Valencia Marathon
 
The Valencia Marathon, one of the last big city marathons in the annual calendar, took place on 7 December with a field of over 18,000 running.
 
In a race won by Kenyan John Korir in 2 hours 2 minutes and 5 seconds, with compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei breaking the women’s course record to win in 2:14:00, Olympic gold medal winning triathlete Alex Yee in 9th produced a remarkable time of 2:06:38 to go second on the UK all time list behind Sir Mo Farah.
 
Three Morpeth Harriers also made the journey over to Spain, with the versatile Ali Douglass – whose run at every distance from 800m to 100k this year - clocking 2: 37: 45 to finish just outside the top 1000, O/50 John Butters recording 3:04:20 and Lindsey Quinn 3: 52: 21.
 
Ranking . Maratón . Valencia Ciudad del Running
 
Blyth Sands Race
 
It might not have as warm as Spain, but conditions were the best for many years down on the beach at Blyth, where the 65th running of the Sands Race, from Blyth to Seaton Sluice and back (a distance of just short of five miles) took place.
 
There was even an unexpected bonus this year for the two hundred or so who took part in the uniquely handicapped event, with low tides meaning competitors were even able to avoid the dreaded ‘groynes’ in front of the beach huts and were instead able to sneak round the bottom end, albeit at the cost of some wet feet.
 
There was an excellent win for the club too, with Over 70 veteran Gavin Bayne finishing his racing year in fine style with a victory in a time of 35 minutes 25 seconds off an eleven minute handicap.
 
Bayne finished over thirty seconds ahead of 2nd placed NSP Harrier Steph Maclean-Dann, running off 9 minutes, and her team mate Wendy Pawsey, running off 8.
 
Last year’s winner Jimmy Anderson ran the day’s fastest net time of 25:44 in 4th place with the Poly cleaning up for the team prize.
 
Disappointingly there were only two other Morpeth vests out, with Peter Scaife 72nd off a 9 minute handicap and Fran Robson  93rd off 11.
 
Some 167 finished in total.
 
Blyth Sands Race 2025 - Blyth Running Club
 
York Even Splits 5k
 
The most recent in the monthly York Even Splits 5k, run over the cycle circuit in the University Sports Village on a Friday evening, saw two Morpeth Harriers in action.
 
Ellis Hetherington was 3rd in 15:19 behind race winner Sebastian Kingston (15:09) and John Haden (15:18) and Josh Fiddaman 4th in 15:28.
 
York 5K (DEC '25) results - RaceBest

The North East Counties Athletics Association’s annual cross country championships took place on Saturday afternoon at Steward Park, Middlesbrough, at the birthplace of Captain Cook and under the stern gaze of several Moai statues.
 
The 7km course was on reasonably firm grassland, only slightly muddy in places; Stewart Park isn’t large, but the organisers had done well with it, adding a few convolutions to each lap after the first, which comprised several up and down slopes without ever being steep. Most comments afterwards were certainly favourable.
 
On a day of thinner pickings by comparison with last year, there were nevertheless one team Gold and one team Bronze medals, allied to two individual Golds, one Silver and two Bronzes for the club.
 
First races of the day for the Under 13s saw Morpeth’s keen squad narrowly miss out on a team medal (although confusingly credited with one on the day, with chips of several others not registering), with the boys finishing 4th overall behind NSP, Tynedale and Darlington. Joe Fawcett was first back in 16th, Luke Thompson 19th and Will Fawcett 26th. Disappointingly, no U/13 Girls ran.
 
The first individual medals of the day came in the U/15 Boys, with Mason Gaylor collecting a Bronze, with the team again in 4th. Jack Dhawar was 18th and Jacob Thompson 39th.
 
Although there were no individual medals in the U/15 Girls, there was, however, a team Bronze, with the club finishing behind Durham City and Birtley. Heidi Wilkinson was 5th, Faye Heatley 10th and Zoe Tomlinson, still making her way back to full fitness, 31st.
 
The club’s first Gold of the afternoon came courtesy of a terrific run by Molly Roche in the U/17/20 combined race, where she finished 3rd overall but 1st U/17 and indeed only some 17 seconds behind the race winner. Emma Tomlinson was 21st and 10th U/17, with the absence of a third placed counter undoubtedly costing a team medal. There were no U/17 Boys running.
 
Molly’s older brother Liam also collected a medal, Silver this time, in the U/20 Men’s race. Oliver Tomlinson also ran well to finish in 8th, but once again no third counter meant a trophy the club has won for several years running went begging.
 
Final two races of the day were the Senior Men’s and Women’s, with the club looking to defend both titles won last year.
 
And one of the stand-out runs of the day by a dominant Chris Coulson from the off saw a gun to tape victory by a margin of 37 seconds over Gateshead’s Josh Blevins, with TBH’s  veteran Jarlath Mckenna defying the years to finish third.
 
However, with a Morpeth squad badly affected by illness, injury and unavailability, it was always going to be a close thing to see if the club could retain a title they have consistently won for over ten years.
 
It was looking promising half way through the race but ominous packing from a delighted Gateshead Harriers in the end saw them pinch the title by a ten point margin, with Morpeth on 117 points. TBH were third on 132.
 
The club’s five counters behind Chris were Matthew Walton, making the top ten in 9th, Connor Marshall, 19th, Matthew Briggs just the one place behind in 20th, Dan Dixon, in his first cross country outing for over two years, 32nd and Lee Cuthbertson, 36th. Tom Innes (63rd) and Andrew Mirfield (79th in his first ever North Eastern) also ran well.
 
Final race of the day saw undoubtedly the day’s best team performance, with the Senior Women defending a title they had won last year at Temple Park.
 
The team of Millie Breese, Poppy Buck, Holly Lawrence and Lizzie Rank set off with intent, with all four in the first nine after half a mile. Millie battled with Megan Stenhouse of Durham University until the second lap when the Nathan Shrubb coached Stenhouse, who was been in imperious form in the North East over the last few months, injected some pace and opened a considerable gap.
 
Millie was then overtaken by Helen Warburton from Tyne Bridge, and held third place from that point. Considering her recent problem with a hip injury, some slight reduction in endurance was perhaps to be expected, but the team GB Under 23 triathlete can be very pleased with her individual medal.
 
A determined force behind Millie was Lizzie, who held her fourth place throughout. Her pace after the pack settled down was remarkably constant for the remaining three miles. This is a feature from her training for ironman events during the year, a big contribution to this excellent result.
 
Although not at her best, Holly battled her way through from seventh to fifth, eventually collapsing on the line, although happily she recovered after a few minutes ready for the presentations. Considering the effort required to achieve this result, Holly can look forward to her next races being less dramatic!
 
Behind Holly, Poppy’s performance was a gritty display, as she was beset by severe pain in her back. Nevertheless she kept working very hard and although a few got past, she held up very well to finish 20th out of 132 finishers.
 
Altogether this was a magnificent triumph over adversity, and any senior women reading this will hopefully be proud of what the Morpeth team achieved on the day, they may also reflect that had one of these girls dropped out from injury or illness, there was no cover, and no team medals would have been won. Hopefully the club can have strong teams with some spare capacity in future. The team scored 32 points, with a 26 point margin over second placed Tyne Bridge and another 37 points over Sunderland Harriers.
 
A day of mixed fortunes then, and while congratulations must be extended to all individual and team medallists, something of a disappointment overall for the club after last year’s achievements. 

Full results here

Morpeth Harriers Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard had the distinction of competing for Great Britain in the European Cross Country Championships held in Lagoa, Portugal on a sunny Sunday morning, with Scott most unfortunate to miss out on an individual medal by the tightest of margins.
 
On a five lap, short 7.5 kilometre course – and a course some 3.5k shorter and markedly different in character from that on which the North East Cross Country Championships were held the day before – both athletes showed that they belonged win this illustrious company, which included  World Athletics 10,000m Gold medallist Frenchman Jimmy Gressier, and were soon showing near the front of the race.
 
With Gressier and eventual winner Spaniard Thierry Ndikumwenayo pushing ahead on the last lap, Scott was left with a battle for a Bronze medal with Swiss athlete Dominic Lobalu in which the lead changed hands several times as the runners twisted and turned back and forth on a course he later described as being ‘pretty impossible to get into any sort of rhythm’ on.
 
Falling across the line neck and neck, Scott was credited with exactly the same time as the Swiss, but lost by the thickness of a vest in the photo finish.
 
The understandably disappointed Morpeth Harrier did later comment however: ‘I gave it everything I had and ran the race I thought I should. It is validation to me that I can compete at this level and get it done on the day and hopefully that can translate next year.’
 
Meanwhile teammate and training partner Rory Leonard also ran well, finishing in 17th place and second counter for a GB team who sadly finished just out of the team medals in fourth behind winners Spain, Ireland and France. 

The Abbey Dash, from outside Leeds Town Hall to the remains of Kirkstall Abbey and back, took place on Sunday 30 November with over 10,000 again taking part and a high quality elite field with the race incorporating this year the England Athletics 10k Championships.
 
Originally set up by a charity fundraiser for Leeds Mind in 1984, for the majority of its over forty year life the race raised funds for charities working with the aged, originally Help the Aged who would later merge with Age Concern to form Age UK, although it seems now to have been subsumed by the Jane Tomlinson Run for All Foundation and incorporated into their calendar of Yorkshire based events.
 
This year’s race was won by St. Albans AC runner James McMurray in 28 minutes 52 seconds with Poole AC runner Melissa Courtney-Bryan taking the women’s race in 31:37.
 
Peter Smallcombe was 16th in 30:16 and it was also good to see triathlete Dan Dixon starting his return to competitive action once again after a long time out with injury and 836th in 38:43.
 
Leeds Abbey Dash

There was an excellent turnout from the club on what proved to be a productive day of NEHL action on Saturday 23 November at the pocket of land behind the Beacon Lough estate in Wrekenton, Gateshead.
 
It was certainly a contrast to the last visit to the venue in January, when the ground  remained frozen throughout and temperatures were barely above zero.
 
This time, while it was warmer, the ground was a veritable mudbath in several spots, although the nature of the course – with the sections of gravelled footpath also en route – made the choice of footwear as ever difficult.
 
There were a number of excellent individual runs from both Young and Senior athletes, with outstanding team victories also coming courtesy of the U/17 and U/15 Girls, and the Senior Women’s squad.
 
Five U/11s ran in the first of the day’s two fixtures, with Mason Ellison back in 7:13 in the Boys race and Ben Hodgson 31st in 7:28 in a field of 70.
 
Ella Rowlinson was 19th in 7:55, Ellie Feal 21st in 7:56 and Florence Tyler made her debut in 9:28.
 
Although there were, sadly, no U/13 Girls out, the Boys squad continued to show their tremendous commitment, with Hector Ford-Hutchinson 13th from Slow (13:45), Joe Fawcett 17th from Fast (12:40), Luke Thompson 30th (13:02) and Will Fawcett 42nd (13:45), both from Fast.
 
Although the team were 4th on the day, they remain in 3rd in the overall table.
 
There was a delightful win in the U/15 Girls, where Heidi Wilkinson, 4th from Fast in 12:41, Faye Heatley 7th from Fast in 13:12 and Zoe Tomlinson, returning to competition, 14:35 and 9th from Slow, where on the day winners and moved themselves up to 5th in the overall table.
 
The U/15 Boys squad were also complete, with Mason Gaylor medalling in 3rd in the day’s second fastest time, 11:08 from Fast, Jack Dhawar 16th in 11:54 from Fast and Hector Beere 118th in 13:25. The team were 3rd on the day and are now also 3rd in the overall table.
 
Daniel Craig was disappointingly the only blue and white vest running in the U/17s, on a tough day coming back in 17th from Fast in 19:23.
 
However, the club’s U/17 Girls continued their fine showing, despite missing Molly Roche who had run the day before.
 
Emma Tomlinson medalled in 3rd, 22:34 from Slow and ever presents Lucie Todd (24:40) and Charlotte Marshall (25:47) 12th and 14th respectively, both from Slow.
 
Winning on the day, they are tied on points with Durham City AC’s squad at the top of their table, with the race likely to go to the wire over the next two fixtures.
 
Another outstanding showing from the club’s Senior and Veteran Women saw them also take the team win, and also steadily move up the overall division to 4th.
 
Won by Elswick’s Maria Catterall from Slow in 27:29, Morag Stead was the club’s first counter, recording the day’s fastest Medium pack time of 26:32.
 
She was followed home by Holly Lawrence, 12th in 25:07, Lizzie Rank, 16th in 25:20 with Jane Hodgson, 32nd in 25:50 completing the team count, all from Fast.
 
There were some nine other Morpeth runners, with three debutants amongst them.
 
Sophie Ward had a good run to come home 35th in 30:51 from Slow, Nicola McCoy was 79th in 31:52 and Janes Kirby and Briggs 91st and 97th in 32:06 and 32:12, all from Slow.
 
Coach Vicky Thompson was 121st in 32:42 and Sarah Henry 224th in 35:98.
 
Jess Holman marked her transfer from Jarrow and Hebburn with a clocking of 33:39 in 166th, and new signings Emily Easton were 345th in 43:40 and 352nd in 45:24 respectively.
 
There was also a better turn out from the Senior and Veteran Men in the day’s final race of over 450 finishers as they finished 2nd on the day behind leaders NSP.
 
The race was won by Gateshead’s Lewis Liddle, clocking 33:18 from Slow Pack, although Heaton’s Chris Larkin ran the day’s fastest time of 31:54 from Medium.
 
Connor Marshall led Morpeth’s team count with a great run from Medium, 8th in 33:48. NEHL debutant Bobby Hagen was 10th in 36:28 from Slow, Lee Cuthbertson 18th in 34:50 from Medium, Andy Lawrence 24th in 35:30, also from Medium, Oliver Tomlinson 56th in 33:51 in his first run from Fast with Tom Innes last counter, 59th in 36:24 from Medium.
 
Lee Bennett was 96th in 39:40 from Slow, Ian Armstrong 183rd in 39:07 from Medium, Andriy Volkov 245th in 43:13, Alistair Macdonald 271st in 43:57, Richard Glennie 301st in 44:51 and Steve Johnstone 359th in 47:35, the last all from Slow.
 
Although long time sleeping giants (and NEHL yo-yo club) NSP seem determined to see the competition out as winners, Morpeth are certainly capable of another top three finish with this sort of turn-out in the last two fixtures.
 
Congratulations to all who ran on the day in what was a great club performance.
 
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