A remarkable victory by their Senior Women in the final race of the day was the icing on the cake of a highly successful afternoon for the club at the 118th North East Counties Athletics Association Cross Country Championships, held at South Shields on Saturday.
 
The first of four team Golds was in the Under 17 Men’s race over six kilometres of some muddy going at Temple Park, with conditions – while certainly not as bad as last year’s – still heavy under foot after the autumn rain.
 
Oliver Tomlinson helped the club to retain the trophy it had also won last year by finishing first for the club in 6th place, with support coming from Harry Armstrong in 13th and Ben Moll, 22nd.
 
There was individual and team Gold in the following U/20 Men’s race, with Joe Dixon winning in fine style from the front, and Sheffield University student Bertie Marr ensuring his trip back home was worth the journey by picking up a Bronze medal. Collecting his first team medal since joining the club, Ethan Bond was third counter, also running well for 5th place and a fine team win.
 
The club’s most comprehensive win was undoubtedly in the Senior Men’s fixture over the afternoon’s longest distance of 12k, where, with six to count for the team prize, Morpeth managed no less than five in the top ten, with their sixth counter coming back in 14th.
 
The race itself was won by a dominant Callum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers however, who continues to look an almost unstoppable force over the country, winning here by over a minute from last year’s winner Chris Coulson of Houghton Harriers.
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Lawrence Mccourt picked up a Bronze, with team mates Finn Brodie, Phil Winkler, Josh Fiddaman and Ellis Hetherington then filling the places from 4th down to 7th.
 
Sam Hancox in 14th took his share of the team spoils, just managing to stay ahead of fellow Morpeth Harrier Connor Marshall in 16th.
 
An excellent turn out by Senior and Veteran Men also saw Lee Cuthbertson 35th, James Deathe 57th, Ian Armstrong 72nd, Dave Stabler 78th, Jason Dawson 116th and Rob Hancox in 161st. Some 246 in total finished in the day’s largest field.
 
The victory means the club retained a trophy they have now won every year going back to 2012, with Gateshead Harriers a distant second and Sunderland Harriers in third.
 
The day’s final race for Senior Women, over two laps of the same course, saw Morpeth welcome triathlete Millie Breese to what was already a strong squad.
 
The Stirling University-based triathlete – who has already represented Team GB with distinction at both European and World level in the Junior ranks – looked in fine form here as she tackled what was for her the longest cross country race of her career so far.
 
With Cat Macdonald also running for Morpeth, the two blue and white vests were soon shoulder to shoulder at the front of the field and putting time into those behind. It was only really a question which of them would take the win, and despite Cat working hard to shake Millie off on the second lap, in the event it was the U/20 runner who was able to steal away in the final kilometre of the race, taking the victory by a narrow five second win.
 
Behind these two, there was a battle royal for third place, with club colleague Holly Lawrence in her first ever NECAA championships managing a determined 100m sprint finish to just get ahead of Wallsend’s experienced Jennifer Berry for the Bronze and make it a quite remarkable Morpeth one, two, three finish.
 
With four to count for the team, Poppy Buck came back in 10th place to cap another dominant performance. Lizzie Rank just missed out on a medal in 12th, Robyn Bennett also placed inside the top twenty in 18th and Linzi Quinn was 41st; all of these would have made the team counts of other clubs on the day.
 
This time Sunderland Harriers placed 2nd with an unexpected 3rd place going to Jesmond Joggers, and the expected challenge from Durham City Harriers and Tyne Bridge never materialising.
 
The day’s first two medals had come courtesy of the club’s U/13 teams, with Mason Gaylor just missing out on an individual medal when finishing 4th in the Boys race but collecting his share of a team Bronze, and Heidi Wilkinson similarly not far off the medals when coming home 6th in the Girls and leading the squad to a third placed finish.  
 
The day’s first race saw U/11s Mason Ellison in 13th, Luke Thompson 15th and Will Fawcett 22nd with some 65 finishers in total in a competition whose medals were generously sponsored by Bill McGuirk, who, despite his own ill health, was in attendance and gave support to the event all day. All at the club wish him well.
 
Harry Douglass was Morpeth’s sole representative in the U/15 Boys, coming in well in 23rd, with Faye Heatley making 10th and Emma Tomlinson 16th in the Girls. Full teams would have been likely to medal, especially in the Girls.
 
Tabby Robson and Molly Roche both ran in the combined U/17 and 20 Women, with Tabby finishing 8th U/20 and Molly 10th U/17.
 
The lesson surely, once again, is that full teams are always in with a shout of medals.
 
Nonetheless, an excellent day’s work for the club saw a final medal count of four team Golds  and two team Bronzes to go along with two Gold, one Silver and three Bronze individually. Well done all who ran.

Two Morpeth athletes were in action at the second meeting of the Gateshead Harriers Indoor Standards Winter Series on the evening of 5 December.
Under 15 Girl Sophie Pledger, improved on her previous figures, when winning the A Final of the 60m in 8.21s, improving on her previous best by three hundredths of a second.
Also showing significant improvement on the night was Under 15 Boy Charlie Townsend, who finished second in a B Final in 8.33s, which bettered his previous figure of 8.43s.
Veteran Man Trevor Hodgson of Morpeth Harriers travelled to Sheffield on Saturday 7 September, to produce the fastest Over 50 time of 7.60s in the second meeting of the Northern Athletics series.

Morpeth’s Rory Leonard rounded off what he himself describes as ‘a breakthrough year where I’ve moved on’ by collecting his share of a team Bronze medal at the 30th European Cross Country Championships in Turkey on Sunday morning.
                                           
On a day that saw most sporting events - including every single parkrun and Sunday’s Simonside Cairns Run - cancelled en-masse across the North East, conditions were much more propitious at the purpose-built course at Antalya on the Turkish coast, where the GB team enjoyed a remarkably successful day, collecting 12 medals in total across the age ranges.
 
Rothbury-born Leonard formed part of the five man Senior Men’s team in the day’s final race over 7.5 kilometres, although sadly training companion and fellow club member Scott Beattie, who, like him had qualified in horrendous conditions at Liverpool two weeks previously, was an unfortunate late withdrawal.
 
Establishing a good position in the field by the two kilometre mark, ex KEVI schoolboy Rory looked strong throughout and found the purpose built course very much to his liking, steadily pushing on as the race progressed and overtaking early leader and GB team mate Hugo Milner by the end to finish as first counter for the GB team with a top ten placing of 9th.
 
The race itself was won by Norway’s Olympic Gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen, equally at home here over the country as on the track, in a time of 22 minutes and 16 seconds, with Leonard – who said it was ‘amazing to be in the presence of one of the greatest ever’ – not so far behind in 22:45.
 
With Milner in 11th and Tomer Tarragano 19th, the British team collected a hard fought Bronze, only two points behind Silver medallists Belgium with Spain collecting the team Gold.
 
‘This is what we train for – we train for the big day’, a still ‘buzzing’ Rory exclaimed afterwards, expressing also his appreciation for the team around him as he picked up what is his 11th GB vest.

"It was a bloody technical course!" | Rory Leonard opens up about his ninth place finish at Euro XC

A busy day of athletics action across the North East saw runners competing over a wide range of courses, from down on the beach at Blyth right up to the hills of the North Pennines.
 
The 64th Blyth Sands race from Blyth to Seaton Sluice and back (instructions to runners: ‘Keep the North Sea on your left on the way out and your right on the way back’) began at 10 am, near the bottom of the tide, and again featured the race’s unique handicapping system, with Senior Men off scratch chasing a big fifteen minute handicap from the day’s first starters.
 
Despite the low tide and relatively mild temperatures, a headwind on the way out and treacherous conditions under foot made for a difficult run, and all that before factoring in the three notorious barnacle covered groynes to get over at the Blyth end.
 
As last year, this year’s race was won by Over 40 Jimmy Anderson of North Shields Polytechnic Harriers, who despite running off only a 2 minute handicap made light work of the conditions to finish in a time of 29 minutes 44 seconds for the five miles.
 
Home club Blyth’s O/55 Heather Christopher was 2nd off an 11 minute handicap, with NSP’s Greg Penn 3rd off 7 minutes.
 
Morpeth Harriers ran the day’s 2nd and 3rd fastest times however, with O/45 Dave Stabler in 5th overall and U/18 Oliver Tomlinson finishing in 8th.
 
Peter Scaife and Fran also finished in 114th and 115th places, Scaife having the customary tale of woe: no excuse for him missing his O/60 start, but injury was added to insult when Barnacle Bill also did for him as he attempted to negotiate the second of the three groynes on the return, lacerating both legs in several places. Ouch!
 
NSP also won the four to count team prize, with Elvet Striders from Durham turning out in big numbers to come 2nd. Isabel Hessey from the club was also the fastest female finisher.
 
64th Blyth Sands Race - RESULTS - Google Sheets
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​The Run Northumberland Big 10 Miler at Matfen was won by Pudsey and Bramley athlete Callum Hanson in a time of 55 minutes and 29 seconds, ahead of Elswick’s Luke Hilliard (56:31) with Morpeth’s Over 45 veteran John Butters in 3rd (58:17).
 
Club colleague Jimmy Dixon was 5th, just getting under the hour mark in 59:31.
 
Crook AC’s Kate Storey was first woman back in 1:04:18, with some 133 in total finishing.
 
Run Northumberland BIG 10 Miler
 
Meanwhile, across the Border, the Scottish West District Championships saw father and daughter Alistair and Catriona Macdonald competing for their Scottish club Bellahouston.
 
Catriona was 5th in the Senior Women’s race, recording 26 minutes over the 7.5 kilometre course behind winner Lynn Mckenna of Shettleston Harriers.
 
Alistair was 140th in the Men’s, but picked up a well earned prize as 1st O/60 with a time of 29:24.
 
Also turning out was Leeds-based triathlete Millie Breese, who won the U/20 6.4k race in 27:42, a 20-second margin over her nearest rival, and clearly in good shape as, like Cat, she prepares for the North Eastern Cross Country Championships.
 
Start Lists / Results | WestXC
 
Finally, in sunnier climes Shaun Land took over six minutes off his previous personal best time when finishing in 2 hours 53 minutes 4 seconds in the popular Valencia Marathon, where over 28,000 crossed the line.
 
The race was noticeable for the 5th fastest ever time for the distance, Kenyan Sebastian Sawe running 2:02:05 on his debut.
 
Ranking . Maratón . Valencia Ciudad del Running
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Sadly, if perhaps unsurprisingly, the planned fourth meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League, scheduled to be held on a brand new course at Eglingham Farm near Mickley on Saturday was cancelled as a result of Storm Bert making both travelling and parking hazardous. The second cancellation of the season already was a frustration for all concerned, with conditions by the afternoon ironically very good.
By contrast, across the Pennines in Liverpool’s Sefton Park the UK Cross Challenge – which incorporated the European Cross Country Trials - did take place, although the event was also plagued by persistent heavy rain throughout, making conditions extremely difficult before the completion of the twelve-race programme.
In the event, three athletes from Morpeth Harriers made the journey to Merseyside and were rewarded with some very strong performances for all their efforts.
In the main event, the Senior Men’s 8k, Scott Beattie ran very strongly as the conditions began to take their toll, finishing an accomplished 3rd in 25m02s behind winner Tomer Tarragano of Brighton and Hove (24m44s), and former Northern and National Cross Country winner Hugo Milner of Derby (24m54s).
As a result, Beattie has guaranteed himself a place in the European squad to run in Antalya, Turkey on December 8.
Meanwhile Morpeth Harriers club colleague Rory Leonard, who had actually led the 1,000 plus field in the early stages, slipped back slightly in the placings but dug deep to finish 5th in 25m16s, just being outpaced for 4th by Aldershot’s Ellis Cross in the final strides.
Rory now faces an anxious 48 hours to see if he makes it onto the flight to Turkey alongside training companion Beattie.
In the Under 20 Men’s 4.4k event, Morpeth’s Joe Dixon also ran strongly finishing 24th in a time of 14m31s behind race winner William Rabjohns of Poole AC, who clocked a winning time of 13m52s, with a total finishing field of 157 finishers.
By contrast, in his very first Indoor event, Morpeth Under 20 Bertie Marr finished 2nd fastest in the 2000m in the opening Northern Athletics Indoor Athletics Meeting, held at Sheffield Arena on Saturday.
Marr posted a finishing time of 5m49.88s behind Harrogate Harrier Luke Shacklock (5m47.91s).
Two more club members were also involved in indoor action closer to home.
Under 15 Girl Sophie Pledger equalled her personal best performance over 60m of 8.24s, when she produced the fastest time of her age group in winning her final, at the opening fixture of the Gateshead Standards Series, held at Gateshead College on the evening of Thursday 21st November 2024.
Another Morpeth Harrier in action at the event was Under 15 Boy Charlie Townsend, a relative newcomer to the sport.
He finished 2nd in the Under 15 Boys B Final, producing a time of 8.43s, which proved to be the seventh overall time of the age group.
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