narrow win sees club retain weetslade title

Morpeth's victorious team of Adam Pratt, Joe Anderson and Cat Macdonald

The annual Weetslade Relays at Lockey Park, Wideopen, saw Morpeth retain their mixed relay title for the 5th consecutive year by the narrowest of five second margins in one of the event’s closest finishes. 
 
Balmy conditions on a still sunny evening last Wednesday made the 2.65 mile ascent of the old Weetslade  spoil heap, now a country park, even more challenging than normal, although it was certainly a great evening’s racing for those only having to spectate.
 
The unique format of the race has the sole requirement that each team of three must involve a man, a woman and an over 35 veteran of either sex, with clubs free to apply  permutations of this in any combination.
 
Outfits from South of the River Tyne, Jarrow and Hebburn AC and Sunderland Harriers, came home challenging for the lead after the first leg, with Sunderland’s Stephen Jackson running what proved to be the day’s fastest overall time of 13 minutes 20 seconds ahead of Jarrow’s Peter Smallcombe (13m 36s).
 
 Over 35 Adam Pratt, meanwhile, ran a sensible 13m 58s for 7th to keep Morpeth firmly in contention.
 
With most clubs choosing to send out their female runner on leg 2, all changed quickly. A flying Cat Macdonald quickly ate up the gaps to those ahead of her,  her time of 15m 18s proving to be the fastest female time of the evening with Cat one of only two women to break the 16 minute barrier.
 
At the end of leg 2, the club was now in 1st place by a narrow 5 second margin over Jarrow and Hebburn, for whom Alexis Dodd’s 15m 45s was the fastest female veteran time of the night, with Sunderland now some twenty seconds behind in 3rd.
 
In his first Weetslade Relay, it was a challenging position for Ponteland High School sixth former Joe Anderson to find himself in then, but he proved to be in no way overawed by the task as he extended the lead over his immediate rival, Jarrow’s Jack Brown. Certainly the maturity of his run impressed club president, the watching Jim Alder MBE.
 
The main  challenge was to come from experienced Over 35 Sunderland veteran Nathan Reed, who was steadily eating away at the 20 second lead. However, Joe always looked to have enough in the tank and finished looking comfortable enough with a clocking of 13m 52s. Reed’s 13m 33s was the evening’s fastest male veteran time.
 
Morpeth’s final time of 43:08 put them some 5 seconds of Sunderland in 2nd place with Jarrow some 49 seconds behind in 3rd ( 43:57).
 
The club’s B team of Graeme Cook (14m 34s), Linzi Quinn (17m 21s ) and Richard Johnson ( 13m 57s) placed a strong 6th also with a cumulative time of 45:52.
 
The club put out a further 4 teams, with the C of Lee Bennett (15m 23s), Sarah Lawson (17m 40s) and Shaun Land (16m 32s) placing next in 20th (49:53).
 
The F team (53:13) of Paul Brown (17m 37s), Gemma Floyd (17m 46s) and Gary Hall (17m 50s) stole a march on the D and E teams, largely thanks to a fine run by Gemma in her first outing for several months.
 
For the D team, Andy Leeson ran 17m 31s, Robyn Ferguson 20m 4s and Jamie Johnson 16m 44s for 48th, just managing to stay ahead of the E in 50th, for whom Mike Winter ran 17m 44s, Jane Kirby 19m 54s and Phil Walker 17m 14s (54:19 and 54:50).