 Cat Macdonald in action at Druridge Action moved to Druridge Bay on Sunday for the 2nd round of the North East Harrier League.
On an afternoon of better than expected weather with only a stiff south-westerly to contend with, this time round there were only two team victories, but a good turn out across the age groups and some fine individual performances made this a more than satisfactory afternoon on what is almost home turf for us. The first of the team victories came, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the U/17 Boys for whom Marr and De Vere Owen both turned out again despite the previous day’s efforts at the National relays, Will also managing the day’s fastest time. Will was followed home by Elliot Mavir in 6th, Elliot Kelly 14th from Fast, Bertie Marr in 16th and Joe Close 22nd. The victory sees the team comfortably established at the top of their division. The second win was courtesy of the club’s Senior Women, for whom Kirsty Burville on her debut in blue and white placed 3rd. Durham City athlete Alice Crane actually ran the day’s fastest time of 23:43 from Slow Pack to come home several minutes ahead of Hannah Williams in her 1st race for NSP since moving from the club (Morpeth Harriers will probably know her as Shuna’s older daughter). With Cat Macdonald 7th from Fast Pack in 24:32 and Jane Hodgson 11th and only 8 seconds behind, both from Fast Pack, it only needed Jane Kirby, only a week after the Kielder Marathon, to make 12th place for the team to complete their 2nd dominant performance of the season so far. Another fine turn out by the Senior Women included also Anna Wright in 109th from Medium; Lindsey Quinn 154th from Fast; Lizzie Rank 163rd from Fast; Julie Vermaas 213th from Fast, and Fran Kirby, 335th from Slow. With a final scoring count of another miserly 21 points - also 21 ahead of next club Tyne Bridge - there is now already a healthy 7 point margin in the overall division to next club Heaton Harriers, with the prospects for the remainder of the season looking extremely positive if numbers stay high. Although the club’s Senior Men could only manage 4th place on the day, they still remain at the top of their table. Once again the scoring count was headed by young Matty Walton, who defied his Medium Pack finish to come home in 8th place in 34:11 after another splendid run. Ralph Robson, also promoted from Wrekenton, was not far behind, 18th in 35:33, with the third of those promoted to Medium after Wrekenton, John Butters, also having an excellent run to come home 31st (36:25). Making not just his Harrier League but also, like Kirsty, his first run in blue and white, Andriy Volkov was 95th (40:11) with Anthony Jannetta 114th (37:59) and Anthony Liddle 124th (38:17) making up the scoring front six. A decent turn out of another eleven Morpeth athletes included also Ed Hillier, just outside the scoring count in 130th from Slow; Richard Glennie 147th from Slow; Mark Snowball 165th from Fast; a returning Will Clark 177th from Slow; Al Macdonald, 219th from Slow; Lee Bennett 221st from Fast; Jason Dawson 260th from Slow; Neil MacAnany, 267th from Slow; Steve Haswell, 291st from Slow; Steve Johnstone, 331st from Slow and Paul Turnbull, 511th, also from Slow. Fastest run of the day was by Kieran Walker of NE Project in 31:35, with two Newcastle University students, Luke Davis and Edward Petitt, coming in 2nd and 3rd, and all running from Slow Pack. A resurgent Gateshead Harriers were on the day winners with Tyne Bridge in 2nd and NSP 3rd. Morpeth remain at the top of the overall table on the same points as TBH but having won one fixture. The U/15 Boys were 2nd on the day to Durham City, with Oliver Calvert running the day’s fastest time in 5th place. Oli was supported by no less than 5 fellow team mates, with Oliver Tomlinson in 10th, also from Fast, Stephen Craske in 16th, Harry Armstrong 23rd, Ben Moll 25th and Dan Burrow 30th. The team head their overall table beside Gateshead Harriers. The U/15 Girls were most unfortunate in that a confusion over numbers and names saw Megan Potrac unfortunately disqualified despite finishing well. Iris Dungait in 9th headed the team home with Charlotte Marshall 25th. Once again Tabby Robson was the club’s only runner in the U/17/20 race, but like her older brother she had a very good run to come in in 6th place, ensuring promotion to the next pack up. There were however full teams out in the Under 13s, with the Boys in 7th and the Girls in 8th. Daniel Vermaas was first back for the club in 22nd in the Boys event, with Michael Leeson 31st on his debut and Evan Laude in 36th from Fast Pack. The team placed 7th and are 6th overall. The U/13 Girls are unfortunate in that all their runners come from Fast Pack, but this will surely balance itself out as the season goes on. Emma Tomlinson was 17th, running one of the day’s fastest times, Faye Heatley 27th and Grace Cunningham 47th. The team finished in 8th but are nicely placed in 5th overall with a good chance of moving up the table. The day’s activities had been once again kicked off with the U/11 races, where Morpeth had no less than six U/11 athletes running. In the Boys race, the club’s own ‘Thompson Twins’, Jacob and Jack (not of course actually related, but then neither were the band, who took their name from the bumbling detectives in Herge’s Adventures of Tintion - as fans of cheesy 80s pop will no doubt remember) were well up the field in 2nd and 4th, Jacob only 5 seconds off the day’s winner. Eli Mcsparrow was 34th also. Lucy Raper was also well up the field in the Girls race, coming home 4th, with Zoe Tomlinson 13th. The field also included Jane Hodgson’s daughter, Emily, who competed in her first ever proper race and came back in 25th place in front of some very proud parents. A link to full results is here: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2022-23/Druridge/ The next fixture is at Lambton Castle in County Durham on Saturday 29th October. No Lambton lions – and hopefully no malevolent worm either – but a scenic backdrop of the castle and a proper xc course. Put the date in your diary if you have not already done so, as the competition is certainly hotting up. View Stuart Whitman's gallery of images from the day: Senior men Senior women Juniors Comments are closed.
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