 Morpeth's women at Sheffield: Rachelle Falloon, Poppy Buck and Lizzie Rank Northern Cross Country Relays Morpeth’s Senior Women travelled to Sheffield on 19 October to compete in the Northern Athletics Cross Country Relays at Graves Park, where they were one of over 40 teams from across the North of England participating. In a competition won by Manchester based outfit Trafford AC in a time of 37 minutes 53 seconds for the three stage relay, they finished in a commendable thirteenth position in a time of 41 minutes 53 seconds, less than a minute off a top ten place. Poppy Buck got them off to a strong start with the team’s fastest clocking of 13 minutes 38 seconds for the two mile lap, with Lizzie Rank recording 14:11 on leg two and Rachelle Falloon bringing the team home in 13:53. Birtley’s Senior Women had a great day to come home in 2nd place overall, clocking 38:13. The Senior Men’s four stage was won by local outfit Hallamshire Harriers in 41:21 with Salford Harriers 2nd in 42:43 and Sunderland Harriers, featuring the Armstrong brothers and one Jordan Scott, late of this parish, picked up a bronze in 43:05. Disappointingly, Morpeth’s Senior Men were not represented. Full results NEHL Lambton Castle Remarkably, one of the same Senior Women’s team was back out at a windswept Lambton Castle course for the North East Harrier League the following day, where, despite fears of another cancellation due to flooded parking (as had happened at Druridge Bay the previous week), conditions proved to be better than expected, even improving as the day went on. The squally early rain proved to be at its worst for the day’s first race, the Under 11 Boys, where there were three young Morpeth Harriers having their first run in a blue and white vest, with Mason Ellison first back in 14th place, Will Fawcett 19th and Ben Hodgson 55th. The club’s best turn out was in the Under 13 Boys, where what looks to be a strong squad is developing with no less than five running. Following promotion to fast pack Mason Gaylor was 15th and Jack Dhawar and Jacob Thompson were 24th and 43rd, also from fast. Joseph Fawcett was 17th and Michael Madgwick 40th, both in their first runs for the club. The team finished in 4th place on the day and are now 5th in the team division. There was a great story in the matching U/13 Girls, where Lucy Heatley, having played a morning game of football at Cramlington, ran in the same boots she’d worn only a couple of hours beforehand, and wore a much too big for her borrowed man’s vest - but somehow still came home in 6th place! Heidi Wilkinson, like Gaylor promoted to Fast after the previous race, ran well to finish in 8th, with Zoe Tomlinson 31st and Emily Hodgson one place behind in another good squad showing, finishing 3rd on the day and, like the boys, at 5th in the team division. It was good to see Ewan Line back in action in the U/15 Boys, coming home in 9th place with Evan Laude 21st, although sadly the team missed a third counter. There was a similar story in the Girls race, with Lucy’s elder sister Faye 16th and Emma Tomlinson 27th. Oliver Tomlinson was 13th in the U/17 Boys and Ben Moll 16th, while in the Girls race Molly Roche was first back for the club in 9th. It was good to see four Morpeth vests in the U/17 Girls, with Molly followed in by Lucie Todd, 22nd, Megan Potrac, 24th and Iris Dungait, 25th, the team finishing in 5th place, also their place in the team division. There were over 350 finishers in the day’s penultimate race, the Senior and Veteran Women’s where Holly Lawrence made her Harrier League debut, collecting a richly deserved Bronze medal for her 3rd place finish. With Jane Hodgson 27th, Kirsty Burville 34th and Poppy Buck, who had also ran in Sheffield, 65th, the team finished 3rd overall behind winners Durham City once again with Birtley AC 2nd. However, it was good to see moving up the team division to 3rd, with more success surely to come. Also running were Jane Kirby, 92nd from Medium and happy to escape promotion once again to Fast Pack, Tayla Murdy, 139th from Medium, and Sarah Henry, 318th. Spare a thought for trooper Sarah, who fell on the course down by the river, continued to the finish, then found she had actually broken her right arm. Final race of the day was again the Senior Men’s, where over 450 took on the challenging three-lap, six-mile course which loops down to the River Wear and features some tough descents and even tougher climbs back up to the castle. Tom Straughan was back in competitive action for the club after several years away, coming back as first of six counters in 21st place. Also running his first Harrier League was James Deathe, 37th in his first Harrier League and certainly finding the conditions very different from his previous race, September’s Berlin Marathon. Under 20 Ethan Bond was another competing for Morpeth for the first time, having transferred from Gosforth Harriers, finishing in 94th from Fast Pack. The club’s final three counters were Liam Ramsay, 124th, Ian Armstrong, 127th, and Jake Parmley, 146th, all running from Medium Pack. The six to count team finished in 6th place overall and lost their place at the top of the division to Durham City, who look back to their determined best as a club. Also running were: Andriy Volkov, 151st from Slow; Lee Cuthbertson, 153rd from Fast; Jason Dawson, 165th from Slow; Richard Glennie, 192nd from Slow and Steve Johnstone, 315th from Slow. The next Harrier League fixture will take place at the new Mickley venue by the south bank of the Tyne near Prudhoe on Saturday 23 November. More details to follow. This venue replaces the old Aykley Heads, and is the last chance to get a competitive XC in before the North Easterns on 8 December. Full results Photos by Stuart Whitman  Tom Straughan at Lambton Comments are closed.
|
Archives
February 2025
|
