TEN IN A ROW FOR MORPETH IN SHERMAN CUP

Morpeth Harriers retained the Sherman Cup for the 10th consecutive year at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday, while there was two outstanding individual Golds and a Bronze in the corresponding Women’s Davison Shield.
 
Set up several decades ago, the Sherman Cup and Davison Shield competitions were designed to act as a test of the overall strength of North East clubs, with an overall score for each event made up of the total from five qualifying races: Under 13s, Under 15s, Under 17s (and 20s for Women), Seniors and Veterans, with the first three from each club to count towards the total.
 
Morpeth’s U/13 Boys got the club off to a fine start, with Ewan Line in 2nd place, Ruben Jones on his club debut in 14th and Daniel Vermaas in 16th, with further support coming from Evan Laude (17th), Thomas Roche (28th) and William Hawkins (41st). The team finished in 2nd place behind Blaydon Harriers.
 
The U/15s worked hard  to make light of the absence of two of the club’s leading lights to finish in 6th place, Stephen Craske (25th), Dan Burrow (26th) and Ben Moll (28th) packing well and ensuring the club had still had a scoring three to count, with North Shields Polytechnic Harriers the team winner.
 
Perhaps the most remarkable team performances of the day from a Morpeth point of view came as expected in the U/17s, where the club finished no less than six in the top eight, with the first three places all wearing blue and white. Will de Vere Owen picked up the club’s first individual Gold with Ryan Davies taking Silver and Liam Roche bronze. Behind them, new recruit Ethan Philips was 6th, Joe Close 7th and Elliot Kelso 8th, despite the loss of both of his spikes en route.
 
Last race of the day, the Senior and Veteran Men, also featured the largest field, with some 375 plus finishers in total,  who were led by home by Gateshead international Calum Johnson, who now looks ominously close to his best from the past two years, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of his nearest rival Greg Jayasuriya with Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman in 3rd.
 
Despite missing out on individual medals, Sam Hancox (4th), Phil Winkler (5th) and Alistair Douglas (8th) meant a commanding team Senior Men’s win ahead of Gateshead and Sunderland Harriers outfits.
 
There were some nine Seniors in action, with further fine runs coming courtesy of Connor Marshall, just outside the top ten in 11th, James Tilley in 14th, Andy Lawrence 30th, Peter Smallcombe 35th, Adam Pratt 49th and Mark Snowball 102nd.
 
The Over 40 veterans, who participated in the same race, finished as 4th team thanks to runs by Lee Bennett (69th), Andrew Hebden (72nd) and Dave Stabler (91st). Some ten vets in total turned out, with Rob Hancox 137th, Andriy Volkov 146th, Richard Glennie 188th, Neil MacAnany 216th, Dave Nicholson 232nd, Andy Leeson 262nd and Steve Johnson 270th. NSP were 1st vets team.
 
When final scores were aggregated, the club’s winning total of some 14 points overall was a full ten less than 2nd place rivals Sunderland Harriers with Tyne Bridge in 3rd on 27th.
 
The matching Davison Shield competition for Women was, as last year, won by Tyne Bridge Harriers, the only club on the day to field a scoring count of three in all categories, with Morpeth certainly not the only club unable to do so. Despite this, there were some notable individual performances from the club.
 
Emma Tomlinson ran well for 7th in the U/13s with support from Faye Heatley (18th), but sadly no third runner to make the team count with Birtley unsurprisingly 1st.
 
The U/15 Girls were, however, complete and also made 3rd team behind NSP with Megan Potrac first home in 17th, Molly Roche 20th and Charlotte Marshall 25th.
 
Triathlete Millie Breese picked up a Bronze in a small but keenly contested U/17 and U/20 combined race, finishing behind Durham City’s Charlotte Dillon with winning team’s NSP’s Holly Waugh in 2nd
 
Emma Tomlinson ran well for 7th in the U/13s with support from Faye Heatley (18th), but sadly no third runner to make the team count.
 
The U/15 Girls were, however, complete and also made 3rd team, with Megan Potrac first home in 17th, Molly Roche 20th and Charlotte Marshall 25th.
 
In the Women’s final event, the Senior and Veteran race, Jane Hodgson undoubtedly provided one of the performances of the day, with the veteran once again in fine form over the country and showing a clean pair of heels to everyone behind her for the overall win in front of proud dad Brian and daughter Emily.
 
However, she was chased home by team mate Rachelle Falloon in 2nd place who was also 1st Senior athlete. NSP’s Charlotte Penfold was 3rd, with the Senior team prize going to Jesmond Joggers ahead of TBH and Sunderland.
 
With no other Seniors running for the club on the day, it was left to the club’s Veterans to fly the flag, and this they did with Julie Vermaas 36th and Mhairi Line in 74th, both runners having watched their sons compete with distinction earlier in the afternoon. There was also a welcome return to competition for Jane Briggs after many months out due to injury, Jane finishing half the way down the field in 154th. The Veterans finished 5th  team,  with NSP taking the team prize.
 
The final overall team placing was a rather disappointing 8th, although with just two of five teams complete this was to be expected, with only Tyne Bridge ensuring complete teams across all five categories and so retaining the Shield for a 2nd year. Ironically, one more complete team might have brought a minor medal.
 
The day’s earliest fixtures were again the Under 11 races which witnessed some good runs by some of the club’s youngest athletes. Lucy Raper was 7th, Zoe Tomlinson 9th and Emily Hodgson 16th for the Girls, and in her first race for the club Erin Burns 20th, with Jacob Thompson 7th and George Moll, also in his first race for the club, 18th in the Boys.

Julie Vermaas, Jane Hodgson and Rachelle Falloon