juniors and senior men seal nehl titles

Jane Hodgson leads the charge of the senior women down the hill in the grounds of Alnwick Castle

​The curtain came down for the NEHL cross country season at Alnwick on Saturday, but not before Morpeth Harriers had wrapped the season up in style with two individual and two team wins.
 
Once again organised with loving care by local hosts Alnwick Harriers and held in the splendid setting of The Pastures, with its panoramic views across to the castle (draped this year in scaffolding), a chilly afternoon’s action was kicked off  by the Under 11 racers.
 
Numbers for Morpeth have grown for this over the season, so this time it was good to see no less than five boys and four girls turning out, with three debutants running for the first time in blue and white.
 
Jacob Thompson was first back in 4th place for the boys, with Lewis Baillie in 27th and Jack Dhawar 33rd having their first taste of cross country action for the club.  George Moll was 30th and Eli Mcsparron 34th.
 
Ever present Lucy Raper, who to her credit has run every fixture this season, was 5th in the matching girls race, with Lewis’s sister Heather, like her brother running for the first time, coming home in 31st . Zoe Tomlinson was 13th and Emily Hodgson 22nd.
 
The first individual Gold came from another debutant, with James Rothwell in the U/13 boys  first home, while there were no less than seven other team mates running in a squad that has grown in confidence and success as the season has gone on, and whose future looks promising.
 
Ewan Line was 5th, Michael Leeson 29th, Daniel Vermaas 33rd and Evan Laude 42nd, all out of Fast Pack, with William Hawkins 47th, Edward Roff, another debutant, 49th and William Mcbryde 50th, all from Slow. The team were 2nd on the day and finish 5th overall, largely due to a disappointing showing at Aykley Heads.
 
Emma Tomlinson was 11th from Fast Pack in the U/13 girls and Faye Heatley 16th, with Emma finishing 3rd overall in the season’s individual Grand Prix tables and Faye 6th. The squad finish 8th overall, but would undoubtedly have placed much higher with complete teams in all races.
 
There were team and individual Golds in the U/15 boys race, where Oli Calvert once more showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition, and in the process cemented the individual title.
 
With support from Oliver Tomlinson, 2nd in the Grand Prix standings, and and 6th on the day, and Ben Moll 13th, the team were winners over nearest rivals NSP and also take the overall title for the season. Dan Burrow was also 35th and Stephen Craske 40th, both now out of Fast.
 
Megan Potrac was 27th and Charlotte Marshall 35th in the U/15 girls race, and, although sadly short of a third team counter, credit must go to Charlotte who battled on gamely to finish despite falling over an exposed tree root, the injury requiring treatment at the end. Like the U/13s, the team finish 8th overall but, once again, have been one short too often. Megan secured 15th in the final GP tables and Charlotte 26th.
 
The second team win went to the club’s all-conquering U/17 boys squad, whose win on the day meant that they completed the remarkable achievement of winning the team title at all six of the fixtures.
 
They were led home by Will de Vere Owen, 2nd to a Slow Pack runner but recording the day’s fastest time and also, like Calvert, top of the final Grand Prix standings.
 
Bertie Marr in 4th, Elliot Kelso in 5th and Joe Close in 11th have also finished well up the final GP tables, in 5th, 4th and 6th respectively, with Elliot Mavir 28th on Saturday also.
 
Local team GB triathlete Millie Breese was the club’s only runner in the U17 and 20 women’s race, finishing 4th but recording the day’s second fastest time over the distance to Anna Pigford of Houghton AC.
 
Once again the largest field of nearly 500 runners was in the day’s Senior Men’s race, with the club fielding nineteen finishers in total.
 
Most prominent amongst these was Matty Briggs, who had originally turned up to support his Mum in the Senior Women, but whose late decision to run was very nearly rewarded with a victory.
 
With last week’s National Cross Country no doubt still in his legs, and having led for over two of the three laps, he was slowly reeled in by Durham City’s U/20 Morgan Kendall, whose final winning margin was a mere eight seconds. At least team manager Scaife’s borrowed vest recorded its highest placed finish.
 
There was excellent team support from cross country stalwart Andy Lawrence, 19th from Fast Pack and 9th in the end of season GP tables also, James Tilley, 25th in his first outing since his promotion to Fast Pack, Richie Hughes, 38th from Medium and Rob Balmbra, also newly promoted in 51st, and final counter Alistair Douglas, 93rd, the last two both from Fast.
 
Andriy Volkov just missed out on the counters in 94th, but certainly deserves a mention as he has completed five out of the six races.
 
Other finishers included: Jason Dawson, 101st from Slow; Andrew Hebden, 112th from Medium; Richard Glennie, 127th from Medium; Mark Snowball, 200th from Fast; Shaun Land, 228th from Medium; Lee Bennett, 261st from Fast; Al Macdonald, 265th from Slow; Dave Nicholson, 305th from Slow; Andy Leeson, 310th from Slow;  Richard Kirby, 320th from Slow; Neil MacAnany, 325th from Slow and Steve Johnstone, 341st from Slow.
 
The club finished 3rd  on the day behind rivals Tyne Bridge Harriers by only 8 points, with North Shields Polytechnic Harriers turning out a strong team and finishing in 1st on 53.
 
However, with four out of six team wins and a 4th place (at Druridge, the nearest fixture ironically) to add to Saturday’s 3rd, the squad retained the coveted Senior Men’s title won last year by a big margin of eight points ahead of TBH with Gateshead in 3rd. Durham City look to be on a comeback, and will provide some stiff opposition next year after promotion.
 
Congrats also to Matt Walton, 4th in the Senior GP in his first season, Kieran Walker of NE Project winning ahead of Conrad Franks (of the wide-spread arms) and TBH’s Michael Hedley, and also to JB, 4th in the Vets table, won by the redoubtable Mr. Mckenna. Lee was also 12th.
 
Fastest time on Saturday was by Houghton’s Chris Coulson with 36:21, by the way.
 
The day’s only real disappointment was seeing the club’s Senior Women miss out on the women’s overall title by a frustrating margin of only one point to rivals Tyne Bridge after such a good season.
 
With so many of Morpeth’s runners promoted to Fast Pack as the rounds have unfurled, the squad’s been a victim of its own success in a way, while the Newcastle outfit were in contrast again able to call on a debutant from Slow Pack and two from Medium for three of their four counters to help secure their win.
 
Jane Hodgson capped a remarkable season, however,  with 7th place and the day’s second fastest time behind NSP’s flying Charlotte Penfold, who won from Slow Pack with a  margin of nearly two minutes, recording the day’s fastest time, from Elswick’s Justina Heslop, herself no slouch of course and TBH’s first finisher in 3rd from Slow.
 
Jane was followed by fellow veteran Morag Stead in 16th from Fast and Anna Wright 34th from Medium. The final team counter was Gwenda Cavill, 86th from Slow, with the team 5th on the day.
 
Another big turn out saw another eight finishers. Robyn Bennett was 109th from Medium, Jane Briggs 120th from Slow, Linzi Quinn 132nd from Fast, Claire Calverley 153rd from Medium, Jane Kirby 168th and Julie Vermaas 181st, both from Fast, Mhairi Line 189th from Medium and Fran Robson 381st from Slow.
 
For Jane and Morag there was at least the consolation of finishing 1st and 2nd in the final GP veteran tables, with Cat also heading the Seniors table, with Lizzie Rank 13th and Linzi 16th.
 
Perhaps worth noting that the vagaries of the NEHL are such that there wasn’t actually one TBH runner in the top ten of either the Senior or Veteran Women’s tables.
 
2nd overall last year also, on that occasion to Elswick Harriers, the Morpeth squad will certainly be hoping that next year it will be a case of third time lucky.
 
So three out of eight team Golds at the end of the season, and one Silver. Also four individual Golds, one Silver and two Bronzes to boot. Not a bad haul at the end of a long and hard fought season.
 
Thanks from the club to all who turned up and ran, wherever you finished. Hope you enjoyed it. See you at Wrekenton in September. 

Final league positions are available here.
Pictures courtesy of Stuart Whitman - see here for full gallery of images.