Another busy weekend of cross country saw Morpeth Harriers well represented both locally in County Durham and, further afield, in Liverpool.
 
Saturday afternoon saw the third round of the North East Harrier League take place at Aykley Heads on the northern outskirts of County Durham, with the league sadly bidding a fond farewell to a challenging but much-loved cross country course which, after many decades, will no longer be available.
 
Often a time of year when inclement weather only adds to the day’s challenges, Saturday was in contrast blessed with a weak Winter sun and an absence of wind, with conditions under foot holding up surprisingly well given the weeks of recent rain.
 
And there was one outstanding individual Gold medal to go along with the two team wins, one team second and one third place.
 
The individual win came in the Under 13 Boys race, where Morpeth’s Ewan Line had a tremendous run to come home first from Fast Pack, some eight seconds ahead of his nearest rival from Derwentside AC, who had started from Slow Pack with a handicap of over one minute.
 
With supporting runs coming from Jack Dhawar in 9th, George Moll 10th and Daniel Vermaas 25th, the team were also comfortable winners over nearest rivals Elswick and Blaydon Harriers, and in the process extended their winning margin at the top of the league table further.
 
The U/13 Girls faced a stiffer challenge, with strong outfits from Birtley and Elswick again dominating the competition.
 
This time Lucy Raper was first back for Morpeth in 11th, with Faye Heatley not far behind in 14th and, in her first outing in a blue and white vest, Amberley Foster completing the team count in 51st.
 
The team finished 6th on the day and have slipped to 4th overall, but are still within touching distance of a top three finish at the end of the season.
 
With three to count in the Junior races, sadly once again Ben Moll flew the solitary flag for Morpeth in the U/15s, coming home in 27th, with Emma Tomlinson, 13th, and Megan Potrac, 24th, also missing a final counter in the Girls race. It would be great to see some full teams in both of the 15s competitions in the New Year, because there is certainly enough talent seen in training.
 
There was better news however from the U/17 Boys, which has over the last few years always been a strong category for the club, with Oliver Tomlinson first back for the club in 10th, Stephen Craske 22nd and Elliot Mavir 28th, the team finishing in third place to maintain a challenge overall in the top three behind Birtley and NSP.
 
Up and coming young triathlete Millie Breese, now studying at Leeds University, had her first run for the club in a while with the second fastest U/20 run of the day when finishing from Fast Pack in 9th place in the combined U17 and U20 race, with Caitlin Flanagan finishing 19th.
 
Biggest fields of the day were unsurprisingly in the Senior Women’s and Men’s races that concluded the day’s proceedings, with a lot of runners keen to say goodbye to what has traditionally been regarded by many as the best cross country course in the North East.
 
There were nearly 400 finishers in the day’s penultimate two lap Women’s race, with Morpeth narrowly missing out on the team victory to Jesmond Joggers but joining hosts Durham City Harriers at the top of the league table with half the season now complete.
 
Once again it was the redoubtable Catriona Macdonald who led the charge, recording the day’s fastest overall time of 26 minutes 44 seconds when finishing 6th overall from Fast Pack, with Durham’s Louise Mitchell 1st in 27:04 from Slow.
 
Remarkably, evergreen veteran Jane Hodgson, who had earlier watched her daughter Emily herself have a fine run when finishing 14th in the U/11 Girls, ran the day’s 2nd fastest time of 27:02 when finishing only three places behind Macdonald in 9th.
 
In only her second Harrier League fixture, Poppy Buck was again a counter, finishing 15th here from Medium Pack in 30:26 to gain promotion to Fast next time out.
 
The team count was finished with a great run by Shuna Rank, 53rd here in 35:20, with daughter Lizzie also having a good run when coming home in 76th from Fast Pack (30:38), a few places behind Robyn Bennett, 69th also from Fast (30:30). Nicola McCoy was just ahead in 57th in 35:30.
 
With a good showing of some 11 finishers in total, also finishing were: Kirsty Burville, 125th from Fast (31:37); Laura Mclean, 161st from Slow (37:37); Fran Naylor, 256th from Slow (40:47) and Margaret Macdonald, 335th from Slow (44:46).
 
With only one point separating the top two teams, Morpeth and Durham City, from Jesmond Joggers in 3rd, but signs also that last year’s winners Tyne Bridge Harriers, 4th here, are getting their act together, the rest of the season certainly will not lack interest and is likely once again to go to the wire.
 
There were over 550 finishers in the Senior Men’s race and this time no question of where the team win would go, with Morpeth’s biggest and strongest squad of the competition so far dominating proceedings here, reflected in a final six to count team score of only 53, exactly half of a distant Sunderland Harriers in 2nd on 106, with Tyne Bridge 3rd.
 
After a tussle at the front of the race with eventual winner Jack Casalino of Durham University Cross Country Club (36:04), Peter Smallcombe was first counter in 2nd place overall (36:55), with Alex Cunningham next back in 5th (37:57), both running from Slow Pack.
 
Recording the day’s fastest time for the three laps, Morpeth’s Lawrence McCourt finished in a fine 13th place (34:36) having had a terrific battle with club colleague Sam Hancox, who was only one second and one place behind, both from Fast.
 
Also running from Fast, Connor Marshall was 24th (35:22) with Lee Cuthbertson, 27th from Slow (40:42) in his first Harrier League, completing the team count.
 
Remarkably, Alex Brown, who had lost a shoe on the 3rd lap but who still finished 31st   (35:50), Ian Armstrong, 34th from Slow Pack (41:24) in only his second outing, and Rob Balmbra, 45th from Fast (37:01), all would have made the counters of other clubs but missed out here, so dominant was the Morpeth performance, which bodes well for the North Eastern Championships in two weeks' time.
 
There were some 22 finishers for the club in total, with, in addition to those previously mentioned: Andrew Hebden, 114th from Medium (42:11); Lee Bennett, 137th, Medium (42:34); Andriy Volkov, 141st, Slow (45:11); Ben Heatley, 142nd, Medium (42:37); Anthony Jannetta, 146th, Medium (42:42); Richie Hughes, 147th, Fast (40:03); Shaun Land, 179th, Medium (43:32); Rob Hancox, 183rd, Slow (46:10); Alistair Macdonald, 259th, Medium (47:29); Neil MacAnany, 331st, Slow (49:52); Ben Clarke, 340th, Slow (50:10); Richard Kirby, 342nd, Slow (50:13) and Dave Nicholson, 404th, Slow (52:28).
 
The win saw the Men open a healthy four point margin at the top of Division 1 in their efforts to retain the title for the third consecutive year.
 
Full results here. 
Stuart Whitman’s photo albums here.

Liverpool Cross Challenge
 
Elsewhere, a muddy Sefton Park, Liverpool was the venue for the British Athletics Cross Country Challenge on the same afternoon, with some five Morpeth Harriers making the journey.
 
Prominent amongst them was European Under 23 10,000m Gold medallist Rory Leonard, who finished in 4th place in the Senior Men’s 9.8 kilometre race to ensure his selection for next month’s European Cross Country Championships in Brussels with a time of 29:03 behind race winner Hugo Milner of Derby AC (28:38).
 
Scott Beattie was next home for the club in 20th  (29:41), with Will Cork 74th (31:46)and Dan Melling 154th  (33:31).
 
The Junior Men’s 7.8 k race had earlier seen Joe Dixon come home 69th of some 156 finishers in 21:59 in a race won by Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier Henry Dover in 20:10. 

The next round of the North East Harrier League takes place this Saturday, at Aykley Heads, Durham.
This is the third fixture, following the cancellation of Lambton Castle, and will be the last NEHL fixture before Christmas, with the remaining taking place in the New Year.
It is also, sadly, the last chance to run on this iconic course, arguably the best ‘true’ cross-country course in the region - so not one to be missed.
The course is all off road, with no tarmac or gravel and definitely one for long spikes after all the recent rain.
We will be setting up shop near the finish funnels with tent etc early doors as ever, but strongly suggest younger athletes bring warm clothes for later, change of socks and footwear. Refreshments might be available; toilets are on the car park of the police HQ.
Best way is to follow the A167 off the A1 signposted Chester le Street, then continue on A167 towards Durham. The parking is in the County Hall car park, and it’s a short walk through the woods, up the hill, to the venue.
Instructions from the league are here: PARKING: Parking is at the old County Hall site (DH1 5UQ). There is no charge for parking (landowners don't charge us for use), but PLEASE USE THIS CAR PARK AND ACCESS FROM THE ROUNDABOUT AT THE JUNCTION OF A691 AND B6532. ANYONE PARKING ELSEWHERE (EG UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, DURHAM CONSTABULARY) IS LIKELY TO BE TOWED AWAY.
If you’re not yet sure if you’re registered, get in touch: there’s time to register before the date.
If you’ve run before: don’t forget your number! (replacements available at a £5)
Hope to see you there!

Sunday morning saw the 52nd running of the annual Brampton to Carlisle 10 miler, the country’s oldest road race with a prestigious history that includes past winners such as Ron Hill, Steve Cram and Morpeth’s own club President Jim Alder MBE.
 
With a field of nearly 700 including nine who had travelled across from Morpeth, it was the blue and white vest of a proud Carl Avery that crossed the finishing line first in a time of 49 minutes 22 seconds to add his name to the roll call of winners, some 12 seconds ahead of NE Project’s Kieran Walker in 2nd (49:34).
 
With club colleague and training companion Finn Brodie in 3rd in 50:51, Phil Winkler 7th in 51:47 and Sam Hancox 8th in 51:54, there was no question of where the team prize was going either, while evergreen Gavin Bayne was also the winner of the O/65 category in 1 hour 5 minutes 22 seconds. (Overall, the quality of veteran times on display here was remarkable, perhaps a reflection of how few 10 milers there are around these days and this race being targeted.)
 
Leeds City AC runners were the first two home in the Senior Women, Stephanie Davis winning in 54:51 and club colleague Steph Pennycook 2nd in 55:53 with Durham City’s Jasmine Wood 3rd in 59:15.
 
Also taking part for Morpeth and all having good runs were: Rob Hancox, 146th and 6th O/55 in 1:04:44; Tayla Douglas, 245th and 11th Senior Woman in 1:10:15; David Nicholson, 254th and 4th O/65 in 1:10:44 and Jane Briggs, 352nd and 5th O/55 in 1:16:28. 

​Already one of the region’s most challenging cross country venues, incessant rain in the preceding week had meant conditions under foot were the worst ever known at Thornley Hall Farm, just south of Peterlee, for Saturday afternoon’s NECAA relays, with a whole new lake added to the far end of the course (‘Should I bring my wet suit?’ commented one Morpeth wag).
 
Thankfully that didn’t deter runners from those clubs who did choose to travel, although it was a mixed bag of teams from across the region, with, for example no NSP outfits featuring at all. It was, however, a productive afternoon for Morpeth, that saw us come out with no less than three team Golds, one Silver and one Bronze from the ten races and a whole host of committed performances from young and old.
 
The club’s first medal came from the U/13 Girls team, where Faye Heatley (11:27), Lucy Raper (1143) and Zoe Tomlinson (12:58) battled through the boggy ground to pick up a fine team Bronze behind expected winners Birtley Harriers, whose young squad again look a class act apart, Olivia Murphy running 10:55 and Kitty Graham 11:09, with Faye clocking 11:27 for 3rd fastest of the day behind them.
 
Running over the same 1.6k course in the day’s first race, the U/13 Boys also did well, outside the medals but finishing 5th with runs by Jack Dhawar (11:44), George Moll (11:58) and Jack Thompson (12:11), with Elswick Harriers coming out on top this time.  
 
Despite not being to able to field full teams, it was also great to see the commitment shown by Ben Moll and Emma Tomlinson in the U/15s events, with Ben running 10:08 for the day’s 4th fastest and Emma 11:42, her time the 2nd fastest of the day for her race. Tyne Bridge picked up both sets of winners’ medals.
 
The first Gold came in the U/17 Boys over 2.9k, where Oliver Tomlinson (12:00), Joe Close (12:09) and Elliot Kelso (11:47) were winners after a hard battle in 35:56 against both Blaydon (37:03) and Darlington Harriers (36:18), who were still ahead till Elliot took the lead on leg 3. Oli, Joe and Elliot also ran 4th, 6th and 3rd fastest times of the day in a very consistent performance. (Blaydon’s Max Murray was fastest of day with 11:28.)
 
Their performance was matched by that of the U/20 Junior Men, with James Tilley (13:05), Ethan Phillips (12:59) and Will de Vere Owen (12:14) also picking up an expected Gold, this time over 3k in 38:18. It was a bit of an odd one for the lads this one, with them starting at the same time as the Masters Men (old enough to be their dads if not granddads, in some cases) but soon disappearing into the distance in the face of no opposition. Always good to compete and medal, however.
 
There were two Morpeth teams out in the aforementioned Masters fixture, with some 18 teams in total and a decent overall standard. Won by Elswick Harriers in 40:10, Morpeth A missed out on a medal in 4th place largely due to the unexpected presence of Hartlepool Burn Road Runners (who don’t compete in the NEHL) but who turned up here to finish 2nd in 41:09 with Gateshead Harriers (featuring the irrepressible and ever-smiling Conrad Franks) 3rd in 41:32.
 
Ben Heatley for the A had a good battle with Ian Armstrong for the B on leg 1, Ian coming home in 13:38 and Ben back in 13:55. Andy Ball on 2nd leg moved the team up several places with 14:12 and Lee Bennett consolidated on 3rd with 14:29 for a total of 42:36.
 
Meanwhile Colin Archer was back in relay action for the B on 2nd leg in 14:38 and Richard Glennie finished the count on 3rd in 15:20 for a total of 43:36.
 
It was a family affair in the also keenly contested Senior Women’s race over 2.9k, with Morpeth’s own team of SuperMacs, the Macdonald sisters, taking a fine team win in 43:34. With Cat on the last leg and in such fine form (her 13:10 was the day’s fastest time here) it was always looking promising, with Lorna taking the hard fought leg 1 (15:15) and Lindsey moving the team up to 3rd on leg 2 (15:09). Thereafter, there was only going to be one winner, with Birtley 2nd in 44:06.
 
The club’s B team of veteran Kirsty Burville (15:07), Kay Errington (18:20) and Poppy Bluck (15:38) also ran well to make a top ten finish in 48:54, coming in 9th overall in 48:54.
 
Final race of the day, which also saw the biggest field of some 25 teams, was the Senior Men’s over 3k, with Gateshead Harriers - for whom Calum Johnson gave a demonstration of top class cross country running when running the day’s fastest time of 10:57 - managing to pip Morpeth by only ten seconds after four hard run stages.  
 
Tom Balsdon had an excellent run on the first leg to put the club in contention in third (11:59) with Peter Smallcombe (12:20) doing his best to limit the gap opened by Johnson on leg 2 and in the process Morpeth moving up to second. Mark Banks was able to hold the placing on leg 3 (12:57) despite a powerful run by young Houghton Harrier Cameron Allan, who ran the day’s second fastest time of 11:08. Connor Marshall (11:59) on Morpeth’s last leg had a very strong run, however, not only extending the gap to Houghton’s last leg runner behind but challenging Gateshead’s Lewis Liddle up ahead, who was running through treacle by the end was very close to getting caught. Morpeth’s cumulative time was 49:15 against Gateshead’s 49:05 with Houghton in 3rd (50:46).
 
Well done all who braved the conditions to represent the club. 

In her second call up for to represent England at the British and Irish Masters International Cross Country, Over 40 Veteran Woman Jane Hodgson of Morpeth Harriers, finished 19th overall in the Women’s 6k event at Glasgow’s Tollcross Park on Saturday, and was ninth in her category, and just missed out on being a scorer for England by one place, and two seconds, to Scunthorpe athlete Nicola Curtis, but still received a medal for her team participation along with others.
Jane posted a finishing time of 22m04s, which was just over a minute adrift of race winner Teresa Doherty of Northern Ireland.
The England Team finished in second place.

In his first official UK Cross Challenge race for three years, Morpeth Harrier Joe Dixon, now competing as a first year Under 20 athlete, finished 32nd in the Junior Men’s 6.4k event in Cardiff on Saturday, posting a finishing time of 21m38s, almost two minutes adrift of winner Sam Hodgson of Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow in a field of 61 finishers.

Morpeth Harrier Will DeVere-Owen piloted King Edward VI Senior Boys to the English Schools Cross Country Cup final, by winning the regional final by a comfortable margin at Middlesbrough’s Stewart Park on Thursday 9 November.
He was very ably supported in the event by fellow Morpeth Harriers Ethan Phillips (6th), Bertie Marr (8th), and Liam Roche (9th).
Behind King Edward in second place was Ermysted Grammar School of North Yorkshire, who were a good 20 points adrift.
Another Morpeth Harrier competing in the Senior Boys event was Ryan Davies, who finished in 35th place, in a total field of 80 finishers.
King Edward Intermediate Boys were not as successful however, finishing ninth behind Durham Johnston School, being led home by Morpeth Harrier Ben Moll, who was 22nd.
Fellow Morpeth Harriers George Mavir and Thomas Roche were also amongst the scoring counts in 29th and 47th places, respectively.

Morpeth Harriers Sophie Pledger (Under 15 Girls), and Harrison Scott (Under 17 Men), both made successful competitive debuts on the boards at the opening meeting of the Gateshead Harriers Winter Series, held at Gateshead College on the evening of Wednesday 8 November.
Both competed in the 60m sprints, where Pledger in her preliminary heat, won in a time of 8.63s, which was eventually to become the fourth fastest time of the night in her age group, behind Sunderland Harrier Celine Obina Allo, who produced a best of 7.81s.
Having qualified to run in a later final, Pledger finished second to her Sunderland rival, albeit in a slightly slower 8.66s.
Meanwhile, Scott won his preliminary heat in 7.73s, which was seventh fastest behind Blyth’s Luke Pichler 7.34s, and went on to finish third in his later run final in 7.57s, which made him fourth fastest on the night in his age group, well done to both athletes in turning out in new territory for themselves, and both of these talents emerge holding great promise over the forthcoming winter months, and no doubt their respective club coaches have objectives mapped out for them as the season progresses.