event round-up

​Sunderland City Runs 

Sunday 11 May saw the annual Sunderland City Runs take place, with a 10k and half marathon on offer, plus an introductory 3k.
 
Locals Liam Walshaw, of Sunderland Harriers, and Aly Dixon, of the Strollers, were winners over the contortionist course, with Walshaw recording 1 hour 13.28 seconds and Dixon 1:19:15.
 
Shaun Land had a fine run to come home 6th in 1:19:11, with Tony Lewis 43rd in 1:27:18.
 
The 10k was won by Durham City’s Ben Bayly in 31:21 with a flying Stacey Smith clocking 33:51.
 
Jake Parmley was 45th in 37:24 for Morpeth.
 
Clive Cookson 10k 

The following Wednesday saw the popular Cookson 10k down at the coast, with some 431 finishers, although there are some ominous rumours about what might happen to the race in the future, with proposed housing developments threatening its future.
 
NSP’s O/40 James Anderson was the winner in 32:10, with Jarrow and Hebburn’s Alex Sneddon first female finisher in 37:35.
 
Adam Pratt continued a welcome return to competitive action with 12th place in 35:27, with Dave Stabler 6th Over 40 and 50th in 38:52.
 
Anna Wright was 33rd female home and 6th O/40 in 45:57.
 
Night of 10,000 pbs 

The much expanded programme for Highgate Harriers’ ‘Night of 10,000’ in North London saw a series of 800m races beginning on Saturday afternoon, along with sundry other entertainments, the 10,000m races themselves only taking place much later in the evening.
 
Clearly a lot of work – and good PR – had gone into this year’s fixture, with the event even featuring on the BBC red button, along with some heavy investment into the facility itself (a figure of £2 million was dropped at one point…ouch), and the evening’s last two races the Women’s and Men’s 10000m Paris Olympic Trials and UKA Championships.
 
And it was a joy to see not one but two Morpeth vests in the evening’s final heavyweight fixture, with both Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard swinging into action.
 
In a race that was finally won by Mohammed Ismael, representing Djibouti, in 27 minutes 22.38 seconds ahead of Preston Harrier Patrick Dever (27:23.88), but only after the lead had changed hands several times, Rory had a sensational run, finishing in 8th place in a massive personal best of 27:28.39, some 26 seconds off his previous best time. He was also 2nd British finisher.
 
Scott meanwhile also ran well, clocking 28:23.25 in 26th place, but some way off his best for the distance this year.
 
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rory seemed almost a bit fazed by it all himself afterwards when interviewed live.
 
Among other achievements, he also set a new Morpeth Harriers 10,000m record, replacing the club’s previous best of 28:35 set by Ian Hudspith way back in 1997 in Sheffield. Well done Rory!

Watch: Rory Leonard on his huge personal best of 27:38.39 at Night of the 10,000m PBs (youtube.com)
 
Goatfell Hill Race
 
Alistair and Catriona Macdonald took the ferry to the Isle of Arran at the weekend to take part in the classic Goatfell Hill Race - 13kms with a steep granite boulder 880m ascent to the summit, followed by a tricky descent.
 
A winner for the third year running of the NEHL Senior Women’s title, the presentation of which took place last week, but here representing Scottish club Bellahouston, Catriona was 16th overall and 1st female finisher in 1 hour 42 minutes 5 seconds, nine minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
 
Meanwhile Alistair was 45th in 2:00:48, and 2nd O/60.
 
The race itself was won by Carnethy HRC runner Eddie Narbett in 1:19:37.
 
Latrigg Fell Race
 
Across in the Lakes, Nicol McCoy was 58th and 3rd O/50 in the Latrigg Fell Race on the same evening as the Cookson.