double victory for seniors at alnwick

The fifth and penultimate round of the NEHL took place at the Pastures in Alnwick on Saturday with a good showing from Morpeth Harriers, some 18 Young Athletes and 23 Seniors making the short journey up the A1.
 
Always the most scenic of venues, with the distant vista of the medieval castle presiding in the distance, once again decent conditions under foot and fine if cloudy weather meaning a generally propitious day for all.
 
Under 11s races at midday got the day’s action under way, with some seven blue and white vests turning out over the one mile, up and down course – actually one of the more difficult ones for the age group across the season.
 
Good to see four U/11 Girls out, with Ellie Feal and Ella Rowlinson neck and neck in 12th and 13th places, Niamh Balmbra 20th and Florence Tyler 43rd.
 
Three Boys ran too, with Mason Ellison again placing well in 3rd, Ben Hodgson continuing to make progress in 18th and Jack Bell having his best race so far in 30th.
 
Once again Izzy Cromar was, sadly, the club’s only representative in the U/13 Girls, however, finishing 20th from Fast Pack.
 
And there were also only two U/13 Boys out this time, with Hector Ford-Hutchinson 26th and Will Fawcett 30th, both from Fast. They remain in 3rd in the Grand Prix, however, only one point behind NSP.
 
By contrast, the Morpeth U/15 Girls had an excellent afternoon, with Heidi Wilkinson running the day’s fastest age group time to come home in 5th from Fast, Faye Heatley 10th from Fast (and 3rd fastest of the day) and Zoe Wilkinson 25th from Slow. They have now moved up to 3rd also in the overall table, having finished in second here.
 
There was also a complete team of U/15 Boys, with Jack Dhawar 14th from Fast, Charlie Taylor 25th and Jacob Thompson 27th, both from Slow. They also are in 3rd overall.
 
Disappointingly, there were no U/17 Boys out in what has always been such a strong category for the club, although Lucie Todd (7th) and Charlotte Marshall (10th) both represented the club well in the matching Girls fixture, although they missed a third counter. The team remain 2nd in a very tight Grand Prix.
 
The Senior and Veteran Women meanwhile made light of the absence of several of their faster runners – taking a deserved break following last week’s National and in advance of the Inter Counties – to finish 1st team on the day (75 points) and continue to move up the team standings.
 
The team were headed home by Catriona Macdonald, who ran the day’s fastest time of the day (27:52) for the two lap course when finishing in 5th overall behind race winner Nicole Burlison of Durham City (28:56 from Slow).
 
Jane Hodgson was 11th from Fast and Anna Wright, in her NEHL debut this season, 24th from Slow, with Jane Briggs, 35th also from Slow, making the four to count score.
 
Sophie Ward was 46th from Medium, Vicky Thompson 54th from Slow, Sarah Henry 193rd  and, in her first run in a Morpeth vest, Kelly Clarke 220th, both from Slow.
 
Equal on points with Jesmond Joggers, the squad are ahead in 2nd having won more fixtures (three to JJ’s two) but most hope for a win in the season’s final fixture and a TBH meltdown, with them now four points ahead.
 
With fifteen finishers in total, Alnwick was far and away the Senior and Veteran Men’s best showing - although they couldn’t quite get the beating of NSP, winners on the day and clearly heading for the Men’s title, having set their stall out to win this one in 2025/26 after years of being a yo-yo club between divisions.
 
They were headed home by Carl Avery, who, choosing to run from Fast, finished in 5th in a time of 34:49, and ran what was the day’s fastest time in an imperious display of cross-country running. Elswick’s Dan Milton was race winner in 37:31 from Slow.
 
Tom Prentice was 16th, also from Fast, O/40 veteran Andy Ball 20th from Slow, James Higgin 31st from Slow, Bobby Hagen 37th (Slow) and Ali Douglass 42nd (Fast) to complete the team count, with the Men now up to 3rd in the table on 18 points overall but only one point behind Gateshead Harriers, with NSP out front on 11.
 
Also running for Morpeth were: Rowan Bennett, doing well on his return in club colours, 51st from Slow; Rob Balmbra, 74th from Fast; Jason Dawson, 77th (Slow); Ian Armstrong, 94th (Medium); Lee Bennett, 125th (Slow); Andriy Volkov, 174th (Slow); Tony Horsley, 236th (Slow); Steve Johnstone, 260th, (Slow) and John Clark, 299th (Slow).
 
A productive and enjoyable day for the club then, and well done all who turned out either to run or support.
 
Full results here: Race Results | North East Harrier League | North East Harrier League
 
With much still to compete for, the season’s final fixture will take place at a new venue, Eltringham Farm in the Tyne Valley near Stocksfield on Saturday 21 March.
Link to venue info here: Eltringham - Race Information | North East Harrier League