The annual Brampton to Carlisle ten miler, somehow still run on open roads across in Cumbria and also now the oldest road race in the country incorporated the NECAA 10 mile Championships this year, a reflection perhaps on the dearth of races over what was once a classic distance.
 
Won in a time of 48:33 by Leeds City athlete Ed Bovingdon, Morpeth’s Carl Avery – who led for much of the way - did however have the distinction of collecting the NECAA title when finishing 4th in 48:50 as a result of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place runners all being ineligible for the award.
 
In his first ever Brampton, Andrew Mirfield, the club’s only other male finisher, was well under the hour when finishing 82nd in 57 minutes.
 
Once again it was a good day for the club’s women however, with an in-form Holly Lawrence 6th female finisher in just over the hour mark but, like Avery collecting the NECAA winner’s title for the same reason.
 
Lizzie Rank was 8th but collected an NECAA Bronze.
 
Jane Briggs was 5th O/55 in 1:15:02 and Fran Naylor 15th in 1:31:01.
 
Some 888 finished.
 
Full results here: Brampton To Carlisle 10 Mile Race
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There was a busy weekend of Town Moor racing on Remembrance Sunday, with the annual Heaton Harriers 10k incorporating not just the North East Counties Athletics Association Championships but both the North East and British Masters 10k Championships also.
 
Events were started however with the races for Young Athletes, where there were a handful of Morpeth vests out and some notable successes.
 
Joe and Will Fawcett both ran in the Under 13 Boys, with Joe 4th and Will 13th.
 
Mason Gaylor was a winner of the U/15s, with Jack Dhawar 5th and Jacob Thompson 19th, although somehow they missed out on a team prize.
 
Heidi Wilkinson was 9th overall in the same race but 3rd female, with Faye Heatley 22nd and 11th girl.
 
Daniel Craig was 3rd in the U/17 Boys, with Charlotte Marshall a winner of the U/17 Girls and Charlotte Marshall 5th.
 
Oliver Tomlinson was a winner of the U/20 Juniors 5k race in a time of 16 minutes and 9 seconds.
 
The Senior Men’s 10k race, run over two laps of a chilly but cattle-free moor, saw
Birtley’s Adrian Bailes repeat his victory of last year in a time of 31 minutes 34 seconds.
 
He was chased home by evergreen O/40 Tyne Bridge Harrier Jarlath Mckenna, 2nd in 31:38 with Shettleston Harrier Daniel Bradford 3rd in 31:54.
 
Jarrow and Hebburn veteran Alex Sneddon collected all three awards, NECAA, NEMAA and BMAF, when winning the women’s race in 36:38, with Elswick’s Justina Heslop 2nd in 37:38.
 
Morpeth’s women had a highly successful morning however, with Holly Lawrence 3rd overall and 1st Senior in 37:42.
 
Lizzie Rank was 5th and 2nd Senior in 38:14, Poppy Buck 10th and 3rd and Tayla Douglass 9th Senior in 42:02.
 
It was also a good day for the club’s veteran women, with Kirsty Burville running 40:27 for 5th O/45, Jane Kirby 45:37 for 4th O/50 and Sarah Henry a pb of 52:14.
 
In a dominant performance, the team award was taken by Holly, Lizzie, Poppy and Kirsty, but there was a team Bronze medal in the BMAFs for the O/45s also, with Kirsty, Jane and Sarah all counting.  
 
There were also eleven Seniors and Veterans out, a number medalling.
 
Ali Douglass was first back for the club, 18th in 33:08, with Lee Cuthbertson 36th in 34:15.
 
Bobby Hagen had his second race in blue and white in a matter of weeks, 55th in 35:16 with Dave Stabler 60th in 35:30. Jimmy Dixon was 74th in 36:28, Lee Bennett 88th in 36:51, Dean Lonsdale 115th in 38:15, Gavin Bayne 168th in 40:27, Richard Glennie 226th in 43:35 and Stephen Land 290th in 47:24.
 
Gavin was a winner of the Over 70s in both BMAF and NEMAA categories, and Lee Bennett 2nd in the O/55s.
 
There was also an unexpected Bronze for the O/55s team, with Lee leading and Gavin and Stephen dropping down an age category to make the team up.
 
Full results here: Heaton Harriers Memorial Races
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The new trail running group set up by John Butters will meet again at 10am on Sunday 9 November at the Lordenshaws car park, Simonside. 

Morpeth retained the Norman Woodcock title in near perfect conditions on Sunday morning at Gosforth Park.
 
A three stage mixed relay run on the road round the inside of the race track, there were well over 100 complete teams out from across the region, with Morpeth hoping to hang on to a trophy they had also won last year.
 
Connor Marshall got the club’s challenge off to an excellent start, his time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds for the 1.66 mile circuit putting the team right up with the leaders.
 
At the end of leg two, Tyne Bridge Harriers had taken a slight lead courtesy of Jess Eaton’s clocking of 9:05, the fastest female time of the day, but Holly Lawrence’s 9:09, the day’s second fastest time, put Morpeth into second place and so it all came down to the morning’s last stage.
 
Returning to competitive action after a long spell of several months off with injury, Ellis Hetherington showed himself more than up to the challenge, quickly overtaking Tyne Bridge’s Michael Hedley in the first quarter of a mile and then going on to record the day’s fastest time of 7:40.
 
Morpeth’s winning time of 24 minutes and 48 seconds saw them record a winning margin of ten seconds over 2nd placed Heaton Harriers with Tyne Bridge coming in 3rd.
 
The club’s B team of Over 40 Dave Stabler (8:45), Lizzie Rank (9:23) and Dean Lonsdale (9:21) also ran well to make a top ten finish in 8th.
 
A further team of Bobby Hagen (8:26) and teenagers Charlotte Marshall (10:51) and Ben Moll (9:19), all running in a Senior relay team for the very first time, came back in 28:36 for a very creditable 15th place.
 
It was disappointing however that, in a race with 40+, 50+ and 60+ mixed team categories, the club didn’t manage to get any teams out this year. 

​With the National Cross Country Relays taking place at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield, at what has become their customary venue, Morpeth’s Junior and Senior Men’s teams produced respectable performances, with both outfits making the top 20.
 
The three stage and three kilometre Junior Men’s race for Under 20s was won by Aldershot, Farnham and District in a time of 26 minutes 29 seconds, with Morpeth clocking a cumulative time of 28:19 for 19th place out of some sixty nine teams.
 
Loughborough University student Will de Vere Owen took the first leg, recording 9:02 and Leeds University student Liam Roche the second in 9:28. Ponteland High School sixth former Oliver Tomlinson brought the team home in 9:49.
 
Final race of the day, the Senior Men’s run over four stages of 5k, also saw success by teams from the South of the country, with Tonbridge AC the winners in 1 hour and 5 seconds, ahead of Shaftesbury Barnet (1:00:30) and Cambridge and Coleridge (1:00:44).
 
A congested field of well over one hundred complete teams saw Morpeth finish this time in 16th place with a cumulative time of 1:03:05.
 
Josh Fiddaman got the team off to a solid start in 16:11 and Chris Coulson moved the team up several places when recording Morpeth’s fastest time of the day, 15:17, with George Lowry on third leg clocking 16:14 and Carl Avery 15:42 to bring the team home.
 
Gateshead Harriers had, however, the North East bragging rights, just making the top ten in 1:02:33, with Salford in 6th and Leeds City in 8th the first two teams from the North.
 
The Senior Women’s race over three stages of 9 kms in total was won by Belgrave Harriers in 29:04 ahead of Herne Hill and Blackheath and Bromley. Birtley’s women finished in 20th in 32:56 with Gateshead also turning out in 31st (33:50). Some 122 teams finished.
 
Emma Tomlinson was a sole representative for the club’s U/17 women, finishing the first leg for an incomplete team in 10:48 for the 7.5 km course.