 Morpeth's Under 13 winners Mason Gaylor and Heidi Wilkinson Cross country action got under way at the weekend with the first round of the 2024/25 season in the North East Harrier League, sponsored once again by Start Fitness. Where the previous year’s first fixture have traditionally been held at Wrekenton, this year organisers, mindful of the great difficulties caused by last winter’s rains, switched the opening races to Thornley Farm, just South of Peterlee - and were rewarded with some fine autumn sunshine over a course firmer than many could remember in a long while (although the lake at the flat bottom end of the course looks like it’s there for good). From Morpeth’s point of view, it was good to see five eager Under 11s out in the day’s first race, several of them running in a blue and white vest for the first time. They were led home by Mason Ellison, competing in blue and white for the first ever time and looking to the manor born in 18th place, clocking 6 minutes 49 seconds for the one mile course, with support coming from Will Fawcett (24th), Luke Thompson (24th), Jacob Raper (66th) and Jared Derbyshire (72nd). One of the finest runs of the day for the club came from Mason Gaylor in the Under 13 Boys, who was the day’s overall winner, running from the Slow Pack, with team support coming from Jack Dhawar (35th) and Jacob Thompson (45th) and setting a towering example of team spirit following on from their trip to Blackpool last week. Mason’s achievement was matched by that of club colleague Heidi Wilkinson, a winner also, this time in the U/13 Girls, although disappointingly she was the club’s only representative. We need to look to getting a full squad around her in future fixtures. Faye Heatley also had a fine run, in her first race as an U/15, to come home 2nd with Emma Tomlinson 25th. Sadly they also missed a counter. The Junior races were completed in the U/17s where Ben Moll was 16th and Emma’s older brother Oliver 17th in the Boys, with Molly Roche 5th, Megan Potrac 22nd and Lucie Todd 23rd in the Girls. Great to see a full squad out in the U/17 girls for the first time in several seasons – again, something to build on. Penultimate race was once again the Senior and Veteran Women, where changes to the rules for this season meaning U/20s were now joining the field of over 300, three of these featuring in the top four, although the winner was the experienced Lydia Turner of Birtley, taking just over 23 minutes to complete the roughly four mile course. Morpeth’s contingent of eight were led once again by club stalwart Jane Hodgson, finishing in 22nd place from Fast Pack with the fourth fastest overall time of the day and fastest O/40, with Nicola McCoy 36th from Slow Pack. Nicola also had a great run, and was 2nd O/55 also. The team count of four was made up by Poppy Buck, 46th and Robyn Bennett, 72nd, both of these coming from Fast Pack. Good to see a strong showing of Morpeth vests too, with Jane Briggs 83rd from Slow and third O/55, Kirsty Burville 107th from Fast, Lizzie Rank 141st from Fast and Sarah Henry 269th from Slow. Final race of the day saw the day’s largest field of 415, although this number, like the size of the Women’s field, was noticeably down on previous seasons, where there’s often been 600 plus (one suspects a combination of the unpopularity of the venue and perhaps the clash with a televised NUFC game may have contributed). Morpeth vests were also very much to the fore here, with Josh Fiddaman winning in a time of 30 minutes 16 seconds over the three-lap, six-mile course, and U/20 Joe Close also making the top ten in 8th place. Josh’s time, which saw him win by over two minutes, was the day’s fastest, with Joe’s fourth fastest O/20. The team count of six was made up by Liam Ramsay (14th from Slow on his debut), O/35 Rob Balmbra (35th from Fast), Dom Harris (36th from Slow, again on debut) and Lee Bennett (86th from Slow), with the club putting up a strong defence of their team title – one for the last three years running – at a venue which is amongst the most challenging. There were three further Morpeth runs, with Ian Armstrong 109th from Medium, Jason Dawson back on the XC after a season on the track in 140th and Lee Cuthbertson 179th following promotion to Fast Pack at Alnwick in the final fixture last year. Well done to all who turned out: it’s always good to get the first one out of the way, but as we keep saying – it’s all about the numbers, especially in the Young Athletes races, and we need to keep building on these. Action moves close to home in a fortnight’s time at Druridge Bay, where Morpeth will be looking to build further at what is pretty much a home fixture for us only fifteen minutes away. Remember it’s a Sunday, however, and that parking is both chargeable and at a premium. If you ran at Thornley, don’t forget your number: these are £10 for on the day replacements now and the club doesn’t pay for those who either threw it away or put it in the wash… Perhaps worth mentioning also that the league had to look around for a new chip timing system this year following the retirement of the guy from Sunderland Strollers who did it so effectively for so long. Results now appear on Timing Up North, but don’t show either clubs – unless you apply one of the filters – nor teams, which the old one did very quickly of course. Teams will appear ‘in due course’ on the NEHL site when someone has had the chance to draw breath and work them out. Full results here and link to photos by Stuart Whitman here. See you at Druridge; you can check if you’re registered or not here and if you’re not, please email Peter.  Joe Close in action in the Senior Men's race. Photo: Stuart Whitman Comments are closed.
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