 The action gets underway There were seven teams from the club amongst the over 150 in action at the popular Gordon Smith Relays at Wallsend on Wednesday evening.
As well as being both popular and keenly contested, it’s always a good one for spectators too, and this year was no exception with the two-mile route that uses much of the Terry O’ Gara course, but in reverse. Race 1 featured some 76 complete teams with the lead at the sharp end contested by North Shields Polytechnic, Tyne Bridge and last year’s winners, Elswick. Molly Pace came back in 11:42 at the end of leg 1, with early leaders Sunderland Strollers and Elswick, but NSP took the lead thanks to triathlete Steph MacLean-Dann on leg 2, with Elswick having moved into second place. A scorching run of 10:39 by a very much in form Charlotte Penfold for NSP on leg 3, the evening’s fastest female time and one better than that run by many in race 2, removed any prospect of those behind her getting anywhere near, although TBH’s long-striding Lucy Crookes managed to get the better of a rather out of sorts Justina Heslop for Elswick. Crookes’s 11:00 was the fastest Senior Female time, with TBH clocking 35:21 to NSP’s 34:03, and Elswick credited with the same 35: 21 in third. Morpeth’s 10th placed A team of Lizzie Rank (12:15), Linzi Quinn (13:09) and Gemma Floyd (12:24) did well to get into the top ten with a total clocking of 37:48. The club’s B team of Jane Kirby (13:37), Tayla Murdy (13:49) and Claire Calverley (14:21) came home in 41:47 for 26th. Shuna Rank, with both daughters turning out , Hannah for NSP, also ran a good first leg of 14: 24 in a sadly incomplete team. Some 76 teams finished in total. Special mention to Claire and Rachelle who moved heaven and earth to get two competitive teams out after an unfortunate string of injuries and late complications. The following Men’s race, with the same requirement as the Women’s of at least one Over 40 running, was as keenly contested with Morpeth’s Men unfortunately not quite able to retain the trophy they had held in 2018, 2019 and 2022. This time it was Sunderland and Gateshead the main challengers, with both clubs able to field a couple of nifty Veterans in Stephen Jackson and Conrad Thompson who had, fortuitously, just turned 40 – in Conrad’s case, on the day! Scott Armstrong brought Sunderland’s A in first on leg 1, his clocking of 9:32 just ahead of Chris Parr for Morpeth’s B (9:40) and Sam Hancox’s 9:47 for the A, with Lewis Liddle 4th for Gateshead (9:49). The lead for the Wearsiders was extended by a fine run by Stephen Jackson on leg 2 of 9:43, far and away the fastest vet time of the night, which gave a hefty lead of 48 seconds going in to leg 3. Behind, Conrad Thompson had got Gateshead into 2nd with Andrew Ball (10:36) moving Morpeth’s A in to 3rd. Despite the best efforts of Callum Johnson for Gateshead – whose 9:12 was the fastest time of the night – Joe Armstrong was more than able to hold his own for Sunderland, his 9:16 bringing the winners home in 28:31. Gateshead were 2nd in 29:15, with George Lowry recording 10:28 on leg 3 for Morpeth in 3rd (30:51). Morpeth’s B had a good run for 6th place (31:24) with Lee Bennett recording 10:56 and Andy Lawrence 10:48. There were a further three teams out for the Men, with the C team of Shaun Land (11:16), Anthony Jannetta (11:13) and Anthony Liddle (11:23) clocking 33:52 in 23rd. The D and E teams were nip and tuck, with Andriy Volkov (11:48), Richard Glennie (12:20) and Dave Swinburne (12:43) finishing in 36:51 in 44th, and Gavin Bayne (12:40), Jamie Johnson (12:18) and Rob Hancox (12:31) in 37:29 in 46th for the E. Some 91 complete teams finished. Comments are closed.
|
Archives
January 2026
|
