morpeth men battle to bronze at redcar

Morpeth's Finn Brodie battles with the Leeds City runner at Redcar

Runners from across the North of England converged on the seafront at Redcar to take part in the Northern Athletics Relays, with Morpeth’s Senior Men once again prominent and claiming, after over four hours of very competitive racing, a hard-fought team Bronze.
 
While it was great for spectators, the closed route along the Esplanade towards the south of the town was battered by some very gusty winds which made life even more challenging for all taking part however, especially those on long stages who had to run into it twice,  as over a thousand runners competed across the four fixtures for both Young Athletes and Seniors.
 
The opening Under 15 and Under 17 races saw good runs by the five Morpeth Harriers taking part, with Emma Tomlinson 12th in the U/15 Girls in 20 minutes 58 seconds and Faye Heatley 15th in 21:21. Local athlete Gabrielle Pinder, of organising club New Marske Harriers, was the winner in 17:25. 
 
There was a complete squad in the U/17 Men, with Emma’s older brother Oliver coming in 14th (16:38), Harry Armstrong one place behind (16:49) and Ben Moll 38th (18:27), with the race won by North Shields Polytechnic Harrier Daniel Watson in 15:48. The team finished a creditable 5th.
 
Forty eight teams from across the whole of the North of England lined up for the Senior Men’s fixture, run over four long stages of 9.5 kilometres and eight short ones of 5k, with the North West prominently represented by outfits from both Salford and Sale Harriers, Bury and Liverpool, and Yorkshire by Leeds City and Rotherham (although for some strange reason Hallamshire Harriers didn’t show at all) although most North East clubs also took the opportunity of a fixture close to him to measure themselves against some of the best talent in the North.
 
Early runs by young Joe Dixon, drafted in to run the first long leg (31:16), George Lowry (15:38), Finn Brodie (30:12) and Chris Parr (15:46) saw Morpeth well in contention behind early leaders Salford Harriers, with Leeds City ominously also moving up the standings and Sale also well placed.
 
Lawrence McCourt on the day’s third long leg (30:05), Alex Brown on leg six (15:12, the club’s fastest short leg) and Carl Avery (29:07, the club’s fastest long leg) saw Morpeth comfortably into third place, with Leeds City moving into second behind a very strong-looking Salford.
 
Thereafter runs by Connor Marshall (15:31), Sam Hancox (15:47), teenager Elliot Kelso (16:18), Tom Prentice (15:54)  and Josh Fiddaman (15:17) saw Morpeth finish in a total cumulative time of 4 hours 6 minutes 49 seconds, 3rd  behind Leeds City, 2nd in 4:03:54, and winners Salford Harriers (4:02:52).
 
Salford’s Harry Wakefield was the day’s fastest over 5k in 14:48 and Leeds City’s Richard Allen fastest over the longer leg in 28:19.
 
Teams from Sunderland Harriers and Tyne Bridge also made top ten placings, with Sunderland 9th in 4:20:56 and Tyne Bridge 10th (4:23:14). Interestingly, this year’s NEHL winners, Durham City, like Hallamshire didn’t run.
 
Morpeth’s B team also had a remarkably successful afternoon, coming in seventeenth of some forty eight teams in 4:34:36, although not without some frantic last minute work by team manager Dave Swinburne to juggle A and B teams after some late withdrawals.
 
Andrew Swinburne, in his firs`0p;/t outing in blue and white, clocked their fastest long stage of 31:55 to open proceedings with Alistair Douglas 17:14. Andrew Lawrence  ran 33:55 on leg 3, Jason Dawson 19:38 on leg 4, Dan Melling 16:21 on leg 5 and Matthew Briggs 31:38 for the final long leg. On the remaining short legs Jake Parmley ran 18:01, Dave Marshall 20:01, both commendably turning out at very short notice, Tom Balsdon 16:16, the team’s fastest short leg, Tom Straughan 17:02 and Rob Hancox, a few weeks off his 60th, 18:48 on the last leg.
 
Despite the difficulties, the team were also the day’s second fastest B team with a remarkable top twenty place, with Salford’s B finishing in no less than 5th place (4:17:15).
 
Earlier, the Women’s Six Stage Relays, with two long and four short stages run over the same course and at the same time as the Men, saw Leeds City show dominant form as they finished nearly six minutes ahead of nearest rivals in a time of 2:21:44.
 
There was further North East success however, with Tyne Bridge 2nd (2:27:30) and North Shields finishing 3rd (2:29:33), although on this occasion Morpeth Harriers were, perhaps disappointingly, not represented.