 Morpeth's triumphant Under 20s Men The Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships returned to the North East for the first time in a number of years on a blustery Saturday afternoon, with athletes from across the Pennines and Yorkshire joining those from the North East on the rolling grassland of Sedgefield East Park. And a high standard of competition saw Morpeth Harriers win one team Gold and one individual Silver medal, with their Senior Men in addition narrowly missing out on a medal. The team Gold came in the Junior Under 20s Men’s race over 8.1 kilometres. Won by Gateshead Harrier Josh Blevins in a time of 26 minutes 19 seconds, Will De Vere Owen led the Morpeth contingent home, finishing just outside the individual medals in 4th with a time of 27:06. Joe Dixon was not far behind, 7th in 27:31, and with Bertie Marr making a top 20 finish (28:44), and James Tilley fighting off a bout of flu to battle through to 34th in 29:49, the team count of a miserly 31 points placed the club in first place and well ahead of nearest rivals from Lancashire and Yorkshire, Rossendale and Rotherham - and this with most of the team still at the bottom of the age category. The outstanding individual Silver came from young Ewan Line in the Under 13 Boys race over 2.9 kms, where he placed 2nd to Middlesborough AC athlete Thomas McCartie (10:10) in a time of 10:26. Line has been in fine form over the cross country this Winter and the medal is just reward for the hard work he has put in and the disappointments he has also overcome, for instance being misdirected when leading in the North Easterns in December. Jack Dhawar was 96th (13:06), although it was a disappointment that what has been a strong squad all season were unable to close a team, with Sheffield’s Hallamshire Harriers taking the team prize. Final race of the day saw the Senior Men take on a 12.1k course (some 7.5 miles) over three laps, with most of the top Northern clubs fielding strong squads. A field of over 400 were led home by Gateshead’s Calum Johnson, who looked in imperious form after establishing an early lead, finishing in a remarkable time of 37:55, some thirty seconds ahead of closest rivals Angus McMillan of Hallamshire (38:25) and Matthew Ramsden of Blackburn (38:53). They were chased every inch of the way, however, by Carl Avery, a Silver medallist last year at Blackburn, who always tends to run well in these championships. Finishing just outside the medals in 4th (39:16), Carl can take consolation from the fact that 3rd place finisher Ramsden had actually won the U/20 title last year, and he was giving him over fifteen years! Avery was the first of some 12 Morpeth finishers, with Leeds-based Phil Winkler having one of the runs of the day for the club when finishing 15th (40:23) next home. The team count of six was made up by Alex Brown, 39th (41:47), Connor Marshall, 42nd (41:49), Lawrence McCourt, 56th (43:06) and Andrew Lawrence, 69th (43:35), with Rob Balmbra, 74th (44:00), Alex Cunningham, 76th (44:02) and Adam Pratt, 96th (45:03) all making the top hundred. Lee Cuthbertson looked strong when finishing 197th in 49:33, and veterans Richard Glennie (258, 52:59) and Andrew Dippie (404, 1:04:01) completed their first Northerns (Andrew having now run Southern, Midlands and now Northern Championships in his running career). Leeds City AC were perhaps unsurprisingly winners of the team prize, with Salford Harriers 2nd on 107, Hallamshire 3rd on 119, and Morpeth in 4th on 225, although having at least the consolation of being top team from the North East, ahead of nearest rivals Sunderland Harriers (7th) and Gateshead Harriers (10th). Once again the Macdonald sisters led the Morpeth effort in the day’s penultimate race, the Senior Women’s over 8.1 kms, with Catriona Macdonald 24th in 31:46, and sisters Lorna 70th (35:51) and an injured Lindsey 133rd (40:57). Leeds City AC’s squad trounced the opposition when finishing with a count of only 28 points, and Hallamshire’s Lauren McNeil took the individual title in 28:35. Durham City were 7th, Elswick 9th and NSP 10th, with no less than ten North East clubs in total closing teams, but with no fourth runner, Morpeth were disappointingly unable to close a team – which would almost certainly have been near at least a top ten finish. Earlier in the day the club’s Under 13 Girls had performed well to finish in 8th place, with Faye Heatley first back in 41st, Lucy Raper 55th, Zoe Tomlinson 59th and Anna Archibald 96th. Leeds City were individual and team winners. Elliot Kelso just missed out on a top ten finish in the 5.7 k U/17 Men’s race, coming in 11th in 18:44 with Joe Close 41st in 20:16. There were three finishers in the 3.8k U/15 Girls race, with Emma Tomlinson 61st , Molly Roche not far behind in 70th and Charlotte Marshall 114th. Finally, Ben Moll flew a lone flag for the club in the U/15 Boys, finishing in 45th place. Well done to all who turned out and represented the club with distinction: all in all some outstanding performances and a couple of excellent medals, but the season’s pattern of ifs, buts and maybes unfortunately continues.  The Senior Men at Sedgefield Comments are closed.
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