impressive bronze medal for men at northern relays

Bronze medal winners Carl Avery, George Lowry, Finn Brodie, Joe Dixon and Ellis Hetherington

Runners from across the North of England converged on Blackpool at the weekend to take part in the prestigious Northern Athletics Relays, held in the fading Victorian splendour of the city’s extensive Stanley Park.
 
The event features team races for Young Athletes over a flat, one-lap, 2.8-kilometre course, with Seniors completing two laps (5.6k) of the same course, all runners having a grandstand start and finish on the Sports Centre track.
 
Morpeth Harriers were represented in the Junior races by the Under 13 squad of Jacob Thompson, Jack Dhawar and Mason Gaylor, all new to an event of this size but not at all fazed by the quality of the competition and giving a highly respectable account of themselves.
 
Jacob posted a time of 13 minutes 11 seconds for the sharply contested mass start, with Jack recording 12:31 on leg two. Fastest leg was by a new recruit to the club’s ranks, Mason, clocking the team’s fastest and final leg of 11:21, with the team finishing just outside the top 20, with just short of 50 teams finishing. 
 
After further races for U/15s and U/17s (where NSP were very well represented, by the way, medalling in several categories) a rather unpromising and gloomy morning had given way to a rise in temperatures by the time the Senior relays got under way - where the action could certainly be described as red hot.
 
Finn Brodie took his customary first leg for Morpeth where he put the blue and white vest right in the thick of the action after a furious tussle, coming back in 16:17 for 4th place behind early leaders Clayton le Moors and City of York AC.
 
Carl Avery went out on leg two, the seasoned club racer, now a veteran, showing outstanding form to move Morpeth into the lead with a storming charge for 16:13.
 
Third leg runner Alex Brown kept the club in the medals on leg 3 with 17:02, handing over to the team’s youngest member Joe Dixon, younger brother of Team GB triathlete Daniel.
 
It was a baptism of fire for the teenager, who found himself up against Leeds City international Philip Sesemann, who had competed for Team GB in the Paris marathon only weeks ago, and Derby’s Ben Connor, who had placed 2nd in the previous week’s National Cross Country Championships.
 
Joe held his own, however, and manfully stuck to his task, keeping the squad in contention with a time of 17:25, only losing one place, although the race’s strongest outfits, Leeds City and Sheffield’s Hallamshire Harriers, were now up at the sharp end, Sesemann clocking 16:01 and Ben Connor the day’s fastest time of 15:37.
 
George Lowry’s run of 17:00 dead meant the club were still in 4th at the end of leg five – ‘the worst possible place to finish’, as Club President Jim Alder MBE always describes it – but there was a further twist still to come, with final leg runner for Derby, then in a medal position, starting to feel the heat over the last kilometre and beginning to struggle.
 
Sensing an opportunity, Ellis Hetherington was on the charge, reeling in the Derby runner shortly before entering the final section on the track, his time of 16:54 meaning Morpeth took a hard-fought but richly deserved team Bronze with an overall time of 1 hour 40 minutes 53 seconds, behind Hallamshire Harriers in 2nd (1:39:42) and expected winners Leeds City AC (1:38:44).
 
In fact it was a double victory for the Leeds outfit, with their Women also taking the title in the four-stage relay contested at the same time, finishing in 1:16:36 ahead of Salford Harriers in 2nd (1:17:19) and Vale Royal AC (1:17:49).
 
Good to pick up the medal certainly – but the U/13 lads have clearly shown the way in terms of getting there and competing: we need to get more teams to these fixtures.
 
Northern 6 & 4 Stage Relays and Young Athletes Relays 2024 (racetimingsolutions.co.uk)

Under 13s team Jack Dhawar, Mason Gaylor and Jacob Thompson