START FITNESS NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE(6)

Organisers of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
breathed a huge sigh of relief on Saturday 17th March,
as they managed to complete the seasons fixtures at Alnwick Castle,
amidst prolonged icy wintry showers,following on from Friday’s torrential downpour.

Despite that downpour, apart from one or two boggy areas on the already tough course on the Pastures,
conditions were relatively good on the testing circuit, and the ten race programme was completed without any major hitches, thanks to the excellent stewardship of organising club Alnwick Harriers, who had already experienced the disappointment of having to call off the original fixture a fortnight previous, due to heavy snowfall.

However, all went well on Saturday, especially for Morpeth Harriers, whose on the day efforts
secured no less than four end of season team victories,
along with a good number of notable individual performances.

One very notable individual performer was Jane Hodgson,
who defied a 200 second handicap over most of her rivals,
to win the Senior Women’s event from the Fast Pack by a margin of 1m43s
​over her second placed club colleague Helen King, who ran excellently from the Slow Pack.

It also meant that Hodgson had a 100% record in the six counting Harrier League fixtures,
making her the leading Veteran Women in the Grand Prix competition incorporated into the event.

Running from the Fast Pack, Alison Brown finished in an excellent nineteenth place, and, closing the Morpeth Harriers scoring count was Susan Smith, who finished 68th from the Slow Pack,
which also secured an excellent Division 1 team title into the bargain.

Last season, Morpeth Harriers had won the Women’s Division 2 title to secure promotion,
and to win the Division 1 title at their first attempt was a superb effort.
​
Other Morpeth Senior Women rallying to the clubs’ cause on the day were Carol Parry (135th) (Slow Pack),
Claire Hiscock (165th) (Slow Pack), Frances Naylor (166th) (Slow Pack).

Our winning Senior Womens team at Alnwick on Saturday