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The cream of the country’s endurance talent descended on Sutton Park for the annual English Road Running Association relays on Saturday, with Morpeth Harriers once again flying the flag for the North East following their outstanding victory in the Northern equivalent at Redcar two weeks ago. The Men’s event unfolded over a long four hours, with no less an authority than Morpeth Harriers President Jim Alder MBE pronouncing the competition as ‘out of this world'. Losing both James Young and Alex Brown, two of their strongest competitors from two weeks ago, Morpeth were however able to draw on the services of both Chris Parr and thankfully also club stalwart Andy Lawrence, only a week away from the London Marathon, who was himself a late addition after a late withdrawal and who ran at considerable personal sacrifice. The race features six long legs of 5.38 miles and six short of 3.16 through the undulating grounds of the country park just North of Birmingham, with no less than 57 complete teams from England, Scotland and Wales competing. Early leadership of the race was contested by London outfit Highgate Harriers, Kent AC and Central AC from Stirling, with these three getting away from the rest of the field where Swansea AC led the chasing pack. Finn Brodie led out for Morpeth as he had at Redcar, clocking 26:31 for the long leg and 14th place, with George Lowry moving the club up to 11th on the first short leg (15:49).  Finn Brodie in action on the first leg With long and short legs alternating thereafter, the club produced a very consistent performance to finish in 11th place overall in a time of 4 hours 18 minutes 41 seconds, only 38 seconds off a top ten finish.
Phil Winkler ran 27:19 for 16th on leg 3 and Andy Lawrence 16:55 for 21st on 4. Sam Hancox clocked 27:22 for 16th and Ali Douglas 16:06 for 17th as the race moved into the second half. Morpeth stayed in 12th throughout legs 7 to 10 thanks to runs by Carl Avery, 26:04, the club’s fastest long leg of the day, Connor Marshall, 16:02, Will Cork, 27:21 and Chris Parr, 16:03. On the last two legs, Lawrence McCourt moved up one place with 27:00 with Matty Briggs bringing the team home in 16:09 for 11th. At the sharp end, Highgate were still at the front at the half way point, but all changed after a storming run by Team GB triathlete and Olympic Gold medallist Alex Yee, also a world class runner, who clocked 24:58, only a second off his own course record, on leg 7 as he moved Kent AC into the lead. It was only on the last two legs that that lead was itself challenged, with Andrew Butchart of Central having recorded the day’s fastest time of 24:57 on leg 9, the Scottish outfit moving into pole position on legs 11 and 12 to record a winning overall time of 4:09:54. Behind them, Highgate got up to 2nd on the very last leg for a time of 4:10:38 with Kent having to settle for a close 3rd on 4:10:50. Leeds City AC were first Northern team in 8th (4:17:03) with Morpeth the second, but again first from the North East, with the region’s only other representatives Gateshead Harriers a distant 47th (4:58:40). Numbers were lower in the Women’s 6 stage event, with only some 26 complete teams out. Leeds City AC were comfortable winner this time out with a total elapsed time of 2:10:49 ahead of Thames Valley Harriers (2:12:37) and Salford Harriers and AC (2:13:37), although Blackburn Harriers, winners at Redcar failed to turn out at all. Fastest long female leg was by Herne Hill Harrier Georgie Grgec with 28:34 with Charnwood’s Gemma Steel clocking 16:41 for fastest short. This time the region’s sole representatives were Tyne Bridge Harriers, who finished in 18th in 2:28:51. Comments are closed.
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November 2024
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