 Some of Morpeth's young athletes at Temple Park Despite several strong individual performances, Morpeth’s Men’s and Women’s teams were sadly unable to get their hands on either the Sherman Cup or the Davison Shield again at Temple Park, South Shields on the last Saturday in January. The insistent wet weather had understandably stoked fears of a very boggy course as has been seen here in several recent years, but, despite some sticky patches, conditions were probably better than feared by most and the weather at least stayed reasonably clement. The non-counting Under 11 races got the action under way once again, with five youngsters first out for the club. And prominent amongst them was the blonde main of Mason Ellison, who had a fine run to finish 2nd in the Boys race. He was backed up by an ever-improving Ben Hodgson, 14th and, on his debut, Jack Bell in 37th. There were two out in the Girls race, with Ella Rowlinson 18th and Florence Tyler 31st. The Sherman and Davison have been remodelled this season as competitions following several years of thin (post-Covid?) turn-outs in the Young Athlete races, with the only clubs able to fill 13s/15s/17s categories usually near or at the top of the table. Instead, for the 25/26 season all clubs were able to drop whatever was the weakest of the five qualifying categories (which also include Senior and Veteran competitions) and having been close in the last two seasons, there was certainly hope in the Morpeth camp that this year at least one trophy might return to the club. It was the Morpeth YA, Senior and Veteran Men who came closest on the day, finishing in 2nd overall despite an extremely disappointing showing in the final Senior and Veteran Men’s race where they lost out to Tyne Bridge, who made the most of the league changes. Good showings in the YA categories saw Joe Fawcett 5th, brother Will 19th, Luke Thompson 21st and Hector Ford-Hutchinson 26th in the U/13s and Jack Dhawar 7th, Charlie Townsend 28th and Jacob Thompson 31st in the U/15 competitions. However, with only three Senior and three Veteran Men turning out in the day’s last race – the worst showing in either category for many a year – the chance of getting hands on the trophy were very slim, despite the efforts of Tom Innes (26th), Bobby Hagan (39th), James Higgin (52nd), Jason Dawson (78th), Richard Glennie (84th) and Steve Johnstone (184th). In the end, the team did still manage a decent 2nd place finish overall so congratulations to all who did show. TBH were big winners (14 points to Morpeth’s 30, with Gosforth pipped into 3rd by one point). It was almost the opposite for the YA, Senior and Veteran Women where, despite an excellent turn out in the day’s penultimate race, the club was unable to get the required three in any of the previous YA races. There were some decent runs by individual athletes here however, with Izzy Cromar 7th in the U/13 Girls, Charlotte Marshall going one better for 6th in the U/17s and best of all a delighted Faye Heatley taking the U/15 title. The club’s best overall showing was clearly the Senior and Veteran Women’s fixture, where blue and white vests were very much to the fore and looked a dominant force. Cat Macdonald won the Senior race, and with Lizzie Rank 5th and Poppy Buck 14th they were also team winners. Lindsey Quinn was 47th and Sophie Ward 125th. In the Vets category meanwhile, Jane Hodgson again placed strongly to come back in 6th, with supporting runs from Jane Briggs (73rd), Vicky Thompson (81st), Sarah Henry (122nd) and Fran Robson (147th). Sadly, the lack of full teams earlier in the day meant the club could only finish 5th overall in the Davison Shield, with Elswick Harriers winning the title - so it was for both squads a day of what might-have-beens, something that seems to be happening a little too often these days. Full results here: Race Results | North East Harrier League | North East Harrier League
 Jane and Ben Hodgson Comments are closed.
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