The first fixture of the New Year will be upon us shortly, with the Sherman Cup (for Men) and Davison Shield (for Women) competition taking place next Saturday, 7 January at Temple Park, South Shields.
This fixture is designed as a test of the overall strength of North East clubs, with five qualifying races in both the Sherman and the Davison. These are: 

• U/13
• U/15
•  U/17 (U/17/20 for the Women)
• Seniors
• Veterans (aged Over 40)

The first three counters in each race score, with scores across all five races aggregated for an overall winner.
Morpeth Harriers have held the Sherman Cup for a number of years but have narrowly missed out on the Davison Shield recently on a couple of occasions.
As a test of the club’s overall strengths, we’re looking for big turn-outs in all categories – and not just from those who might make top three (other non-scoring runners can push further down results individuals from other clubs). As with all XC, it’s all about the numbers.
The course should be shorter than the North Easterns in December and the day’s timings are as for the NEHL.
Although it is not part of the NEHL competition, NEHL numbers should be brought and worn. (Replacements are available if forgotten or lost, but at an extra cost.)
Let’s aim to get 2023 off to a winning start.
Any problems or queries, please contact the club via the website.
 
Other fixtures for the next two months are below.

Key Road and Cross Country Fixtures January and February 2023

​January

Saturday 7th: Sherman Cup/Davison Shield, Temple Park
Sunday 14th: Birtley Relays, including NEMAA Men’s and Women’s XC Championships
Saturday 28th: Northern Athletics XC Championships, Witton Park, Blackburn
February 
Saturday 11th: North East Harrier League, Round 5, Thornley Farm
Saturday 18th: Signals Relays, Hetton Lyons Country Park
Saturday 25th: National XC Championships, Bolesworth Castle, Tattenhall, Chester 
 
Please sign up on the club notice board, contact your team manager or contact the club via the website for entries for all of the above. 

Six Morpeth Harriers crossed the Pennines post Christmas to take part in the Ribble Valley 10k in Lancashire on 27 December.
 
Despite a rather undulating course, the event continues to grow in popularity, also including for this year the North of England 10k Championships,  so there was a quality field out with over 1,000 finishers in total.
 
Won by Gateshead’s Callum Johnson in 29 minutes 10 seconds, University of Oklahoma student Rory Leonard, back for Christmas, had a fine run to come home 2nd in a pb of 29:40, with host club Blackburn Harriers providing the 3rd placed runner, Matt Ramsden (29:50).
 
Carl Avery was 5th in 29:54, Dan Dixon 9th in 29:59 and Sam Hancox 18th in 30:59. Leeds University student Alex Cunningham was 44th in 33:02 with Rob Hancox 123rd and 6th 0/55 in 38:40.
 
With three to count for the team prize, Morpeth were narrowly pipped by Blackburn (16 to 14).
 
The women’s race was won by Jess Warner-Judd in 31:18, with Charnwood AC’s Gemma Steel 2nd in 32:51 and Stockport’s Mollie Williams 3rd in 33:32.

Meanwhile Boxing Day had seen the 36th Woodlawn Pudding Run on the seafront at Whitley Bay, cancelled over the previous two years, with a tricky little out and back course made worse by some still icy slopes on the prom.
 
Despite no results being provided, James Young was once again a clear winner in what he himself described as a ‘blast out’, with a time of 15:35.
 
It was a Morpeth procession near the front end, with Connor Marshall home 2nd , Liam Roche 3rd, Ross Floyd 5th and Ryan Davies 6th.
 
Leaving the banana suit behind, this time local resident Andy Lawrence opted instead for a seasonal Santa outfit, in which he was comfortably first fancy dress wearer back. ​

European Cross-Country Championships
Rory Leonard collected another international vest when representing Great Britain in the European Cross-Country Championships held at Piemonte-La Mandria Park, Turin on Sunday 11 December.
Running in the 8k U/23 race, Rory had a good run to come home just outside the top ten in 11th place in a time of 24 minutes 15 seconds.
The race was won by fellow Brit Charles Hicks in 23:40, just ahead of Zakariya Mahamed in 2nd (23:48). 3rd counter for the British team was Matthew Stonier, 8th in 24:11.
 
Simonside Cairns Fell Race
Closer to home, and certainly one imagines a lot colder, there were seven Morpeth Harriers involved in the Simonside Cairns Fell Race.
Despite the winter conditions prevailing and the bad weather route being used, ice making the slabs down off Simonside summit dangerous, there were some strong performances with the irrepressible Jarlath McKenna once again proving how strong he is off road to win in a time of 1 hour 12 minutes 36 seconds. Katherine Carman was 1st female finisher in 1:37:11.
Running in their NFR vests, Richie Hughes was 6th back in 1:19:40 with Lee Bennett 13th in 1:28:50.
Jane Kirby was 30th in 1:42:29 with Rich a few minutes behind in 1:45:20 in 33rd. Gary Mason was 34th in 1:46:00, Claire Calverley 52nd in 2:02:56 and Fran Naylor 55th in 2:36:33.
Well done to all for completing under the conditions.
 
Ronnie Walker Saltwell 10k
Last Saturday saw the running of one of the oldest fixtures in the calendar, the Ronnie Walker Saltwell 10k held over an undulating three lap course in Saltwell Park and, thankfully, surviving the freeze when parkruns across the region were all cancelled.
Won by Durham City runner Will Lindsay in 33:05 with another who must have travelled a long way to take part, Herne Hill Harrier Sophie Harris 1st female finisher in 35:58, there were some three Morpeth Harriers running.
Marking a welcome return after a number of months away from competition and coming home in a fine 12th place, Mark Banks finished the run in a time of 35:02.
Anthony Liddle was 52nd in 41:00 and Dave Nicholson 1st 0/65 and 107th in 45:21. Some 311 ran. 

Six Morpeth Harriers were in competitive action at the second meeting of the Gateshead Indoor Standard Series, held at Gateshead College on Wednesday 7 December.
Under 17 athlete Amelia Hamlin, won her 60m Heat in 8.59s, and this was her first attempt at the distance indoors.
Conner Phillips from Morpeth was another winner on the night over 60m, as he also improved his best to 7.93s.
The club’s third winner on the night was Over 50 Veteran Man Trevor Hodgson, who also saw improvement to his personal best, as he clocked 7.55s.
Morpeth’s Freya Caygill clocked a season’s best, when finishing second in her heat in 8.33s.
Amy Longstaff and Jasmine Emulaga of Morpeth also made encouraging debuts at Indoor 60m, when posting times of 8.72s and 8.99s in their respective heats.
There were no Morpeth Harriers competing at the following evening's field events.

Shaun died suddenly on 16 December at the age of 52.
He was a former member of Morpeth Harriers and competed as a junior before returning to running and competing for the club in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as part of Jim Alder's training group along with Gavin Bayne, Gordon Dixon and his great friend Bob Sewell.
Although he enjoyed the roads and cross country, he excelled on the fells. He was virtually unbeatable in local races and he won the Chevy Chase on three occasions as well as finishing high up in classic Lake District races competing against the likes of Gavin and Jonny Bland.
In early 1998 Bob Sewell announced he was going to attempt to ‘do’ the Bob Graham Round – the classic long distance fell running challenge. 66 miles and 27,000 feet of climbing taking in 42 peaks of the Lake District to be competed inside 24 hours.
Shaun asked Bob if he could join him and on 9 August that year the pair of them became the first Morpeth Harriers to complete the challenge. Anyone involved on that day will never forget it and Shaun and Bob became the pioneers that inspired others from the club (and local area) to take on the BGR challenge.
Sean also competed for Northumbria Police in the National PAA Championships on many occasions. He won medals at Cross Country, the 10 mile road race and National Police Fell Race.  
Sean was a ‘countryman’. He loved country life, worked as a tree surgeon and got his degree in Arboriculture and was involved in woodland management and survey work alongside his police career. His knowledge and passion for trees, flora and fauna was second to none.
More important that all these achievements was the fact that he was a lovely man. Our condolences go to his wife Claire and daughter Lois to whom he was devoted and loved dearly. RIP Shaun – us old Harriers will miss you.

Kevin Bray