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July

News From July 2008

Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League
Callum Duncan of Morpeth Harriers produced two outstanding performances
to win both the Under 15 Boys 100m and Long Jump at the fifth and penultimate
Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League meeting held at
Gateshead's International Stadium on Wednesday 30th July.

Duncan won the 100m in 12.75s, and the Long Jump with a best of 4.72m.

Another Morpeth winner on the night was Joe Robertshaw
who won the Under 13 Boys 100m in 13.62s.
There were also good runs in the Junior Mens 1500m
by Morpeth's Martyn Cairns and Jordan Scott,
who each recorded new personal bests with 4m18.46s and 4m24.34s
when they finished fourth and sixth respectively.

Marcus Cram finished third in the Under 17 Mens 1500m in 4m15.50s,
and Wayne Gedge finished sixth in the Senior Mens 100m in 13.26s.

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New Marske Victorian 10k!
Alistair MacDonald finished eleventh in the New Marske Victorian 10k race
on Sunday 27th July in a time of 38m11s.
Other Morpeth performers in the event were husband and wife
Richard and Lucy Sill who finished 46th and 102nd in respective times of 42m30s and 52m12s.

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Sunderland Harriers 5k !
Morpeths Craig McBurney continued his competitive
comeback on the roads last week when he finished thirteenth in the
Sunderland Harriers 5k at Silksworth on Wednesday 23rd July.

McBurney who has seen recent Army service take him to war torn Basra,
completed his run in a time of 16m11s.

Other Morpeth Harriers competing on the night were Aiveen Fox,
who was sixth lady home in 46th place in 17m43s, and Zoe Armstrong,
who was also making a competitive comeback
after taking time out to concentrate on her Rowing
which saw her take part in a National Championship.
Zoe finished 135th and was twenty third in the Ladies race in a time of 20m28s.

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Elmsley Carr Mile !
Morpeths Nick McCormick finished tenth in a very tactical
Elmsley Carr Mile at Crystal Palace on Friday 25th July,
in a seasons best time of 3m58.04s, which saw him around
four seconds adrift of Shedrack Korir of Kenya,
who won in avery close finish with Britain's Beijing bound Andy Baddeley.

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Young Athletes League ( 5 )
Although relegation was unavoidable, Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes
did enough to survive the final indignity of being awarded the wooden spoon
in their final Northern League Division One East match at Cleethorpes on Sunday 20th July.

By finishing third for the only time this season,
and above their North East rivals Houghton,
it meant that the aforementioned not only also faced the drop,
but they had the honour of ending up at the foot of the table.

Main highlights in the Morpeth Harriers performances
were the wins by Adele Stewart, Rachel Denton, Jessica Caldwell,
Stevie Goodfellow, Deborah Oakley, Catriona MacDonald,
Jonathan Cozens, Josh Dunn and Jonny Nisbet, and the overall commitment
given by those athletes who turned out on the day to make some very valuable contributions,
albeit by claiming good minor placings across the age groups.

Adele Stewart won the Under 13 Girls 800m in splendid fashion in 2m44.8s,
and Rachael Todd contributed well here by finishing second in the B race in 3m07.4s.
Stewart also contributed well by finishing second in the 70m Hurdles in 12.8s,
and Sarah Wilkes backed her up well by taking second in the B race in 15.1s.

Steph Purvis finished second in the A race of the 1200m in 4m29.8s,
and Sarah Wilkes backed her up well by finishing second in the B race in 4m34.8s.

Rachel Denton easily won the Under 15 Girls 800m in 2m28.9s,
which although was a little way short of her best,
mainly due to a swirling wind, was a good win.
Polly-Ann Jeffrey finished third in the B race in 3m18.3s.

Jeffrey also contributed well with a good second in the Javelin with a best of 12.26m.
Another good performer in the Under 15 Girls age group was Katie Plant,
who finished second in the 100m (14.1s), third in the 200m (29.4s),
and third in the 75m Hurdles (15.2s).

Jessica Caldwell competed well to just clinch victory
in the Under 17 Womens 800m in 2m49.2s,
and went on later to finish second in the 1500m in 5m57.3s.

Stevie Goodfellow scored an excellent victory in the 300m Hurdles in 57.5s.
She also finished second in the Triple Jump with a best of 8.84m.

Despite carrying a painful leg injury, Deborah Oakley managed to capture
no less than three B race victories in the 800m (3m09.2s),
1500m (6m02.1s) and 3000m (14m16.0s).

Catriona MacDonald confirmed maximum points
for Morpeth in the 3000m by winning in 13m57.4s.

A name to watch for the future in the Morpeth Under 17 Womens ranks
could be Elizabeth Severs who finished second in the 100m (13.9s),
second in the 200m (29.2s), and second in the High Jump with a best clearance of 1.38m.
Stevie Goodfellow backed Elizabeth up well in the 200m by taking the B race in 32.7s.

On to the Boys events where Jonathan Cozens scored
an excellent victory in the Under 15 200m in 25.8s,
and Jonny Nisbet backed him up well with an excellent second in the B race in 27.3s.
Nisbet later tasted a superb victory in the 1500m in 4m51.3s.

Josh Dunn won the 400m in 59.4s, and Jonathan Cozens made his victory
that much sweeter by taking the B race in 61.1s.

Callum Duncan placed second in the Long Jump with a best of 4.97m.

In the Under 17 Mens events Daniel Hedley finished second
in the 100m in 12.8s and third in the 200m in 25.2s.
A hardworking Philip Shuttleworth tackled all the distance events,
and finished third in the 800m (2m27.4s), third in the 1500m (5m03.6s)
and second in the 3000m (10m29s).

In the Under 13 Boys events Morpeth's best performances
came from Matthew Denton who finished second in the 200m (31.9s)
won the B race of the 800m in 2m52.0s
to support Joe Elder's third in the A race in 2m45.9s,
and went on to finish third in the 75m Hurdles in 17.0s.

A final thanks must go to Team Managers Tony Ward and Josie Goodfellow
for their efforts to get teams out during a season where commitment was hard
to find apart from those who did turn out,
and to the helpers who went along to the matches quite willingly
and contributed greatly to the overall performances.

FINAL MATCH SCORE
1st Doncaster 472pts,
2nd Cleethorpes 317.5pts,
3rd Morpeth 196pts,
4th Houghton 177.5pts.

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National Police Track & Field Championships !
Rachel Archer and Ian Mawdsley of Morpeth Harriers competed in the
National Police Track and Field Championships in Hillingdon last week.

Representing Northumbria, Rachel finished second in the Finals
of the Womens 100m and 200m in respective times of 13.7s and 27.5s,
and Ian finished second in the Mens 110m Hurdles in 19.8s,
and third in the 400m Hurdles in 64.5s.

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BMC Races Monkton Stadium !
Six days after creating a new personal best for himself over 800m,
Morpeths Marcus Cram once again rewrote his record book when he clocked 4m15.8s
in the BMC 1500m at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium, on Monday 21st July,
which shaved a further four seconds off his previous figures.

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VAA NE Track & Field League ( 4 )
At the fourth VAA NE Track & Field League meeting
held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium, on Monday 21st July,
Morpeth's Archie Jenkins finish 3rd in the 800m in 2m30.9s,
and 4th in the 3000m in 10m55.07s.

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Northumberland Coastal Run !
The Beadnell to Alnmouth Coastal Run on Sunday 20th July was won by
Leicestershire based athlete Tim Hartley of Barrow Running Club,
who managed to create a winning margin of just over 90 seconds
over second placed Morpeth Harrier Michael Morris who in turn
managed to fend off the close attentions of Dave Kirkland of the host club Alnwick Harriers.

Other Morpeth Harriers amongst the leading finishers were
Phil Walker and Paul Waterstone who placed sixth and seventh respectively.
Over 800 runners took part in the 29th running of this very popular event.

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BMC Grand Prix Manchester !
Morpeths very much in form Chris Sampson created
himself another huge personal best in the BMC Grand Prix
3000m B race at Trafford, Manchester on Saturday 19th July.

Exactly a week after his excellent 3000m Steeplechase success
in the UK Trials Sampson clocked a superb 8m20.29s,
which knocked around 19 seconds off his previous best.

In the very same race clubmate Nick Swinburne
finished in fifth place in 8m 26.51s.
In the A race of the Mens 1500m Morpeth's
British Universities Champion Jonny Taylor
clocked 3m47.77s for tenth place.

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North Eastern Athletics League ( 4 )
Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram created another new milestone in his young athlete career
when he dipped under two minutes in the 800m for the very first time at
Gateshead's International Stadium on Wednesday 16th July.
Watched by his illustrious father, former World Mile Record Holder Steve,
and his more than interested grandparents,
the fifteen year old claimed victory in the second of four mixed seeded events
that were run for Under 17, Under 20 and Senior athletes
at the fourth Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League meeting,
in a new personal best exceptional time of 1m59.69s.

After a fast first lap, Marcus worked his way from fourth at the bell
to second on the run in, and just managed to head off Elswick's Jonny Pearson
around 30 metres from the finish line with an exhilarating late run.
It was a tremendous boost for Marcus Cram after a horrendous time
at the Scottish Schools a few weeks ago, where he literally blew up
in the final stages of a 1500m to finish a desperate last.

Other good Morpeth performers on the night were Daniel Hedley in the 150m,
where he finished as third Under 17 in 18.69s,
and Jordan Scott who finished third in the 3000m in 9m29.91s.

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Watford Open Track & Field Meeting !
In a specially organised 1500m race at the Watford
Open Track and Field meeting on Wednesday 16th July,
Morpeths Nick McCormick failed in what was his very last attempt
to get a time to take him to the Beijing Olympics when he finished
second to Britains other hopeful Michael East in a time of 3m41.59s,
with East clocking 3m39.04s which was
also outside the required qualification standard.

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Neil Wilkinson On His Way Back !
After a long spell out with a succession of niggling injuries,
Morpeths Neil Wilkinson has been gradually working his way back
into competitive action by taking part in some low key Multi Terrain events.
Firstly he won the Hadrians Wall 3k Showrace at Hexham,
where the course ascended to a maximum height of 360 feet,
then last week he finished second to Sunderland Harrier Brian Rushworth
in the Herrington Country Park 4.8k event on wednesday 9th July.

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Angel View 5 Multi Terrain Event !
Jane Mooney of Morpeth Harriers secured an emphatic victory
in the Womens Race at the Low Fell Running Club
Angel View 5 Multi Terrain event at Gateshead on Thursday 10th July.
She finished twelfth in a time of 31m18s which put her well
over two minutes clear of her closest rival.

Her clubmate Deborah Oakley, despite taking a heavy tumble
in the early stages managed to pick herself up to finish
59th overall and was ninth lady in a time of 37m41s.

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Blackburn Celebration 5k !
Morpeths Ben Harrison finished thirteenth in the Elite section
of last weeks Blackburn Celebration 5k event in Lancashire in a time of 15m38s.

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Norwich Union Beijing Olympic Trials & UK Championships !
There was a mixture of emotions for the two Morpeth Harriers
who competed at the third and final day of the Norwich Union
Beijing Olympic Trials and UK Championships meeting
at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium on Sunday 13th July.

For Chris Sampson there was a feeling of elation,
as for the second time in two weeks he created
himself a new lifetime best for the 3000m Steeplechase.
Coming in as a late entry certainly did the 32 year old Chris a lot of favours,
as once again he managed to get himself dragged round by some of the nations
best to an excellent 9m03.56s, which clipped over three seconds
off his previous best set at Solihull a couple of weeks previous.

Chris can take particular delight at his track season,
and now will concentrate on taking his current run of form
onto the roads in the hope of bettering his excellent time set in last years Great North Run.

Not so happy however was Sampson's clubmate Nick McCormick
who on Saturday managed to win his heat of the Mens 1500m in 3m47.33s,
which was a good twelve seconds down on his best for the distance.
After a lively start on Sunday which saw him lead until 1100metres,
having gone through the first 400m in 58.75s, and then through 800m in 1min56.30s,
he was found wanting over the final 150metres where he faded to fifth in 3m40.43s,
and any hopes of an Olympic appearance finally in tatters.

Another Morpeth Harrier who competed in the Mens 1500m
was Jonathan Taylor who went out in the heats on the Saturday
with his clocking of 3m51.84s which saw him finish eighth in the heat won by Michael East.

Also in action at the trials on Saturday was Morpeths Ian Hudspith who clocked
a seasons best of 14m14.44s when he finished thirteenth in a classy Mens 5000m field.

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English Schools Track & Field Championships !
In a very tactical race Morpeths Laura Weightman stole away in the final 200 metres
to win the English Schools Senior Girls 1500m Championship held at
Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday 12th July.
Clocking a time of 4m31.08s, which although was a little way short of her best,
it was enough to clinch an excellent victory over some very tough opposition.

In the Intermediate Boys 1500m, Morpeths Alistair Douglass
clocked 4m14.95s to finish seventh in his heat, but was agonisingly
just a hairsbreadth short of his personal best, as he failed to make the final.

Rachel Denton clocked a lifetime best of 4m44.93s
to finish third in her heat of the Junior Girls 1500m.
However she found the final a lot tougher where she finished
last of eleven in a much slower 4m55.60s.

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Anita Nott Memorial Womens Only Run !
Despite running her second fastest time ever on the course,
Morpeths Aiveen Fox failed to retain the winning title she has held
for the past four years in succession at the Anita Nott Memorial
Womens Only Run at Jesmond Dene on Monday 7th July.

Aiveen clocked 19m49s and had to be content with third place
behind Middlesbrough's Carolyn Summersgill (19m31s)
and Chester Le Street's Claire Simpson (19m36s).
There was some compensation for Fox however as she led her club
to the team title for the fifth consecutive year with further support
being received from Jane Mooney (5th) 20m33s and Kate Chapman (15th) 23m01s.

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Tynedale 10k Road Race !
Morpeths Kristian Forster made a welcome return to racing action
in the Tynedale 10k Road Race on Wednesday 2nd July
and led his club home to an emphatic Mens team victory.

The son of former International Marathon runner Kevin Forster
has been dogged by injury and illness over the past year,
however he now hopes to have put all that behind him
as he finished in sixth place and 69 seconds behind race winner
Michael Dawson of North Shields Poly with his clocking of 34m14s.

Further team support in the victory came from Paul Waterston
and Phil Walker who finished in seveth and eighth places
with respective clockings of 34m35s and 34m44s.
Waterston and Walker also occupied the second and third
Veteran Mens places behind Stewy Bell of Chester Le Street.

Next Morpeth Harriers man to finish was Gordon Dixon
who placed 21st and was second in the Over 45 Veteran Mens
section with his clocking of 36m10s.

Jane Mooney was the fifth Morpeth athlete home when she
placed 53rd in 37m55s and was sixth lady finisher.
She led Morpeth Harriers home to third place in the Womens Team Race
with further support coming from Michelle Woodley (185th) (25th Lady) 43m33s
and Sue Calvert (202nd) (27th Lady) 44m09s.

Other Morpeth Harriers Results were as follows
Michael Winter (66th) 38m42s,
Ian Corner (93rd) 40m04s,
Richard Driscoll (116th) 41m02s,
Nick Armstrong (127th) 41m27s,
Simon Robson (145th) 42m21s,
Richard Sill (163rd) 42m55s,
Neil McAnany (187th) 43m39s,
Trevor Robinson (223rd) 44m49s,
Norman Clark (224th) 44m51s,
Paul Tomlinson (280th) 46m45s,
Steve McDonald (289th) 46m58s,
Lucy Sill (402nd) 50m22s,
Susan Smith (426th) 51m45s,
Carlos Werner (443rd) 52m39s,
Jane Blackett (449th) 52m55s.

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Northern League Division 2 Match !
Missing athletes in key events, saw Morpeth Harriers
Senior Men and Womens Track and Field squad only finish fourth
in their third round Northern League Division 2 match
held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium on Sunday 6th July.

This means that they will have to finish ahead of Durham City
in their final match at Middlesbrough in August to avoid the drop
into Division 3 along with the already doomed Scarborough squad.

Nevertheless the Morpeth athletes who did turn out gave
their all and tried to plug the gaps where possible.
It was in the Mens section where a poor turnout resulted
in a lack of quality distance runners being able to tackle the rigours of the 5000m,
which has usually proved to be a strong event in the past for the club.

On the credit side the best Mens result came in the 800m
with Alistair Douglass and Martyn Cairns both producing
personal bests of 2m03.2s and 2m04.7s respectively
as they placed second in the A and B races.

Other high points came in the Discus and Shot events where the Appleby
brothers combined to good effect with very workmanlike performances.
Paul finished fifth in the A string of the Discus with a best of 32.56m,
and Steven won the B String with a marginally smaller 32.29m.
The pair completed a replica success in the Shot where
Paul managed a best of 9.78m and Steven again was
just marginally adrift of his sibling with 9.59m.

Another good Morpeth Mens result came in the 200m
with Greg Swinburn finishing a good second in 24.1s.

In the Womens events Morpeth managed four excellent wins from
a squad that worked very hard to achieve on the day.
Clair Reid managed a Shot (10.43m) and Discus (35.26m) winning double
and was well supported in both events by Rachel Moody and Josie Goodfellow respectively.
Moody won the B String Shot with a best of 7.39m,
and Goodfellow excellently finished third in the B event of the Discus with a best of 16.59m.

Laura Weightman clocked a personal best of 58.8s to outsprint
Middlesbrough's talented Kirsty Legg in the 400m.
Morpeth scored good points here by fielding Aiveen Fox
in the B race where she finished third in 71.7s.
Fox also helped Morpeth to more valuable points when she won
the 3000m in 10m22.1s, and Kate Chapman took the B race in 11m17.5s.

This pairing also did well in the 800m, with Fox finishing second
in the A race in 2m23.4s and Chapman finishing fourth in the B race in 2m45.1s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st City of York 426pts,
2nd Middlesbrough (Mandale) 376.5pts,
3rd Gateshead 322pts,
4th Morpeth 291.5pts,
5th Durham City 280pts,
6th Scarborough 122pts.

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Nick McCormick In Milan !
Unfortunately Morpeths Nick McCormick's latest attempt
to achieve an Olympic qualifying time over 1500m came to nothing
in Milan last week when he finished fifth in a slower time
than he would have liked of 3m38.13s.

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BMC Meeting Watford !
Morpeth Harrier Jonny Young finished second in the 1500m B race
at the BMC meeting held at Watford last week in a time of 3m58.53s.

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Stephen Unwin Memorial 10k Road Race !
Graeme Leathard and Jim Alder of Morpeth Harriers travelled to Dalston
in Cumbria last week to compete in the Steven Unwin Memorial 10k Road Race.
Graeme finished 28th in 39m59s and was sixth Over 40 Veteran Man,
and Jim finished in 33rd place in 40m48s, and was fourth in the Over 45 Veteran Mens section.

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VAA North Eastern Track & Field Championships !
Morpeth Harriers had title winners at the recently held
Veterans Athletic Association North Eastern Track and Field Championships
held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium.
Phil Walker won the Mens Over 40 1500m in 4m25.8s,
and clubmate Paul Waterston finished third in 4m43.9s.
Waterston later went on to win the Mens Over 40 5000m in 17m22.2s.
Alistair MacDonald won the Mens Over 45 5000m in 18m21.1s,
after earlier taking the 400m title in 62.3s

Evergreen Archie Jenkins celebrated a hat-trick of victories
in the Over 55 Mens 800m (2m39.6s), 1500m (5m02.1s) and 5000m (19m16.8s) events.

Margaret MacDonald tasted sweet victories in the 1500m and 3000m
events for Over 40 Women in respective times of 6m22.7s and 13m54.8s.

Josie Goodfellow won both the Over 45 Womens Shot (7.72m)
and Javelin (15.63m) events and finished second in both the
Long Jump (3.86m) and Triple Jump (8.21m) events.

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June

News From June 2008

Beamish 10k Tram Challenge !
Morpeths Nick Swinburn was more than a match for not only his rivals,
but also the tram at the annual 10k Challenge held at the
North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish on Sunday 29th June.

He won the event for the third time in a row in a time of 32m58s,
which proved to be three minutes and fifty eight seconds faster than
his closest rival Simon O'Donnell of Chester Le Street.
Bangor University student Swinburn certainly retains an affection
for the course which happens to be only several minutes away from his family home.

Nick also lowered the course record by a further 66 seconds into the bargain,
which is a timely boost as he has now been selected to compete for
England in the Snowdon International Mountain Race, due to be held later in July.

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Morpeth Harrier Wins A Tetrathlon !
Versatile 13 year old Steph Courty of Morpeth Harriers cast
aside her dilemma and disappointment of having to miss the
Northumberland Minor Schools Track and Field Championships
in favour of winning a Tetrathlon in Angus, Scotland
over Saturday and Sunday 28th and 29th June.

The Tetrathlon involved a Shooting Competition where she finished sixth,
a Swimming competition where she finished fifth,
a running competition where she placed seventh,
plus a clear round on her horse in the Cross Country Riding event.

These results gave her the overall individual title when competing against 54 other rivals,
and she led the North of England to third team place against teams from Northern Ireland,
Southern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and other areas of England.

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BMC Nike Grand Prix Meeting !
When finishing tenth in the Mens 3000m Steeplechase in the BMC
Nike Grand Prix meeting at Solihull, West Midlands on Saturday night ( 28th June )
Morpeths Chris Sampson added yet another dimension to his long and very
determined and relatively distinguished athletics career when he clocked
a lifetime best of 9m06.75s, in what can only described as a classy field of entrants.

Chris who has come all the way through the ranks at his club,
and has had to put up with a fair share of injuries and disappointments in his time,
is described by one highly regarded club official as a hard working athlete,
and richly deserves to achieve this success,
albeit in the later stages of his Senior career at the age of 32.
His latest effort puts him 16th currently in the country's rankings for the event,
and the improvement on his previous best by nearly three seconds which he
achieved exactly a year ago in Watford is quite outstanding.
Chris commented, that he had been feeling pretty good in recent weeks
and knew that there was a decent race in him,
thankfully he had chosen the right race,
had held the correct pace throughout amongst good opposition,
and that it had all come right for him on the night.

On the Morpeth Harrier front, Chris now ranks fourth in the club records
for the Mens Steeplechase behind European representative Dave Camp,
and Scottish representative Archie Jenkins and Nigel Reeves,
with only Gary Woods a nearer challenger previously.

At the same meeting there was both satisfaction and despair
for two of Sampson's club colleagues.
Jonathan Taylor was just over a second outside his lifetime best
when he finished eleventh in the A race of the Mens 1500m in 3m46.22s,
however will take some satisfaction that he was only a mere four seconds
adrift of race winner and seasoned International James Thie of Cardiff,
and that he had Somalia's Moumin Geele and India's Ravida Sharma,
both Under 23 Internationals trailing in behind him five and ten seconds adrift respectively.

It was not a happy night however for Ian Hudspith, who doesn't seem
to have quite recaptured the form he showed before falling ill prior to
April's London Marathon, where he was forced to pull out.
Hudspith finished an unlucky thirteenth in the Mens 5000m
and one place behind fellow North Easterner Ryan Mcleod.
His time of 14m27.94s, which although is a seasons best,
is still a good way short of what he would have wished for on the track,
however when he returns to the roads someone will have to watch out.

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Northumberland Minor Schools Track & Field Championships !
Morpeth Harriers Jonny Nisbet, Callum Duncan, Tom McGee,
Joe Robertshaw and Reece Ramsey all claimed respective victories
at the Northumberland Minor Schools Track and Field Championships
held at Gateshead's International Stadium on Saturday 28th June.

Jonny claimed a narrow victory in the Under 14 Boys 1500m in 4m41.1s.
Callum showed excellent form when winning both the
Under 14 Boys Long Jump (4.75m) and Triple Jump (10.93m) events.
Tom McGee won the Under 14 Boys Javelin with his best effort of 30.89m.

After finishing third in the Under 13 Boys 100m in 13.9s,
Joe Robertshaw clocked 28.4s to win the 200m.
Reece Ramsey won the Under 13 Boys 400m in 65.9s.
Finally Carley Mae Webster finished second in the Under 14 Girls 800m in 2m38.0s.

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Windy Gyle Fell Race !
Margaret MacDonald was Morpeth Harriers lone finisher
at the Windy Gyle Fell race on Sunday 22nd June.
She finished 35th in 1hr52m44s.

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Penshaw Hill Race !
Morpeths Nick Swinburn ended Sunderland Harrier Brian Rushworth's
impressive record of five successive wins in his own clubs Penshaw Hill Race
when he stole victory by the margin of seven seconds
with his clocking of 16m18s last Wednesday 25th June.
Rushworth himself finished second, with Morpeths Neil Wilkinson claiming third spot in 17m42s.
Swinburn became the second Morpeth Harrier to taste victory on the tough demanding course.
Terry Wall had preceeded Rushworth's incredible five when in 2002 he had clocked 16m03s.
Morpeths Archie Jenkins finished 23rd in 20m29s
and was first home in the Over 55 Veteran Mens category.

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North Eastern Athletics League !
Morpeths Joe Robertshaw won the Under 13 Boys 100m at the third
meeting of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Athletics League
held at Gateshead's International Stadium on Wednesday 25th June.
The North Eastern Under 13 200m Champion clocked 13.90s.

Elaine Telford had two second places in the Senior Womens 100m (13.09s) and 200m (27.03s).

In the seeded 1500m events Morpeth had good performers in
Alistair Douglass, Martyn Cairns, Jordan Scott, Phil Walker and Paul Waterston.
Alistair, although a little short of his personal best, gave a typical fighting display
to finish ninth in the A race in 4m23.36s and was second Under 17 Mens athlete.

Martyn ran excellently to win the B race in a new personal best of 4m23.59s,
finishing two places ahead of Jordan who also clocked a new best of 4m26.58s.

Phil and Paul clocked 4m26.74s and 4m41.32s respectively to finish as seventh and 12th Senior Men.

In the Under 17 Womens 300m, Zoe Armstrong finished third in 46.2s
and Katie Plant finished fifth in the B race of the Under 15 Girls 100m in 14.34s.

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Young Athletes League !
Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes Track and Field squad
very nearly managed to escape finishing bottom for their
fourth successive Northern League match held at
Sheffield's Woodburn Road Stadium on Sunday 22nd June.

Only ten points separated them from third placed fellow North Easterners Birtley,
with host club Spenborough by far the winners,
and another fellow North East club Tynedale finishing second.
This now means that Morpeth cannot avoid the drop into Division 2
for next season, which indeed is a rarity for the Northumbrians.

Over the past 20 years under the leadership of Tony Ward
they have drifted between Premier and Division 1 status,
however despite strong efforts by those who have taken part relegation is inevitable.
On this occasion however the effort was stronger,
but it was in the Field events where missing athletes lost valuable points.

Credit must go to Alistair Douglass in the Under 17 Mens age group
where he took on some tough opposition to record two outright victories and a second.
He won both the 800m (2m10.2s) and 1500m Steeplechase (4m55.9s)
and went on to finish second in the 400m (56.5s)
only losing out for a hat-trick of victories by a mere two seconds.

Morpeth took maximum points in the Steeplechase with Philip Shuttleworth winning
the B race in 5m46.3s, and that was after earlier finishing second in the 3000m in 10m24.6s.

The best results in the Under 15 Boys events for Morpeth
came in the Field with Callum Duncan and Tom McGee both performing well.
Duncan claimed victories in the Shot (8.69m) and Long Jump (4.99m)
and McGee won the Javelin (27.83m) and B event of the Shot (7.87m)
in addition to his second in the A event of the Discus (20.22m).

In the Under 15 Boys Track events Josh Dunn and Jonny Nisbet
took honours with victories over 800m (2m18.8s) and 1500m (4m54.7s).

Maximum points were achieved in the 1500m when Tom Brookes took the B race in 5m16.0s.

At Under 13 Boys level both Liam Brooks and Ryan Dodds look bright spots for the future.
Brooks finished third in the 200m (32.3s)
and the hardworking Dodds finished third in the 100m (14.8s)
second in the 800m (2m53.7s), third in the 1500m (5m29.7s)
and rounded a splendid afternoons work with a third in the Long Jump (3.86m).

Morpeth's best points in the Under 17 Womens events came in the 3000m
which Jessica Caldwell won in 13m43.9s
and Catriona MacDonald won the B event in 14m11.4s.

In the Under 15 Girls events Morpeth had a double victory in the
75m Hurdles courtesy of Steph Courty (13.9s) and Katie Plant (15.0s)
Courty also finished second in the 800m in 2m39.6s.
Plant finished third in the 100m in 13.9s.

There were some hardworked efforts in the Under 13 Girls events by Morpeth athletes.
Steph Purvis gained their only victory when winning the Shot with a best of 4.55m.
Purvis also finished third in the 1200m in 4m36.3s, with Sarah Wilkes producing
an excellent 4m42.7s to finish second in the B race.

In the 75m and 150m A races Catherine Phillips finished third
in both in respective times of 11.3s and 23.9s.
B race runners Eve Shashova (12.2s) and Ailidh McCallister-Williams (24.8s)
placed third respectively.
These two also shared the spoils in the 800m with Eve finishing third
in the A race in 2m58.6s and Ailidh winning the B race in 3m08.1s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st Spenborough 392pts,
2nd Tynedale 260pts,
3rd Birtley 208pts,
4th Morpeth 198pts.

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European Championship Trials Mens Mountain Race !
Morpeths Nick Swinburn finished sixth in the
European Championship Trials Mens Mountain race
in Llanberis in Snowdonia on Sunday June 15th.
His time for the 12.8k with 804m ascent event was 53m15s,
which put him approximately two minutes adrift
of race winner Steve Vernon of Stockport Harriers.

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England Athletics Under 20/Under 23 Track & Field Championships !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor and Laura Weightman qualified for
their respective finals of the 1500m at the Norwich Union England Athletics
Under 20/Under 23 Track & Field Championships held at
Bedford International Stadium over Saturday and Sunday 21st-22nd June.

After clocking 3m49.55s in the slower of his two heats
of the Under 23 Mens 1500m on the Saturday,
Jonathan Taylor went on to finish third in the final with a slower 3m55.8s,
mainly because of a prevailing wind.
This was still a good run however with the poor conditions
playing their part towards the slower time as he defeated
two other rivals who had run faster than him in the heats.

After running 4m37.49s when finishing second to Aldershot
International Stephanie Twell in her heat of the
Under 20 Womens 1500m on Saturday,
Laura Weightman found life a little tougher in the wind on the Sunday,
despite running a faster time of 4m35.04s she finished fifth,
once again it was Twell who took the honours.

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Glynne Bellerby
We are very sorry to learn of the death at the age of 74
of our friend and former Morpeth Harrier colleague
Glynne Bellerby who sadly lost his brave fight for life on Friday 20th June 2008.

Glynne will be very much revered for his witty conversations on many a 1980's training run,
however will also be fondly remembered for his methods of refreshing returning runners
from a hard evenings training session, by providing an endless supply of splendid juicy oranges
that were greatly appreciated by all who received them.

He played a splendid Mine Host to many a New Years Day evening party
after the Morpeth to Newcastle Road Race at the Calfornia Suite in Morpeth
which Morpeth Harriers members, and runners visiting the area regularly attended.

Glynne's Funeral Service took place at St Mary's Church, Morpeth
on Thursday 26th June, followed by an Interment at Fairmoor Cemetery.
Flowers or Donations to Marie Curie Hospice
may be sent c/o J.W.Peters Funeral Directors, Wellwood House, Morpeth.

From all those who knew Glynne at Morpeth Harriers,
we offer their sincere condolences to his immediate family.

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Newburn River Run !
The hugely popular Newburn River Run, organised by Elswick Harriers,
on Wednesday 18th June attracted a field of 340 finishers.

Morpeths Paul Waterston produced a superb run of 36m37s
to finish eighth overall which also gave him the title of first Veteran Man.
Next home for Morpeth was Gordon Dixon who in finishing 17th in 38m24s
was third in the Over 45 Veteran Mens section and fifth Veteran overall.

Jane Mooney was next to finish for Morpeth in 35th place in 40m21s,
and she had plenty of Male clubmate support as Michael Winter and
Alistair MacDonald finished 36th and 37th in respective times of 40m22s and 40m30s.
Mooney was third in the Ladies race for her efforts.

Other Morpeth finishers in the event were as follows
Graeme Leathard (57th) 42m23s,
Jim Alder (77th) 43m34s,
Ian Corner (78th) 43m35s,
Richard Driscoll (82nd) 43m51s,
Nick Armstrong (100th) 44m59s,
Simon Robson (104th) 45m04s,
Michelle Woodley (111th) (2nd O/35 Lady) 45m32s,
Norman Clark (115th) 45m40s,
Paul Tomlinson (153rd) 48m02s,
Gary Clark (166th) 49m21s,
Laura Dixon (167th) (32nd Lady) 49m21s,
Pam Woodcock (172nd) (1st O/55 Lady) 49m51s,
Bernie Cordes (180th) (1st Male O/70) 50m21s,
Susan Smith (241st) (60th Lady) 53m48s,
Jane Blackett (284th) (8th O/45 Lady) 57m50s,
T. O'Hara (285th) (15th O/40 Lady) 57m50s
Suzanne Milward (315th) (7th O/50 Lady) 63m12s.

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Blandford Bridge Run !
Morpeths Andrew Lawrence won the
Blandford Bridge Run in Dorset on Sunday 15th June,
in a time of 35m00s which put him 55 seconds clear of his closest rival.

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Tesco Junior Great Coastal Run !
Morpeths Sarah Wilkes recently secured a hat-trick of Tesco
Junior Great Coastal Run victories by winning in Sunderland on 15th June.

After winning the inaugural event in 2006 at the age of 9,
she followed that up with a win in 2007 and now at the age of 11
she has added the 8-11 year old Girls title for a third time.
She took the title with a PB of 12m12s over the 2.8km course,
beating Sophie Motgomerie of Blaydon Harriers by a margin of 50 metres.

At the same meeting her Morpeth clubmate
Johnny Nisbet took 2nd in the 12- 14 year old Boys race.

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Northumberland School's Track & Field Championships !
The Northumberland School's Track and Field Championships
held at Gateshead's International Stadium on Saturday 14th June,
saw easy wins for Morpeth Harriers Laura Weightman and Deborah Oakley,
and an excellent second place gained in a
tough Intermediate Boys 1500m by Alistair Douglass.

Laura was unopposed in the Senior Girls 1500m where she clocked 4m33.9s,
and Deborah was likewise in the Intermediate Girls 3000m clocking 12m00.4s.

Alistair was only three seconds adrift of outright victory with his clocking of 4m22.0s.

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Veteran Athletics Association Track and Field League !
Morpeths Archie Jenkins finished second in the Over 50 Mens 1500m in 4m54.2s
at the third meeting of the Veteran Athletics Association North East Track and Field League
at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow on Monday 16th June.

In the Over 40 Mens 1500m, Morpeths Alistair MacDonald
and Neil McAnany finished 7th and 9th in
respective times of 4m52.5s and 4m57s.
Alistair also finished sixth in the 400m in 63.1s.

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Newton Aycliffe 10k !
Morpeths Terry Wall finished second in the Newton Aycliffe 10k
Road Race on Sunday 15th June in a time of 32m29s.

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Bupa Great Womens Run !
Morpeths Aiveen Fox finished seventeenth in the
Bupa Great Womens Run in Sunderland on Sunday 15th June,
in a time of 34m20s, which put her exactly five minutes behind race winner Gete Wami.

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NoE Senior & Under 20 Track & Field Championships !
On the first day of the North of England Senior & Under 20 Track
& Field Championships held at Sport City, Manchester over
Saturday and Sunday 14th and 15th June,
Morpeth athletes Claire Reid and Nick Swinburn were competing.
Claire finished fifth in the Shot with 10.70m,
and Nick finished ninth in the Mens 5000m in 15m26.41s.

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BMC Elite Meeting !
Three Morpeth Harriers were in action at the BMC Elite
meeting held at Watford on Saturday evening, 14th June.
Ian Hudspith finished tenth in a class filled
Mens 10,000metres in a time of 29m27.47s.
Jonathan Taylor finished thirteenth in the B race of the Mens 1500m in 3m47.41,
and Chris Sampson clocked a seasons best of 9m15.81s
when he finished ninth in the 3000m Steeplechase.

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The Mizuno Blaydon Race !
Morpeths Ian Hudspith produced a superb performance in the Mizuno
Blaydon Race on Monday 9th June, to not only finish as first Geordie in third place,
but also he split up the Kenyan dominance, and very nearly claimed second place
with his excellent clocking of 28m58s being only five seconds
adrift of him claiming yet another Kenyan scalp.
The Kenyan's had obviously come with the intention
of picking off all of the best of the prizes,
however Ian ran with a determination that was going to ensure that
they didn't totally dominate the proceedings.

Ian's example also rubbed off on several of his clubmates as
along with himself were five other Morpeth Men who ensured club
dominance in the Team Race by finishing inside the top 40.
Nick Swinburn aquitted himself well throughout to finish in tenth place in 30m14s,
and managed to fend off pretty strong opposition in the process.
Next home was Andrew Lawrence who ran well to finish 24th in 32m01s.
Two places and two seconds behind him came David Swinburne.
Morpeth's next finishers were from the Over 40 Veteran ranks
as Phil Walker placed 36th in 33m04s,
and Paul Waterston finished 40th in 33m19s.

In the Ladies race, Morpeth's Aiveen Fox was 17th in 36m59s.

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Morpeth Fair Day Fun Run !
Newminster Middle School Year 7 pupil Joe Robertshaw won
the Morpeth Fair Day Fun Run 0n Sunday 8th June with a second
to spare over Bebside Middle School's Year 5 pupil James Young.
Joe who is the North East Under 13 Boys 200m Track Champion
used all of his versatility and speed to hold off his rival in a close finish.
Third place went to another Morpeth Harrier in Dame Allan's Year 6
pupil Matthew Denton who was a further three seconds adrift.

In the Girls section it was Amble Middle School Year 7 pupil
Adele Stewart who led the field home by finishing fourth overall.
Second Girl home was her School colleague and Morpeth Harriers
clubmate Elske Simpson who was eighth overall.
The third girl home was Niomi Quinn of Druridge Bay
Middle School who was tenth overall.

Morpeth Harriers Club Secretary Mike Bateman organised the event
on behalf of the Fair Committee and the run attracted a total of 36 finishers,
many thanks go to him and his helpers for their organisational skills on the day.

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Northern League Division 2 Match !
With all of their regular middle and distance Men being unavailable
for their second round Northern League Division 2 match at
Jarrow's Monkton Stadium on Saturday 7th June,
Morpeth Harriers Team Manager John Thompson was forced to be
content with either missing athletes, or opt to blood a combination of
Under 17 and Under 20 talent that was at his disposal.

The direct result of that was that Morpeth finished fifth in the match,
with no one behind them as Scarborough were in worse
trouble by not being able to turn out a single competitor.

Morpeth had to look to their Womens section for their best points,
and it has to be said that on the day they served their club proud.
On the Track, Laura Weightman, Aiveen Fox, Elaine Telford,
Rachel Archer, Jane Mooney, and Deborah Oakley were the stars.

Whilst in the Field Claire Reid, Womens Team Manager Josie Goodfellow,
and daughter Stevie turned in some good performances.

Laura Weightman had two excellent victories in the 400m (59.3s)
and 800m (2m12.9s) A races, although was a little bit disappointed
to see her times rendered a little short of best by a prevailing breeze.
She had excellent back up in these events however by Rachel Archer
winning the 400m B race in 63.8s, and Aiveen Fox taking the 800m B in 2m28.3s.

Archer had another B race victory in the 200m in 26.8s,
backing up Elaine Telford's second in the A race which saw
her clock a fractionally faster 26.4s.

Telford also finished third in the A race of the 100m in 12.9s.
Stevie Goodfellow finished fourth in the B race of the 100m in 13.9s.

Fox had her second win of the day in the A race of the 3000m
where she clocked 10m42.0s, and Deborah Oakley took the B race in 12m05.4s.

Jane Mooney finished a close second in the 1500m A race in 4m55.4s,
and Kate Chapman finished third in the B race in 5m23.1s.

In the Field events Womens Team Manager Josie Goodfellow led
by example by pulling off excellent placings in no less than five B String events.
Her best came in the Hammer, Discus and Shot,
where she finished second on each occasion, with best efforts
of 13.18m, 19.02m and 7.35m respectively.
Claire Reid partnered her in the A events, and the best of these
came in the Shot with her effort of 9.81m.
Reid finished third in the Discus with 32.77m,
and fifth in the Hammer with 17.38m.
Claire also finished fifth in the Javelin with 15.27m,
and Aiveen Fox finished fourth in the B event with her best of 8.00m.

Josie Goodfellow's other excellent performances came in the
Long Jump and Triple Jump where her bests of 3.92m
and 8.54m earned her fourth and third places respectively.
Partnering her in these events as the A string athlete was daughter Stevie
who finished fifth in both cases with respective efforts of 4.23m and 9.47m.

On to the Mens events and Morpeth's best result of the day here
came in the 110m Hurdles where Ian Mawdsley finished second
in the A race in 18.4s, and Team Manager John Thompson
came second in the B race in 25.5s.

In the 400m Hurdles Mawdsley finished second in the B race in 74.2s,
and Under 17 athlete Alistair Douglass, making his Northern League
debut finished fourth in the A race in 73.0s.

Douglass also competed well when finishing third
in the A race of the 800m in 2m08.7s, and Martyn Cairns showed
another improvement when he finished third in the B race in a slightly faster 2m06.1s.

Jordan Scott finished fourth in the A race of the 1500m in 4m31.2s,
and Cairns finished fourth in the B race in 4m35.9s.
Scott also finished fourth in the 5000m in 17m52.7s.
In the Mens 200m Daniel Hedley finished fourth in the A race in 24.9s,
and John Thompson finished fourth in the B race in 25.6s.

Best results for Morpeth from the Mens Field events came in the Hammer, Discus and Shot.
The Appleby brothers have certainly been synonymous with these events in recent times for Morpeth,
and they were both well to the fore during proceedings.

In the Hammer, Paul finished fourth in the A event with a best of 27.54m,
and Under 20 athlete Alan Richmond certainly made a mark for himself
when he placed second in the B event with an excellent 23.44m.

Steven Appleby finished third in the A event of the Discus with a best of 35.29m,
and brother Paul weighed in with 28.84m for fourth in the B event.

In the Shot, Steven finished fourth in the A String with his best of 9.45m,
and Paul's 8.95m saw him place third in the B String.

FINAL MATCH SCORE
1st City of York 397pts,
2nd Durham 353pts,
3rd Gateshead 326pts,
4th Middlesbrough 313pts,
5th Morpeth 294pts,
6th Scarborough DNA.

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Stretford BMC PB Classic !
Morpeths Marcus Cram further improved his 800m best
when he clocked 2m01.2s to finish third in the Mens B race
at the Stretford BMC PB Classic meeting held at
Longford Park, Manchester on Saturday night 7th June.

At the same meeting Morpeths Rachel Denton
also improved her personal best over 1500m by over
two seconds when she clocked 4m48.9s in finishing
eighth in a race including nine older athletes.

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Stranraer Half Marathon !
Alan Hyde of Morpeth Harriers finished 34th in the
Stranraer Half Marathon on Saturday 7th June in a time of 94m20s.
The former Blaydon Harrier was 7th in the Mens Over 40 Veteran category.

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Chorley Night Series ( 2 )
Morpeths Ben Harrison finished fifth in the second race of the
Chorley Night Series events held on 4th June in a time of 21m15s.

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Watergate 10k Trail Race !
Morpeths Nick Swinburn and Jane Mooney provided a
double club victory at Low Fell Running Clubs 10k Trail Race
held at a rainswept Watergate Park, Lobley Hill on Sunday 1st June.
The miserable conditions did nothing to deter Swinburn who won
with 71secs to spare over his closest rival and clubmate
Michael Morris with his clocking of 34m28s.

By finishing eleventh overall and third from Morpeth Harriers,
Jane Mooney easily added her third womens title in a month to her superb tally.
Mooney's 40m21s put her three minutes and thirty three seconds
clear of her closest rival Angela Hunter of Chester Le Street.
Morpeth's next finisher was Claire Bruce who finished in 47th spot in 48m22s.
Bernie Cordes finished 62nd in 51m03s,
and completed a Morpeth Mens team who finished second to Heaton.

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Young Athletes League !
Once again it was a poor athlete turnout that dogged the determined
efforts of Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes Team Management for their
third round match held at a rainswept Monkton Stadium, Jarrow on Sunday 1st June.
Nevertheless the athletes who did turn out gave their all, but however once again
couldn't prevent their club from finishing last of the four competing clubs,
which means they now face life next season in Division 2,
and it will be the first time for a good number of years that Morpeth will have competed so low.

The club did have a number of excellent performances across the age groups however.
In the Under 17 Mens section Alistair Douglass and Daniel Hedley
both achieved wins in the 800m and 100m events in respective clockings of 2m08.9s and 12.3s.
Hedley also achieved a second in the 200m in 24.7s.

Another hard worker in the Under 17 Mens age group was Philip Shuttleworth
who finished second in both the 3000m (10m49.1s) and 1500m steeplechase (6m01.9s)
and third in the 1500m (5m20.4s)

In the Under 17 Womens events Deborah Oakley (11m41s)
and Catriona MacDonald (13m29.6s) combined to take maximum points in the 3000m.
Oakley also finished as second A runner in the 1500m (5m38.3s),
where Jessica Caldwell took the B event in 6m03.7s.
Caldwell had earlier finished second in the 800m in 2m47.8s.
Stevie Goodfellow captured an excellent victory in the triple Jump with 9.31m,
and added a B string victory in the 300m (48.1s) to compliment
Rachel Moody's second place in the A race in 46.4s.

In the Under 15 Boys events Jonny Nisbet had an excellent 1500m victory in 4m45.7s,
and Tom Brookes obliged by taking the B race in 5m02.2s.
Jonny also had earlier finished an excellent second in the 200m in 27.4s.
Jonathan Cozens finished second in the 100m in 12.5s.

In the Under 15 Girls events Kim Jinks cleared 1.30m to win the High Jump.
There was an excellent double victory in the 1500m with Rachel Denton
winning the A race in 4m55.5s and Hannah Rank taking the b event in 5m09.1s.

In the Under 13 Boys events Joe Robertshaw's victories
in the 100m (14.1s) and 200m (28.0s) stand out.
Matthew Denton's second in the B 200m in 31.9s was excellent.
Robertshaw also finished second in the Shot with a best of 6.32m.

In the Under 13 Girls events Shannon Henley won the 150m (21.7s)
finished second in the Long Jump (4.16m) and third in the Shot (5.03m)
Eve Shashova backed Shannon up well in the Long Jump by taking the B event with 3.33m.
Sarah Wilkes scored an excellent victory in the 1200m in 4m32.0s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st Chesterfield 432pts,
2nd Blaydon/Elswick 325.5pts,
3rd Hallamshire 290pts,
4th Morpeth 233.5pts.

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May

News From May 2008

BMC Grand Prix Meeting !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor and Laura Weightman both clocked
new personal bests over 1500m at the BMC Grand Prix Meeting
held at Sports City, Manchester on Saturday 31st May.
Jonathan finished eighth of 15 finishers in a classy Mens A race
in a time of 3m45.07s, which saw him knock just over
a second off his previous figures set in 2007.

Laura`s new best of 4m22.20s was also just more than
a second off her previous best set at Jarrow a few weeks ago,
and she finished twelfth in what was also a classy field of sixteen finishers,
and in doing so she also captured the scalp of four Senior Women
who included Hallamshire's Hatti Dean, just in the throes of a comeback,
and was only a second and one place adrift of Dean's illustrious
clubmate Rebecca Lyne, also on the comeback trail.

Morpeth's only other athlete competing on the night was Jonathan Young,
who finished fifth in the Mens 1500m D Race in a time of 3m56.78s,
which was around four seconds outside his personal best,
and a second outside his seasons best so far.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League !
There were some fine performances from athletes from Morpeth Harriers
at the second Start Fitness North eastern Athletics League held at
Gateshead's International Stadium on Wednesday 28th May.

The event also incorporated a series of BMC 800m events
which saw Rachel Denton produce a new personal best of 2m21.82s
to capture an excellent victory over Middlesbrough & Cleveland Senior athlete Abby Smith.

In the league events, the performances of Marcus Cram,
Alistair Douglass and Joe Robertshaw clearly stand out for merit.
In the 800m A race where he was seeded against more Senior athletes,
Cram achieved a brand new personal best of 2m02.57s.
Clubmate Martyn Cairns can also feel well pleased with a
personal best of 2m08.13s which saw him take the B race.

Alistair Douglass ran a superb 3000m to finish third against
more Senior rivals in a time of 9m25.7s.
Other Morpeth athletes in the 3000m were Phil Walker (9th) 9m38.3s,
Jordan Scott (10th) 9m39.4s and Paul Waterston (11th) 9m41.5s.

Joe Robertshaw just missed his personal best when he
triumphed in the Under 13 Boys 200m in 27.29s.

Jonny Nisbet gave good account for himself when he finished second
in the Under 15 Boys 200m in 27.4s and fifth in the 800m in 2m18.50s.

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Shri Chinmoy Self Transcedence 1 Mile Race !
The MacDonald family of Morpeth Harriers, Alistair, Catriona and Margaret
all travelled up to Edinburgh to take part in the Shri Chinmoy Self Transcedence
1 mile Race at The Meadows on Wednesday 28th May.
Alistair finished 19th in 5m22s, Catriona finished 51st in 6m47s
with mother Margaret not far behind in 54th place in 7m08s.

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Bupa London 10k Road Race !
Morpeths Ian Hudspith finished eleventh in
the Bupa London 10,000 metre Road Race
on Monday 26th May in a time of 30m33s.

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Raby Castle 10k !
Terry Wall was Morpeth Harriers leading finisher in the near
400 strong Raby Castle 10k field on Sunday 25th May.
He finished in sixth place in 33m38s behind winner
and former club colleague Martin Scaife, now running for North York Moors,
who broke the course record with his clocking of 32m14s.

Other leading Morpeth placings in the Mens race came from
David Swinburne (9th) 34m29s, Ben Harrison (12th) 35m03s
and Michael Morris (13th) 35m06s.

In the Ladies race, course record holder Morpeths Aiveen Fox
finished third behind Middlesbrough's Carolyn Summersgill
and Hartlepool's Louise Bennett in 41m31s, and was 49th overall.
Morpeth's only other runner was Claire Bruce who finished 127th in 47m18s.

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CAU InterCounties Track & Field Championships !
A time of 9m27.61s earned Morpeths Chris Sampson
a Bronze medal in the 3k Steeplechase at the CAU InterCounties
Track & Field Championships at Bedford on Sunday 25th May.

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Fanny Blankers-Koen Memorial Games !
Morpeths Nick McCormick was well below his best when he
competed in the Mens 5000m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen
Memorial Games held in Hengelo in the Netherlands on Saturday 24th May.
He finished 18th as the only Briton in a top class field of Ethiopian's
and Kenyan's that included World Cross Country Champion
Kenenisa Bekele who won in this years best time of 12m58.94s.

McCormick will now return to his Loughborough base and take stock of things,
and will probably revert to his more recognised 800m and 1500m events
in the hope of a title at the UK Championships later in the Summer.

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North of England U15/U17 Track & Field Championships !
A lifetime best performance of 4m50.87s brought
Morpeths Rachel Denton a well earned Bronze medal
in the Under 15 Girls 1500m at the first day of the
North of England Under15/Under17 Track & Field
Championships held at Robin Park in Wigan on Saturday 24th May.
After finishing third in her heat in a very modest 5m05.2s,
Rachel ran well to finish in the Final behind East Cheshire's
Katie Reynolds (4m46.37s) and Wakefield's Sally Smith (4m47.36s)

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NSP Clive Cookson 10K & 5K
Three days after her emotional victory in the
Race for Life at Gateshead's Saltwell Park,
Morpeth Harrier Jane Mooney was again tasting victory when
she retained her Ladies title at the North Shields Poly
Clive Cookson 10k Road Race held last Wednesday 21st May.
Jane finished 27th overall, and her time of 37m37s
was thirty seconds inside her 2007 winning effort.
That was exactly the margin she had to spare over her
closest rival Judith Nutt of Elswick who was 33rd,
with Claire McManus of the host club claiming
third Ladies place by finishing 38th in 38m49s.

The Mens race saw Morpeths Michael Morris making
a long awaited return to action, and he can feel well pleased
with his placing of third in 33m42s, which was 1min40secs
behind race winner Peter Newton of Claremont.

Morpeth Harriers took fifth place in the Mens team race
with further support coming from Mike Hegarty,
another in a return to action after a lengthy period on the sidelines,
who finished 14th in 36m39s, and Michael Winter (39th) 38m50s
and Ian Corner (52nd) 39m46s, both of whom had run the previous night at Alnwick.

Other Morpeth Harriers placings in the 10k were
Jim Alder (59th) 40m18s, Nick Armstrong (69th) 41m00s,
Mike McKean (70th) 41m05s, Ricky Davidson (110th) 44m39s,
Paul Tomlinson (111th) 44m40s, Bernie Cordes (147th) 47m14s,
Susan Smith (216th) 54m42s and Jane Blackett (217th) 54m57s.

Morpeth Harriers had three runners competing in the accompanying 5k event.
Gary Clark finished 21st in 20m36s, and Deborah Oakley
and Laura Dixon were fifth and sixth Ladies when finishing
24th and 25th in respective times of 21m07s and 22m05s.

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Les Allcorn 10k !
Phil Walker was Morpeths first finisher at the Les Allcorn 10k held on
Tuesday 20th May 2008. Phil finished second in 34m22s, the race winner was Dave Kirkland
from the host club Alnwick Harriers, who crossed the line in 33m55s.
Phil was also the first O/40 vet to finish.
Second Morpeth vet to finish and second O/40 overall was Paul Waterson,
who finished 4th in 35m41s.
Jordan Scott finished in 6th place with a time of 36m45s.
Third Morpeth vet to finish was Gordon Dixon, who finished 7th in 36m58s and was 3rd O/40
Michael Winter finished in 12th place with a time of 38m52s.
Graeme Leathard was our next vet finisher, crossing the line in 13th place with a time of 39m26s
and one second behind him was Ian Corner in 14th place in 39m27s.
There were 110 finishers in the All Competitors category.

Other Morpeth finishers were
18th Jim Alder V40 41m00s
21st Hamish Mcallister-Williams V40 41m28s
40th David Watson V40 44m12s
46th Sue Calvert F35 44m25s
51st Trevor Robinson V40 44m44s
56th Claire Bruce F35 46m03s
61st Steve McDonald V40 46m45s
66th Shuna Rank F35 48m13s
71st Margaret McDonald F35 49m20s
85th Susan Smith F35 51m33s
98th Jane Blackett F45 55m42s

In finishing ninth overall Morpeths Sarah Wilkes won the
Girls 3k Junior Run that was run in conjunction
with the event, in a time of 12m16s.

Other Morpeth Harriers competing in this event were as follows
Ailidh McCallister-Williams (31st) (6th U13 Girl) 13m50s,
Rachael Todd (35th) (8th U13 Girl) 14m02s,
Sam Alder (39th) (7th U11 Boy) 14m35s,
James Wilkes (40th) (8th U11 Boy) 14m37s
and Charlotte Wellden (53rd) (6th U11 Girl) 16m29s.

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Veterans North East Track & Field League 1
Morpeths Archie Jenkins finished fourth in the Over 50's 1500m at the
first Veterans North East meeting held at Jarrow on Monday 19th May.
Archie crossed the line in 4m58.4s.
Neil McAnany finished seventh in the Over 40's 1500m in 5m01.1s.

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National Veterans Road Relay Championships !
Attending the British National Veterans Road Relay
Championships for the 1st time since 2001,
Morpeths 8 man team acquitted themselves well in the
O/40 category to finish 13th overall at Sutton Park,
Birmingham on Saturday 17th May.
Coincidentally, this was the position the 2001 team finished in.
With a team of mixed ability, the club were aiming for a top 20 finish
in a field of just over 50 teams from all over the UK.

In wet and warm conditions, particularly good performances
came from Paul Waterston (15:48),
Phil Walker (15:50) and Les Atkinson (16:10) who,
between them, had Morpeth up to 3rd place after the 3rd leg.
However, Morpeth slipped down the rankings to 9th place
with 4th and 5th leg runners Gavin Bayne(17:28)
and Gordon Dixon (17:16) keeping them, nevertheless,
in the top 10. Alan Boyd (18:44) and Ian Corner (18:05),
running legs 6 and 7 worked hard to keep the club near the top
as conditions dried eventually running in 11th and then 13th place overall.

It was the first time each of them has represented the club at a national road championships.
Alistair MacDonald (17:52) brought the club home to maintain 13th place overall.
He passed the Sunderland Harriers runner, last years bronze medallists on the last leg,
but was passed, in turn by Oxford whose team included ex-Morpeth Harrier John Lisiewicz.

Bristol and West won for the 3rd year from Leicester and Clayton Le Moor.
Sunderland Harriers finished 14th and North Shields,
the only other north east team present, 30th.

Ian Corner went onto complete the Manchester 10k the next day,
where he recorded a personal best of 39:45 in the process.

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Young Athletes League !
Despite gallant efforts by those who turned out on the day,
Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes squad could once again
only finish fourth out of the four competing teams in their
second round Northern Division 1 match at the Dorothy Hyman Stadium
at Cudworth, near Barnsley on Sunday 18th May,
and are now staring relegation in the face with three matches remaining.

Team Managers Tony Ward and Josie Goodfellow are seeing their efforts
and that of those turning out being thwarted by the total lack of commitment
being shown from the absentees within the club who fail to support
their hardworking colleagues for whatever reason.

There were however some excellent performances
across the age groups that are worthy of mention.
Daniel Hedley continues to make enormous progress
in the sprints where he achieved two seconds in the
Under 17 Mens 100m and 200m in respective times of 12.3s and 24.5s.
Hedley also gained valuable points by finishing second in the Triple Jump with 10.07m.

Jonny Nisbet clocked a new personal best of 4m44.0s
to win the Under 15 Boys 1500m in one of the most exciting finishes of the day.

Tom Brookes gained maximum points for Morpeth
when he took the B race in 5m14.2s.
Elsewhere in this age group Callum Duncan won the Shot with 8.70m,
and finished second in the Long jump with 4.99m.

Joe Robertshaw renewed his rivalry with Middlesbrough Mandale's
Matthew Routh in the Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m events.
He had to be content with second in the 100m with 13.8s,
however he again outsprinted Routh over 200m by
clocking a new personal best of 27.2s, albeit wind assisted.
In the 200m B event Joe Elder finished second in 32.1s
to give Morpeth more valuable points.
Elder did his club proud by taking the 1500m in 5m31.1s

There were two splendid double victories for Morpeth
in the Under 17 Womens 3000m and Discus events.
Deborah Oakley won the 3000m A race in 11m48s
and Catriona MacDonald clocked 13m31.6s to take the B race.
Rachel Moody (20.62m) and Rebecca Gibson (18.76m)
combined to produce an excellent double in the Discus.
Moody also finished second in the Shot (8.21m)
and Stevie Goodfellow (9.35m) finished second in the Triple Jump.

Under 15 Girls level saw Hannah Rank win the 1500m in 5m12.2s,
and Miriam Inverarity finished second in the B event with 6m04.2s.
Rachel Denton (2m22.0s) and Katie Plant (4.40m)
finished second in the 800m and Long Jump events.

The Under 13 Girls events saw Adele Stewart, Steph Purvis
and Shannon Henley each record A string victories.
Stewart won the 800m in 2m50.3s and Eve Shashova
backed her up well in the B event by finishing second in 3m03.5s.
Purvis won the 1200m in 4m30.3s, and Henley
won the Long Jump with her best of 4.12m.
Henley's win in the Long Jump was sweetened
with Amy Gibson taking the B event with 3.88m.
Gibson also finished second in the 150m B race in 23.4s,
where Henley had finished third in the A race with 21.8s.

FINAL MATCH SCORE
1st Bingley 328pts
2nd Middlesbrough (Mandale) 325pts
3rd Barnsley 260pts
4th Morpeth 200pts.

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Loughborough International Athletics !
At the Loughborough International Athletics meeting on Sunday 18th May,
Morpeths Laura Weightman was fractionally outside her best when
she took victory in the Womens 1500m Invitation in a time of 4m25.69s.

At the same meeting Nick McCormick won the Mens 1500m Match event in 3m43.40s,
and clubmate Jonathan Taylor finished seventh in 3m45.81s.

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Sunderland Strollers Pier to Pier Race !
Morpeths Mike Winter finished 47th in 44m35s
at Sunderland Strollers Pier to Pier race on Sunday 18th May

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Junior Great Manchester Run !
Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes had an excellent run to
finish sixth in the 9 to 11 year old Girls age group event
at the Junior Great Manchester Run on Saturday 17th May.
Her time was 9m42s with the winner clocking 9m05s.

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North Eastern Counties Track & Field Championships !
Nineteen Championship medals were won by athletes from Morpeth Harriers
at the North Eastern Counties Track and Field meeting held at Gateshead's
International Stadium over Saturday and Sunday 10th/11th May.

Apart from the medals, five of which were Gold, seven were Silver
and seven were Bronze, a host of new personal bests were achieved
in what could only be described as perfect conditions,
with both days being blessed with dry, warm sunny weather.

On Saturday Laura Weightman was the first Morpeth athlete to
strike Gold in what could only be described as a fairly
competitive combined Under 20 and Senior Womens 800m.
The 2007 Under 17 Champion shared most of the early pace
with former Morpeth athlete Nisha Desai, now running for Trafford,
and with 200m remaining Weightman decided to take up the gauntlett
only to be chased all the way to the line by her fierce rival Stacey Smith,
formerly Tynedale, now with Gateshead.
Sensing danger from Smith, Weightman injected yet another surge
of power with 40m remaining and crossed the finish line in 2m08.20s,
knocking a whole three seconds off her previous figures for the distance.
By finishing in fourth place behind Desai, Morpeth's Natalie Young picked
up a Bronze medal by virtue of being third Under 20 in 2m23.5s.

Another Morpeth Gold medallist on the Saturday was Hannah Rank,
who easily won her very first Under 15 Girls 3000m in 11m15.1s.

Hannah's training partner and clubmate Rachel Denton opted to
give the Under 15 Girls 800m a miss on the Saturday, however
turned up on the Sunday to put in an outstanding performance
to take Gold in the 1500m in 4m51.99s, and bettering
her previous figures by around three seconds.

Morpeth's Joe Robertshaw more than made up for his narrow
defeat in the Under 13 Boys 100m on the Saturday,
where his clocking of 13.7s was exactly the same as the winner
Matthew Routh of Middlesbrough, by breaking the Championship
record in the heats of the 200m on the Sunday with his time of 27.38s,
and then went on to win Gold in the Final in a slightly faster 27.21s
against the same Middlesbrough athlete, however the sweetness
was slightly taken away by the fact that the Wind Gauge had ruled
his time ineligible for ratification to a better figure.
Nevertheless Joe had worked hard for to retain his hold on the title that
he won in 2007, and more than deserved this particular victory alone.

Morpeth's fifth Gold of the weekend came on the Sunday
where Alan Richmond won the Under 20 Mens Hammer with a best of 34.53m.
This was Richmond's second medal of the weekend having taken Bronze
on the Saturday in the Discus with a little below par best of 29.12m.

Chris Sampson just lost out to New Marske's Dominic Shaw in
a hard fought Senior Mens 5000m, where he clocked 15m09.56s.

Clubmates Dan Samuels and Ross Floyd finished fourth and seventh
in respective times of 15m44.88s and 16m06.69s.
Deborah Oakley picked up a well deserved Silver medal
in the Under 17 Womens 3000m with a finishing time of 11m37.74s.

On Sunday Natalie Young added a Silver medal to the
Bronze medal she'd won on the Saturday when finishing
second in the Under 20 Womens 1500m in 4m51.41s.

Also on Sunday Martyn Cairns secured Silver in the
Under 20 Mens 5000m where he clocked 17m45.08s.

Morpeth's other two Silver medals came in the Field events
with Rachel Moody taking second in the Under 17 Womens Javelin
on the Saturday with her best of 17.05m, and Claire Reid took
second in the Senior Womens Shot on the Sunday with her best of 10.56m.

On Saturday Alistair Douglass secured a well earned Bronze medal in the
Under 17 Mens 1500m where he clocked a brand new lifetime best of 4m17.08s,
and on the Sunday he very nearly added a second Bronze
in the 3000m where he clocked an excellent 9m31.30s.

After securing a Bronze in the Senior Womens 200m
on Saturday with her finishing time of 26.55s,
Morpeth's Elaine Telford returned on Sunday to take
a second Bronze in the 100m in 13.07s.

On Saturday Morpeth's Jonny Young found himself squeezed out
of the medals in the Senior Mens 1500m with his clocking of 4m02.52s,
however he made up for that on the Sunday by securing a Bronze in the 800m in 1m59.03s.

Morpeth's Jack Hepple finished third in the Under 15 Boys 400m in 68.45s.

One Morpeth athlete who performed superbly over the
two days was Jonny Nisbet who on Saturday won his heat of
the Under 15 Boys 1500m in a new personal best time of 4m45.74s,
and although he bettered that time again in the final,
just lost out for medals when he finished fifth.

Jonny returned on the Sunday to produce yet another personal best
in the heats of the 800m where his 2m18.69s saw him finish fourth
in his heat, to go through to the final as a fastest loser.
However 2m18.84s in the Final was just not quite good
enough to get him amongst the medals.

Despite clocking excellent new personal bests of 4m19.23s
and 2m04.72s in the Under 17 Mens 1500m and 800m events,
Morpeth's Marcus Cram found himself outside the medals,
however as a first year in this age group there is certainly more to
come from the son of the former World Mile Record Holder.

Other excellent Morpeth performers other than medallists were
Shannon Henley who made it through to the finals of both the 100m
and 200m in the Under 13 Girls age group and finished fourth in the Long Jump,
Daniel Hedley who got through to the Final of the Under 17 Mens 200m,
Andrew Toothill who finished fourth in the Under 20 Mens Discus,
and Liam Brooks who just lost out on countback for
a Bronze medal in the Under 13 Boys High Jump.

The profile of the North Eastern Counties Championships certainly
reached a new high with a good deal of competition in Track events,
however there is still a good deal of work to be done
to ensure popularity within the Field events.
Certainly medal presentatations done in front of a watching
crowd added some spice to the occasion.
Many thanks must go to Gateshead Council
for their efforts in promoting the event.

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Golden Ball 5k Road Race !
Morpeths Ben Harrison finished fourth in the Golden Ball 5k Road Race in Morecambe, Lancashire on Sunday 11th May in a time of 16m17s, which proved to be 59 seconds adrift of race winner Eddie Simpson of Dallam Running Club.

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The Tees Barrage 10k !
Morpeths Terry Wall finished second at
The Tees Barrage 10k road race at
Stockton-on-Tees, on Sunday 5th May 2008.
Terry crossed the finish line in 32m50s.

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Young Athletes League !
Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes squad were badly hit by a
number of absentees when they finished fourth in their opening
Northern League Division 1 match at Monkton Stadium on Sunday 4th May.
Nevertheless Team Managers Tony Ward and Josie Goodfellow did their
level best to tactically place those who could turn out to the best advantage.

Despite the loss of athletes there were a number of
excellent performances across the three age groups.

In the Under 17 Womens section Rachel Moody claimed
excellent victories in the Long Jump (4.23m) and Shot (8.57m).

Stevie Goodfellow went alone in the Triple Jump
to gain maximum points with a best of 8.66m
and followed that up with an excellent second in the 200m (28.9s)
with Kathryn Lake taking second in the B race in 29.0s.

After a hard day at York the previous day competing for the Seniors,
Deborah Oakley competed in the 3000m to finish third in 11m32.3s,
then later finished third in the 1500m in 5m35.4s,
and Jessica Caldwell took the B race in 5m48.3s.

There were good performances to be seen in the
Under 15 age group with Rachel Denton, Hannah Rank
and Jonny Nisbet all capturing the spotlight.
Denton claimed a superb victory in the Girls 800m in 2m23.3s,
a new personal best, which saw her finish well clear of her nearest rival.
Ellen Welsh ran well to finish second in the B race in 3m05.3s

Morpeth claimed an excellent double victory in the Girls 1500m
with Hannah Rank taking the A race in 5m06.7s
and Miriam Inverarity took the B race in 5m50s.
Rank also finished second in the Shot with 5.92m.

There were excellent second places for Anna Matthews
in the 200m (28.8s) and Ismay Kitson in the Javelin (10.77m)

Jonny Nisbet and Tom McGhee combined well to claim an
excellent Morpeth double victory in the Boys 200m
with Nisbet taking the A race in 27.4s and McGhee the B race in 31.2s.
Nisbett also finished second in the 1500m (4m47.2s)
a new personal best by almost thirty seconds,
and McGhee finished second in the Long Jump with 4.15m.
Another highlight was Philip Caldwell's second in the 80m Hurdles with 18.1s.

In the Under 13 age group Joe Robertshaw's victories in the 100m (13.9s)
and 200m (27.9s) certainly caught the eye.
Added to that he was agonisingly 9cm short of making a reasonable claim
of a hat-trick of victories with his best Long Jump effort of 3.91m.

In the Girls events Adele Stewart and Eve Shashova's performances
were outstanding with a double victory being claimed in the 800m
with respective clockings of 2m51.1s and 2m58.9s.
Stewart also finished second in the High Jump with a best clearance of 1.10m
and Steph Purvis came second in the B String with 1.05m.

There were very satisfactory debuts for Ryan Dodds and Liam Brooks.
Dodds finished third in the 75m Hurdles (16.7s)
and Brooks also placed third in the 1500m in 5m30.9s.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st Harrogate 360pts,
2nd Lincoln Wellington 354pts,
3rd Chester Le Street 233pts,
4th Morpeth 195pts.

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Senior Men & Womens Northern League Division 2 !
Huntington Stadium in York was the venue for Morpeth Harriers
first taste of Senior Men and Womens Northern League
Division 2 Track and Field action on Saturday 3rd May.
Despite a number of gaps in both sections, some good characteristic
performances saw them finish fourth of the six competing teams.

One of the pleasing major highlights from Morpeth's
point of view was to see debutant Ian Mawdesley
win the A race of the Mens 110m Hurdles in fine style in 18.7s,
with Team Captain John Thompson throwing in his all by taking
his place in the B race to finish second in 22.7s.
Mawdesley again played his part enormously by winning
the B race of the 400m Hurdles in 69.4s
to add to Ray Kirkup's fourth in the A race in 66.2s.

Chris Sampson ran well to beat City of York's Andy Hilton
to the finish line in the 3000m Steeplechase to win in 9m32.6s,
and David Swinburne finished second in the B race in 10m15.4s.

In the Mens Field events Angus Wood did well to finish second
in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.65m.
Paul Appleby threw 37.62m to finish third in the Javelin,
and John Thompson backed him up well to finish third
in the B event with 36.00m.

In the Womens events Laura Weightman landed a victory in the 800m
clocking 2m11.6s which was fractionally just adrift of her personal best.
Natalie Young backed her up well by taking second in the B race in 2m27.7s.
Weightman also did well when finishing third in the 400m in 60.3s
and Rachel Archer finished second in the B race with 64.1s.

Elaine Telford finished third in both the 100m (12.8s) and the 200m (26.6s)
Archer backed her up in the 200m when finishing fourth in the B race in 27.4s.

Aiveen Fox finished third in the 3000m in 11m29.2s
and Deborah Oakley finished second in the B race in 11m56.2s.

In the Womens Field events as usual it was Claire Reid
at the helm of Morpeth's points haul by finishing second
in the Discus (30.99m) and second in the Shot (10.07m)

FINAL MATCH SCORE
1st City of York 447pts,
2nd Gateshead Harriers 345pts,
3rd Middlesbrough (Mandale) 340pts,
4th Morpeth Harriers 286pts,
5th Durham City 269pts,
6th Scarborough 186pts.

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BUSA Track & Field Championships !
A close and very exciting finish saw Morpeths Jonathan Taylor
representing Teeside University, snatch victory in the Mens 1500m
from Darlington's Lewis Moses representing Loughborough, at the
BUSA Track and Field Championships held at Bedford on Monday 5th May.
Jonathan Taylor clocked 3m45.61s, a new personal best,
with Lewis Moses also getting a new personal best of 3m45.72s.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League !
Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman showed that she is now virtually
back to her sparkling best as she knocked a whole three seconds
off her personal best time in the 1500m at the first Start Fitness
North Eastern Athletics League meeting held at a rainswept
Monkton Stadium, Jarrow on Wednesday 30th April.
She certainly took every advantage when running as the only Female
against older Men and Boys, to cross the finish line in an excellent 4m23.4s.

Another good Morpeth performer on the night was Joe Robertshaw,
who won the Under 13 Boys 100m in 13.5s.

Other Morpeth performers on the night were
Katie Plant Under 15 Girls 75m Hurdles (16.0s) and 100m (14.5s)
Daniel Hedley (18.1s) Under 17 Mens 150m and (39.7s) 300m,
Claire Reid (10.54m) Senior Womens Shot and (16.75m) Hammer,
Martyn Cairns (4m35.4s) Under 20 Mens 1500m,
Deborah Oakley (5m49.1s) Under 17 Womens 1500m.

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Bupa Great Edinburgh 10k !
Morpeths Craig McBurney finished 27th in the
Bupa Great Edinburgh 10k on Sunday 4th May
in a time of 37m18s.
McBurney is just making a comeback to the sport
after service in the Armed Forces in Basra.

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Dalton in Furness Charter 10k !
Morpeths Ben Harrison won the Dalton in Furness Charter 10k
on Friday 2nd May in a time of 33m35s.
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April

News From April 2008

Paul Fairbrother Takes A Break !
Unfortunately Paul Fairbrother has been forced to put his athletics
comeback on hold following an accident when Skiing off-piste in the Cairngorms.
He says he is going to be away from running for at least a year
after breaking his left leg and damaging numerous ligaments into the bargain.
However to show that he has not lost any of his humerous spirit,
or indeed admiration admiration and thought for his club he has
adorned his cast-brace in club colours as per the picture.
We all hope you are very well soon Paul.

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Blyth Valley Transped 10K Road Race !
Former Blyth Valley 10 mile winner Les Atkinson
was Morpeth Harriers first finisher at the
Blyth Valley Transped 10k Road Race on Sunday 27th April.

Les was tenth of 397 finishers in a time of 35m09s
and was first Over 50 Veteran Male finisher.
Nineteen seconds behind him in eleventh place was his clubmate Ross Floyd.
with Gordon Dixon finishing 19th in 36m46s,
Morpeth finished third in the Mens Team race
behind North Shields Poly and Elswick Harriers.

In the Womens Team race Morpeth Harriers finished as
seventh team being led home by Sue Calvert who finished
154th overall and was 25th Lady, 4th O/40 Female, and finished in 44m54s.
Further team support came from Pam Woodcock (35th Lady)
(2nd Over 55 Female) (193rd) 46m39s,
and Sue Smith (54th Lady) (11th Over 40 Lady) (270th) 50m23s.

Other Morpeth Harriers results were as follows,
Michael Winter (39th) 38m37s,
Archie Jenkins (40th) (1st O/55) 38m39s,
Richard Driscoll (50th) (2nd O/55) 39m13s,
Graeme Leathard (54th) (6th O/40) 39m26s,
Jim Alder (59th) (11th O/45) 40m07s,
Michael McKean (79th) (12th O/40) 41m07s,
Nick Armstrong (89th) (13th O/40) 41m39s,
Simon Robson (92nd) 41m46s,
David Gray (112th) (3rd O/60) 42m35s,
Alan Hyde (115th) (17th O/40) 42m47s,
Ricky Davidson (148th) 44m22s,
Trevor Robinson (168th) (22nd O/40) 45m34s,
Stephen McDonald (184th) (26th O45) 46m19s,
Bernie Cordes (186th) (1st O/70) 46m22s,
Colin Cecil (241st) (39thO/40) 48m50s
Jane Blackett (330th) (8th O/45 Lady) 55m05s Suzanne Milward (362nd) (8th O/50 Lady) 57m23s.

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ERRA National Road Relay Championships !
A change of rules thwarted Morpeth Harriers in their efforts
to pull a full squad together for their challenge at the
National 12 Stage Road Relays held at Sutton Park,
Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham on Saturday 26th April.

The organisers informed the club three weeks ago that they would
have to cut back their intended entry of 36 runners to 24 which put
them in a very tricky position with most of the clubs top runners rendered
unavailable because of injuries and other commitments.
This left them unable to call upon some of their regular unsung
road runners who would have at least guaranteed they
would once again finish in the competition,
although they would be placed well outside of medal placing.
Instead, Team Captain David Swinburne was left with only seven runners
including himself to make the journey to the Midlands.

First Leg runner Chris Sampson came home in 25th place in 27m51s.
Jonathan Taylor on second leg carved through the opposition in front
of him to climb up to an excellent twelfth, clocking
an equally excellent eighth fastest Short Stage time of 14m17s.

Ben Harrison on third leg slipped back to 20th with 28m56s,
a position that Jonny Young held throughout his fourth stage effort of 15m05s.

Next two legs brought out the Veteran talents of Phil Walker,
making his National 12 Stage debut for Morpeth, and
Paul Waterston who clocked 30m22s and 16m52s finishing
firstly in 23rd and then 24th places.

Finally David Swinburne signed off Morpeth's brave attempt at respectability
by finishing in 22nd place clocking an individual Long Stage seventh leg in 29m14s.

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Hamburg Marathon !
Ian Hudspith's dreams of making it to the Olympics came
to a sad and dramatic end in Hamburg on Sunday 27th April,
when he was forced to pull out having completed 18 of the 26 miles
of the only Marathon left available to him to gain qualification.

Having being forced out of London with illness the 36yr old had every
reason to believe he was in with a chance at halfway in Sunday's event,
however he began to struggle in the second half of the event
leading to him eventually stepping off the road.

Obviously he was bitterly disappointed, saying that it just wasn't to be,
he still wasn't alright after the illness and shouldn't have run,
but he felt that being his last chance, he had to give it a go.
It was upsetting, but he is resolved that he cannot do anything about it,
there was just nothing there when it mattered.

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Track & Field News !
Morpeth Harrier Jonny Young finished third in the 3000m B Race at the
BMC Watford Open Meeting on Wednesday 23rd April in a time of 8m45.67s

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British Orienteering Championships !
Adrian Barnes of Morpeth Harriers continued his long
and distinguished Orienteering experience by taking the
British Over 55 Mens Short Course Championship
in Culbin Forest, near Inverness at the weekend, 19th/20th April.

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Redcar Half Marathon !
Ben Harrison was Morpeth Harriers leading finisher in the
Tees Valley Leisure sponsored Redcar Half Marathon
on Sunday 20th April.
Harrison made the long journey from Kirkby Lonsdale
in Cumbria to finish twelfth in 73m59s.
Other good Morpeth performances
came from Mike Winter (68th) 85m44s,
Ian Corner (120th) 89m25s
and Alan Hyde (147th) 91m08s.

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Rothwell 10k Road Race !
Morpeth Harrier Phil Walker travelled to Leeds on Sunday 20th April
and finished 7th in the Rothwell 10k Road race in a time of 33m41s.
That placing also saw him finish second in the Over 40 Veteran Mens section.

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Gateshead Harriers Track & Field Meeting !
Sarah Wilkes of Morpeth Harriers began her Track and Field season
with great determination and success when she competed in
Round 1 of 5 Rounds in the Gateshead Harriers Young Athletes
meetings at Gateshead International Stadium on Sunday 20th April.

She cleared 3.40m to win the Under 12's Long Jump,
she won her heat in the 60m in 9.8s
and finished third in the final in 9.6s.
Sarah went on to finish 4th in the 600m in 2m17s,
and 4th in the Javelin with 6.5m.
All of these efforts gave her a total of 14 Grand Prix points
placing her second overall after one round.

Gateshead Harriers also held their Medal Track Meeting
alongside the Young Athletes meeting,
and several Morpeth Harriers produced prominent performances.

Daniel Hedley finished fifth in the Under 17 Mens 100m
in 12.5s and fourth in the 200m in 25.1s.

Elaine Telford finished second in the Senior Womens 100m in 13.3s.

Rachel Denton had an excellent run of 2m26.18s
to finish second in the Under 15 Girls 800m.

Natalie Young finished third in the Junior Womens 1500m in 4m55.73s.

Rachel Archer finished fifth in the Senior Womens 200m in 27.9s.

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News From America !
Morpeth Harrier Lewis Timmins finished second in the Mens 5000m
at The McDonnell Invitational Track and Field meeting held
at Fayetteville, Arkansas in America on April 19th. Timmins time was 14m09.91s.

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Flora London Marathon !
Unfortunately illness prevented Morpeths Ian Hudspith taking his place
on the start line at the 28th Flora London Marathon on Sunday 13th April,
and he must now look towards the possibility of another chance in Hamburg,
Germany in two weeks time to convince Great Britains Olympic selectors
hat he is a worthy candidate for Beijing.

There is no doubt that had he been fit, the conditions
in London on Sunday would have suited him.
Seven of his club colleagues did make the start line however,
and they were led home by Paul Waterston who finished
159th overall and was 22nd in the M40 veteran category.
His finishing time was 2hrs38min15secs,
having gone through halfway in 1hr17min52secs.
Second home from Morpeth Harriers was Gordon Dixon
who clocked 2hrs44min03secs to finish 276th
and 10th in the M45 veteran category.

Only seven seconds divided Morpeth's third and fourth finishers
Hamish McCallister-Williams and Ian Corner, who finished
2,282nd and 2,299th respectively in the Mens race in
3hrs14mins23secs and 3hrs14mins30secs.

Michelle Woodley was Morpeth's next finisher in 3hrs17mins39secs,
and was 140th in the Womens race.
Kate Chapman was the clubs sixth finisher in 155th place
in the Womens race in 3hrs19mins03secs,
and Steve McDonald was the final Morpeth finisher in
3hrs43mins49secs in 6,295th place in the Mens race.

In the London Mini Marathon also on Sunday 13th April,
Morpeths Laura Weightman finished fourth in the
15 to 17 year old girls category in the Non London Borough event.

In addition to Laura Weightman, eight other Morpeth Harriers
took part in the series of Mini Marathons that accompanied
the 28th running of the Flora London Marathon.

Natalie Young and Claire Pitt finished 54th and 67th
respectively in the 15 to 17 year old Girls event
that saw Laura finish fourth, although Laura finished up fifth
in the result sheet purely down to the chip recording system.

In the Boys 15 to 17 year age group, Jordan Scott and
Alistair Douglass finished 62nd and 73rd respectively.

Rachel Denton and Hannah Rank finished 14th and 34th
in a quality filled 13 to 14 year old Girls event.

In the 11 to 12 year old Girls event Adele Stewart finished in 63rd place.

Reece Ramsay finished 67th in the 11 to 12 year old Boys event.

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Wallsend Harriers Multi-Terrain Race !
Three Morpeth Harriers took part in Wallsend Harriers Multi Terrain Race
at the Rising Sun Country Park on Sunday 13th April.
First home was Alistair MacDonald who was 7th M40
Veteran when he placed 22nd overall in 30m01s.
Archie Jenkins was first M55 Veteran when he finished 30th overall in 30m42s.
Mike Steven finished 69th in 34m31s and was 8th in the M50 Veterans section.

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Anne Marie Readshaw Open Track & Field Meeting !
Two Morpeth Harriers took part in the Anne Marie Readshaw Open
Track & Field meeting held at Stadium 2000 in Shildon on Sunday 13th April.
Elaine Telford finished 4th in the Senior Womens 100m in 13.4s.
Daniel Hedley competed in three Under 17 Mens events.
After finishing third in his heat of the 100m in 12.6s,
he finished 8th in the final in a slightly faster 12.5s.
He finished 4th in the 200m in 25.9s and 5th in the 400m in 58.5s.

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North of England 12 Stage Road Relays !
Although they failed to retain their North of England 12 Stage Road Relay
title at a wintry Catterick Garrison on Sunday 6th April,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men battled bravely throughout to eventually finish sixth,
with some excellent runs coming from Jonathan Taylor, Terry Wall, Jonny Young
and London Marathon bound Ian Hudspith.

Taylor really got them off to an excellent start on Leg One,
when he completed his long 5 mile circuit in third place in 28m01s,
and only 24 seconds adrift of the early leaders Bolton
and fifteen seconds adrift of second placed Liverpool.

Terry Wall took over on the 3mile second leg,
and although he lost a couple of places, his time of 15m47s
only saw him lose a further six seconds on new leaders,
and still well within easy reach of Derby and Bolton
now occupying second and third places.

The lead changed yet again on third leg with Liverpool
going into a nine second lead courtesy of their former
International 800m specialist Curtis Robb
who is once again looking a serious force,
albeit at a new distance and level.

Leeds had now dropped to second, with Derby now in third,
and Bingley had come through to fourth and Morpeth
had remained fifth courtesy of Ross Floyd's 16m18s.

Morpeth's fourth leg runner Nick Swinburn found himself
in a hotbed of good runners and he slipped to eighth with
a 5mile clocking of 30m26s which at that point proved
to be over two and a half minutes adrift of medal placings.

Thankfully at this stage a very much inform Jonny Young came into the fray,
and he produced an excellent short 5th stage clocking of 15m40s,
which proved to be sixth fastest of the leg, and was enough to claw back a place,
and brought Morpeth back to one minute and thirty seven seconds adrift of medals.

Leg 6 with the threatened snow flurries beginning to take more effect,
saw Ian Hudspith run a superb second fastest of the day short leg time of 14m19s,
and took Morpeth back up to third and in very close contention for second.

With the snow falling heavily Ben Harrison set off on Leg 7,
which was the two lap 5mile effort,
and he got round in 30m48s to finish seventh.

The snow continued throughout Legs 8 and 9 which saw
Phil Walker on his North of England 12 Stage debut for
Morpeth, and Mark Hudspith making a long awaited
comeback after various illnesses and injuries.

Walker got round in 16m46s to finish in sixth place,
and Hudspith held this placing throughout his excellent 18m36s.

Morpeth held this placing throughout Legs 10, 11 and 12
with David Swinburne, Chris Sampson and Neil Wilkinson
clocking 30m15s, 15m33s and 15m57s, respectively.

Morpeth's total finishing time was 4hrs05.26s
with Leeds coming out winners in 3m57.08s.

Unfortunately Morpeth were unable to field a Womens squad
for the Womens 6 Stage Relays due to illness and injuries.

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Hartlepool Marina `5` Road Race !
Morpeths Alistair and Margaret MacDonald competed in the
Hartlepool Marina `5` race at Hartlepool on Sunday 6th April.
Alistair crossed the line in 29m51s finishing 22nd
and he was 4th M40 in the vets category.
Margaret finished 124th with a time of 40m15s
and was second in the Womens F40 category.

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South Shields Sand Dancer 10k !
Three of Morpeth Harriers Vets were competing
at the weekend in the South Shields Sand Dancer
10k Multi-terrain event on Sunday 6th April.

Archie Jenkins was the first V55 to cross the line,
finishing 15th with a time of 38m24s.
Paul Bentley was third in the V60 category,
finishing 38th with a time of 41m48s.
Second in the V70 category was Bernie Cordes
who was 93rd in 48m43s.

Their efforts contributed to Morpeth
finishing 6th in the Mens team race.

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Great Ireland 10k Road Race !
Morpeths Nick McCormick finished fourth in the Great Ireland 10k
Road race held in Dublin's Phoenix Park on Sunday 6th April.
His clocking was an excellent 29m18s as he finished behind winner
Abraham Chebil of Kenya 28m48s, Ahmed Abdullah Hassan of Quatar 28m51s,
and European Cross Country Champion Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine 28m59s.

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Coniston 14mile Road Race !
Morpeths Michael McKean travelled to Cumbria
on Saturday 5th April to finish 64th in the annual
Coniston 14mile Road Race in 94m09s.

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March

News From March 2008

Cyril Elliott Memorial Open Track & Field Meeting !
Morpeth Harrier Jordan Scott produced an excellent performance to finish
second in the 3000m at the Cyril Elliott Memorial Open Track & Field Meeting
at Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough on Saturday 29th March.

Jordan clocked 9m46.2s putting him 26 seconds adrift
of race winner Andrew Wills of Gateshead Harriers.

Other Morpeth Harriers to feature at the meeting
were Daniel Hedley and Greg Swinburn.
Hedley finished fourth in the Under 17 Mens 100m in 12.9s,
and fifth in the 200m in 26.0s.
Swinburn finished seventh in the Under 20 Mens 400m in 57.0s,
and second in the 200m in 24.1s.

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Indoor Standards Meeting !
At the final Indoor Standards Meeting held at Gateshead Stadium,
Morpeth's Joe Robertshaw triumphed in the Under 13 Boys 60m in 8.63s.

Melissa Anderson of Morpeth won the
Senior Womens 60m in 8.04s at the same meeting.

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North Tyneside 10k Road Race !
Nick Swinburn became the third Morpeth Harrier to taste
success in the ultra popular North Tyneside 10k Road Race,
which was run for the fourth time on Sunday 23rd March.

He was always to the fore in a leading group of five that stole away
in the early stages, that included 2007 winner James Buis of Heaton,
2007 runner up Mike Griffiths of Newcastle Staffs AC,
Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell, and his fellow Morpeth clubmate Nathan Shrubb,
and on four occasions facing a strong headwind he tried to make a significant break.
It wasn't until around 400m from home on the Links at Whitley Bay that Nick
managed to put some daylight between himself and the others.
Shrubb and Buis gave desperate chase whilst Griffiths and Bell wilted somewhat.
Nick Swinburn's victory was never sure until he crossed the finish line
near St Mary's Lighthouse in a time of 33m21s, and only two seconds ahead
of Nathan Shrubb, with James Buis a further four seconds adrift in third place.

Morpeth Harriers also took the Mens Team race for the third year
in succession with third and fourth counters Ross Floyd and Bill Gilroy
finishing ninth and nineteenth in respective times of 35m00s and 37m14s.

Other Morpeth Harriers finishers were as follows
Alistair MacDonald (29th) 38m19s,
Michael Winter (48th) 39m47s,
Graeme Leathard (68th) 40m15s,
Ian Corner (73rd) 40m31s,
Jim Alder (90th) 41m31s,
Alan Hyde (152nd) 43m25s,
Nick Armstrong (218th) 44m58s
and Mike Steven (249th) 45m37s. Faye Glover (362nd) 47m54s
Trevor Robinson (363rd) 47m55s
Claire Bruce (408th) 48m39s
Margaret MacDonald (440th) 49m26s
Shuna Rank (477th) 49m53s
Ricky Davidson (483rd) 49m56s
Susan Smith (612th) 52m16s
Jane Blackett (836th) 55m34s
Suzanne Millward (968th) 57m38s.

Congratulations go to North Tyneside Council for their splendid organisation,
and to North Shields Polytechnic Athletic Club and UK Officials
for ensuring once again the smooth running of this popular event,
which this year attracted a total entry of 1,903 people.
Although the cold wind prevailed, the promised
snow stayed away during the run itself.

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Elswick Harriers Good Friday Road Races !
Three individual and two team victories brought warmth to the hearts
of the Morpeth Harriers hierarchy at the annual Elswick Harriers
Good Friday Road Races, held at a cold and blustery Newburn Business Park.

On the eve to his return to his American College base, Lewis Timmins
clocked the fastest time of the day of 10m38s to spur
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men to yet another relay victory with splendid
support also coming from Nick Swinburn (11m18s) (10th Fastest)
Mark Hudspith (11m17s) (9th Fastest) and Ian Hudspith (10m45s) (2nd Fastest)

After Swinburn's first leg had seen the squad come home in fourth place,
Timmins took up the fight and they never looked back after he grabbed the lead,
eventually stealing to a two minute marginal victory, with Chester Le Street just
pipping Sunderland Harriers to the Silver medal placing.
Fifteen seconds adrift of Sunderland in fourth place were Morpeth's B team
courtesy of Ross Floyd (11m34s), Neil Wilkinson (11m37s)
Nathan Shrubb (11m24s) and David Swinburne (11m38s)
Marc Cochrane (12m25s) and Jim Alder (13m58s)
ran for an incomplete Morpeth Senior Mens B team.

Morpeth's second team victory of the day came in the Under 13 Boys event.
They also had the pleasure of seeing North East Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington claim individual victory in 9m46s,
with Jonnie Nisbet finishing in second place in 9m50s.
The winning team score was closed with Jack Hepple
coming home in eleventh place in 10m45s.
Other Morpeth finishers in the Under 13 Boys event were
Jonny Anderson (17th) 11m06s, Liam Brooks (19th) 11m09s,
Ben Steel (33rd) 12m13s and Matthew Denton (38th) 13m10s.

Rachel Denton scored a superb individual victory in the Under 15 Girls event.
She won with seven seconds to spare over Gosforth's Rosie King with her time of 10m16s.
Morpeth unfortunately just missed out on team success to Gosforth despite
an excellent third place by Hannah Rank in a time of 10m34s.
Rachael Steel closed Morpeth's scoring three with
an excellent run to finish seventh in 11m26s.
It was on a countback situation that Gosforth won,
with both clubs being all square on points.
Other Morpeth finishers in the Under 15 Girls event were
Ailsa McGregor (11th) 12m05s and Catriona MacDonald (19th) 13m15s.

Morpeth's third individual victory of the day came in the
Under 15 Boys event where Marcus Cram won with twenty
two seconds to spare over his closest rival Jake Archer of Sunderland Harriers.
It was at the point where the runners had the wind to their backs that Marcus
took off in search of victory, and he crossed the finish line in 11m54s.
Unfortunately Morpeth could not field a scoring three here,
as Philip Shuttleworth produced an excellent run to finish eighth in 12m55s.

Morpeth Harriers Veteran Men finished in third team place
behind favourites Sunderland with host club Elswick claiming second place.
Despite running with a leg injury David Steel got round in 13m01s
to come home in sixth place on Leg One.
Paul Waterston got them up to third on second leg
with his clocking of 12m20s (7th Fastest)
and Gordon Dixon (13m02s) and Phil Walker (12m04s) (3rd Fastest)
held this position over the final two legs.

Richard Driscoll (13m50s), Alistair MacDonald (13m03s)
and Archie Jenkins (14m20s) ran in an incomplete
Morpeth Veteran Mens B team,
and were lying seventh after the third leg.

Sarah Wilkes led Morpeth's Under 13 Girls home to fifth team
place when she finished 14th of 28 in 12m20s.
Further team support came from Carley Mae Webster (16th) 12m36s
and Francesca Price, in her first competitive outing, (18th) 12m53s.
Another Morpeth runner in this event was Rachael Todd who finished 24th in 13m38s.

Alistair Douglass was Morpeth's lone Under 17 Mens runner,
and he ran excellently to finish 8th in 12m18s.

Morpeth's Senior Women finished as tenth team.
They were led home by Laura Dixon who produced
an excellent run to finish 19th of 48 finishers.
She clocked 14m52s and was second Under 20 Woman.
Team support came courtesy of Zoe Armstrong (27th) 15m15s,
and Rebecca Turnbull (35th) 15m35s.
Margaret MacDonald also ran for Morpeth in this event,
finishing in 42nd place in 16m25s.

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Isle of Man Running Festival !
Three excellent performances saw Morpeth Harrier Sarah Graham
finish second cumulatively in the Womens events at the
Isle of Man Running Festival held over Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.
On Good Friday she finished fourth in the Womens 10k event in 38m37s.
Sarah competed in the Peel Hill Race on Saturday where she finished third,
and she rounded it all off on Sunday when she finished third in the 5k Race in 18m25s

Fellow Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison travelled to compete
in the Mens 10k on Good Friday where he finished 27th in
35m06s, and on Saturday he finished 24th in the Hill Race.
Those combined placings made him 22nd in the Mens section at that stage.

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Mermaid 10k Road Race !
Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall finished fourth in the Mermaid 10k Road Race
held in Marske, Cleveland on Good Friday.
Terry clocked 34m13s, which put him just over a minute adrift
of race winner Patrick Martin of Sunderland Harriers.

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Little Strickland 10mile Road Race !
Ben Harrison of Morpeth Harriers won the Little Strickland 10mile Road Race
held in in Penrith on Sunday 16th March in 58m56s.

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Inter Counties Cross Country Championships !
Three Morpeth Harriers played their part in a superb
Senior Mens Team victory by the North Eastern Counties at the
Inter Counties Cross Country Championships held at
Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday 15th March.

Ian Hudspith finished an excellent ninth to lead the squad home,
and he was well supported by club colleagues Lewis Timmins
and Nick Swinburn who were second and sixth counters in
sixteenth and forty eighth places respectively.
Hudspith was always up with the leaders, and the fact that he was only
just under forty seconds away from an individual medal amongst younger
opposition is pure testimony to an excellent performance.

It was also a particularly fruitfull day for Timmins, as he had to make
the journey from his base in America to compete.
He had contacted Team Boss Steve O'Gara several weeks before,
declaring an interest to run, and that he was in excellent form,
and he more than repaid the faith shown him by turning in this performance.

For Swinburn's part, it was again an excellent performance amongst older athletes,
and again repaid the faith shown in him after his superb English National last month.
Although a non scorer, Morpeth's Mark Brown ran competitively to finish in 115th place.

The North East were very unlucky to lose out in very close
team finishes in the Senior Womens and Under 15 Boys events.
In both cases they finished fourth, and only 24 and 15 points adrift respectively.

Morpeth's Jane Mooney, who unfortunately missed
the English National due to illness ran well to finish as fourth
counter in 78th place for the Senior Womens squad.
One place ahead of her was her club colleague Delyth James,
who had managed to gain a "wild card" entry as an individual from the organisers.
These were both excellent performances in a total field of 254 finishers.

Marcus Cram of Morpeth gave an excellent performance in the
Under 15 Boys event to finish as second counter for
the North East in nineteenth place of 281 finishers.

Morpeth's Marc Cochrane repaid the faith of the selectors
to finish as fourth counter in 91st place for a North East
Junior Mens squad that finished in tenth team place.

Another North East squad that finished tenth were the Under 13 Boys,
and three Morpeth Harriers played their parts excellently.
Superb runs by Jonny Nisbet and North East Champion
Adam Harrington saw them finish in 35th and 37th places
respectively and only a second apart in the final run in
that saw them as first and second counters.
Lewis Coyle produced an excellent performance to come
home as fourth counter in 80th place out of 298 finishers.
Eighth and final finisher for the North East
was Jack Hepple who placed 181st.

Morpeths Rachel Denton led the North East's Under 15 Girls squad
home to 13th team place when finishing 58th in a field of 274 finishers.
Clubmate and training partner Hannah Rank was
a non scorer as fifth from the region in 95th place.

The North East's Under 17 Womens squad who were hit by the loss of
former Inter Counties Champion Laura Weightman,
finished in sixteenth team place.

Natalie Young of Morpeth produced a superb performance to come
home as second counter in 70th place out of 240 finishers.

Although a non scorer, Morpeth's Jordan Scott answered his late
call up to the North East's Under 17 Mens squad by finishing 145th of 258 finishers.

Morpeth's Laura Dixon finished 111th in the Junior Womens event.

Its thought that the North East Counties may have won
the overall trophy by completing as a prominent team
in all of the ten events to count in the competition.

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Ackworth Half Marathon !
Five Morpeth Harriers took part in the Ackworth Half Marathon on Sunday 16th March.
Paul Waterston was first home for the club in 17th place in 75m32s.
He was third in the Over 40 Veteran category.
Mike Winter finished 77th in 84m50s and Ian Corner was 100th in 87m13s.
The combination of Waterston, Winter and Corner gave
Morpeth Harriers 11th place in the Mens Team Race.

Other Morpeth results were
Steve McDonald (266th) 99m58s
and Pam Woodcock (326th) 103m59s.
Pam's placing made her first in the Over 55 Ladies section.

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BUSA Indoor Athletics Championships !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor took a Bronze medal in the 3000m
at the BUSA Indoor Athletics Championships in
Sheffield on Sunday 16th March.
He was just outside his personal best with 8m34.44s.
The race was won by fellow Teessider
Ricky Stevenson who clocked 8m30.89s.

Morpeths Jonathan Young finished ninth in the 1500m.
Jonathan clocked 4m03.50s.

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New President For The Club !
At the clubs AGM held at Morpeth Rugby Club on Tuesday 11th March,
Club President Ernie Slaughter announced that he was
standing down from office after 23 years at the helm.
Ernie, who is the longest serving member of the club,
having joined as a prominent youth in 1947,
not long after the clubs formation, felt that the time was right for
someone younger to come in, and he would welcome the opportunity to
take a back seat after years of what all those present agreed was excellent service.

He was honoured however to accept the title of Honorary President,
and went on to say he would keep a watchfull eye on things,
and hoped that the club would continue to gain success,
he was a very proud man and praised the work of his fellow officers
and the coaches at the club who had continued to persevere through difficult times.

The man elected to step into Ernie's shoes was former
Commonwealth Games Marathon Champion
and long time Club stalwart Jim Alder MBE.
This is much deserved after the devotion and hard work
he has put in over many years to both promote and bring
success not only to his club, but also the town of Morpeth.

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Trafford 10k
A superb run of 31m40s saw Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn
finish as first Junior Man in the Trafford 10k road race
held at Partington in Manchester on Sunday 9th March.
Swinburn finished in 16th place overall and was nearly
a minute clear of his nearest Junior rival.

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World Indoor Championships
Luckless Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick just missed out on a place
in the final of the Mens 3000m at the World Indoor Championships,
held in Valencia, Spain on Saturday 8th March.
Despite clocking a faster time than the winner of the slower of the two qualifying heats,
McCormick could only finish ninth in 8m00.01s, which meant the eight in front of him,
including four fastest losers, went through, and the first four
in the slower heat went through as of right.
One of those four in the slower heat was fellow Brit Mo Farah,
who finished third in 8m04.65s.

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English Schools Cross Country Championships
Eleven Morpeth Harriers competed for Northumberland at the
English Schools Cross Country Championships held at
Sefton Park, Liverpool on Saturday 8th March.

On a day when the county certainly underperformed,
there was brightness in the individual performance of Rachel Denton,
and the best team performance being achieved by
the Intermediate Boys who finished eleventh.

In Denton's case she ran very competitively to come home in 24th place
and led Northumberland's Junior Girls home to 22nd team place.
Other Morpeth Harriers amongst the counters in this age group
were Hannah Rank (135th) and Rachael Steel (225th),
who were third and sixth for the county.

The Intermediate Boys were helped in their eleventh placed effort by
Morpeth's Alistair Douglass, who in finishing 139th was fifth counter.

Although Laura Weightman's form is still a worrying factor,
she managed to lead Northumberland's Senior Girls home to
20th team place with her individual placing of 22nd.
A lack of regular racing this winter did not daunt Natalie Young
when she came home as third counter in 101st place.

Northumberland's Intermediate Girls finished in 22nd team place
and were helped by Morpeth's Claire Pitt (187th) (4th counter)
and Zoe Armstrong (218th) (6th counter)
Although not a counter Deborah Oakley
competed well to finish in 236th place.

Northumberland's Junior Boys finished in 25th team place with
Morpeth's Jonny Nisbet being their fifth counter in 161st place.

Jordan Scott of Morpeth was second counter for
the Senior Boys who finished in 30th team place.
His individual placing was 145th.

Recent rain had made the Sefton Park course a little tricky in places,
with tightness of space also being experienced in several cases by athletes.

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City of Salisbury 10mile Road Race
Morpeths And