 Some of the Morpeth youngsters at Thornley The North East Harrier League resumed on 27 September with the opening fixture at Thornley Farm, just South of Peterlee, taking place in unusually (for the venue) clement conditions. A general push from all at the club involved with young athletes saw a pleasing turn out in the YA races, and several complete teams and individual medals to boot. The Under 11 fixtures kicked off proceedings once again, with Ben Hodgson, son of Jane, and a slightly under the weather Mason Ellison coming back 32nd and 33rd in the Boys 1 mile race, both clocked at 6:38, and Ellie Fea and Niahm Balmbra 14th and 24th in the Girls in 6:46 and 7:01 respectively. The best turn out for the club was, however, in the U/13 Boys, where there were no less than five finishers, with the Fawcett boys Joe and Will heading the team count in 12th and 18th. They were followed by Luke Thompson 20th, Hector Ford-Hutchinson 28th and Michael Madgwick 34th. The team finished 4th in what looks like it will be a keenly contested division. Disappointingly, there were no U/13 Girls out, although hopefully this will change in the next fixture, as there were a number of decent performances in the recent club championships. With Heidi Wilkinson out with an injury, Faye Heatley was the club’s only representative in the U/15 Girls, 20th out of Fast Pack. The U/15 Boys squad looked competitive, however, with Mason Gaylor collecting an individual Silver. With Jack Dhawar 5th, Hector Beere 21st, and Jacob Thompson 32nd, the team finished in 3rd place. Daniel Craig was the club’s only representative in the U/17 Boys, coming in 14th. Hopefully there will be others around him too at Druridge. There was a complete team in the matching U/17 Girls, however, where Molly Roche put injuries behind her to pick up, like Mason, an individual Silver. She was supported by Charlotte Marshall, 14th, and Lucie Todd, 18th, the team coming in in 3rd place. The most disappointing showing, from a club point of view, was probably in the day’s penultimate fixture, the Senior and Veteran Women’s race, where, for whatever reason, the club could only manage four finishers and finished next to bottom of the day’s table for Division 1 as a result, with TBH first, Sunderland Harriers second and Jesmond Joggers third. Holly Lawrence ran Morpeth’s fastest time of 28:30, running from Fast Pack, for the two-lap course, finishing in 25th overall, with the race won by a big margin by Durham University XC student Megan Stonehouse in the day’s fastest time of 25:36. Poppy Buck was 60th in 29:22 and Jane Hodgson 68th in 29:34, both from Fast. Credit to Sarah Henry then, who, knowing she was going to be 4th counter, stuck at the task to come home 203rd. With no shortage of female members, it’s to be hoped that the low Morpeth numbers were a one-off as the competition has been very popular with the club in recent years, with the team regularly challenging near the top. Last race of the day was again the Senior Men’s, where, despite also a lower turn-out than expected in blue and white, the four Slow Pack counters, three of whom were new, helped produce a clear team win. The Morpeth charge was headed by U/20 Oliver Tomlinson, who was narrowly pipped into 4th place after a strong showing. (37:45). NSP’s Edinburgh University student Neil Silence was the winner in 36:13 from Slow. Not having run a fixture last year, Andrew Lawrence had somehow got himself demoted to Slow Pack also, and he made full use of the advantage, also making the top ten in 8th (39:51). Sam Hancox made it up to 24th from Fast Pack in 36:52, and he was closely followed by newcomers Ellis McCoy in 27th (41:59) and Andrew Mirfield 35th (42:19), both of course from Slow. Rob Balmbra closed the team count in 53rd (37:58). NSP were second on the day with Birtley third, and some 418 finishing. Morpeth’s four other finishers were: Andriy Volkov, 136th in 45:54; Rob Hancox, 157th in 46:35; Richard Glennie, 194th in 47:59 and Steve Johnstone, 283rd in 51:40. The next fixture is upon us shortly, taking place at Druridge Bay on Sunday 12 October not the usual Saturday – assuming it’s not cancelled again, as it was twice last year. With the race on our doorstep, and almost a home fixture indeed, it would be good to see more Morpeth vests out, especially in the Seniors. Results – Harrier League  Morpeth's U11 girls at Thornley Comments are closed.
|
Archives
January 2026
|
