 6 stages of.5.84 kms each.
 
Dominated by teams from the South of England with Aldershot, Farnham and District the eventual winners in a time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 37 seconds, Morpeth did have the distinction however of being 2nd team from the North of England behind Northern winners Leeds City AC, who were 2nd overall and only lost out by 5 seconds on an exciting last leg.
 
For Morpeth, Finn Brodie clocked 17:34 on leg 1 for 14th, with Sam Hancox’s 18:00 seeing the team slip slightly to 17th.
 
Making his debut for Morpeth, Will Cork moved the team up to 13th with his 17:43 and a returning Carl Avery recorded the day’s fastest time on the next leg of 17:29 as the team moved into the top 10.
 
Runs by Connor Marshall (18:29) and Matthew Briggs (18:22) saw them drop down by a couple of places to 12th  (1:47:37), but this was nevertheless a strong performance and the best finish for a number of seasons. Once again, congratulations to all.
 
Behind Aldershot were Leeds City in 1:43:42, only 5 seconds behind after nearly two hours of racing, with Cambridge and Coleridge AC in 3rd (1:44:04).
 
There were some 74 complete teams, with Gateshead Harriers next NE team in 37th, Sunderland in 53rd and Birtley in 66th.
 
Fastest leg of the day was 16:39 by a flying Jack Rowe on leg 6 for Aldershot, who reeled in the unfortunate Leeds City athlete ahead of him. 

The Senior Boys squad from King Edward School took pride of place at the annual first round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup competition at Temple Park, South Shields on 4 October.

Matthew Walton of Morpeth Harriers, who is in the form of his life at the moment, highlighted by a recent Harrier League win at Wrekenton, led the squad home from the front, winning by a three-second margin from fellow club colleague James Tilley, who was second counter for the Morpeth School.

Other prominent Morpeth Harriers in the leading group were Elliot Kelso (4th), who represented Ponteland High School, and Ralph Robson (5th) representing Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham.

Finishing one place behind Robson was club colleague Bertie Marr, who was third home for King Edward.
The King Edward winning quartet was completed by Will DeVere Owen, who finished tenth.

Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the Senior Boys event were Ryan Davies, who finished thirteenth, and Liam Roche who was fifteenth, both representing King Edward.

Ollie Calvert of Morpeth Harriers was a clear winner in the Intermediate Boys event, as he led King Edward to seventh team place.

Other Morpeth Harriers in action for King Edward here were, Ben Moll (29th), Steven Craske (32nd), and Daniel Scott (35th).

In the Junior Boys event, Morpeth Harrier Harry Armstrong was second counter for a winning St Thomas More squad from North Shields, when he finished seventh.

Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers took part in the Intermediate Girls event.

They were Iris Dungait (16th), Megan Potrac 17th), Molly Roche (22nd), Charlotte Marshall (25th), and Rosie Heaton (42nd).
​
The combined scores of Dungait, Potrac, Roche, and Marshall, gave King Edward a sixth team placing.