 The triumphant U17s - complete with flag - at Manchester After Saturday's Harrier League action, attention switched to the other side of the Pennines on Sunday, with the club fielding three Junior teams and one Senior in the Northern Athletics Road Relays held at Sport City, Manchester - and being rewarded with a wonderful gold medal and two top ten finishes.
The team Gold came courtesy of the club’s flying Under 17 Men, whose hard fought victory after three legs put them ahead of nearest rivals Rotherham and Salford Harriers. Ryan Davies ran the team’s fastest time for the 3700 metre distance, recording 11 minutes 25 seconds, and he was followed by Bertie Marr (11m 37s) and Will de Vere Owen (11m 39s), with the team clocking 34:51. On finishing 1st, Will brandished a Morpeth Harriers flag - leaving a customarily loquacious George Patterson, on announcing duties, almost lost for words! Remarkably, such was the strength of the performance that Davies, Marr and De Vere Owen ran the day’s 2nd, 4th and 5th fastest times of the day. It was a richly-deserved reward for a closely-knit group of athletes who have worked very hard for many years under the guidance of coach Mike Bateman and who were most unfortunate to miss out in a number of competitions as U/15s due to Covid enforced cancellations. Rotherham Harriers, a club who enjoyed a very successful day all round, were in 2nd place in 35:19. The club’s U/15 team of Ben Moll (12:46), Oliver Calvert (10:54) and Oliver Tomlinson (11:27) also ran well to finish in 6th place in their 3100m race, and were only just over 30 seconds off a medal, with teams from the North West dominating. The U/15 Girls team of Molly Roche (14:34), Megan Potrac (15:01)and Charlotte Marshall (15:20) also performed gamely, finishing in 30th place overall, and will undoubtedly have benefited from the challenge. Rotherham were the winners. Worth a mention also for Emma Tomlinson, who was a sole runner for the club in the Under 13 girls, clocking a highly respectable 13:45 for the 3100m distance, particularly so after competing in the cross country the day before. Penultimate event, the Women’s Relay over 4 legs, was won by Salford Harriers and AC in 1:32:29, with Leeds City in 2nd and Vale Royal 3rd. North East involvement came courtesy of NSP, 14th in 1:42:44 with Tyne Bridge 28th in 1:46:45. Last event of the day was the Senior Men’s six stage relay, with Morpeth looking for at least a top ten finish and qualification for the National event in two weeks time. Dominated by Leeds City AC - who, in addition to winning in a time of 1 hour 59 minutes 17 seconds for the 6 x 6.4km distance, also remarkably had teams in 4th and 7th - Morpeth gave a strong account of themselves to come home in 8th place overall in 2:05:46 and were once again first from the North East of England, with Hallamshire Harriers in 2nd place (2:01:54) and Blackburn Harriers and AC 3rd (2:02:17). Sam Hancox got the club off to a decent start, with 20:33 on the keenly contested 1st leg for 16th place. Finn Brodie moved up to 6th on leg 2 with 20:19, and Kieran Reay had the club up to 5th, its highest place of the day after leg 3, with 20:48. Debutant Peter Smallcombe clocked 21:41 on leg 4 for 7th place, with Connor Marshall staying there on leg 5 (21:20) and Matty Briggs on the final leg only losing one place with his 21:05. The team finally finished in 8th position to comfortably make the National event at Sutton Park in two weeks time. Fastest time of the day was run by Hugo Milner of Derby AC with 19:17, although NSP’s Dave Green, currently in fine form, ran the 4th fastest with 19:46. (The Poly A team were 28th, with Gateshead 22nd, Sunderland 26th and Tyne Bridge 40th.) Comments are closed.
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