Under 17s earn silver on windswept afternoon

Morpeth's U17 Men with their team Silver medals

A well-deserved team Silver for the Under 17 Men’s team was the highlight for Morpeth Harriers of the Northern Cross Country Championships at Pontefract on a windswept Saturday afternoon.
 
With Storm Malik continuing to whip  all day  across the wide open fields of Pontefract Racecourse, all those running had a real struggle to compete not just against some of the best runners in the North of England, but also against the elements, with no real shelter anywhere on the course for either competitors or spectators. Indeed, such was the strength of the wind that organisers took an early decision not to allow any club tents to be pitched and at one point had themselves to take down one of their own large marquees when it was threatened with blowing away, something that could easily have led to serious injury if not the cancellation of the whole fixture. Meanwhile, athletes arriving told horror stories of lorries blown over on the A1 and diversions through country lanes – and even after finishing, the journey home was fraught with difficulty with sections of both the A1 and A19 closed.
 
Morpeth’s one medal of the day came courtesy of the Under 17 Men and was all the more to be celebrated since several of the squad’s most successful runners who had featured all season were missing on the day due to either injury or Covid-enforced isolation, which also badly affected a number of other teams.
 
Having been in fine form recently, the team were led home by Joe Dixon in 8th place, who finished in 21 minutes 27 seconds for the 6.4 kilometre course. He was followed by Bertie Marr, 24th in 22:35 and triathlete Ralph Robson, 45th in 23:05. Final counter was James Tilley, 59th in 24:04, whose initial disappointment at his performance was soon overtaken by wide smiles at the news of their medal.
 
Morpeth’s only other complete team on the day was the Senior Men’s squad,  who also overcame the loss of several  athletes who had had to withdraw to finish outside the medals but in a very respectable 5th place overall.
 
The biggest field of the day, some 500 plus runners, also ran the day’s longest distance, with a challenging three lap, 12.2 km circuit to negotiate (although many runners recorded 13k on their own devices.) At the sharp end, a keenly-contested team race between Salford Harriers, Leeds City AC and Hallamshire Harriers saw the North West outfit triumph by 141 points to 149 and 151, with Hugo Milner of Derby AC winning the individual prize in a time of 41:43 from Nigel Martin of Salford and early leader Daniel Haworth of Matlock AC.
 
In only his third outing since a long spell out with injury, 2018 North of England Cross Country Champion Carl Avery led Morpeth’s team home with an excellent 9th place in 43:25 with Alex Brown again finishing like a train behind him in 10th (43:28).
 
Sam Hancox was delighted to make the top 30 with a 29th placing (44:55) and, in his first Northern as a Senior, Connor Marshall was 75th in 47:26. The team count was completed by Leeds University student Alex Cunningham in his first race in blue and white colours for some time (122nd in 49:30) with Mark Snowball completing the team count not far behind in 29th (49:56).
 
Also running were veterans Alistair Macdonald, 377th in 59:11, and, at the ripe old age of 75 no less, Paul Bentley, 516th.
 
The team’s combined score was 374 for 5th place behind Sale Harriers on 281. There was at least the satisfaction of being once again first North East team home, well ahead of both Gateshead Harriers in 11th and Sunderland Harriers in 15th, with teams from Tyne Bridge, Elswick and Heaton also finishing.
 
First race of the day had seen a good run by triathlete Millie Breese, 10th in the Under 17 Women in 18:35 with the race won by Jess Bailey in 17:32. Like many others, Caitlin Flanagan found the going tough but still battled on to finish in 22:19 and 80th place.

Disappointingly there were only two Morpeth finishers in the 4.1km U15 Boys race, an age category where the team have been very dominant in the North East. The 132-strong race was won by Robert Price of Vale Royal in 13:56. Oliver Tomlinson was 23rd in 15:11 and Joe Close not far behind in 27th in a time of 15:23.
 
Emma Tomlinson was sadly Morpeth’s only representative in the U/13 girls 3.1k race, with Covid infections having run through the rest of what would have been a competitive squad. At the bottom end of the age range and in her first Northern, she was 62nd of some 117 runners in 13:20.
 
Similarly, Tabitha Robson, younger sister of Ralph, was on her own in the U/15 girls 4.1 k, finishing in 60th out of 120 finishers in 17:57 and Kate Gaffing 55th and the club’s only representative in the U/20 Women’s 5.7k.

Sisters Cat Macdonald and Lindsay Quinn after the race

The Senior Women’s two lap 8.1k race that preceded the Men’s saw an exciting battle at the front in which race favourite and British Olympian triathlete Georgia Taylor-Brown took an early lead which she was unable to hold on to with the race finally won by Eleanor Bolton of Ribble Valley Harriers in 31:13 with Taylor-Brown having to settle for 3rd behind Sophie Tarver.
 
North East Cross Country Champion Cat Macdonald came through for Morpeth on the second lap to finish comfortably inside the top twenty in 16th place in 34:27, and was first NE athlete home ahead of Elswick’s Amy Fuller. Sister Lindsey Quinn also ran well to finish in 84th in 38:57, with some 262 finishers.
 
The team race was won by Vale Royal with Hallamshire Harriers 2nd and Sale in third. Elswick Harriers were first NE team home in 9th place, with Jarrow and Hebburn, Tyne Bridge, Heaton and Sunderland all managing to field full teams.
 
A trying day for all concerned then, but massive congratulations to all who battled through. Special mention should go to Matthew Briggs who moved heaven and earth to try to get there from Lancaster after a succession of storm-related incidents, only to miss the start by just 10 minutes. Looking ahead to future events of this nature, the aim must be to field as many complete teams as possible.

Photos below courtesy of Stuart Whitman