The fourth round of the North East Harrier League took place in Alnwick Pastures on Saturday, with just short of a thousand runners across the ten events braving conditions that ranged from promising sunshine before lunch to squally showers thereafter.
With the castle dominating the skyline in the distance, Alnwick is almost the most scenic of the region’s cross country fixtures and local outfit Alnwick Harriers once again stepped up to organise with aplomb. But it is a mark of how disrupted this season has been by the weather that a fixture which traditionally bringing the curtain down on the cross country season was this year only the fourth of a proposed six. As has been the case for most of the season, it was once again a mixed bag of results for the club, with one team victory and one individual victory the stand out performances. The team victory came courtesy of the club’s Under 17 Boys, who were led home by Harry Armstrong in 6th place from Slow Pack. With regulars Joe Close and Oliver Tomlinson finishing 10th and 13th from Fast, and Stephen Craske 29th from Slow, the team finished ahead of North Shields Polytechnic and Low Fell and moved into third place in the overall table, but only now three points behind leaders Birtley. Winning the title isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility – but will require some real commitment in the next two rounds to make it happen. There was also a good performance in the Junior races from the club’s U/15 Girls, led home by Lucie Todd in 8th place from Slow, with Emma Tomlinson one place further back from Fast and Charlotte Marshall 24th from Slow. Finishing 4th, the team are now only one point overall off Gosforth Harriers in third. However a hugely disappointing turn out in what had been previously been one of the club’s strongest age categories saw the U/13s Boys fail to turn up to defend their place at the top of the table, with only stalwart Jack Dhawar in 36th turning out and the team slipping to second overall in the division behind a now out of sight Elswick Harriers. It is very sad to see a season’s good work undone by one poor showing. There was a similar disappointment in the U/13 Girls, where, despite the best efforts of ever presents Faye Heatley (5th) and Zoe Tomlinson (20th), both running from Fast, the club was unfortunately unable to secure a third finisher, with Birtley winning on the day and Morpeth now fourth overall. Most worrying of all perhaps was the absence of a single Morpeth vest in the U/15 Boys race. However, there was a welcome return to action for Tabitha Robson in the combined U/17 Girls and U/20 Women’s race, where a small but competitive field saw her finish in 15th from Medium Pack, 11th U/17. Biggest fields of the day were again in the day’s final two Senior races, although the numbers in each were down by well over a hundred from previous fixtures. Far and away the club’s best showing was in the Senior Women, where an exciting and close contest with Durham City saw Morpeth narrowly miss out on the team win by only three points to remain firmly in contention near the top of the table. The team was led home once again by Catriona Macdonald, looking fresh after the previous weekend’s run in the Scottish Nationals, who recorded the day’s fastest time of 28 minutes 26 seconds from Fast Pack, with the race won by Durham’s Nicole Burkinson from Slow in 30:01 from Gateshead’s Mary Ferrier (30:53). Jane Hodgson in 10th (29:44), a returning Morag Stead 21st (31:02) and Poppy Buck 39th (32:11) completed the club’s scoring count of four, with further strong runs by Tayla Douglas, 49th from Medium, and Lizzie Rank, 56th from Fast making the top 100. An ever improving Laura Mclean was 102nd (38:57), Lorna Macdonald 186th from Fast (36:46), Frances Naylor 217th (43:25) and Margaret Macdonald 269th (48:31). With all Morpeth’s finishers coming from Fast Pack, Durham can certainly count themselves fortunate to have found counters from Slow and Medium to help secure the win, but with these runners moving up for the next fixture, the final two fixtures look set for an exciting contest, with both teams now out of sight at the top of the division. A win is dependent on course on the kind of quality commitment on display here. Final race of the day saw just over 400 Senior Men braving what had become the day’s most inclement weather, with rain having set in and the course by now having been significantly chewed up, in fact the worst ever witnessed here. That proved to be no stumbling block to Tom Prentice, however, on his NEHL debut, who recorded a rousing victory in a time of 39 minutes 29 seconds for the three lap course. Prentice was followed home by Bertie Marr, also in his first Senior NEHL outing and 2nd in 39:54 Adam Pratt in 4th (41:19), all running from Slow Pack. With Lee Cuthbertson having his best cross country outing of the season in 31st from Medium (43:43), James Tilley 55th from Fast (42:23) and Ian Armstrong 62nd from Medium (45:07) to complete the team count. Andrew Hebden was next in, 100th in 46:06 from Medium, then Ben Heatley, 181st in 48:27, also from Medium, Steve Haswell, 193rd in 51:16 and Jake Parmley, 243rd in 50:37 from Medium. The Men’s team finished in an overall third place on 100 points, with Gateshead Harriers clear on the day winners (63) ahead of Tyne Bridge (90). Heaton Harrier Chris Larkin ran the day’s fastest time of 38:28. Morpeth’s Men saw their lead cut at the top of the table by two points, with Gateshead now lying second and rearranged fixtures at Lambton and Thornley Farm still to come. Clearly, there’s still work to be done. The next fixture is the rearranged Lambton Castle on Sunday 17th of this month, when hopefully the course will have dried up and the weather will have warmed. Comments are closed.
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February 2025
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