honours galore at NEHL awards night

The awards ceremony at Start Fitness

It was an evening of celebration for Morpeth Harriers at the presentation for the Start Fitness sponsored North East Harrier League 2022/2023 cross country season last Thursday, with the club collecting four team trophies along with four individual medals.
 
Oliver Calvert won Gold in the Under 15s Boys, and also led the U/15 Boys  squad to the team trophy, with a winning margin of seven points ahead of North Shields Polytechnic Harriers and Tyne Bridge. Support came from Oliver Tomlinson, tied in second place with Alnwick Harrier Liam Mcdonough, who both collected individual Silvers, and team members Stephen Craske, Harry Armstrong, Dan Burrow and Ben Moll.
 
The margin of victory was even greater for the club’s U/17 Boys, who won every fixture over the season to finish with a mere six-point total, 17 ahead of nearest rivals Birtley AC and Durham City. They were led home by Will De Vere Owen who, like Calvert, collected an individual Gold ahead of Gosforth’s Ethan Bond and Blackhill’s Tom Slane. Just missing out on individual medals, Morpeth’s Elliot Kelso, Bertie Marr and Joe Close were fourth, fifth and sixth overall.
 
And although Morpeth missed out on the overall title in the Senior Women’s Division One by an agonising one point margin, both Cat Macdonald and Jane Hodgson, who have had outstanding seasons once again over the cross country, picked up individual Golds in the Senior and Veteran competitions.
 
The final individual medal went to Emma Tomlinson, who picked up a good Bronze behind winner Kathryn Pye of Houghton AC and second placed Niamh Phillipson of Birtley in the U/13s.
 
Meanwhile the club’s Senior Men picked up the Sisterson Cup for the second year running as overall winners in the Men’s Division One competition by a margin of eight points over Tyne Bridge Harriers and Gateshead.
 
Final trophy of the night to collect was the Sherman Cup, won at Temple Park, South Shields in January, with contributions across the board from the club’s U/13, 15 and 17 Boys, and Senior and Veteran Men.