small morpeth contingent fly flag at national

There were slim pickings at this year’s National, with only a handful of Morpeth Harriers travelling to the capital at the weekend to take on the Cross-Country Championships, held this year at Parliament Hill Fields in North London.
 
Always the toughest of cross-country challenges, there was plenty of mud for runners to deal with in conditions that favoured the off-road specialists.
 
In her first ever National, Heidi Wilkinson ran really well to place 42nd in the Under 13 Girls, with team mate Zoe Tomlinson 140th in a field of nearly three hundred.
 
Zoe’s older sister Emma was 124th in the U/15 Girls race, while brother Oliver placed 52nd in the U/17 Boys, with Ben Moll 232nd.
 
In field of nearly two hundred, Northern Cross-Country Silver medallist Joe Dixon placed 26th in the U/20s.
 
Disappointingly there were only two blue and white vests out in the final race of the day, the Senior Men over a punishing 7.5 miles.
 
Won by Chiltern Harrier Richard Slade in a time of 43 minutes 52 seconds, Sam Hancox was 165th in 51:15 and veteran Andrew Lawrence 263rd in 53:37.
 
Remarkably, some 1,781 finished the race.
 
NE representation was poor as a whole, no doubt due to cost of travel, although both TBH and Elswick managed full teams in both Men’s and Women’s races.
 
Full results here: MYLAPS Sporthive Event Results