 James Young set Morpeth's Senior Men on the road to a comfortable victory. Photo: Stuart Whitman The now disused airfield at the Albemarle Barracks, off the Military Road in Tynedale, was a new venue for one of the North East’s most historic fixtures last week, the Elswick Harriers Good Friday Relays.
First held in 1966 and run over a variety of courses around the city since, the races have been won in the past by a host of big names, including McLeod, Cram and Foster, and have become very much a feature of the Easter weekend. Last held in 2019 at the Riverside leisure park on the south bank of the Tyne, last year’s races had been planned to be held on the Town Moor, but were sadly cancelled due to some last-minute difficulties with the Freemen, so this year’s were eagerly anticipated after a break of three years. And although the airfield is now defunct, its tarmac starting to show signs of wear and tear, the land to the south of Stamfordham is still Ministry of Defence owned and as a result spectator access was strictly limited to the area around the changeover and race HQ marquee, making for a rather unusual experience for both runners and spectators. Allied to runners having to carry an actual baton – which many had not done since school sports day – it certainly made for a novel morning. Under pleasant Spring sunshine, action started with three sets of Junior races for combined Under 11s, U/13s and U/15s. Five Morpeth Harriers were first to run, taking part in the combined U/13s event, with Emma Tomlinson 18th and 7th girl in a time of 9 minutes 4 seconds for the 1.5 mile course. Emma was followed home by Michael Leeson, 31st in 9:26, Lucy Raper, in her first race as an U/13, 32nd and 11th girl in 9:43, Emma’s younger sister Zoe, 39th and 17th girl in 10:01, and Jack Dhawar 43rd in 10:19. There were some 77 teams of three taking part in the following combined Senior and Veteran Women’s race, held over a slightly longer distance of 2.4 miles. North Shields Polytechnic’s Seniors were overall winners, with the team of Holly Waugh, Katie Joslyn and Charlotte Penfold, who ran the day’s fastest time of 12:40, recording an overall time of 40 minutes 1 second, and finishing some 39 seconds ahead of Tyne Bridge in 2nd with Gateshead Harriers in 3rd. TBH did win the veteran’s race, however, and were 10th overall with a time of 43:46. Sunderland Stroller Aly Dixon ran the day’s fastest vet time of 13:07. Finishing 5th in a time of 42:37, Morpeth’s A team missed out on a medal by less than half a minute after the efforts of Morag Stead on leg 1 (13:56), Caitlin Flanagan on leg 2 (15:03) and Catriona Macdonald on 3 (13:32). The B team of Lizzie Rank (14:32), Kay Errington (18:59) and Linzi Quinn (15:24) were 31st (49:04). Morpeth’s vets were 42nd overall and 12th veteran team, with legs by Kirsty Burville (15:07), Pam Woodcock (19:55) and Claire Calverley (16:19) for an overall time of 51:30. The day’s final race, for teams of four, proved to be an exciting head to head between teams from Morpeth, Sunderland and Houghton. Morpeth’s James Young led out for the club’s A team and his exceptional time of 10:44, the fastest of the day, put the club into a lead that was subsequently challenged but never relinquished. Triathlete Brandon Pye had put a youthful Houghton Harriers team into 2nd place at the change, his 10:58 the third fastest time of the day, with Scott Armstrong of Sunderland Harriers in 3rd. Morpeth’s teenage C team also had a strong start, with Will de Vere Owen coming back in 11:34 in 7th place, ahead of B team runner Chris Parr (11:44). Sam Hancox’s 11:19 saw the A team maintain a healthy margin after leg 2, with Houghton just staying ahead of Sunderland. Finn Brodie clocked an excellent 11:10 for the B team to move them up several places and just ahead of the C, for whom Elliot Kelso ran 11:35. A strong run by Sunderland’s Stephen Jackson of 11:22 saw the Wearside outfit move into 2nd after leg 3, with Houghton dropping back to 4th and Morpeth’s B now in 3rd thanks to a fine run by Connor Marshall of 11:17, while the C team stayed in 5th after Joe Close’s leg of 12:14. With last leg runner Joe Armstrong, who had run the fastest short leg at Redcar the previous weekend, Sunderland may have thought that they would be able to snatch the victory, but Lawrence McCourt’s clocking of 11:05 was enough for Morpeth to win in a combined time of 45:06, some five seconds ahead of Sunderland, with Armstrong recording the second fastest time of the day (10:51). Will Cork anchored the club’s B team in 11:19 to a 3rd place finish (45:39) with Houghton out of the medals in 4th (46:02). Meanwhile James Tilley (11:51) brought the C team back in a fine 5th place and a time of 47:24, ahead of the A teams of both TBH and Gateshead. The D team also did well to finish in the top 20, with an overall time of 52:10 for 19th place. Mark Banks recorded their fastest time of 12:08, with Anthony Liddle on leg 2 running 13:17, Mark Snowball 13:24 on leg 3 and Shaun Land 13:10 on leg 4. The Male Veterans race was, like the Women’s, won by TBH, 12th overall in a time of 50:41. Sunderland’s Micky Baker’s 12:02 recorded fastest vet time of the day. Morpeth’s own veterans just missed out of the medals in 4th. 24th overall in 53:56, they were led by Andrew Hebden (13:26), with Anthony Janetta on leg 2 (13:34), Jason Dawson on leg 3 (14:00) and Lee Bennett on leg 4 (12:45). The vets B of Dave Nicholson (14:57), Neil MacAnany (14:36), Andy Leeson (14:45) and Richard Glennie (14: 40) were 44th and 13th vets outfit (59:07), with Neil having the distinction of being fastest 60 plus of the day. Some 83 teams finished. Congratulations to Elswick on getting the fixture back, although there will certainly be some tweaking before next year. Full results: https://racebest.com/results/v4aq7 Pictures: Good Friday Relays Men by Stuart Whitman Photography (pixieset.com) Good Friday Relays Women by Stuart Whitman Photography (pixieset.com) Comments are closed.
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