Kielder Marathon Weekend

Seven Morpeth Harriers were among nearly 650 hardy souls who completed
the gruelling Kielder Marathon at the weekend.
Andrew Hebden took third place overall in a time of 2hr59m34s, just outside his PB for the off-road course
​which he has now tackled eight of the nine times it has been run.

Andrew Hebden on his way to finishing third in the Kielder Marathon

The race was won for a second successive year by Russell Maddams of Keswick AC
who eased to victory in a time of 2hr46m24s.
As well as the undulating terrain of Britain’s ‘most beautiful marathon’, runners also had to compete with a strong headwind on some of the most exposed parts of the course.

Six other Morpeth Harriers also took part in the Marathon, which had a total of 648 finishers.
Other results were as follows
Richard Kirby (110th) (33rd O/40 Man) 3hrs53min17secs, Eric Adams (153rd) 4hrs04mins13secs, Jane Briggs (167th) (4th O/40 Woman) 4hrs06mins44secs, Gary Mason (236th) (76th O/40 Man) 4hrs21min36secs, Mike Steven (257th) (10th O/60 Man) 4hrs26mins46secs, and Alex Zeller (383rd) 4hrs47min18secs.

Andrew Hebden (2851) at the presentation after the event

The marathon was part of a weekend of events at Kielder organised by Steve Cram’s Events of the North company.
Morpeth Harrier Tom Balsdon claimed victory in Sunday’s Under 16s race, completing the 2.5km course in 8m57s, giving him a margin of 43secs over the runner-up.

Also on Sunday, Frances Naylor was 38th in the women’s V50 category in the half marathon
​in a time of 2hr18m11s (602nd place overall).

On Saturday, three Morpeth women competed in the 10k race. Kay Errington was the 10th fastest senior woman home in a time of 48m32s, giving her a place of 109th overall. Jenny Glossop (257th) (58th Female) 54m52s, and Claire Hiscock (521st) (195th Female) 62m48s.