 Anna Wright and Jane Kirby at Alnwick Alnwick Trail Races There were over 500 runners taking part in Sunday morning’s Alnwick Trail Races, organised by Wild Deer Events, with both half marathon and 10k races on offer over what the organisers themselves describe as ‘testing trail runs’. Rob Balmbra recorded a remarkable four-minute winning margin in the half marathon, clocking 1 hour 22 minutes and 34 seconds ahead of second placed Hedley Fletcher (1:26:41). Club colleagues Anna Wright and Jane Kirby both also had excellent runs, Wright 3rd overall and 2nd Over 40 in 1:44:16 behind local race winner Alnwick Harrier Elizabeth Joyce (1:37:37) and Kirby 62nd and 2nd O/50 in 1:54:18. The 10k race was won by another Alnwick runner, Kieran Lowe, recording 38:28. Ian Armstrong, whose teenage son Harry had placed second in Saturday’s Druridge Bay parkrun in a new personal best of 18:38, was third overall and also first O/50 in 39:44. Club colleague Dave Stabler was one place behind in fourth but first O/45 in 41:44.  Lee Bennett, Steve Haswell, Robyn Bennett and Mike Winter at Brough Law Brough Law Fell Race
The annual Brough Law Fell Race took place on the same morning over a five-mile route in the Ingram Valley that takes in a number of the area’s hillforts, with nearly 100 finishers. Won by Northumberland Fell Runner Chris Larkin in 37 minutes 40 seconds, John Butters was 6th overall and 2nd O/40 in a time of 42:35. Mike Winter was 26th in 48:55, Steve Haswell 28th in 49:31, Gary Mason 43rd in 53:08l, Lee Bennett 49th in 53:56. Nicola Duggan was first female finisher in 47:39 with Morpeth’s Robyn Bennett fifth in 53:54 and Gwenda Cavill 14th in 61:34. English Schools Cross Country Championships Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers were on representative duties for Northumberland at the annual English Schools Cross Country Championships held at a windy Pontefract Racecourse on Saturday. The overall result over the six events was disappointing from Northumberland’s point of view, with best performances being achieved by their Junior Boys and Senior Girls, who both finished as 18th in their respective events. Three Morpeth Harriers took part in the Senior Boys event, where the Northumberland squad finished 25th, led home by Bertie Marr, who finished 73rd. The other two Morpeth Harriers in the event were Elliot Kelso and Joseph Close, 81st and 149th respectively and second and third team counters. Northumberland’s Intermediate Boys finished 26th, with Morpeth’s Ollie Tomlinson their fourth counter in 202nd place. Having her first ever English Schools Cross Country outing, Morpeth’s youngest competitor Faye Heatley finished as fourth counter for Northumberland in the Junior Girls event in 254th place. Podium Festival Alex Brown, George Lowry and Tom Prentice all ran in 5k races at the Podium Festival at New College, Leicester, also on Saturday, with Alex recording 14:44, George 14:56 and Tom a big new pb of 15:16. Also involved was James Young, who won the time-trial event, in which athletes ran a lap (approximately 980m) having set off in one-minute intervals. Times in the men’s race were particularly close, with the top five separated by three seconds, James recording 2:20.42. 10 Meeting Perhaps the most remarkable performance of the weekend however was at the high-profile 10 Meeting in San Juan Capistrano, California on Saturday evening where, in a very competitive field, Rory Leonard ran a time of 28m 4.83s when finishing 10th overall in his heat of the 10,000m, a time that takes a remarkable 17 seconds off his previous best time for the distance. Comments are closed.
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