morpeth retain norman woodcock title

Morpeth retained the Norman Woodcock title in near perfect conditions on Sunday morning at Gosforth Park.
 
A three stage mixed relay run on the road round the inside of the race track, there were well over 100 complete teams out from across the region, with Morpeth hoping to hang on to a trophy they had also won last year.
 
Connor Marshall got the club’s challenge off to an excellent start, his time of 7 minutes and 59 seconds for the 1.66 mile circuit putting the team right up with the leaders.
 
At the end of leg two, Tyne Bridge Harriers had taken a slight lead courtesy of Jess Eaton’s clocking of 9:05, the fastest female time of the day, but Holly Lawrence’s 9:09, the day’s second fastest time, put Morpeth into second place and so it all came down to the morning’s last stage.
 
Returning to competitive action after a long spell of several months off with injury, Ellis Hetherington showed himself more than up to the challenge, quickly overtaking Tyne Bridge’s Michael Hedley in the first quarter of a mile and then going on to record the day’s fastest time of 7:40.
 
Morpeth’s winning time of 24 minutes and 48 seconds saw them record a winning margin of ten seconds over 2nd placed Heaton Harriers with Tyne Bridge coming in 3rd.
 
The club’s B team of Over 40 Dave Stabler (8:45), Lizzie Rank (9:23) and Dean Lonsdale (9:21) also ran well to make a top ten finish in 8th.
 
A further team of Bobby Hagen (8:26) and teenagers Charlotte Marshall (10:51) and Ben Moll (9:19), all running in a Senior relay team for the very first time, came back in 28:36 for a very creditable 15th place.
 
It was disappointing however that, in a race with 40+, 50+ and 60+ mixed team categories, the club didn’t manage to get any teams out this year.