 Morpeth's bronze medallists (left to right) Will de Vere Owen, Josh Fiddaman, Phil Winkler, George Lowry, Chris Coulson and Sam Hancox The Northern Athletics Joe Galvin Road Relays saw the Senior Men of Morpeth Harriers finish third of over one hundred teams at a rain-soaked Leigh Valley Sports Village on 20 September, the team Bronze matching that won at Blackpool in 2024.
Starting and finishing on the track at the stadium (that used for training by Olympic Gold medallist Keeley Hodgkinson) the twisty and turny course around surrounding land certainly presented some real challenges for runners, with the incessant rain that set in mid-morning and never gave all day exacerbating the difficulties over the 6.5 kilometre, two-lap route. With teams from the North West understandably well represented, Morpeth again carried the flag for the North East region, with stiff competition also coming as expected from across the Pennines, with Leeds City AC, Keighley and Craven and Hallamshire Harriers all very much to the fore. The Senior Men’s race proved to be a tight tussle between local outfit Salford Harriers and Leeds City, with the NW team winning by the tightest of seven second margins after nearly two hours of racing in a time of 1:53:40. Losing ever-present stalwart Carl Avery late in the week was a big blow for Morpeth and pre-race team manager David Swinburne had expected a top ten, hopefully a top five finish - so to get into the top three was a most welcome bonus and a real credit to all those who battled to keep moving the club up through the standings leg by leg. Loughborough student Will de Vere Owen had the challenging task of judging what pace to go out on the always keenly-contested leg one, coming back in a time of 19:45, with experienced competitor George Lowry moving the team up the standings on leg 2 with a clocking of 19:33. As conditions worsened and the rain got heavier, Josh Fiddaman (19:52) battled a stitch at two miles to move Morpeth into the top ten with Sam Hancox (20:47) then picking up one more place. It was the final two stages run by Chris Coulson, in his first road relay since joining the club, and the experienced Phil Winkler that did the damage however, with Coulson looking very strong when clocking the team’s fastest split of 18:43 to finish just outside the top five, and Winkler (18:51) performing miracles on the last stage as he moved the team into medal contention as, back in the club tent, initial disbelief at the final result gave way to elation. The cumulative finishing time of 1:57:32 saw the team finish just ahead of Liverpool Harriers and early leaders Keighley and Craven, with Leeds City B in 6th and Middlesborough in 10th, with some 113 complete teams out. Autumn-Road-Relays-2025-Full-Results.pdf Comments are closed.
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