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The Great North Run weekend kicked off on Friday night with the Elite International 5k race round the one-mile circuit north and south of the Tyne over the Swing and Millennium Bridges between the Baltic and the Pitcher and Piano.
A keenly-contested three-man scrap saw Morpeth’s Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard losing out by the smallest of one second margins to Thai-American Kieran Tuntivate (14:01) in a thrilling race for spectators. The mass participation 5k that followed saw Tyne Bridge Harriers winning both the men’s and women’s races, with Michael Hedley clocking 15:35 and Jess Eaton 17:45, with Jake Parmley for Morpeth recording 17:48 in 20th. Saturday’s uunior races, also on the Quayside, featured a number of Morpeth runners in age-graded waves, with Mason Gaylor and Heidi Wilkinson both 3rd in theirs. Lucy Heatley was 10th, Charlotte Marshall 13th, Faye Heatley 19th, Mason Ellison 30th and William and Joseph Fawcett 80th and 82nd respectively in their waves. The near 60,000 runners who took part in the 44th edition of a blustery Great North Run on Sunday morning included once again many members of Morpeth Harriers keen to be part of the world’s largest half-marathon, although some were donning various charity vests and raising sponsorship. On a day when Kenyan athletes were first across the line in both Men’s and Women’s races, with Alex Mutiso recording 1 hour and 52 seconds and compatriot Sheila Chepkirui 1:09:32, Carl Avery was first back in a blue and white vest, making the top 20 in 19th place in 1:07:16. (Carl also had the distinction of being the very first runner to partake in a free beer at the Newcastle Hash House Harriers Beer stop at 10.5 miles!). He was followed home by Phil Winkler, 24th in 1:08:18, Tom Prentice, 73rd in 1:12:49, and Connor Marshall, 98th in 1:13:50. Also finishing were: Rob Balmbra, 103rd in 1:14:43; Tom Straughan, 154th in 1:16:42; Andy Lawrence, 182nd in 1:17: 34; Andrew Swinburne, 202nd in 1:18:01; Andy Ball, 270th in 1:20:16; Dave Stabler, 297th in 1:19:55; Shaun Land, 435th in 1:22:35; Jake Parmley (again), 713th in 1:26:22; Rob Hancox, 1009th in 1:28:33; Will Clark, 1232nd in 1:30:00; a crocked John Butters, still 1443rd in 1:31:07; Kirsty Burville, the club’s first female finisher, just outside the one and a half hour mark in 1:30:32 in 1359th place; Caitlin Flanagan, 2141st in 1:34:46; Anna Wright, 2486th in 1:36:21; Mark Banks, 6984th in 1:48:50; Richard Kirby, 20218th in 2:12:18; Arjan Piet, 26343rd in 2:23:01 and Leah Scott, 31036th in 2:31:53. Well done all who ran - although the enjoyment of finishing by many was subsequently dampened by the controversy over the design of medals… Comments are closed.
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November 2025
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