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. Comments are closed.
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