Men Take Silver At Northern Road Relays
Sheepmount Stadium in Carlisle played host to the Northern Athletics Road Relays, a qualifier for the ERRA Championships as well as a Championship race in its own right.
The blustery four seasons in one day afternoon on Saturday 28 March saw proved to be no deterrent to those Morpeth Harriers who had made the journey across the country on the A69, with an individual Bronze medal and a hard fought team Silver in the Men’s race the reward.
The individual Bronze medal came courtesy of Mason Gaylor in the Under 15 Boys race, who posted a time of 16 minutes and 12 seconds behind winner Peter Wayman of host club Border Harriers (15:55) and Stockport Harrier Harry Shatwell (16:01). It’s rich reward for the young athlete who had made the race his Spring focus and continues to make great strides under the watchful eye of coach Judith Nutt.
Two Morpeth Harriers competed in the matching U/15 Girls race, won by the apparently unstoppable New Marske Harrier Gabrielle Pinder (who had also won the National XC at Sedgefield a few weeks ago) in 17:18 with Birtley’s Olivia Murphy 2nd (17:18) and Sale Harrier Beatrix Soper 3rd (18:08).
Heidi Wilkinson had a strong run to come home 6th in 18:41, with Faye Heatley also making the journey and coming home 20th in 20:22.
There were no Morpeth vests out in either of the Boys or Girls U/17s sadly, where Gateshead’s Alfie Cook was however 2nd in 15:27 and NSP’s Phoenix Hayton-Rowell 3rd in 15:28 behind winner Jake Norris of Leeds City (15:20). Liverpool Harrier Rebecca Murphy won the women’s race in 18:13.
The Men’s 12 Stage Relay proved to be long drawn out tussle between Morpeth Harriers and leading Northern outfit Leeds City AC, the West Yorkshire club winning by a margin of 1 minute and 2 seconds after well over three hours of racing (3:23: 53 against 3:24:55).
Finn Brodie returned to competition after a long spell out to get the club’s challenge off to a strong start, coming back in 20:15 on the day’s first long 7k leg neck and neck with the Leeds City runner.
George Lowry clocked 15:08 for the first short leg, but Carl Avery got the team into the lead after a strong long leg of 20:19.
Liam Roche did well to keep them there on a short leg of 15:31, but Leeds scrapped their way back into the lead on leg 5, with Lawrence McCourt running 20:50 and Leeds chasing him down hard.
Thereafter Leeds managed to keep their noses in front despite Morpeth’s best efforts, although Will de Vere Owen had the lead down to only six seconds after a storming leg 10 (14:58, the club’s fastest short leg).
Andrew Swinburne ran 15:31 on short Leg 6, Chris Coulson 20:23 on the last long Leg 7, Josh Fiddaman 15:23 and James Tilley 15:21 on legs 8 and 9.
Despite the best efforts of Sam Hancox on leg 11 (15:54) and Ellis Hetherington on leg 12 (15:15) the gap proved frustratingly just too much too close, with Gavyn Chambers of Leeds running a stunning 14:43 on leg 12. (Harry Wakefield of Salford ran 14:28 on leg 12, the day’s fastest short leg split, however.)
Morpeth also managed to get a patched up B team together despite some late drop-outs, with several veterans commendably stepping in to ensure a full squad. Indeed, at one point the squad were up to 6th place, finishing in the end 18th in 3:51:56 and third B team behind Leeds and Salford.
Matthew Walton clocked 21:02 on leg 1, Oliver Tomlinson 16:14 on leg 2 and Andy Lawrence 22:02 on leg 3.
Joe Dixon showed he is almost back to his best when running 15:40 on leg 4, with Ali Douglas 23:20 on leg 5 and O/45 Dave Stabler 17:18 on leg 6.
Tom Straughan ran the last long leg of 24:15, with the last five short legs run by O/60 Rob Hancox (22:23), O/50 Jason Dawson (16:20), Matty Briggs (19:14), and O/35s Lee Cuthbertson (16:27) and Bobby Hagan (17:36), with Hagan having finished the Grasmere 10k trial race that morning in 40:56, where he placed 2nd.
NSP continued their current rival, coming home 7th in 3:39:48, one place ahead of Gateshead Harriers with TBH 14th and Birtley 20th.
The Women’s 6 Stage was also won by Leeds City, in a time of 1:57:30 ahead of Border Harriers and Salford. Birtley were 6th and TBH 26th in a disappointing NE showing.
Northern Mens 12 Stage/Womens 6 Stage Road Relays & Young Athletes 5k Championship
The blustery four seasons in one day afternoon on Saturday 28 March saw proved to be no deterrent to those Morpeth Harriers who had made the journey across the country on the A69, with an individual Bronze medal and a hard fought team Silver in the Men’s race the reward.
The individual Bronze medal came courtesy of Mason Gaylor in the Under 15 Boys race, who posted a time of 16 minutes and 12 seconds behind winner Peter Wayman of host club Border Harriers (15:55) and Stockport Harrier Harry Shatwell (16:01). It’s rich reward for the young athlete who had made the race his Spring focus and continues to make great strides under the watchful eye of coach Judith Nutt.
Two Morpeth Harriers competed in the matching U/15 Girls race, won by the apparently unstoppable New Marske Harrier Gabrielle Pinder (who had also won the National XC at Sedgefield a few weeks ago) in 17:18 with Birtley’s Olivia Murphy 2nd (17:18) and Sale Harrier Beatrix Soper 3rd (18:08).
Heidi Wilkinson had a strong run to come home 6th in 18:41, with Faye Heatley also making the journey and coming home 20th in 20:22.
There were no Morpeth vests out in either of the Boys or Girls U/17s sadly, where Gateshead’s Alfie Cook was however 2nd in 15:27 and NSP’s Phoenix Hayton-Rowell 3rd in 15:28 behind winner Jake Norris of Leeds City (15:20). Liverpool Harrier Rebecca Murphy won the women’s race in 18:13.
The Men’s 12 Stage Relay proved to be long drawn out tussle between Morpeth Harriers and leading Northern outfit Leeds City AC, the West Yorkshire club winning by a margin of 1 minute and 2 seconds after well over three hours of racing (3:23: 53 against 3:24:55).
Finn Brodie returned to competition after a long spell out to get the club’s challenge off to a strong start, coming back in 20:15 on the day’s first long 7k leg neck and neck with the Leeds City runner.
George Lowry clocked 15:08 for the first short leg, but Carl Avery got the team into the lead after a strong long leg of 20:19.
Liam Roche did well to keep them there on a short leg of 15:31, but Leeds scrapped their way back into the lead on leg 5, with Lawrence McCourt running 20:50 and Leeds chasing him down hard.
Thereafter Leeds managed to keep their noses in front despite Morpeth’s best efforts, although Will de Vere Owen had the lead down to only six seconds after a storming leg 10 (14:58, the club’s fastest short leg).
Andrew Swinburne ran 15:31 on short Leg 6, Chris Coulson 20:23 on the last long Leg 7, Josh Fiddaman 15:23 and James Tilley 15:21 on legs 8 and 9.
Despite the best efforts of Sam Hancox on leg 11 (15:54) and Ellis Hetherington on leg 12 (15:15) the gap proved frustratingly just too much too close, with Gavyn Chambers of Leeds running a stunning 14:43 on leg 12. (Harry Wakefield of Salford ran 14:28 on leg 12, the day’s fastest short leg split, however.)
Morpeth also managed to get a patched up B team together despite some late drop-outs, with several veterans commendably stepping in to ensure a full squad. Indeed, at one point the squad were up to 6th place, finishing in the end 18th in 3:51:56 and third B team behind Leeds and Salford.
Matthew Walton clocked 21:02 on leg 1, Oliver Tomlinson 16:14 on leg 2 and Andy Lawrence 22:02 on leg 3.
Joe Dixon showed he is almost back to his best when running 15:40 on leg 4, with Ali Douglas 23:20 on leg 5 and O/45 Dave Stabler 17:18 on leg 6.
Tom Straughan ran the last long leg of 24:15, with the last five short legs run by O/60 Rob Hancox (22:23), O/50 Jason Dawson (16:20), Matty Briggs (19:14), and O/35s Lee Cuthbertson (16:27) and Bobby Hagan (17:36), with Hagan having finished the Grasmere 10k trial race that morning in 40:56, where he placed 2nd.
NSP continued their current rival, coming home 7th in 3:39:48, one place ahead of Gateshead Harriers with TBH 14th and Birtley 20th.
The Women’s 6 Stage was also won by Leeds City, in a time of 1:57:30 ahead of Border Harriers and Salford. Birtley were 6th and TBH 26th in a disappointing NE showing.
Northern Mens 12 Stage/Womens 6 Stage Road Relays & Young Athletes 5k Championship