festive fixture round-up

​A number of club members were involved in races either side of the Christmas holidays, with 2023 culminating in one stand-out performance in Spain.
 
The Fell em Doon 5k took place in Ashington Community Woods, now also the venue of course for the weekly parkrun, and was hosted by Ashington Hirst Community Running Club.
 
Alnwick’s Liam McDonough was 1st back in 16:19 with TBH Paul O’Mara 2nd (16:31), but it was good to see Adam Pratt returning to action, 3rd here in 17:18.
 
Dave Stabler was 4th in 18:10, Richard Glennie 15th in 20:54 and Stephen Johnstone 20th in 21:46.
 
Shauna Rank capped a fine 2023 with 1st O/55 in 22:43 and Laura Mclean was just outside the top 100 in 30:46. Good to see AHRC runner Samantha Gair 1st female back in 19:01, ahead of NSP’s prolific Steph Maclean-Dann (20:05) and Lilly Scott, also of AHRC (21:41).
 
Now one of the oldest races in the country, the Ronnie Walker Saltwell 10k took place the Saturday before Christmas round a hilly four-lap circuit of Saltwell Park in Gateshead.
 
Won by Leeds City AC athlete Linton Taylor in a time of 32 minutes and 1 second, with Elswick Harrier Sophie Pikett first female finisher in 36:31, Morpeth were represented by John Butters, 18th overall in a time of 35:39 and third Over 40 competitor, and Gavin Bayne, 81st in 42:40 and second O/60 (only ten year vets categories used). Over 350 finished the challenging race.
 
The ever popular Woodlawn ‘Pudding Run’ on the sea front at Whitley Bay on Boxing Day was once again a sell-out, with valuable funds again being raised for the school. Advertised as a Fun Run (although entries are taken through Race Best), no results are later made available, with the winning run coming however from a visiting Bristol and West athlete, but there were three Morpeth Harriers in the top ten, with Rob Balmbra first home in 5th and local residents Ross Floyd 6th and Andy Lawrence 8th.
 
Two high-profile races followed on New Year’s Eve, with eight Harriers travelling to Clitheroe in Lancashire for the Ribble Valley 10k, which incorporated the North of England Championships and attracted a high class field.
 
Miler James Young was first back for the club, clocking 29:55 in 8th place, with Sam Hancox fighting off an injury to record 31:33 and finish 34th.
 
Team GB triathlete Dan Dixon, back in the UK for the holiday period, paced teenage brother Joe round the course to a new pb of 31:40 (38 and 37) with Connor Marshall next back in 32:09 (45). The Morpeth team were 4th overall.
 
Alex Cunningham clocked 33:30 in 82nd and Rob Hancox was 4th /55 in 39:36, with Michelle Thompson, in her first outing on the roads for a while, recording 43:07 as 10th O/40.
 
Marc Scott, of Richmond and Zetland Harriers, was crowned Northern Champion in 28:46 with local runner Jess Warner-Judd of Blackburn Harriers female winner in 32:42.
 
Meanwhile over in Spain there were two remarkable runs by Morpeth’s Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard on the same weekend at the Nationale-Nederlanden San Silvestre Vallecanu International in Madrid, where an elite field were headed by two Ethiopians, Berihu Aregawi winning in 27:15 with Ababel Yashaneh taking the women’s title in 30:30.
 
Finishing in 4th place in a time of 27 minutes 58 seconds, Scott capped a fine year as he recorded the fastest time over 10k on the roads in 2023 by a GB athlete, with Rory also running well to put difficulties at the European Cross Country Championships behind him when coming home 7th in 28:33.
 
Closer to home, the Town Moor full and half marathons took place on the same weekend.
 
Claire Calverley finished 10th overall and 2nd female finisher in the full in a time of 3 hours 49 minutes 46 seconds, not far behind winner Nina Cameron of Heaton Harriers. The race was won by Alex Ventisei in a time of 3:01:51.
 
Andy Lawrence was a winner in the half, coming in in a time of 1:14:29 only to find however ‘there was no one on the finish line and I only found I’d won in the showers afterwards!’ (or so he claims).