 John Butters in action at Alnwick. Photo: Stuart Whitman There was a chilly breeze blowing from the direction of the castle as runners from across the North East gathered on Saturday morning for the fourth North East Harrier League cross country fixture held at Alnwick Pastures.
With the castle’s looming presence dominating the skyline, Alnwick is always the most scenic of settings, and conditions under foot were generally good as local outfit Alnwick Harriers once again hosted the popular fixture with their customary expertise. And with two on-the-day team wins and one second place, it was a good day too for the many Morpeth Harriers who made the short journey up (an inevitably busy) A1 to compete. The first of those wins came in the Under 17 Boys race, where Ben Moll followed up his outing the previous weekend at the National Cross Country in London with a fine second place to lead the team count ahead of Harry Armstrong (5th) and Oliver Tomlinson (7th), both of these from Fast Pack. The U/13 Girls team of Heidi Wilkinson (6th), Zoe Tomlinson (11th), Izzy Cromar (12th) and Lucy Raper (31st) missed out on a victory in their fixture behind winners Elswick Harriers, who continue to run away with the overall title after four team wins, but the Morpeth squad continues to shape up well for the future. Jacob Thompson in 16th and Michael Madgwick 17th were sadly the club’s only two representatives in the U/13 Boys, with several of our usual runners still away on half-term holidays affecting the team count. Regulars Emma Tomlinson in 11th and Faye Heatley 13th, both from Fast, had their customary scrap in the U/15s with Emma winning out this time, while fellow regulars Charlotte Marshall (7th) and Lucie Todd (9th) also ran well in the U/17 Girls. First race of the day had seen no less than five blue and white vests running in the day’s opening fixture, the U/11 Boys, where Luke Thompson was first back in 10th place with Mason Ellison (15th) and Will Fawcett (17th) making the top twenty. Ben Hodgson was 42nd and Jacob Raper, who had also played a full game of rugby earlier, 59th in an excellent turn out, although we didn’t field any U/11 Girls on this occasion. A field of well over 300 took on the penultimate race of the day, the Senior Women’s over two large laps of the hilly course, which was won, in her first outing in the league for over two years, by North Shields Polytechnic Harrier Charlotte Penfold from Slow Pack. Club stalwart Jane Hodgson led Morpeth’s challenge from Fast Pack and had the customary strong run to finish 12th overall. She was backed up by Lizzie Rank, 22nd, also from Fast, with Sophie Ward 63rd from Slow and Anna Wright 71st from Medium, the team finishing in 4th place, with Sarah Straughan, running as a guest in her first Harrier League also impressing in 64th. A strong turn out by our Senior Women here also saw Nicola McCoy 85th, Laura Mclean 125th, Sarah Mills – on her debut – 211th and Fran Robson 254th, At the top of the table, Sunderland Harriers, 3rd here, and Jesmond Joggers, 2nd, continue to slug it out for the overall title with Morpeth in all likelihood heading for a 3rd-place finish. Last race of the day saw both the day’s largest field of just under 400 and, with 19 runners competing for the club, Morpeth’s largest numbers as they looked to rein-in overall league leaders Durham City. In a race won by Heaton Harrier Louis Head with Tyne Bridge’s remarkable veteran Jarlath Mckenna recording the day’s fastest time in 6th after a real scrap at the front with Birtley’s Adrian Bailes, Morpeth placed three in the top ten, five in the top 20 and six inside the top 30 for a comprehensive team victory. Running from Medium, Tom Balsdon was 4th, Tom Innes 9th from Slow and Tom Prentice 10th, also from Medium, all three having their first XC outing of the year. With Sam Hancox and Alex Brown also running strongly in 14th and 15th, both from Fast, the team’s final count was made up by Jimmy Dixon in his NEHL debut, 23rd from Slow. There was a slew of blue and white vests not far behind them, however: John Butters was 27th from Medium; Jason Dawson 77th from Slow; ever-present Ethan Bond 81st from Fast; Dave Stabler 83rd from Medium; Liam Ramsay 85th from Medium; Ian Armstrong 107th from Medium; James Deathe 116th from Fast; Tom Straughan 142nd from Medium; Rob Hancox 160th from Medium; Jake Parmley 189th from Medium; Andriy Volkov 196th from Slow; Gavin Bayne 232nd from Slow (but choosing the Senior three laps ahead of the easier two lap option on offer) and Steve Johnstone 316th from Slow. The comprehensive on-the-day victory, ahead of Tyne Bridge in 2nd and Gateshead 3rd, saw Morpeth’s Senior Men take giant steps towards retaining the title they have won for the last three years consecutively as they moved to within one point of overall leaders Durham City in the table, with Durham only able to manage a distant 5th here. With only one fixture remaining at Druridge Bay in three weeks' time it is certainly still all to play for, and with the race almost on our doorsteps it’s to be hoped that we see the same levels of commitment across all age groups. Full results here: North Eastern Harrier League 2024/25 Sponsored by Start Fitness Comments are closed.
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