Already one of the region’s most challenging cross country venues, incessant rain in the preceding week had meant conditions under foot were the worst ever known at Thornley Hall Farm, just south of Peterlee, for Saturday afternoon’s NECAA relays, with a whole new lake added to the far end of the course (‘Should I bring my wet suit?’ commented one Morpeth wag).
Thankfully that didn’t deter runners from those clubs who did choose to travel, although it was a mixed bag of teams from across the region, with, for example no NSP outfits featuring at all. It was, however, a productive afternoon for Morpeth, that saw us come out with no less than three team Golds, one Silver and one Bronze from the ten races and a whole host of committed performances from young and old. The club’s first medal came from the U/13 Girls team, where Faye Heatley (11:27), Lucy Raper (1143) and Zoe Tomlinson (12:58) battled through the boggy ground to pick up a fine team Bronze behind expected winners Birtley Harriers, whose young squad again look a class act apart, Olivia Murphy running 10:55 and Kitty Graham 11:09, with Faye clocking 11:27 for 3rd fastest of the day behind them. Running over the same 1.6k course in the day’s first race, the U/13 Boys also did well, outside the medals but finishing 5th with runs by Jack Dhawar (11:44), George Moll (11:58) and Jack Thompson (12:11), with Elswick Harriers coming out on top this time. Despite not being to able to field full teams, it was also great to see the commitment shown by Ben Moll and Emma Tomlinson in the U/15s events, with Ben running 10:08 for the day’s 4th fastest and Emma 11:42, her time the 2nd fastest of the day for her race. Tyne Bridge picked up both sets of winners’ medals. The first Gold came in the U/17 Boys over 2.9k, where Oliver Tomlinson (12:00), Joe Close (12:09) and Elliot Kelso (11:47) were winners after a hard battle in 35:56 against both Blaydon (37:03) and Darlington Harriers (36:18), who were still ahead till Elliot took the lead on leg 3. Oli, Joe and Elliot also ran 4th, 6th and 3rd fastest times of the day in a very consistent performance. (Blaydon’s Max Murray was fastest of day with 11:28.) Their performance was matched by that of the U/20 Junior Men, with James Tilley (13:05), Ethan Phillips (12:59) and Will de Vere Owen (12:14) also picking up an expected Gold, this time over 3k in 38:18. It was a bit of an odd one for the lads this one, with them starting at the same time as the Masters Men (old enough to be their dads if not granddads, in some cases) but soon disappearing into the distance in the face of no opposition. Always good to compete and medal, however. There were two Morpeth teams out in the aforementioned Masters fixture, with some 18 teams in total and a decent overall standard. Won by Elswick Harriers in 40:10, Morpeth A missed out on a medal in 4th place largely due to the unexpected presence of Hartlepool Burn Road Runners (who don’t compete in the NEHL) but who turned up here to finish 2nd in 41:09 with Gateshead Harriers (featuring the irrepressible and ever-smiling Conrad Franks) 3rd in 41:32. Ben Heatley for the A had a good battle with Ian Armstrong for the B on leg 1, Ian coming home in 13:38 and Ben back in 13:55. Andy Ball on 2nd leg moved the team up several places with 14:12 and Lee Bennett consolidated on 3rd with 14:29 for a total of 42:36. Meanwhile Colin Archer was back in relay action for the B on 2nd leg in 14:38 and Richard Glennie finished the count on 3rd in 15:20 for a total of 43:36. It was a family affair in the also keenly contested Senior Women’s race over 2.9k, with Morpeth’s own team of SuperMacs, the Macdonald sisters, taking a fine team win in 43:34. With Cat on the last leg and in such fine form (her 13:10 was the day’s fastest time here) it was always looking promising, with Lorna taking the hard fought leg 1 (15:15) and Lindsey moving the team up to 3rd on leg 2 (15:09). Thereafter, there was only going to be one winner, with Birtley 2nd in 44:06. The club’s B team of veteran Kirsty Burville (15:07), Kay Errington (18:20) and Poppy Bluck (15:38) also ran well to make a top ten finish in 48:54, coming in 9th overall in 48:54. Final race of the day, which also saw the biggest field of some 25 teams, was the Senior Men’s over 3k, with Gateshead Harriers - for whom Calum Johnson gave a demonstration of top class cross country running when running the day’s fastest time of 10:57 - managing to pip Morpeth by only ten seconds after four hard run stages. Tom Balsdon had an excellent run on the first leg to put the club in contention in third (11:59) with Peter Smallcombe (12:20) doing his best to limit the gap opened by Johnson on leg 2 and in the process Morpeth moving up to second. Mark Banks was able to hold the placing on leg 3 (12:57) despite a powerful run by young Houghton Harrier Cameron Allan, who ran the day’s second fastest time of 11:08. Connor Marshall (11:59) on Morpeth’s last leg had a very strong run, however, not only extending the gap to Houghton’s last leg runner behind but challenging Gateshead’s Lewis Liddle up ahead, who was running through treacle by the end was very close to getting caught. Morpeth’s cumulative time was 49:15 against Gateshead’s 49:05 with Houghton in 3rd (50:46). Well done all who braved the conditions to represent the club. Comments are closed.
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February 2025
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