men retain signals title with women forced to settle for silver

Peter Smallcombe ran the day's fastest leg. Picture: Stuart Whitman

Saturday’s Royal Signals Relays saw Morpeth Harriers once again retain their Senior Men’s title while their Senior Women finished in second place.
 
Although conditions were slightly milder than had been previously forecast, it was still a chilly day for both competitors and spectators alike at the longstanding local fixture, which incorporates the North East Counties Athletics Association Road Race Championships, where all runners completed a two lap, 2.2 mile circuit of the lake in Hetton Lyons Country Park.
 
The day’s first race, held over four stages, saw a strong Morpeth Senior Women’s team claim a good Silver medal in a time of 52 minutes 15 seconds behind race winners North Shields Polytechnic Harriers (50:55), for whom Charlotte Penfold ran the day’s fastest time of 12 minutes and 12 seconds.
 
Morpeth’s challenge was headed by Lizzie Rank (13:12) with Catriona Macdonald on leg 2 running the club’s fastest time of 12:49. Robyn Bennett clocked 13:08 on leg three with Holly Lawrence bringing the team home in second place with 13:06, over a minute ahead of nearest rivals Tyne Bridge Harriers in third (53:53).
 
The B team of Lindsey Quinn (14:18), Lorna Macdonald (14:42), Jane Kirby (15:49) and Kirsty Burville (14:25) also placed well, 13th in a total of some 35 complete teams (59:14).
 
Under 17 Charlotte Marshall ran the first leg for an incomplete C time, clocking a respectable time of 15:53 in her first taste of competition with older athletes.
 
Meanwhile the veteran team of Rob Hancox (13:42), Alistair Macdonald (13:57), Lee Bennett (12:48) and Jason Dawson (13:21) were unfortunate to miss out on a medal in the Over 50s race, competed for at the same time, placing 4th in a time of 53:48 with NSP the winners in 52:00 ahead of local club Elvet Striders (52:18) with Darlington in third (52:33).
 
The O/50s B of Gavin Bayne (14:34), Mike Winter (14:51), Neil MacAnany (15:03) and Dave Marshall (14:11) finished in 58:39 for 12th place (and 2nd B team).
 
The Masters Women, competed for in the same race, was won by Jarrow and Hebburn in 55:49 with Elswick 2nd and Sunderland Strollers 3rd. Aly Dixon ran the 2nd fastest O/35 of the day (12:41) to Penfold, with fellow evergreen vet Justina Heslop clocking 12:57.
 
The Senior and Over 35s race that followed, held over some six stages this time, saw an impressive gun to tape victory for the club’s men, despite the absence of a handful of regulars who were absent following the Armagh 5k on Thursday night.
 
On leg 1 Peter Smallcombe, who had raced in Northern Ireland less than 48 hours previously, got Morpeth off to a fine start, his clocking of 10:23 the day’s fastest time, to put them into a lead that was never seriously challenged.
 
Connor Marshall ran 10:56 on leg 2, teenager Eliot Kelso 11:12 on leg 3 and Ellis Hetherington, another who had raced on Thursday, 11:08 with the lead slowly extending all the time.
 
With Sam Hancox clocking a fine 10:57 on leg 5 the Morpeth lead looked unbeatable, and so it proved to be on the final leg, with Alex Brown extending it further with his clocking of 10:46.
 
The cumulative time of 1 hour 5 minutes 22 seconds was a full minute ahead of nearest rivals Gateshead Harriers, with TBH over two minutes back in third.
 
The club’s B team of Ethan Bond (11:13), Dominic Harris (12:51), Dan Melling (11:33), James Deathe (12:06), Liam Ramsay (12:20) and Tom Innes (12:39) also made the top ten with a time of 1:12:42, with some 42 teams finishing in total.
 
In a very keenly contested Men Over 35 fixture, the club were most unfortunate in finishing, like their Over 50s, in 4th place, missing out on a medal this time by a mere seven seconds after over an hour of racing.
 
Ian Harding ran their day’s fastest time of 11:51 on leg 1, with Dave Stabler (12:15), Andrew Lawrence (12:03), John Butters (12:10), Rob Balmbra (also 11:51) and Andrew Ball (12:35) completing the line-up.
 
A strong squad of Gateshead Harriers veterans were the winners this time with Sunderland and Tyne Bridge picking up the minor medals.
 
Well done to all who turned out.

Full results are available here.