morpeth well represented at gnr events

It was a busy three days of competitive action for many from the club over the Great North Run weekend.
 
Events were kicked off on Friday night down at the Quayside, where the elite UK Athletics 5k Road Championships were quickly followed by the GNR 5k race over the same course, and last year’s winner, Morpeth’s Scott Beattie, was once again at the forefront of the action in the UKA Championship race.
 
This time however he couldn’t quite repeat last year’s victory, having to settle for 2nd place in a sprint finish behind Richmond and Zetland Harrier Marc Scott, with Scott clocking 13 minutes 56 seconds and Beattie 13:58. Sheffield athlete Calli Hauger-Thackery was 1st female athlete in 15:35.
 
The following mass participation 5k race was won by ex-Olympian Chris Thompson in 15:23 - with the popular Thompson going on to announce his retirement from elite racing a few days later - and Houghton Harrier Charlotte Dillon 1st female finisher in 17:39.
 
There were four Morpeth finishers this time, with Adam Pratt 9th in 16:32, Richard Deathe 20th in 17:16, Stephen Cessford 94th in 20:22 and Laura Mclean 284th in 23:24.
 
Saturday saw the Junior GNR races, again on the Quayside, but set off in age-related waves along a 4k course.
 
Edward Roff was 53rd in 18:07, Sofia Gibson 49th in 20:31, Emily Vermaas 145th in 23:52 and Charlotte Johnson 141st in 23:50 in their respective races.
 
Main event of the weekend was of course Sunday’s half-marathon from Newcastle to South Shields, run for the 43rd time this year and featuring a record entry of no less than 60,000.
 
Organisers were less lucky this year with the weather however, last year’s sunshine and clear skies replaced this time by lowering grey skies and a persistent drizzle that intensified as the day went on, with thick mist down at the finish area seeing competitors emerging out of the fog.
 
2024’s GNR winners were both Kenyans, Mary Ngugi-Cooper taking the Women’s race in a closely contested finish in a time of 1 hour 7 minutes and 40 seconds and compatriot Abel Kipchumba the Men’s, which he had led from the off, in 59:52. (Remarkably, Friday night’s winner Marc Scott was 2nd to Kipchumba in 1:01:11.)
 
Rory Leonard, whose efforts over the track season have been very much focussed on 5000 and 10000m races, made his competitive debut over the half marathon distance, clocking a highly respectable 1:05:16 for 16th place, with Carl Avery, a regular at the fixture, only three places behind in 1:05:27.
 
Also making the top 50 were Alex Brown, 37th in 1:08:12, and Tom Prentice, 47th in 1:11:32.
 
Other leading finishers for the club were Sam Hancox, 62nd in 1:11:32; Rob Balmbra, 76th in 1:13: 07 and Andrew Lawrence, 93rd in 1:13:51, but there were a host of other good runs: Dave Stabler, 279th in 1:19:46; Shaun Land, 355th in 1:20:56; Jimmy Dixon, 559th in 1:23:31; Dave Swinburne, 1527th in 1:30:26; Rob Hancox, 1567th in 1:30:30; Anna Wright, 2776th in 1:35:54; Julie Vermaas, 5337th in 1:43:07; Roderick Bruce, 5575th in 1:43:37; Tiago Soares, 6262nd in 1:44:58; Kate Kennedy, 6819th in 1:46;13; Sophie Ward, 8475th in 1:49:34; Jake Parmley, 11947th in 1:54:41; Gary Mason, 16777th in 2:02:32 and Arjan Piet, 31015th in 2:27:46.
 
Perhaps the most remarkable story here is that of incorrigible fell runner Gary Mason, who had taken part in the Ben Nevis race less than 24 hours beforehand, where he had finished in a time of 3:28:52, returning to the North East on Saturday night to complete the GNR in just over the two-hour mark with a clocking of 2:02:32. Hopefully Gary will have given himself Monday off…