Obituary: Peter Carmichael

We are very sad and sorry to learn of the passing of former Morpeth Harriers President, and Club Life Member Norman Peter Carmichael, following a tough battle through a sustained period of illness.
Peter sadly passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 89 just a few weeks short of what would have been his 90th Birthday.
He was very much the consummate gentleman in whatever he did, whether it be on his Farm at Linton, in the community at Morpeth, and even on the athletics circuit.
However he was also always the toughest of competitors, whether on the athletics track, the road, the cross country, or on the Fells where he excelled particularly  throughout Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria, Yorkshire, and sometimes in other parts of the land.
Peter produced a best Marathon time of 2hrs29mins in the 60’s, which saw him place just behind some of the top Brits at the time, which included of course his well-known Morpeth Harriers colleague, the legendary Jim Alder.
Along with Alder, in 1961-62, Peter helped bring the North Eastern Counties Senior Men’s Cross Country title to the club for the first time by finishing a strong sixth, where Alder placed third, to lead the triumphant squad home. Further assistance came from other well-known Morpeth names of the time including Roy Bell, Tom Horne, Tot Aisbett, and Jimmy Jones, who also got on the scoresheet at Redcar.
On the same day, Morpeth Harriers also took the Boys title for the first time, with well-known names such as Doug Cockburn and Bob Appleby in their squad.
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men also managed to finish fourteenth in the English National Cross Country at Blackpool that year, with Carmichael finishing 49th in a top-class field.
Alder himself was very close to Peter Carmichael, and he remembers being ferried to events in his legendary VW Beetle, very much a status symbol of him at the time.
In conversation with Peter several years ago, the writer learnt of a trip up to Oxford from Reading on the morning of May 6, 1954, where he was studying at the University, to witness another athletics legend, Sir Roger Bannister, break the four-minute barrier for the mile.
Bannister clocked 3mins59.4secs on the Iffley Road track, and the generally unflappable Carmichael could not resist being caught up in the throng of the pandemonium that followed such a feat, he would not have missed that occasion for the world.
Carmichael’s own athletics prowess was not to be denied however, and he appeared in many Morpeth to Newcastle New Year's Day Road Races, usually giving weighty support to the many achievements of Alder, who refers to his departed clubmate as being 'Very Good County Class'.
At this time, Morpeth Harriers & AC would wish to send Deepest Condolences to Peter’s loving and grieving family, his Wife Margaret, Son Andrew, and Daughter Ann.
We still await funeral arrangements.