 Jacob Thompson on his way to second place in the Under 13 Boys. Photo: Stuart Whitman Under clear, bright autumnal skies, cross country action took place close to home for Morpeth Harriers at the weekend with the second round of the Start Fitness sponsored North East Harrier League held at Druridge Bay Country Park.
And although there were no individual winners this time for the club, there were two team wins to go with the many strong performances in blue and white. The first of those team wins came courtesy of the club’s Under 13 Boys squad, who look to be shaping up well as a competitive outfit, with Jacob Thompson and Evan Laude second and third overall and Liam Jackson finishing the team count of a miserly eleven points in sixth. George Moll (10thh), Daniel Vermaas (28th from Fast Pack) and Lewis Baillie, one of a number of young athletes making a competitive debut, in 49th, also all turned out supporting runs. The second team win was similarly emphatic, with the club’s Senior Men proving to be much too strong for the opposition in the day’s final three-lap event over just short of 10 kilometres. U/20 and KEVI sixth former Will de Vere Owen was 3rd overall in 33 minutes 23 seconds behind race winner Cameron Allan of Houghton Harriers, whose time of 31:57 was also the fastest of the day, with Heaton’s Chris Larkin 2nd. De Vere Owen was chased home in 4th by colleague Tom Balsdon, with Joe Dixon, running from Medium Pack, not far behind in 10th. With Shaun Land 24th from Slow, Alistair Douglas 27th from Fast and Jake Parmley 32nd, also from Slow, the team finished on 55 points, well ahead of early division leaders North Shields Polytechnic Harriers in 2nd on 90 with Elswick Harriers well back in 3rd. There were no less than 19 Harriers out in total, with Mark Banks next in, 39th from Medium (37:40) and Rob Hancox in 82nd from Slow (41:18). Other finishers were: Andriy Volkov, 93rd from Slow (41:29); Anthony Jannetta, 109th from Medium (39:15); Ben Heatley, 153rd from Medium (39:53); Andrew Hebden 177th from Medium (40:17); Lee Bennett, 195th from Medium (40:42); Richard Glennie, 264th from Slow in 44:40; Neil Mcanany, 280th from Slow in 45:03; Mark Snowball, 327th from Medium (43:45); Steve Johnstone, 356th from Slow in 47:07 and Rich Kirby, 368th from Slow in 47:30. NSP finished well back in 2nd on 90 points with Birtley 3rd on 122, although NSP narrowly head the division after two fixtures, with big on the day losers Tyne Bridge and Sunderland Harriers. 551 finished. The previous, penultimate race had seen Morpeth’s women miss out on a team win by an agonising one-point margin to Durham City. In her first ever race in a blue and white vest, Poppy Buck looked far from out of place near the front of the field, coming home in 10th, with Elswick’s Sophie Pikett recording the day’s fastest time of 24:47 for the two lap course and runners from Durham City 2nd and 3rd. Another remarkable performance by veteran Jane Hodgson saw her record the day’s third fastest time of 25:26 in 19th place, remarkable because it came only 24 four hours after taking part in the England Masters Cross Country trials in Derbyshire, where she again secured selection for her country in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International to be held in Glasgow next month. Morpeth’s scoring count of four was made up by strong runs from Robyn Bennett and Lizzie Rank, 22nd in 28:24 and 24th in 28:40 out of Medium Pack, with Tayla Douglas not far behind in 26th, 31:08 from Slow. Lorna Macdonald, from Fast, was 94th in 28:03 and Julie Vermaas made it a family affair, 120th in 31:15 from Medium. Laura Mclean was 161st in 34:11, Kay Errington 277th in 36:41 and Fran Robson 332nd in 38:49. Another big field, with over 450 out and Durham one point ahead of Morpeth, with South Shields in third. It looks to be a well-contested championship once again, with Durham City out front and Morpeth now in second a couple of points behind, Jesmond in third. There was another team second in the earlier U/15 Girls race, where Emma Tomlinson also medalled individually in 3rd place, with Charlotte Marshall (13th), and Lucie Todd and Mya Young, both in their first races for Morpeth, 19th and 20th, and Megan Potrac 20th. It was certainly a successful day overall for the Tomlinson family, with Zoe picking up a medal as third finisher in the U/13 Girls, whose team finished 5th, with Faye Heatley 14th from Fast and Emily Vermaas, in her first year in the age category, 51st from Slow. Older brother Oliver went one better than his two sisters, coming home 2nd in the U/17 Boys, with Stephen Craske 22nd from Fast and Harry Armstrong 25th from Slow, the team finishing third. First races of the day were of course the U/11s (with Penfold siblings Noah and Ada winning both), and there was another Morpeth debutant in the form of Heather Baillie, who finished in 30th place with Emily Hodgson 45th. The keenly contested races saw more girls than boys, with 82 girls and 60 boys finishing. Full results are available here. View Stuart Whitman's gallery of images here. Comments are closed.
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