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August

News From August 2008

The Gateshead Grand Prix !
On Sunday 31st August, Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick
clocked 7mins 55.11secs to finish 9th in the 3000m
at The Gateshead Grand Prix, behind the world leading mark of 7mins 31.94secs
set by double Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia.

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Hetton 10km Multi Terrain !
At the Houghton Harriers 50th anniversary Hetton 10km Multi Terrain event
at Hetton Lyons Country Park on Sunday 31st August.
Mike Winter led home the Morpeth Harriers contigent finishing 12th in 42mins 41secs,
behind Sunderland's Steven Potts (35:49). Ian Carener finished 19th (45:31)
and Iain McLaren 27th (47:38) (also 4th M40).

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Blyth Links 10k Race !
A total of 224 finishers took part in the annual
Blyth Links 10k Race on Tuesday 26th August.
Amongst them were eleven runners from Morpeth Harriers.

First home in a Blue and White hooped vest was Over 40 Veteran Paul Waterston,
who in finishing third overall in 35m00s was also first in his category.
He beat his club colleague Phil Walker by all of two places, and by twenty seconds.
Phil was also second in the Over 40 Veteran Mens section.

Third home for Morpeth Harriers was Gordon Dixon who
finished eleventh in 37m00s and was first in the Over 45 category.

Other Morpeth Harrier results were as follows
Kevin Bray (33rd) (2nd O/50) 39m51s,
Richard Driscoll (40th) (2nd O/55) 40m09s,
Jim Alder (44th) (9th O/45) 40m34s,
Neil McAnany (51st) (12th O/45) 41m01s,
Ian Corner (65th) (10th O/40) 42m18s,
Allan Welsh (109th) (13th O/40) 45m04s,
Sue Smith (177th) (43rd Lady) (8th O/40 Lady) 51m16s
Suzanne Millward (210th) (61st Lady) (7th O/50 Lady) 58m04s.

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Northern Inter Counties Track & Field Championships !
Representing the North East, Morpeths Rachel Denton was
an impressive winner of the Under 15 Girls 1500m at the
Northern Inter Counties Track & Field Championships
held at Hull's Costello Stadium on Saturday 23rd August.
Rachel won with a margin of four seconds over
Yorkshire's Sally Smith with her clocking of 4m53.60s.

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Tartan Games Track & Field Festival !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor was a clear winner of the Senior Mens 800m
at the annual Tartan Games Track & Field Festival held at
Gateshead International Stadium on Saturday 23rd August.
Jonathan clocked 1m52.32s for his victory.

Another Morpeth winner on the day was Elaine Telford who
crossed the line first in the Senior Womens 100m in 13.07s.
Telford also finished third in the 200m in 27.44s.

Morpeths Joe Robertshaw finished second in the finals of both the
Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m events in respective times of 13.96s and 28.35s.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League ( 6 )
In her first race after a three week family holiday in New Zealand,
Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman showed that she had not
lost any of her previous sparkle by winning the
Womens 3000m at the final Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern
Athletics meeting held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium on Wednesday 13th August.

Her victory was well sweetened by the fact that she also
clocked a new personal best for the distance of 9m38.6s,
this beating her previous figures by a mammoth eighteen seconds
which she had set in June 2007 at Gateshead.
She also set a new Morpeth Harriers Womens record for the
distance as she took victory from Chester Le Street's
Claire Simpson by a margin of four seconds.

This also means that Weightman has improved times in
all four of the events she has covered this season,
a unique individual and club achievement for someone
who is still at Junior level.

Other Morpeth Harrier winners on the night were Rachel Denton and Joe Robertshaw.
Denton was hard pressed during the first lap of the Under 15 Girls 800m
by Birtley's Sophie Taylor, however at the bell she put sufficient daylight
between herself and the determined Taylor to coast home to victory in 2m23.5s
which eventually gave her a seven second cushion.

Robertshaw just held off the close challenge of Gateshead's Jack Young
to claim victory in the Under 13 Boys 200m in 28.4s.

Alistair Douglass was fifth Under 17 Man in the 3000m in a time of 9m56.3s.
Daniel Hedley was second Under 17 Man in the 200m in 25.3s.

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Exhibition Park 5k Road Race !
Morpeth Harriers won the Mens team race
at the Exhibition Park 5k Road Race
held in Newcastle on Wednesday 13th August.

They were led home by David Swinburne who finished sixth overall in 16m12s.

Further team support came from Phil Walker (8th) 16m14s
and Paul Waterston (11th) 16m48s.

Morpeth Harriers Women finished as third team behind Wallsend and Elswick,
and were led home by Deborah Oakley who was eleventh lady in 105th place in 20m19s,
and was also first Under 17 Lady finisher.

Further team support came from Zoe Armstrong (120th) (2nd U/17) (15th Lady) 20m45s,
and Sue Calvert (130th) (4th O/40 Lady) (17th Lady) 21m07s.

Other Morpeth Harriers to finish in a field of 268 finishers were as follows
Bill Gilroy (24th) (4th O/45) 17m42s,
Alistair MacDonald (35th) (6th O/45) 18m12s,
Graeme Leathard (51st) (10th O/40) 18m46s,
Neil McAnany (67th) (12th O/45) 19m14s,
Jim Alder (81st) (13th O/45) 19m34s,
Mike Steven (99th) (8thO/50) 20m12s,
Iain McLaren (103rd) (20th O/40) 20m17s,
Trevor Robinson (124th) 20m52s,
Sally Welsh (181st) (7th O/40 Lady) (34th Lady) 23m39s
Sue Smith (194th) (9th O/40 Lady) (39th Lady) 24m10s.

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World Mountain Championships !
A week in an athletes life can take many twists and turns,
and along the way there can be many ups and downs,
just ask Morpeth 10k winner Nick Swinburn and he will
give you an expert run down of how it goes.

On Sunday 17th August in Llanberis, Snowdonia,
the 20 year old Morpeth Harrier attempted to gain an International call up
for the second year running in the World Mountain Championships.
He had finished 33rd in the Junior Mens race in Switzerland in 2007
and was aiming to make the team as a Senior in this years Championships,
due to be held in Crans-Montana in September.

Unfortunately on this occasion things didn't quite go to plan for Nick
when he finished well adrift of the leading pack,
down in sixteenth place and nearly six minutes adrift
of the winner Steve Vernon of Stockport.

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The Warkworth Show Fun Run !
A total of 44 enthusiastic runners took part in the Fun Run
at The Warkworth Show on Saturday 16th August.
The event was started by Morpeth Harriers Club President Jim Alder MBE,
and the first home was Amble schoolboy Alistair Douglass
from Morpeth Harriers who won the Mens category.

Second home was his club colleague Jonny Nisbet
who won the Under 16 Boys section.

Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes won the Under 16 Girls
section when she finished eighth overall.

Sharon Green won the Womens by finishing in twentieth place.

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Darlington 10k Road Race !
Three of Morpeth Harriers vets squad took part in the Sherwood Chevrolet
sponsored Darlington 10k on Sunday 10th August,
which was run on a newly modified course.
Graeme Leathard finished 70th in 39m33s, and was first home for the club.
Morpeth Harriers other two finishers were Jim Alder (139th) 41m59s,
and club newcomer Iain McLaren who finished 171st in a time of 42m46s.

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Forest Burn Fell Race !
Five days after claiming victory in the Morpeth 10k, Morpeths Nick Swinburn
was back in record breaking form when he won the 13th Forest Burn Fell Race
at Rothbury on Sunday 10th August, in a new course record time of
19m25s, breaking the old figures by ninety seconds.

Second place went to Northumberland Fell Runner Will Horsley in 21m07s,
with another team colleague Phil Sanderson taking third place in 21m16s.
Swinburn competes in the World Mountain Trophy Trials in Llanberis,
Snowdonia this Sunday, hoping to gain another International vest.

Other Morpeth Harriers running at Rothbury were John Woods
who finished ninth in 23m18s, and Swinburn's younger brother Greg,
only seventeen, who finished exactly halfway in the field in 21st place in 26m05s.
Woods and Swinburn had also competed in the Morpeth 10k.

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BMC Grand Prix Final !
Unfortunately Morpeth Harrier Jonathan Taylor became the victim
of a slower run 1500m A race at the BMC Grand Prix Final meeting
in Eton on Saturday night ( 9th August ) when he finished fifth in 3m49.59s,
which was around four seconds short of his season and personal best.

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Gateshead Open Minor Grand Prix !
Young Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes has just completed the
series of Gateshead Open Minor Grand Prix meetings.
The final meeting was held on Sunday 10th August,
Sarah finished fourth in the Under 12 Girls section with a total of 33 points.
She had to compete on the track over 60m and 600m,
and in the Long Jump and Javelin Field events over a series of five meetings.
Her improvement over the period of the competition was quite noticeable.

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BMC 800m Race Jarrow !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor clocked a new personal best time of 1m51.1s
when he won the BMC 800m A Race at Monkton Stadium on Monday 4th August.
At the same meeting his clubmate Marcus Cram fractionally improved his best
when he finished second in the B race in 1m59.6s.

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US Runner in Morpeth 10k !
One man who certainly enjoyed running the Morpeth 10k for the first time ever
was visiting athlete David Kroupa of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
David was in England for the first time, and visiting his wife parents in Peterlee for 14 days.

Being a 5k, Duathlon and Triathlon specialist in the USA,
and having just turned 50, he decided to try to find an athletic
event to his liking, to take part in while he was visiting.

On checking the Internet he found the Morpeth 10k,
even though it was a little above his normal distance, he decided to give it a try.
He described the course and the experience as very enjoyable,
and as he normally runs in 90 degrees of humidity,
the slightly humid conditions on the night didn't really trouble him.

His performance certainly bore out his credentials,
as he finished in an excellent 41st place,
and in a superb time of 38m46s,
and picked up the prize of second Over 50 Male Veteran into the bargain.

David promised he would give a glowing report of the event
to his running colleagues at Premier Running Club in Fort Lauderdale,
and added that he hoped to return someday to once again compete in the Morpeth 10k,
and he thanked the organisers for putting on a splendid event for both him and all who ran.

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Northern League Division 2 Match !
Morpeth Harriers failed to avoid the drop into Division 3 of the
North of England Track and Field League despite the gallant efforts
from those who turned out in their final match of the season at
Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough on Sunday 3rd August.

Sadly a poor turnout from the club resulted in them having to call
on distance runners to compete in sprints, and even Club Secretary
Mike Bateman was forced into action in a desperate bid for valuable points.
Morpeth had to finish above Durham City in the match to avoid relegation,
however they were very much on an uphill struggle as
Durham managed to finish third, and Morpeth ended up fifth.

Womens Team Manager Aiveen Fox, and Claire Reid were the clubs
only winners on the day as the squad battled to claim respectability.
Fox claimed her victory in the 3000m where she clocked 10m15.5s,
and Kate Chapman took the B race in 11m25.9s to secure maximum points.
Fox also had a B race win in the 800m where she clocked 2m26.7s,
and Zoe Armstrong took third in the A race in 2m28.2s.
Reid won the Shot Putt with 10.53m, and finished second in the Discus with a best of 36.62m.

In the Mens events, there were second places for John Woods (3000m Steeplechase) (11m11.4s)
and Mark Brown (5000m) (16m17.6s), and also for Ian Mawdesley (110m Hurdles) (19.4s)
and a returning Andrew Wake (Pole Vault) (3.50m).

The Appleby brothers Steven and Paul battled in the quest for points in the Discus, and Shot.
In the Discus Paul finished fourth in the A event with his best of 33.31m,
and Steven finished third in the B event with his best of 29.76m.
Steven finished fourth in the A event of the Shot with 9.73m,
and Paul finished second in the B string with 9.03m.

Martyn Cairns produced an excellent run of 2m05.3s
to finish second in the B race of the 800m.

FINAL MATCH RESULT
1st City of York A 405pts,
2nd Middlesbrough (Mandale) 379.5pts,
3rd Durham 334pts,
4th Gateshead 325.5pts,
5th Morpeth 261.5pts,
6th Scarborough 57pts.

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Morpeth 10k Road Race !
A record number of 313 finishers took part in the11th running
of the Morpeth 10k Road Race on Tuesday 5th August.

Thankfully on the night, the relatively unseasonable August weather abated,
and runners faced slightly humid conditions for the event which now ranks
as one of the oldest in the region that is still run on its original course.

The field were led home by Morpeths Nick Swinburn, who in clocking 32m24s,
bettered his winning 2006 time by a mammoth thirty seconds,
and the 20 year old Bangor University student was also well
pleased with his run following a strenuous series of
International Mountain races that have brought him some success.
Swinburn was five seconds clear of his Morpeth clubmate Terry Wall at the halfway point,
and was always wary of the possibility of a challenge from him.
as he is also a former winner of the event, having won in
2002 and 2003 in times of 31m11s and 31m27s.

Nick was very much forced to push up the pace on the second lap,
and eventually came home with twenty seven seconds to spare
over Wall who maintained second place.
Third place went to Michael Morris,
which meant a 1,2,3 for the Morpeth club.

Morris had won his own personal battle of wits with Paul Besford,
formerly of Gateshead, now running as unattached, and crossed
the finish line in 33m17s, giving him an eighteen seconds
margin over the fourth placed Besford.

Fifth place went to Sunderland Harrier Paul Given in 33m58s,
just outsprinting Morpeth's Phil Walker by two seconds,
who took the first Veteran Mens title.
He was followed in seventh place by his club colleague
and training partner Paul Waterston who clocked 34m51s
and was second Veteran Man to finish.

Eighth place went to Paul Whalley of Blyth Running Club who clocked 35m24s.
Ninth and tenth places went to Stephen Grey of Elswick (3rd Veteran Man) (35m30s)
and Chris Jackson of Sunderland Strollers (35m34s).

Jimmy Bell of Elswick, who was first in the Over 60 Mens Veterans
category had a superb run to finish eleventh in 35m39s.

One place behind Jimmy came the first Lady finisher in Fiona Matheson
who in clocking an excellent 35m46s as a Veteran, easily smashed
Tynedale's Lynne Marr's ten year old Veteran Womens record of 37m00s.

Les Atkinson's Veteran Mens course record of 32m14s,
also set in 1998 remains unbroken.
As do the Mens and Womens course records held by
Ian Hudspith (Morpeth Harriers) (1997) 29m14s,
and Jill Boltz (formerly Hunter) (1998) 34m46s.

Second and third placed Ladies were Angela Hibbs of Chester Le Street
who was 22nd in 36m34s, and Morpeths Aiveen Fox, who was 26th in 37m21s,
and had won the race for the last three years, and had finished second in 2004.
Her time on this occasion was her third best on the course.

Morpeth Harriers would wish to thank the following
for their kind sponsorship and assistance with the event:-
A-Belco (Ashington based Electrical Engineering Company)
and Brumell & Sample (Morpeth based Solicitors) as Main Sponsors,
Stanton Hall Nurseries and Alderbuild as co sponsors,
support given by Morpeth Town FC
in providing Race Headquarters and Officials Parking,
Piramal Healthcare in providing Race Parking, Start Fitness for prizes,
Ted Phizacklea and his ever willing team of Red Cross workers
for providing valuable Medical assistance, Northumbria Police for their co-operation,
and Members and Friends of Morpeth Harriers for offering
their services as Race Officials and Race Marshalls on the night.

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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 Andrew Lawrence clocked a new personal
best time of 56m44s when finishing fifth in the
City of Salisbury 10mile Road Race on Sunday 9th March.

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Scottish Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships
Competing in the Boys 15 to 17 year age group, Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram
led his Fettes College of Edinburgh team - mates to fourth team place in the
Scottish Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships held in Irvine on Saturday 8th March.
Marcus finished eighth and was thirteen seconds adrift of a Bronze medal.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 6 )
The final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture
held at Prudhoe on Saturday 1st March, saw Morpeth Harriers
round off their season by clinching team success in the
Senior Mens and Under 13 Boys sections, and Mark Brown,
Adam Harrington and Deborah Oakley all won best performance awards.
Brown confirmed his individual success in the strong wind on Saturday
by coming home in eighth place from the Fast Pack,
easily recording the fastest time of the day,
and leading Morpeth Harriers to fourth team place,
and first from Division 2, which confirmed their divisional victory
and promoted them to Division 1 next term.

Further team support for Morpeth came from excellent runs by
Alistair MacDonald (10th) (Slow Pack)
David Steel (32nd) (Medium Pack)
Mike Winter (42nd) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (54th) (Slow Pack)
and John Woods (83rd) (Medium Pack)

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys also confirmed themselves as
League champions by finishing third on the day,
and their leading finisher Jonny Nisbet also grabbed himself
a piece of the action by producing a superb run from
the Fast Pack to finish second, which in turn gave him a Silver Medal
for his individual performances for the season,
only beaten by clubmate Adam Harrington,
who missed Saturday's race to prepare for a school Skiing trip.

Nisbet was supported in Saturday's team effort by
Ryan Dodds (7th) (Slow Pack) and Ben Steel (21st) (Slow Pack)

Deborah Oakley ran excellently to finish third from the Fast Pack
in the combined Under 17 and Under 20 Womens event,
and confirmed herself as the seasons best performer for the age group.
Morpeth also finished as third team for the season behind Houghton and Gateshead.

Morpeth's Jordan Scott was second fastest on the day when
he finished fifth from the Fast Pack in the Under 17 Mens event.

In the Under 15 Boys event Philip Shuttleworth finished eighth from the Fast Pack.

Sarah Wilkes of Morpeth ran superbly to finish in fourth place
from the Slow Pack in the Under 13 Girls event.

In the Under 15 Girls event Rachel Steel also produced an
excellent run to finish in fourth place from the Fast Pack.

Margaret MacDonald finished 47th from the
Slow Pack in the Senior Womens event.

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Reading Half Marathon !
Morpeth Harrier Ian Hudspith finished ninth in the Asics sponsored
Reading Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd March in a time of 66m26s.

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Scottish Indoor Senior Track & Field Championships
Bronze medal success came to Morpeth Harrier Claire Reid in the Womens Shot Putt
at the Scottish Indoor Senior Track and Field Championships,
held at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall at the weekend (1st and 2nd March.)
Claire produced a best of 11.18m, which was actually only a centimetre adrift
of the Silver medal which was claimed by Birtley's Stephanie Hopkinson.
The event was won by Shaftesbury's Kirsty Law with a best of 12.22m.

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Mid Lancs Cross Country League
Morpeths Ben Harrison finished 26th
in the Senior Mens event at the
Mid Lancs Cross Country League meeting held at
Witton Park, Blackburn on Saturday 1st March.

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February

News From February 2008

British Veterans Indoor Championships
Morpeth Harrier Archie Jenkins finished second in the
Over 55 Mens 3000m at the British Veterans Indoor Championships
at Lee Valley on February 23rd in a time of 10m28.68s.

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2008 English National XC Championships
In terms of individual performance, Adam Harrington's placing
of seventh in the Under 13 Boys event at the Saucony sponsored
English National Cross Country Championships,
held at Alton Towers in Staffordshire on Saturday 23rd February,
was the most outstanding from any Morpeth Harrier on the day.

The North East Champion went off strongly from the gun,
and held himself prominently throughout, and was only a
mere eight seconds adrift of a Silver medal at the finish line.
Northern Champion Fergus Roberts of Richmond and Zetland
had stolen well away to claim another Gold Medal victory.

Morpeth Harriers finished eighth in the team competition in this event
with Harrington's excellent run being well supported by Jonny Nisbet (26th)
Jack Hepple (84th) and Reece Ramsey (157th).

The best team effort for Morpeth came in the Junior Mens event where
they finished fourth and only fourteen points adrift of Bronze medal placing.
Nick Swinburn ran solidly throughout the three medium sized lap
event trying to hold onto a top fifteen place,
and was up against a lot of strong opposition.
However he stuck to the task in hand and finished in a well accomplished tenth place,
and had he not run out of ground, could possibly have clinched a top six placing.
Swinburn led the Morpeth squad home with further support coming from
Jonathan Taylor, Ross Floyd and a return to action man, Jonathan Young.
Taylor was quite evidently disappointed with his finishing of 21st
after being well up in the top five on lap one.
He suffered badly for pace on the second lap following a torturous hill section,
which was quite extraordinary considering his good form this winter.
Floyd was another who was going well until a bilious attack got the better
of him in the later stages and he slipped to a finishing place of 60th.

Having been out with injury and illness for most of this winter,
forced Jonathan Young to show some caution, however he ran with
a lot of determination to finish and complete the Morpeth scoring quartet.

Sixth team place against some strong opposition was a
good result for Morpeth's Under 17 Women.
Despite another slightly jaded performance by her own standards,
Laura Weightman led the Morpeth quartet home by finishing in seventeenth place.
Second counter home was Natalie Young, who like brother Jonathan,
was making a competitive comeback after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Natalie finished in 60th place.
Third counter was Zoe Armstrong, who had begun strongly,
but slipped a little in the later stages to eventually finish 92nd.
The scoring count was completed by Deborah Oakley who finished 103rd.

Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Girls finished as 16th team.
They were led home by Rachel Denton who finished in 25th place.
Hannah Rank was second counter in 79th place.
The Morpeth team counts here were completed by
Ailsa McGregor (183rd) and Catriona MacDonald (258th).

A bit of in house competing between Karl Taylor and Jordan Scott
led Morpeth's Under 17 Mens squad home to 21st team place.
After Scott had gone slightly ahead of Taylor at the end of the first lap,
Taylor chased him home and caught him just ahead of the finish line
to finish in 83rd place, with Scott finishing in 85th spot.
The scoring counts were completed by Alistair Douglass (96th)
and Daniel Hedley who finished 290th.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Womens hopes were dealt a heavy blow
on the journey down when Jane Mooney fell ill and only made it as far
as Washington Services on the A1 before having to return.
However they held their resolve to finish as 23rd team.
They were led home with an excellent run being
had by Sarah Graham who finished 68th.
Aiveen Fox struggled on the second lap and came home in 86th place.
The scoring counts were completed by Gwenda Cavill (221st)
and Michelle Muller (284th).

On a note of credibility, Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls squad
performed excellently to finish as 35th team.
Bearing in mind all of this squad are in the first year of their age group,
and will all be eligible to compete at the same level again next year,
their performance holds a great deal of promise for the future.
They were led home by the "mighty atom" tactics of tiny Sarah Wilkes,
who battled the tough natured course to finish in 229th place.
Excellent further support came from Adele Stewart (240th)
Stephanie Purvis (289th) and Eve Shashova (310th).

Back to individual performance, and Marcus Cram produced
a sound run to finish 28th in the Under 15 Boys event.
Unfortunately Morpeth could not close as a team in this event,
and other club finishers were Tom Brookes (292nd)
and an injured Philip Shuttleworth (330th).

In the Junior Womens event Morpeth's lone runner
was Laura Dixon who finished 99th.

Morpeth Harriers force at Senior Mens level appears to have
diminished somewhat at present, and this was clearly shown in the fact
that on this occasion they could only muster two finishers.
Ben Harrison finished in 254th place, and Paul Waterston,
despite his 22mile Road Race the previous week,
stuck it out during the three long lap affair to finish in 332nd place.

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Delyth Gets Bronze And Gold
Morpeths Delyth James produced her best run of the Winter
when she finished third in the Senior Womens event at the
Welsh Cross Country Championships, held in Singleton Park,
Swansea on Sunday 24th February.
That run not only brought her the Bronze medal,
it also brought her Gold as being the first of six
Under 23 athletes competing within the Senior event.
Delyth was also only three seconds adrift of second place overall.

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Good News For Nick McCormick
Good news, for Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick, who has now
been added to the Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad for the
forthcoming World Indoor Athletics Championships in Valencia, Spain.
McCormick will compete in the 3000m alongside fellow
Brit Mo Farah the current European 5000m Silver medallist.

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2007/2008 Border Winter Cross Country Series
Three young Morpeth Harriers have been achieving success in the
2007/2008 Winter Cross Country Series run in the Scottish Borders.
Over a series of six events that took place in Norham, Dunbar,
Galashiels, Peebles, Spittal and Lauder,
Sarah Wilkes, Steph Purvis and Eve Shashova overcame the challenge
of 34 other competitors in total in the Under12 Girls age group to
finish first, second and third respectively in the series.
The events took place between November 2007 and February 2008.

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2008 Vets Grand Prix
THE TOP 3 MEN FOR 2007 WERE
1. Paul Waterston
2. Richard Driscoll
3. Gordon Dixon

THE TOP 3 WOMEN FOR 2007 WERE
1. Sue Calvert
2. Michelle Woodley
3. Jane Blackett

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Flashlight Films
Morpeth Harrier Ian Brown has started up his own film company
called Flashlight Films, click on the link below.
Find out more.......

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 5 )
There were a number of confidence boosting performances generated
around the Morpeth Harriers camp in preparation for this weekends
English National Cross Country Championships, at the fifth and penultimate
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting held at Cardinal Hume School,
Wrekenton, Gateshead on Saturday 16th February.

One most noteable was that of the outstanding performance by Deborah Oakley
who won the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event from the Fast Pack
by an excellent twenty six second margin over Tynedale Harrier
Megan Lewis who had led her for a portion of the way.
She had also managed to overhaul long term leader Hannah Nagel of Chester Le Street,
who had the advantage of a 160 second start from the Slow Pack.
Once Oakley had got away from Lewis and got past Nagel on the second lap,
there was no catching heras she stole to the finish line.

This victory, added to her previous Harrier League performances
this season, puts her firmly in line for the best overall performance
of the season in the Under 17/Under 20 Womens age group,
with only Blaydon's Helen Girtig posing a major threat.

Another Morpeth Harrier firmly in line for an overall performance
of the season award in the Harrier League is Adam Harrington.
There was just no stopping the North Eastern Counties Under 13 Champion
as he fought his way through to second place from the Fast Pack, losing out
for overall victory to Luca Irvine of Sunderland Harriers by a margin of
twenty two seconds after giving away eighty seconds handicap at the start.

Harrington's clocking was fourteen seconds faster than his closest rival,
which just happened to be his Morpeth Harriers clubmate and
North Eastern Silver medallist Jonny Nisbet,
who in finishing seventh just behind another Morpeth athlete Liam Brooks,
closed a winning team score for Morpeth.
That was a superb start for Brooks, who was having his first competitive
run for the club, and that team win puts Morpeth very much in pole position
in the team competition in the Under 13 Boys, with one fixture remaining.

Two other excellent Morpeth runs, although not team counters,
were that of Jack Hepple who was third fastest on the day,
finishing seventh running from the Fast Pack, and Joe Robertshaw,
who has been extremely successfull at Indoor sprints of late,
who showed his versatility, and passion for his clubs cause
to finish eighth, running from the Slow Pack.

Karl Taylor looks to have found better form in time for the
forthcoming National and Inter Counties Championships,
judging from his run in the Under 17 Mens event.
Running from the Fast Pack, he drew on all his resources to
battle his way to finish fourth, and led Morpeth to second team place
with good supporting runs coming from Jordan Scott and
Alistair Douglass who finished eighth and fourteenth respectively from the Fast Pack.

A fairly mediocre Senior Mens turnout by Morpeth meant that they
finished fourth on the day in the Division 2 team battle.
They had to look to sixty fifth place overall to find their
first counter in Mike Winter from the Slow Pack.
Further counts came from
Robert Balmbra (69th) (Fast Pack)
Phil Walker (72nd) (Fast Pack)
Richard Driscoll (102nd) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (108th) (Slow Pack)
and Ian Corner (115th) (Slow Pack)

In the Senior Womens event Morpeth only fielded two competitors.
Claire Bruce finished twenty second from the Slow Pack
and Gwenda Cavill finished in thirty eighth spot from the Fast Pack.

Rachel Todd and Ailidh McCallister-Williams finished
thirtieth and thirty seventh respectively in the
Under 13 Girls event running from the Slow Pack.

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PB For Nick McCormick
Morpeths Nick McCormick ran a personal best of 8m26.44s,
to finish seventh in the Mens 2 Mile event won by Ethiopia's
Kenenisa Bekele in a new World Record time of 8m04.35s
at the televised Norwich Union Grand Prix Indoor meeting held at
Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on Saturday 16th February.
McCormick now awaits to see if his time at 3000m has done enough
to satisfy Great Britain selectors to include him in
the team for that distance the World Indoor Championships
to be held in Valencia, Spain over 7th, 8th and 9th March.

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Buttermere 22mile Road Race !
Morpeth Harriers Paul Waterston and Gordon Dixon
travelled to Cumbriaon Sunday 17th February to compete
in the very tough and hilly Buttermere 22mile Road Race
which encompassed the steep climb up the notorious Honister Pass.
Paul finished 3rd in 2hrs17m40s and was the first Over 40 Veteran Man.
Gordon finished 6th in 2hrs20m44s and won the Over 45 Veteran Mens section.

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Radcliffe 12mile Trail Race !
Another distance traveller from Morpeth Harriers was Ian Corner who competed
in the Radcliffe 12mile Trail Race in Manchester on Sunday 17th February.
He finished in 52nd place and was 8th Over 40 Veteran Man
in a time of 1hr26m43s on a very tough Multi Terrain course.

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Liversedge Half Marathon !
Michelle Woodley of Morpeth Harriers ran in the Liversedge Half Marathon
held in Roberttown, West Yorks on Sunday 10th February.
She placed 64th overall in 95m10s, and was 6th Female to finish,
which also placed her second in the Over 35 Veteran Ladies section.

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Craig McBurney Becomes A Captain !
Morpeths Craig McBurney has had to put his
athletics career on the back-burner in recent years.
But it has all been worthwhile, as the professional soldier
is being given a commission as a captain next month.

Twenty-three years ago McBurney, a street-wise Teessider,
walked into the Army Careers Office and said:
“I’m 16-and-a-half and I want to become an infantryman.”

Now, at the age of 39, that career is being extended as he becomes a captain,
a role which will see him add a further 15 years to his Army life.

It wasn’t until McBurney was in his early 20s that he became interested in running,
which was around the time when he was being beaten by his fellow soldiers.

“I thought to myself, these guys shouldn’t be beating me,” said McBurney,
whose love of his Army career comes over loud and clear.

“I got myself into decent shape and, being a Saltburn lad,
decided to enter the Loftus Poultry Run one Christmas.

“That was the start. I loved running and was asked
to join the Loftus club by Peter Clifford,
and things started to take off from there.

“In the end, Peter thought I would be better off if I joined Morpeth,
so he got in touch with Jim Alder to see if he would give me some guidance.

“Jim’s input was immediate. My training improved, my times improved
and it was at the time when Morpeth had a cracking group of lads.

“They still do, but at that time they were winning everything
and I was pleased to be part of the success.

“I was in the team which finished third in the National 12-stage road relay,
which was the first time Morpeth had ever appeared among the medals.

“It was exciting times for me, as far as my athletics was concerned.

“I ran my one-and-only marathon and clocked 2 hours 25 minutes
in London in 2000 – and in the same year became
Combined Services 5,000m champion,
a victory which made me extremely proud.

“Even though running has taken a back seat at the moment,
I still yearn to get back into it before I hit 40.

“Peter, and Jim especially, had a great influence on my running.
We are still great friends and it is him who I give credit
to when I represented the Army in competition.”

McBurney’s running days eased to a standstill as he worked hard at his career,
which resulted in more and more time being spent abroad.

However, he still managed to finish runner-up to Dominic Bannister
in the Morpeth to Newcastle road race in 2002 –
a result that had Alder near to hysterics –
and is happy that he had the chance to give athletics a go,
but is adamant that he wouldn’t change anything if
given the opportunity came around again.

“As I said earlier, I love running but the Army has given me
a special bond that cannot be equalled in any other profession.

“It is a surrogate family in many ways. The people who you go through
training with tend to stick together and this builds a camaraderie
that lasts through the bad times as well as the good.

“I must have, in my 23 years, been everywhere the
British Army has a posting – Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Jordan,
USA and Canada, Germany, and of course, the latest being Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The Army has been great for me and I would encourage any young man
to think about joining as I did all those years ago.
There’s a special bond, and it certainly makes a man of you !”

McBurney is one of the very few men who have come
through the ranks from private to, as of next month,
gaining a commission as captain.

“It is a great honour to be commissioned by the Army.
Over the years I have gained six promotions to my current RSM
(Regimental Sergeant Major).

“I have been told it is only around 10% of soldiers
get to the stage I am at with my career.

“What really matters to me is that, even after all this time,
I still enjoy the life of a soldier, and this commission gives me
an extended run which should take me up until I’m 55.”

Before time runs out though, perhaps the globetrotting infantryman
could just make it into Morpeth’s 12-man relay team one more time.

His last outing in a blue-and-white Morpeth vest was two years ago
when, despite being anything but fit, he rallied to a late call to make it to Manchester.

McBurney is not just a credit to the Army but also to the sport he
came to enjoy whilst learning his trade over the last 23 years !

This article courtesy of Bill McGuirk appeared
in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on 7/2/08

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Laura Weightman On Camp with Kelly !
Morpeths Laura Weightman has been chosen to join
double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes’ exclusive
monitoring initiative for young female middle distance runners.

Laura will join the Norwich Union-supported On Camp with Kelly,
after impressing Dame Kelly at a strenuous selection day
at the UK Athletics High Performance Centre in Birmingham.

She was one of 13 athletes aged between 15 and 19 who
were selected after coming through various tasks, including
determination tests, team challenges and a session on goal setting.

Laura was also assessed on her attitude, determination and
willpower by Dame Kelly with the assistance of On Camp
with Kelly staff and representatives from UK Athletics.

Though the competition for places was gruelling,
it is no surprise to see Laura make it through.

Her athletic performances over the past 12 months stand out,
with her being the current English Schools’ intermediate 1,500m champion.

Laura, coached by Morpeth Harriers Club Secretary Mike Bateman,
with a great deal of input coming also from the
Club's Head of Coaching Tony Ward,
also won the 1,500m at the UK School Games.

To show she is equally at home racing on the country,
Laura recently landed the Northumberland Schools’ title.

16-year-old, Laura will now attend a Norwich Union-funded
On Camp with Kelly Educational Camp at
Loughborough University for 10 days from April 1-10 where she
will learn all about what it takes to become a world- class athlete.

After successfully completing the camp, she will become a full member
of the OCWK and will be able to benefit from regular get-togethers,
exhibition races, financial and medical support
and mentoring from Dame Kelly herself.

The Olympic 800m and 1,500m champion,
who started the OCWK ball rolling in 2004,
said: “I was very impressed by the performances of Laura
at the Selection Day and am delighted to welcome her to On Camp with Kelly.

“There is no doubt Laura is a very talented young athlete
and I hope that being involved with OCWK will help ther to
develop her athletics career and to achieve her full potential.”

Tanya Veingard, Head of Sponsorship at Norwich Union,
added: “As the team behind UK Athletics we are proud to
be able to offer support for all levels of athletics,
from grassroots through to elite.

“Our support for On Camp with Kelly helps to nurture and develop
talented girls into world-class athletes that Britain can be proud of
and we are delighted to be making it easier for Laura to achieve her dreams.”

Morpeth Harriers sincerely wish Laura all the best on this
latest venture, for which she has worked hard and long to achieve.

Adapted from an article that appeared in the
Newcastle Evening Chronicle on 14/02/08,
and written by Bill McGuirk

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Royal Signals Road Relays !
Only eight seconds divided the top three clubs in the Senior Mens event
at the North Eastern Counties Royal Signals Road Relay Championships
held at Watergate Park, Lobley Hill, Gateshead on Saturday 9th February.

It had been a three horse race for five of the six legs with Morpeth Harriers,
Sunderland Harriers and New Marske dominating the proceedings.

After Gosforth's incomplete team had led on leg one through Matt Nicholson,
and Morpeth Harriers lay in fifth place courtesy of Ross Floyd (10m22s)
it was Morpeth who shot into an excellent lead, courtesy of a superb third fastest effort
of 9m39s, over the 3.2k multi terrain circuit within the Nature Park, by Jonny Taylor.

However Morpeth found themselves undone on third leg, despite inexperienced
Under 17 athlete Jordan Scott giving of his best with 11m17s they slipped to third,
with New Marske going into second, and Sunderland Harriers going into an excellent
lead courtesy of the Veteran talents of Brian Rushworth.

So at halfway it was Sunderland Harriers in pole position with a
twenty six second lead over New Marske and Morpeth Harriers
a further twenty four seconds adrift in third place.
These three were now well clear of any opposition, and each club had
at least another couple of aces in their pack.

Sunderland were the first to play one of those aces as Mark Hood
clocked the fifth fastest time of 9m59s to maintain their lead which had extended to 58 seconds.
Things had changed in second place however as Morpeth had now headed New Marske
to the tune of nineteen seconds courtesy of Chris Sampson's excellent seventh fastest 10m07s.

However there was a dramatic turn of events on Leg Five,
as New Marske's Ricky Stevenson tore into Sunderland's lead by
clocking what was to be the days fastest time of 9m29s to eventually
hit the changeover line at exactly the same time as the Wearsiders,
with Morpeth slipping back into third place, despite Under 20 athlete
Robert Balmbra's enthusiastic 10m44s,
which saw him finish fifty six seconds adrift of the leaders.

Morpeth Harriers final leg runner Ian Hudspith certainly put that lead under threat,
as he clocked the second fastest time of the day of 9m36s,
but had to settle for third place, and just missing out to
second place Sunderland Harriers by a mere six seconds,
with winners New Marske just two seconds further ahead.

It certainly made for the most exciting finish to the Senior event for many years,
and Morpeth Team boss David Swinburne commented,
"that the inexperienced lads had performed well, and had got some well
deserved first Senior medals, however if the club had managed to field
one more of their big guns they would have tasted victory".

An Incomplete Morpeth Harriers B team were in 22nd place
after three legs courtesy of Richard Driscoll (12m19s)
Chris Bradley (13m53s) and Paul Fairbrother (13m24s)

The Veteran Mens Relay also provided a close finish where Sunderland Harriers
just pipped Morpeth Harriers by eleven seconds with Elswick Harriers
a further eighteen seconds adrift in third place.

Morpeth Harriers got off to an excellent start with Paul Waterston
finishing in second place behind North Shields Poly and only two seconds adrift.

However they slipped back to fifth on second leg where Gordon Dixon clocked 11m57s.

Things looked better on Leg three where Les Atkinson's eighth
fastest time of 11m01s saw them rise back up to third.

So at halfway they were nine seconds adrift of second placed Sunderland Harriers,
and a further thirteen seconds adrift of then leaders Elswick.

Fourth leg saw yet another change with Elswick relinquishing the lead to
Sunderland as they slipped to third, and North Shields Poly came into the picture
as they finished second and Morpeth slipped to fourth with Ian Corner
running in his first ever Championship clocking 11m53s.

Fifth leg saw yet another dramatic twist, as Phil Walker grabbed
a superb lead of thirty eight seconds over Sunderland by clocking
the fastest Veteran Mens time of the day of 10m42s.

This left Morpeth's final leg runner Gavin Bayne with the toughest
of battles to hold off the tenacious Paul Merrison of Sunderland.
Gavin gave the occasion every effort he could muster with his clocking of 11m45s,
however just lost out in the final stages as the faster and younger Merrison stole the advantage.

It was an excellent result for Morpeth however with Walker and Corner
picking up their first Championship medals in the form of Silver,
and extra special for Walker having just become a father for the second time.

Silver medals also came the way of the Morpeth Harriers Womens team.
Chester Le Street A team set off on Leg One fully intent on retaining their title
and immediately established a fourteen second lead over their B team,
with Morpeth lying third, a further seven seconds adrift courtesy of Aiveen Fox's
sixth fastest overall clocking of 11m42s.

Unfortunately Morpeth's second leg runner Sarah Graham drifted
a little as she struggled home in a disappointing 12m24s,
which she admitted later was a result of still carrying tiredness in her legs
following the BUSA Championships in Swansea the previous week.

Third leg runner Jane Mooney still couldn't eat into second placed
Chester Le Street B's leading margin despite a solid performance of 11m45s.

With Chester Le Street A now uncatchable, it was down to the youth
of Laura Weightman on Leg Four for Morpeth, against the Veteran experience
of Heather Robinson to destroy the Cestria dominance.
Heather was fifteen seconds up on Laura as they both left the change over
area and Chester Le Street A now had an unassailable seventy second lead.
That lead increased courtesy of Maxine Czarnecka's third fastest 11m33s,
however Laura's powerful eighth equal fastest 11m45s eventually won the
Silver for Morpeth by a margin of fifty three seconds.

Morpeth Harriers Womens B team finished a creditable seventh.
as second B team. courtesy of Claire Bruce (14m43s)
Kate Chapman (12m42s), M.Muller (14m14s)
and Gwenda Cavill (13m04s)

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Norwich Union World Indoor Trials and UK Championships !
It was at last back to winning ways for Morpeth Harrier
Nick McCormick on Saturday 9th February,
at the first day of the Norwich Union World Indoor Trials
and UK Championships held in Sheffield.

Although his victory in the Mens 3000m declares him UK Champion,
his winning time of 8m16.73s was below the British Indoor Standard,
and well adrift of the World Standard of 7m54s.
He will undoubtedly need to find another and much faster qualifying race
if he is to make it to the World Championships in Valencia.
However on a positive note it was a victory for McCormick,
a victory that he hopes to quickly build on

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Llandudno Nick Beer 10k !
Running in the colours of Bangor University,
Morpeths Nick Swinburn won the Nick Beer 10k
in Llandudno on Sunday 10th Februaryin an excellent 32m01s.
He ran clear of his nearest rival to create
a winning margin of over a minute.

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Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships !
Morpeth Harrier Archie Jenkins tasted success in the
Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships in Irvine
when he placed 61st overall and was second in the Over 55 Male age group.

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Congratulations !
Congratulations to Mark Brown and Phil Walker who have both
become fathers, for first time father Mark, its a baby girl
and for Phil his second, its a baby boy.
Mothers and Babies are doing well.

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Jarrow Indoor Meeting !
At the Jarrow Indoor Meeting held on Thursday 7th February
Morpeth Harrier Joe Robertshaw won the Under 13 Boys 60m in 8.7s
after earlier winning his heat in 8.8s .

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Northern Inter Counties Schools XC Championships !
Although Northumberland could only manage one outright team victory
at the Northern Inter Counties Schools Cross Country Championships
held at Acklam Grange School in Cleveland,
on Saturday 2nd February there were a number of good individual
performances from athletes connected with Morpeth Harriers.

This was the last stage of competition that would give selectors
their chance to view who were going to make it on the team bus
for the English Schools Championships,
due to be held at Sefton Park in Liverpool in March.

Pride of place in those performances must go to Dame Allan's pupil
Rachel Denton who claimed an outstanding victory in the Junior Girls
event by showing a clean pair of heels to her nearest rival
by a margin of nineteen seconds.
The result in this event, where Northumberland finished as third team,
reflected well on Morpeth Harriers, as Denton was obviously leading counter,
her clubmates Hannah Rank (7th) and Rachael Steel (17th)
finished as second and third counters.
Other Morpeth Harriers competing in this event were
Ailsa McGregor (31st) (8th counter)
and Steph Courty (39th) (11th counter) Denton, Rank and Steel, should all be on the
Northumberland team bus for Liverpool.

Another Morpeth Harrier who secured his spot for Liverpool was Jordan Scott,
who can feel well pleased with his effort to finish fourth in the Senior Boys event,
and led Northumberland home to third team place.
His club colleague Martyn Cairns came home in 23rd place as sixth counter.

Running against older boys in the Junior event, did not prevent
North Eastern Counties Under 13 Boys Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington turning on the finest of performances
to finish in twelfth place as second counter for a
Northumberland squad that narrowly missed out on victory
to North Yorkshire by the margin of two points.
Sixth counter for the county was Harrington's club colleague
Jonny Nisbet who competed well to finish in 18th place.
Eighth counter was Jack Hepple of Morpeth who was 26th overall.

Another excellent Morpeth performer was Alistair Douglass
who came home as third counter in seventh place for a
Northumberland squad that finished second to Durham.

The Preliminary Boys event saw Morpeth Harriers Reece Ramsay
and Ryan Dodds finish ninth and thirty sixth respectively.

Northumberland's only team victory came in the Senior Girls
where Morpeth's Natalie Young finished as fourth counter in ninth place.
Eighth counter and a non scorer was her club colleague
Laura Dixon who finished 18th overall.

The Intermediate Girls event saw Morpeth's Zoe Armstrong finish as
fourth counter for Northumberland in twelfth place overall.
There was a strong presense of Morpeth athletes in this event
with Armstrong being accompanied by Claire Pitt (18th) (7th counter)
Deborah Oakley (20th) (9th counter), Stevie Goodfellow (39th) (11th counter)
and Louise Cairns (40th) (12th counter)
Northumberland finished as second team to Durham in this event.

Adele Stewart and Eve Shashoua of Morpeth Harriers were
fourth and fifth home respectively for a third placed
Northumberland Preliminary Girls squad when finishing in
seventeenth and nineteenth place overall.

Final team selections for the English Schools Championships
will be made known on the 17th February.

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BUSA Cross Country Championships !
Delyth James of Morpeth Harriers was best Morpeth Harriers finisher at the
BUSA Cross Country Championships held in Swansea on Saturday 2nd February.
Representing Birmingham University she finished 21st.
A little way behind her was her club colleague Sarah Graham,
who was third counter in a sixth placed Leeds University squad,
by virtue of her placing of 52nd.

In the Mens A Race Morpeth's Nathan Shrubb, running for Durham University,
finished 64th and was second counter for his squad which finished 13th.
Ross Floyd of Morpeth and Newcastle University finished 126th
and was first home for his 31st placed squad.
In the Mens B Race, Morpeth's John Woods finished 124th
running in the colours of Durham University, for whom he was second counter.

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Alsager 5 Road Race !
Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison finished 73rd in the prestigious
Alsager 5 Road Race on Sunday 3rd February in a time of 28m06s.

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January

News From January 2008

North of England Cross Country Championships !
Despite the heavy overnight winds, conditions were near perfect
for the athletes who took part in the North of England Cross Country
Championships, held at Roundhay Park, Leeds on Saturday 26th January.

Two of our athletes managed to claim themselves individual medals,
and Morpeth managed to claim one set of team medals
and came very close to a second set.
After Ricky Stevenson of New Marske dropped out
during the Junior Mens 8k event,
Morpeth's Jonny Taylor battled his way through to claim a Silver medal
and subsequently led his ambitious clubmates to team Silver.
Further support came from Nick Swinburn, who is admittedly not quite
in the form that he was at this stage of the season last year,
however he stuck to the task in hand to finish ninth,
and the third and fourth counts came from excellent runs by
Ross Floyd (18th) and Robert Balmbra (38th)
Other Morpeth athletes competing in this event were
John Woods (75th), Martyn Cairns (80th) and Gary Clark (94th)

Morpeth's North East Under 13 Boys Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington certainly showed his full potential
when he finished third to take a Bronze medal in his 3k event.
With around 800m remaining Harrington had slipped back to fifth,
however he summoned all of his reserve on the final
steep uphill to regain a medal placing,
and only just ran out of ground to take Silver.
Harrington's individual effort very nearly spurred team Bronze for Morpeth,
as they were just sixteen points adrift of third placed Warrington.
Excellent efforts by Jack Hepple (30th), Lewis Coyle (44th)
and Reece Ramsay (62nd) were the supporting counts.
Other Morpeth efforts worthy of praise in this event were
from Jonny Anderson (79th), Ben Steel (149th) and Joe Elder (159th)

Unfortunately Morpeth's Laura Weightman experienced breathing
problems in the Under 17 Womens 4.5k event, and
was disappointed to come home in seventh place.
Morpeth finished as sixth team here with good supporting runs
coming from Zoe Armstrong (39th), Deborah Oakley (60th)
and Stevie Goodfellow (82nd)

Another Morpeth athlete to suffer breathing problems was
Marcus Cram, who was forced to slow down after being in
the top ten in the early stages of the Under 15 Boys 4k event.
He eventually slipped back to 52nd place.
Morpeth's only other runner in this event was
Philip Shuttleworth who finished 95th.

Despite having been ill in the few days leading up to the event,
Morpeth's Rachel Denton still managed to work her way
through to finish 13th in the Under 15 Girls 4k event.
Morpeth finished as eighth team with further excellent team support
coming from Hannah Rank (22nd), Rachel Steel (63rd)
and Catriona MacDonald (128th)
Louise Cairns finished two places behind Catriona.

Morpeth's Chris Sampson was first from the region in the
Senior Mens 12k where he finished an excellent 29th.
However Morpeth, with most of their big guns missing,
could only finish as fifteenth team and second from the region,
with Elswick finishing in 11th place.
Further support came from Ben Harrison (80th)
Paul Waterston (115th)
Gordon Dixon (194th)
David Steel (254th)
and Richard Driscoll (403rd)

A freak head injury sustained in an accident just prior to the event,
forced Morpeth's Karl Taylor to withdraw during the Under 17 Mens 6k.
This left the club without the scoring four which was unfortunate
because Jordan Scott and Alistair Douglass finished in
42nd and 61st places respectively,
and Daniel Hedley came home in 161st place.

Surprisingly Morpeth did not manage to field a
full scoring four in the Senior Womens 8k event.
Jane Mooney was the clubs first finisher in 33rd place,
closely followed by Aiveen Fox in 36th place.
Morpeth's other finisher was Gwenda Cavill in 114th place.

Delyth James finished ninth in the Under 20 Womens 6k event,
and her Morpeth clubmate Laura Dixon finished in 48th place.

Morpeth could not turn out a full team in the Under 13 Girls 3k event.
Steph Courty was first home for the club in 95th place,
and Carley May Webster and Sarah Wilkes
finished in 133rd and 137th places respectively.

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Castle Morpeth Sports Council Awards !
At what could be the very last ever Castle Morpeth Sports Council Awards
ceremony. held at the Riverside Leisure Centre, on Friday 25th January.
Morpeth Harriers were honoured in two categories.

Laura Weightman was presented with the Hilder Rose Bowl
for Junior Female for both her tremendous achievements in 2007
on the Track and on the Cross Country circuit.
She had comfortably won the Northumberland Schools
Senior Girls Cross Country title, and then had recovered from
a nasty spike injury sustained in the North of England Cross
Country Championships to finish fifth in both the English Schools
and Home Countries Championships, added to that she had a superb
Track season at her favourite distance 1500m, by winning the North Eastern,
North of England, Northumberland Schools, English Schools
and International Schools titles before capping her season in great style
by retaining the UK Schools games title, the only female athlete to achieve such a feat.

The clubs Under 13 Boys Cross Country squad received certificates
of achievement for their overwhelming victory in the North Eastern Championships,
where they also had the Gold and Silver Medallists in Adam Harrington and Jonny Nisbet,
they came sixth and only fifteen seconds adrift of medals at the English Cross Country Relay Championships,
and are currently four points clear in the title race at the North Eastern Harrier League,
added to which, the aforementioned Adam Harrington
is the leading individual performer with two meetings remaining.

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Durham Cathedral Relays !
Morpeth Harriers Senior and Veteran Mens Teams found themselves
just outside of the medals at the annual Durham Cathedral Relays
held at the Racecourse in Durham City on Sunday 20th January.

However it was a medal winning day for their Womens squad
who finished four seconds ahead of an excellent Chester Le Street squad,
with North Shields Poly a lot further behind in third spot.
It had been Chester Le Street in front during the first two legs
by Aiveen Fox (10m19s) and Jane Mooney (10m14s)
and when Under 17 star Laura Weightman took over on the final leg
she was chasing down a five second lead held by the County Durham squad.

Laura was having only her second competitive run since November,
having being out with a virus, that also rendered unable to defend her title
at the North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships at Hartlepool.
However she clocked the fastest time of the day of 9m56s to ensure a superb victory.

Morpeth also had B and C teams competing in the Womens event.
Their C team finished seventh through Zoe Armstrong (10m47s)
Deborah Oakley (11m45s) and Margaret MacDonald (13m13s)

The Morpeth B Team finished thirteenth courtesy of Claire Bruce (12m31s)
Sally Welsh (12m32s) and Gwenda Cavill (11m49s)

After opening legs by Mark Brown (8m33s) and Ross Floyd (8m59s)
had seen them progress from firstly sixth to second,
Morpeth's Senior Mens A team slipped to fourth despite some tenacious
battling by final leg runner David Swinburne (9m19s)

Morpeth Senior Mens B team progressed to tenth courtesy of Jordan Scott (9m27s)
Marc Cochrane (9m37s) and Robert Balmbra (9m29s)

In the Veteran Mens event, Morpeth's A team found themselves
just run out of the medals when they finished fourth.
First leg runner Paul Waterston had them in third place with his clocking of 9m41s.
Phil Walker got them up to second when he got round the two lap circuit in 9m20s.
Third leg runner Ian Handyside found the going tough
as he slipped to fourth with his clocking of 10m01s.

Morpeth Harriers B team were the first complete squad of Over 50 athletes,
and they finished twelfth overall courtesy of Archie Jenkins (10m15s)
Bob Sewell (11m08s) and Gavin Bayne (10m56s)

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Veterans AA North East XC Championships!
Morpeth Harriers Archie Jenkins and Walter Ryder successfully
defended their category titles at the Veterans Athletic Association
North East Cross Country Championships held at Acklam School,
Middlesbrough on Saturday 19th January.
Archie took the Over 55 title and Walter took the Over 70 title.
In Walter's case it was most fruitful, having travelled all the way
down from WesterRoss in Scotland to compete.

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Northumberland County Schools XC Championships !
Having being out of action since November, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman
bounced back into winning form at the Northumberland Schools Cross
Country Championships held at Kirkley Hall on Wednesday 16th January.

She won the Senior Girls event with thirty eight seconds
to spare over her nearest rival.
Fellow Harriers Natalie Young and Laura Dixon also ran well
to finish in third and seventh places respectively.

Another Morpeth Harrier winner was Adam Harrington.
The North Eastern Under 13 Boys Champion won the
Junior Boys event by a margin of six seconds.
Fellow Harriers Jack Hepple, Jonny Nisbet and Lewis Coyle
finished in seventh, eleventh and fourteenth places respectively.

Rachel Denton made it a hat-trick of Morpeth winners when she
won the Junior Girls event, with her clubmate Hannah Rank
coming home in second place.
Other Morpeth Harriers in this event were Ailsa McGregor (9th)
Steph Courty (13th) and Rachael Steel (14th)

Stephanie Purvis finished second in the Minor Girls event,
and fellow Morpeth Harrier Eve Shashoua finished seventh.

In the Intermediate Girls event Deborah Oakley, Claire Pitt
and Zoe Armstrong finished fourth fifth and sixth,
and Jessica Caldwell came home in fifteenth place.

Robert Balmbra finished fifth in the Senior Boys event,
and fellow Morpeth Harrier Martyn Cairns came home in eleventh spot.

Reece Ramsay and Joe Elder finished
second and twelfth in the Minor Boys event.

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Northern Indoors Senior & Under 20 Championships !
Morpeths Jonathan Taylor finished second in the
Senior Mens 3000m at the Northern Indoors Senior
and Under 20 Championships held at Sheffield.
He clocked 8m33.07s.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 4 )
Three team victories, and some of the fastest times recorded on the day,
portrayed Morpeth Harriers dominance at the
fourth Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at Farringdon School, Sunderland on Saturday 12th January.

Top of the pile were most definitely the clubs Under 13 Boys who
in achieving their third team victory in a row are quite clearly on their
way to winning the competitions Team Trophy with two meetings still remaining.

On the individual front Adam Harrington also looks
well on his way to winning the Under 13 Boys Best Performer title
after also achieving the best time for the third meeting in a row.
His run got him through to third place finisher, after giving away
80 seconds to slightly more than half of the 46 strong field,
and he led Morpeth to team victory with excellent supporting runs
once again being supplied by clubmates Jack Hepple and Jonny Nisbet.
It was a case of a repeat performance of South Shields the previous week
as Hepple and Nisbet clocked identical times as they finished fifth
and sixth respectively from the Fast Pack.
Again it was down to the judges to split them with
Hepple once again getting the approving nod.
Their times were also the second equal fastest on the day.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men claimed an excellent Division 2 team victory
being led home by Medium packer Paul Waterston, who was 16th fastest
overall and finished in 14th place which means he moves into the Fast Pack
for the two remaining fixtures and for next season.
He was also third finisher from the Medium Pack on the day.
Morpeth team support came courtesy of excellent runs from
David Steel (24th) (Medium Pack)
John Woods (36th) (Medium Pack)
Mike Winter (47th) (Slow Pack)
Archie Jenkins (48th) (Slow Pack)
and Richard Driscoll (56th) (Slow Pack)

An absolutely superb run by Jane Mooney saw her finish as
second fastest in the Senior Womens event,
and as second overall running from the Fast Pack.
That run inspired Morpeth Harriers to team success with further
excellent support coming from runs by Aiveen Fox (5th) (Fast Pack)
and Sue Calvert (21st) (Slow Pack)
Sue had battled through the second lap of the two lap
event having sustained a leg muscle injury.

Morpeth's Hannah Rank finished well clear of her rivals
in the Under 15 Girls event running from the Slow Pack.
Having the advantage of a 80 seconds start over most of the 27 strong field,
she was never in danger of being caught as she clocked the fastest
time of the day by a margin of 28 seconds.
Morpeth finished as second team here with good supporting runs
coming from Rachel Steel (8th) (Fast Pack)
and Louise Cairns (13th) (Fast Pack)

Jordan Scott of Morpeth clocked the second fastest time of the day
when he finished fourth from the Fast Pack in the Under 17 Mens event.

Stevie Goodfellow battled strongly to finish third in the
Under 17/Under 20 Womens event from the Slow Pack.
Morpeth clubmate Deborah Oakley, running from the Fast Pack,
once again produced an excellent performance to finish
one place behind her as third fastest on the day.

Carly-May Webster finished third running from the Slow Pack
in the Under 13 Girls event and her Morpeth clubmate
Ailidh McCallister-Williams finished 27th, also from the Slow Pack.

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Great Edinburgh XC Meeting !
Marcus Cram of Morpeth Harriers produced an excellent run to finish
second in the Under 15 Boys event at the
Great Edinburgh Cross Country meeting on Saturday 12th January.
Cram only missed out for victory by two seconds at the finish line.

The televised Senior Mens 4k event which was won by
Harrow International Andy Baddeley saw
Morpeth's Chris Sampson finish 25th amongst top class opposition.

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NECAA Indoor Track & Field Champs !
Morpeth Harrier Joe Robertshaw showed the opposition a clean pair of heels
when he retained his Under 13 Boys North Eastern Indoor 60m title
at the Championships held at Gateshead International Stadium
on Saturday and Sunday 12th and 13th January.
He clocked an excellent 8.70s which bettered his 2007 figure of 8.97s.

His Morpeth clubmate Claire Reid took a Bronze
in the Senior Womens Shot with 10.77m.

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East Northumberland Schools XC Champs !
Several Morpeth Harriers were prominent amongst the leading finishers
at the East Northumberland Schools Cross Country Championships
held at Queen Elizabeth Park, Ashington on Wednesday 9th January.

Zoe Armstrong won the Intermediate Girls event with Deborah Oakley
finishing second, Claire Pitt third and Louise Cairns fourth.

Hannah Rank won the Junior Girls event and Rachel Steel finished third.

Adam Harrington won the Junior Boys event with Jack Hepple
and Jonny Nisbet claiming the minor placings.

Philip Shuttleworth, coming back from illness and a leg injury,
finished sixth in the Intermediate Boys event.

The conditions were extremely difficult
with strong winds prevailing throughout.

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Nine Standards Fell Race !
Morpeths Neil Wilkinson began 2008 in excellent fashion by
claiming victory in the Nine Standards Fell Race at Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria.
He won by a clear margin of two minutes over his nearest rival
Adam Breaks of Calder Valley Fell Runners.

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Tesco Junior Great Winter Run !
Morpeth Young Athletes Sarah Wilkes and Stephanie Purvis
made very fruitfull journeys to Holyrood Park in Edinburgh
on Saturday 12th January when they finished first and third
respectively in the Under 14 Girls Tesco Junior Great Winter Run.

It was particularly successful for Sarah as she was defending the title
that she had won 12 months previous at the same venue,
and she now holds five Junior Great Run titles.

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Mid Lancashire XC League !
Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison finished eleventh in the Senior Mens
event at the Mid Lancashire Cross Country League held
at Lancaster University on Saturday 12th January.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )
There were good performances all round from Morpeth Harriers
athletes at the third fixture of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
held at Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields on Saturday 5th January.

Marcus Cram began 2008 on a high when he came through in the Fast Pack,
and giving 80 seconds away to nine Slow Pack athletes,
to win the Under 15 Boys event by a margin of seven seconds over his closest rival.
He also clocked the fastest time by a margin of eleven seconds.

Morpeth Harriers dominated the Senior Mens three lap event,
and were led home by Mark Brown who produced a superb
fastest time to finish in sixth place having given five
minutes to the slower runners in the event.
Closest to him was Claremont's Peter Newton who was
thirty nine seconds adrift back in ninth place.

Morpeth's team success which made them well ahead in
their Division 2 fight on the day, was achieved with excellent
supporting runs by John Woods (8th) (Slow Pack),
Gordon Dixon (10th) (Slow Pack), Paul Waterston (21st) (Medium Pack)
Ross Floyd (29th) (Fast Pack) and Richard Driscoll (47th) (Slow Pack)

North Eastern Counties Under 13 Boys Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington produced another superb run to lead his
Morpeth Harriers clubmates home to team victory.
Giving 80 seconds to nearly half of the 42 strong field he came
through in the Fast Pack to finish second, and recorded the fastest time
of the day by a margin of fourteen seconds.
Excellent team support came from Jack Hepple and Jonny Nisbet,
who finished seventh and eighth with respective equal times,
and gave the judges a bit of a headache
in deciding who had nosed the line first.

Rachel Denton of Morpeth was a very easy winner of the Under 15 Girls event.
Running from the Slow Pack she literally blew her rivals away,
and crossed the finish line with 131 seconds to spare over her nearest rival,
and with very easily the fastest time of the day.
Morpeth however could only finish one other athlete in the event
so could not count in the team stakes.
Running from the Fast Pack Louise Cairns finished in 21st place.

Delyth James produced an excellent individual performance
to finish second from the Fast Pack in the combined
Under 17 and Under 20 Womens event.
Giving 140 seconds away to over half of the field,
she posted the fastest time of the day by nearly a minute,
and led Morpeth Harriers home to second team place on countback.
The Morpeth squad had scored the same points as Gateshead,
and it was the actual finishing positions that settled the issue.
Morpeth's supporting counts came from Zoe Armstrong (3rd) (Slow Pack)
and Stevie Goodfellow (8th) (Slow Pack)
Stevie just held off the close attentions of clubmate Deborah Oakley,
who again produced an excellent run to finish ninth from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth's Senior Women finished as third team in their two lap event.
They were led home with an excellent performance from Aiveen Fox,
who came through in the Fast Pack to finish fourth.
Good team support came from Sue Calvert (12th) (Slow Pack)
and Sally Welsh (24th) (Slow Pack)
In fact all of the Morpeth squad who took part in this event did well.
Newcomer Claire Bruce finished 27th from the Slow Pack,
Michelle Muller finished 31st from the Slow Pack
and Gwenda Cavill got up to 43rd from the Fast Pack having given
160 seconds advantage to 56 runners in the 74 strong field.

Morpeth's sole Under 17 Mens competitor Jordan Scott
finished in seventh place from the Fast Pack.

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Indoor Athletics !
Under 13 Morpeth Harrier Joe Robertshaw has been in
fine form on the Indoor Circuits in recent weeks.
On Thursday December 13th he created a new personal best
of 8.7s when he won Gold in the 60m at the Gateshead Indoor Grand Prix.

On Thursday 3rd January he began the New Year well by
taking Gold again at the Jarrow Young Athletes
Indoor Meeting where he clocked 8.8s.
Joe also showed his versatility as a young athlete by turning out
for his club at the North Eastern Cross Country Championships last month.

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Club Funds Are In The Bag !
The fund raising bag packing session that took place
at Morrison's in Morpeth just prior to Christmas raised
£179.00 for Morpeth Harriers Club Funds.
Special thanks must go to young members Francesca Price
and Rachel Todd (and Parents) for their efforts.

Next time the opportunity arises,
More Club Members packing,
means more money raised.
Once again many thanks to those involved, as every little helps.

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Athletics Data Ranking Lists !
Athletics Data have now released the ranking lists for 2007
and several Senior Athletes from Morpeth Harriers
are amongst the Top 50 in the country.

Nick McCormick ranks 3rd at 1500m with 3m38.46s,
11th at 3000m with 8m01.35s
and 27th at 800m with 1m49.48s.

Jonathan Taylor is 32nd at 1500m with 3m46.33s.

Ian Hudspith is the most listed,
featuring as 3rd in 10k Road and Half Marathon
with respective times of 29m08s and 63m59s.
He is 4th in the track 10,000metres with 29m17.64s,
20th in the 3000m with 8m04.89s
and 33rd in the 5000m with 14m19.99s.

Dan Samuels is ranked 26th in the 3000m with 8m10.06s,
and Lewis Timmins is 40th at this distance with a best of 8m16.49s.

At Half Marathon Chris Sampson is 34th with 67m09s,
and Ivan Hollingsworth is equal 50th with 68m11s.

Finally Claire Reid is ranked 25th in the Womens Discus with 42.07m.

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Morpeth Track Project !

Click Here To Read About Morpeth Track Project.......

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Morpeth Harriers 2008 11k Road Race !
Heavy persistent rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of
119 finishers who turned out and took part in the annual
Morpeth 11k Road Race on New Year's Day.
At exactly 1pm The Mayor of Castle Morpeth Coun Milburn Douglas
fired the gun on Mitford Road that set the runners on their way,
and 35m46s later Chris Lamb of Chester Le Street crossed the finish line
on the Stanners to become the 2008 race winner.

Lamb had carved an early lead out for himself which was never headed
and he won with eighteen seconds to spare over his nearest rival.
His nearest rival was Morpeth Harrier Nathan Shrubb
who is a former two time winner of the event.
Shrubb welcomed his second place finishing, as his running career has been
in the doldrums having been out with injury for nearly ten months of 2007.
So 2008 was very welcome for Shrubb, however he was made to fight
all the way for his second place by North Shields Poly athlete Mark Dawson.
Shrubb only caught his man on the run in on the Stanners
and only two seconds split them at the finish line.
Fourth place went to South Shields athlete C. Muir who clocked 37m18s.
Visiting athlete J.Prest of Trafford took fifth place in 37m22s.
John Moore of Heaton came home in sixth place in 37m29s.

Morpeth Harrier Paul Waterston finished seventh in 37m33s
and was also first Veteran Man home.
One place behind Paul came his clubmate Andrew Lawrence in 39m07s,
which confirmed the host clubs dominance in the Mens Team competition.
Ninth place went to A Sampson of Team Bath in 39m09s,
and former Gateshead Harrier John Larkin, now running as unattached,
secured tenth place in 39m12s.

Morpeth Harriers also claimed team honours in the Womens event,
being led home by Delyth James who finished
as second Lady to Gateshead's Mary Ferrier.
James finished 20th overall in 41m43s with Ferrier
finishing two places ahead in 41m05s.
Excellent Morpeth team support came in the form of
Angharad Porteous (37th) (4th Lady) 44m24s
and Sue Calvert (50th) (6th Lady) 46m50s.
Sue was also the first Over 40 Lady to finish.

Morpeth Harriers would wish to thank Alderbuild for sponsoring the event,
Morpeth Rugby Club for the use of their premises as Race Headquarters,
Ted Phizacklea and his team from the Red Cross for their medical assistance,
Northumbria Police for their co-operation,
and all members and friends for their help on the day.

Click Here to download Results.......

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December

News From December 2007

Woodlawn Xmas Pudding Run !
Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick had his first run on local soil
for some time when he finished second to Elswick's Ryan McLeod
in the Woodlawn Christmas Pudding Run on Boxing Day.
The annual event at Whitley Bay saw a strong field assembled,
and McLeod was first to the finish line posting a time of 16m03s for the 5.5k course.
That put him eleven seconds clear of McCormick, and reversed the 2006 placings.
Another Morpeth man back in form is Neil Wilkinson,
and he will be pleased to clock 17m16s for fourth place.
Other leading Morpeth finishers were Ross Floyd (8th) 17m51s,
Phil Walker (9th) 17m54s and Paul Waterston (11th) 18m29s.

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Saltwell 10k Road Race !
Jonathan Taylor of Morpeth Harriers ran an excellent 32m10s
to finish second at the Saltwell 10k Road Race on Sunday 23rd December
behind Elswick's Under 23 International Ryan McLeod.
Taylor also led his club to the Senior Mens team title with further support
coming from Alan Shepherd (13th) 35m00s and Ben Harrison (15th) 35m32s.
One place in front of Ben was his fellow clubmate Phil Walker
who clocked 35m09s, but because Phil is a Veteran he was not
classed as a Senior for team score.
Another Morpeth finisher in the Senior event was
Stuart Herbert (72nd) (11th O/45) 40m53s.

Morpeth's Marcus Cram was an emphatic winner
of the Under 15 Boys 3k event in 9m35s.

Zoe Armstrong of Morpeth ran well and placed second in the
Under 17 Womens 5k in 19m29s to Blaydon's Helen Gertig.
Morpeth's Sarah Bewick finished fourth in 27m50s.

Her brother Stephen finished third in the Under 17 Mens 5k in 24m40s.

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Morpeth Harriers Xmas Handicap Race !
Morpeth Harrier Phil Walker blew his disappointments of the
North Eastern Cross Country Championships, where he had suffered
with a severe headcold as he slogged his way round the rainswept
and muddy Hartlepool course, well and truly out of the window,
when he posted the fastest time at his new club's annual Christmas Handicap
event on Lancaster Park last Wednesday night.( 19th December )
The former Blaydon Harrier, giving a ten minute start to the events slowest competitors,
got round the two lap 2.7mile circuit in an excellent 15m02s to eventually
pass six other competitors to finish 21st for his efforts.
Walker certainly relished the opportunity of testing himself before the Festive period begins,
and hopes to play a big part in his new club's successes during 2008.
Second fastest on the night was Paul Waterston, who had a handicap of 9m30s,
and just managed to hold off the close attentions of the aforementioned Walker
as he finished one place ahead in a time of 15m14s.

One place ahead of Waterston was the events third fastest competitor
Andrew Lawrence who clocked 15m22s after having a ten second advantage
with a handicap of 9m20s reduced to a mere two seconds at the finish line.

Winner overall of the event was Les Cavill, who working off a 3m00s handicap
managed to take victory by five seconds with a clocking of 18m41s.
Second place went to Sally Welsh, who with a handicap
of 2m10s clocked a net time of 19m36s.

One of Morpeth Harriers fast improving runners Ian Corner used his 5m50s handicap
to good effect to come home in third place with a net time of 16m29s.

Other performances were as follows
Figures in brackets denote time handicap,
4th Margaret MacDonald 20m29s (2m10s)
5th Gwenda Cavill 18m30s (4m20s)
6th Pam Woodcock 19m57s (3m00s)
7th Alistair MacDonald 16m04s (7m20s)
8th Bob Sewell 17m00s (6m30s)
9th Richard Driscoll 16m56s (6m40s)
10th Tony Ward 22m37s (1m00s)
11th Alan Hyde 16m49s (6m50s)
12th Doug Cockburn 21m32s (2m10s)
13th Gavin Bayne 16m14s (7m40s)
14th Neil McAnany 17m34s (6m30s)
15th Sue Calvert 18m46s (5m30s)
16th Zoe Armstrong 17m35s (6m50s)
17th Andrea Mitchell 23m40s (0m50s)
18th Gordon Dixon 16m31s (8m00s)
22nd Michelle Woodley 18m07s (7m00s)
23rd Mike Winter 17m45s (7m30s)
24th Nick Armstrong 19m50s (5m50s)
25th Paul Tomlinson 19m50s (5m50s)
26th Debbie Reay 26m16s (0m00s)
27th Sue Brabbins 27m33s (0m00s)

Many thanks must go once again to Tony Ward for organising the event
and spending time to set the handicaps to make it enjoyable for all who took part.

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Indoor Athletics !
Under 13 Morpeth Harrier Joe Robertshaw has been in
fine form on the Indoor Circuits in recent weeks.
On Thursday December 13th he created a new personal best
of 8.7s when he won Gold in the 60m at the Gateshead Indoor Grand Prix.

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Loftus Poultry 7.5mile Race !
Morpeth Harrier Jonathan Taylor made up for missing last weeks
North Eastern Cross Country Championships by finishing third to
Newham & Essex Beagle Stephen Hepples
in the Loftus Poultry 7.5mile Race on Sunday 16th December.
Jonathan clocked 42m53s.
Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the event were
Andrew Lawrence (10th) 45m16s and David Steel (51st) 51m20s.

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Mizuno 10k Road Race !
Morpeth Harriers Michelle Woodley and Paul Tomlinson made
the long trip to Bolsover in Derbyshire on Sunday 16th December
to take part in the Mizuno 10k Road race.
Michelle finished 115th in 41m28s and was fourth Lady Over 35.
Paul crossed the finish line in 47m11s in 272nd place,
and was twelfth Over 50 Male finisher.

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Great Langdale 10k !
Ben Harrison of Morpeth Harriers competed in the first leg of the
two leg running of the Great Langdale 10k event on Saturday 15th December.
The event had to be run as two separate races
because of the amount who subscribed to run.
With Christmas Puddings on offer as prizes it proved very popular,
and Ben earned his by finishing seventh in 32m23s
on a tough hilly out and back course.

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Thirsk 10 Mile Road Race !
Five Morpeth Harriers braved attrocious conditions when they competed
in the Thirsk 10 Mile Road Race on Sunday 2nd December.
Heavy rain had brought swamp like conditions to parts of the course,
however this did not deter the clubs leading finisher Paul Waterston
when he finished seventh in 56m03s, thus keeping up his current run of excellent form.
Second home for Morpeth was Alistair MacDonald in 40th place in 62m11s,
who by comparison thought he would have fared better in drier conditions.
Ian Corner can feel well pleased with his 65m48s which saw him finish 93rd,
and continues his much improved level of form.
Pam Woodcock (304th) 77m09s and
Margaret MacDonald (430th) 84m41s
completed the Morpeth set of results.

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Blyth Sands Race !
Running with a five minute handicap against a good proportion of the field,
Morpeth Harrier Archie Jenkins stormed to victory in the annual
Blyth Sands Race on Sunday 2nd December.
Having last won in 2003, the Alnwick based schoolteacher was this time
in the Over 55 Veteran Mens category which gave him an extra minute
advantage to that of his previous victory, he caught long term leader
Cath Young of Blyth with 50metres remaining to win by a four second margin.

Morpeth Harriers finished as fourth team with other club performances
being recorded by Paul Bentley (16th), Dave Gray (34th)
Robert Balmbra (35th), Michael McKean (55th) and Paul Fairbrother (60th)

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November 2007

Leeds Abbey Dash 10k Road Race !
Excellent runs by Chris Sampson and Sarah Graham of Morpeth Harriers
saw them each achieve new personal bests at the prestigious
Leeds Abbey Dash 10k Road Race on Sunday 25th November.

Chris clocked 30m55s to finish 14th, which not only beat his
previous best by sixteen seconds, but also bettered his 2006 time in the
same event by 24 seconds, where he had finished 25th.

In Sarah Graham's case she finished as 19th Lady in 37m36s which took 21 seconds
of her previous best and a whole 47 seconds off her 2006 figures in the same event.
With runs like that, both can look forward to an excellent Winter barring injury.

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UK Challenge XC Series !
Jonathan Taylor and Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers competed
at the second UK Cross Challenge meeting held at
Liverpool's Sefton Park on Saturday 24th November.

Jonathan showed good form to finish 54th and was 21st Under 23
competitor in the Senior Mens 9.8k event, his second run at the longer distance.
Meanwhile Nick finished 28th in a very competitive Under 20 Mens 6.7k event.

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Norman Woodcock Road Race !
Morpeth Harrier Dan Samuels bounced back to winning form
in his former clubs Norman Woodcock Memorial Road Race held
within the racecourse at High Gosforth Park on Saturday 24th November.

Elswick Harriers had devised a two lap 5mile course using the tarmac
road that travels round the inside of the horse race track,
and Samuels was first home in an excellent 25m36s that saw him
finish forty nine seconds ahead of Gosforth's Matt Nicholson,
with Heaton's James Buis a further fifty five seconds adrift in third place.

Heaton Harriers won the Mens Team race ahead of Morpeth with Samuels
run being supported by Gordon Dixon (20th) (1st O/45) 29m38s
and Archie Jenkins (22nd) (1st O/50) 29m49s.
Archie finished one place and only one second ahead of his Morpeth
clubmateAlistair MacDonald, who also produced an excellent run in what became a lively contest between the two Scotsmen.
Alistair was fifth in the Over 40 Veteran Mens contest.
Richard Driscoll and Neil McAnany also produced excellent performances
in the Morpeth vests, finishing 41st and 51st in respective times of 31m51s and 32m20s.
Driscoll was sixth Over 50 Veteran Man and McAnany was fifth in the Over 45 section.

In the Womens team race Morpeth finished second to Chester Le Street.
They were led home by Michelle Woodley who was sixth lady in
64th place overall in 34m05s, with further good team support coming from
Sue Calvert (12th) (86th) (2nd O/35 Lady) 35m15s
and Sally Welsh (21st) (112th) (8th O/35 Lady) 37m19s.

Other Morpeth Harriers Results
Steve McDonald (108th) (13th O/45) 37m03s
Margaret MacDonald (124th) (12th O/35 Lady) 38m32s
Bernie Cordes (130th) (2nd O/60) 38m57s
Jane Blackett (154th) (9th O/45 Lady) 43m19s.

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Nick McCormick Makes It In Japan ! After a desperate time dealing with a lack of form and confidence,
a note of positivity was shown in the performance of Morpeths Nick McCormick
at the highly rated Chiba Ekiden Relay event held in Japan on Sunday 18th November.

McCormick ran the first 5k leg that saw him finish
eighth of fifteen teams in a good 14m04s,
and he paved the way for a sterling Great Britain performance
that saw them eventually finish sixth in a high class competition.
That performance has come in time to give Nick a boost to revive
his fortunes in what has been a year of disillusionment and disappointment,
and to get back to the drawing board in a bid to resurrect his
mantle on the International and Club front.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 1 )
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men got their Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
campaign off to a superb start in the first fixture at Blaydon on Sunday 18th November.
Competing in Division 2 they finished well clear of their closest rivals Heaton.

They were led home by Marc Cochrane who benefited
from a run from the Slow pack to finish seventh.
Cochrane had missed the entire Track season
due to a stress fracture of a leg, and this performance will have
given him great encouragement to say the least.
Second counter home for Morpeth was David Steel who also
ran well from the Slow Pack to finish twelfth.
Next home was Ross Floyd in 15th place from the Medium Pack.
Martyn Cairns also missed all of the Track season,
and he will be very much buoyed by his finishing as
fourth counter in 17th place from the Slow Pack.
Mark Brown had an excellent run from the Fast Pack
to be Morpeth's fifth counter in 26th place,
and was second fastest overall on the day.
The excellent Morpeth team score was completed by Terry Wall
who came through in the Fast Pack to finish in 43rd place.

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys squad finished as fifth team
courtesy of Ben Steel (11th) (Slow Pack), Joe Elder (19th) (Slow Pack)
and Matthew Denton (25th) (Slow Pack)

Alistair Douglass of Morpeth put every ounce of his strength into
his performance when finishing fifth in the Under 17 Mens event from the Slow Pack.

In the Under 15 Boys event Morpeth's Marcus Cram ran the days
equal fastest time when coming through to finish tenth from the Fast Pack.

Rachel Steel of Morpeth had a superb run to finish fourth
from the Slow Pack in the Under 15 Girls event.
Clubmate Louise Cairns running from the Fast Pack finished in twentieth spot.

In the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event,
Morpeth's Deborah Oakley produced an excellent performance
to finish second when running from the Slow Pack.
Stevie Goodfellow, also running from the Slow Pack, finished in eighth place.

Morpeth Harriers newcomer Claire Bruce did well to finish in
fourteenth place from the Slow Pack in the Senior Womens event.

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Brampton to Carlisle Road Race !
The dominance of athletes from Morpeth Harriers was clear for all to see
at the 56th Brampton to Carlisle Road Race on Saturday 17th November.
Not only did they provide the race winner on the day in Michael Morris,
they also won the Mens Senior and Veteran Team events,
and the Ladies team race.

It was certainly no cake walk for Morris as he sped to the finish line
at the Sands Centre in Carlisle in an excellent time of 53m01s,
which gave him a six second cushion over runner up
Ricky Lightfoot of Ellenborough AC, with former race winner
Michael Scott of Border AC a further three seconds adrift in third place.
Lightfoot had in fact grabbed an early lead in the event,
and at around the nine mile point had nearly a minute lead
on the chasing pack which included Morris.
During the closing stages the chasing pack managed to haul in the
long term leader, and it was with a quarter of a mile to go that
Morris seized the initiative and made his bid for victory.

Paul Waterston of Morpeth produced an excellent run of 55m08s
to come home in twelfth place, and although he wouldn't be pleased
with his personal performance, David Swinburne will be relieved to finish
as Morpeth's third counter in 26th place in 57m22s that saw his club claim
the Senior Mens team title by one point in a close finish with the host club Border.
Waterston's twelfth place saw him finish as second in the Over 40 Veteran
Mens category and as third Veteran Man overall.

The supporting runs of Gordon Dixon (45th) (4th O/45) (15th Vet) 59m34s,
and Gavin Bayne (52nd) (6th O/50) (19th Vet) 60m25s,
saw Morpeth take the Veteran Mens team title, once again ahead of Border,
and also again by a one point margin.

Morpeth took the Womens team title being led home by Kate Chapman
who finished 136th overall in 65m43s and was eighth lady finisher.
She was however beaten to the line by her club colleague Jane Mooney
who was fifth lady in 102nd place in 63m41s, however Jane was unable to
make her contribution in team terms due to an admin error where
she was listed as an unattached competitor.

Supporting counts for Morpeth in the Ladies team race came with
excellent runs from Michelle Woodley (220th) (19th Lady) 68m52s
and Sue Calvert (269th) (24th Lady) (5th Lady O/40) 70m36s
. Sue was also first counter in Morpeth's Lady Veterans squad
who finished as fourth team with further team support coming from
Pam Woodcock (375th) (27th Lady) (2nd Lady O/55) 76m28s
and Jane Blackett (537th) (65th Lady) (18th Lady O/45) 88m34s.

A total of 613 runners completed the tough course
amongst them the following Morpeth Harriers not already mentioned
Richard Driscoll (100th) (10th O/50) 63m38s
Mike Winter (125th) 65m03s
Neil McAnany (164th) (26th O/45) 66m41s
Ian Corner (187th) 67m32s
Hamish McCallister-Williams (210th) (34th O/45) 68m29s
Norman Clark (303rd) (16th O/55) 72m42s
Ralph Lowe (418th) (6th O/65) 78m58s
Doug Cockburn (464th) (21st O/60) 81m34s
Alan Oliver (514th) (71st O/45) 85m35s
Andrea Mitchell (537th) (66th Lady) (11th Lady O/50) 89m10s
Carlos Werner (558th) (72nd O/45) 90m09s
Jenny Wilson (593rd) (99th Lady) (14th Lady O/50) 109m49s.

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Masters Cross Country International !
Morpeths Walter Ryder and Archie Jenkins each gained medals
at the British Masters Cross Country Championships
held at Stormont, Northern Ireland on Saturday 17th November.
In Walter`s case, he retained his hold on the Over 70 Mens title to take Gold,
and then won another Gold by virtue of leading England to a team victory.
Archie helped the Scotland Over 55 Veterans to a team victory when finishing seventh.
and was their third counter.
In the Mens Over 35 age group event Morpeth's Phil Walker was 18th.

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City of Glasgow 5mile Race !
Morpeth Harrier Kristian Forster did superbly on his comeback
run on Saturday 17th November in the City of Glasgow 5mile event.
Forster finished seventh in 26m00s.

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Gateshead Indoor Athletics Meeting !
Three Morpeth athletes competed at the first Gateshead
Indoor Athletics meeting on Thursday 15th November.
Emma Hastings was joint fastest in the Under 17 Womens 60m with 8.6s.
Katie Plant was fourth fastest in the Under 15 Girls 60m with 8.9s.
In the Senior Mens events Wayne Gedge finished fifth in the 60m
with 8.3s and second in the Long Jump with 4.77m.

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Heaton Harriers Memorial Road Races !
Morpeth Harriers had three individual and one team victory
at the annual Heaton Harriers Memorial Road Races which
were held within the Newcastle Exhibition Park
and Town Moor pathways on Sunday 11th November.

Zoe Armstrong wrote herself into the history books as recording
a hat-trick of wins at Heaton, having won both of her years in the
Under 15 age group she triumphed in the Under 17/ Under 20 Womens 5k
event by the handsome margin of 2min14secs
over Gateshead's Under 20 athlete Lindsey Dodsworth.
Zoe's finishing time was 20m22s which would have placed
her seventh in the accompanying Under 17/Under 20 Mens event.

Morpeth Harriers as the only club to finish with three qualifying athletes
in the Under 17/Under 20 Womens event won the team race with
support coming from Stevie Goodfellow (4th) 23m36s and Sarah Bewick (6th) 28m13s. Sarah's brother Stephen finished tenth in the Mens event in 24m39s.

Hannah Rank won the Under 15 Girls 5k event by the margin
of five seconds with her finishing time of 11m40s.
With a time of 4m02s giving her a five second cushion,
Morpeth's Sarah Wilkes won the Under 11 Girls 1k event.

Joe Elder and Ben Steel ran well in the Under 11 Boys event
finishing third and fourth in times of 3m59s and 4m00s respectively.

In the Under 13 Boys 3k event Morpeth's Joe Robertshaw finished seventh in 13m10s.

Stephanie Purvis and Katie Tiffin of Morpeth finished ninth
and tenth respectively in 13m52s and 14m35s in the Under 13 Girls 3K event.

A present course record field of 385 finishers took part in the
Senior/Veteran Men and Womens 10k race and amongst
them were six runners from Morpeth Harriers.
Morpeth were led home by Les Atkinson who was the first
Veteran Mens finisher in seventh place in 35m23s.
Les's time may have been slightly faster had he not fell after having
to turn quickly after going off course with just under 1k remaining.
Second home from Morpeth was Kate Chapman who
finished as sixth Lady in 75th place in 41m38s.
Morpeth Harriers newcomer Michael McKean finished 145th in 44m13s
and was closely followed in by David Gray (155th) 44m26s
and Paul Fairbrother(160th) 44m38s.
To complete the Morpeth contingent of finishers Bernie Cordes
came home in 306th place in 51m56s and was second amongst the Over 70 Veteran Men.

Thanks must go to all at Heaton Harriers for once again organising a splendid event.
Despite the prevailing winds on the open stretches most athletes coped without problem.

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UK Challenge XC Series ( 1 )
Several Morpeth Harriers produced excellent high level performances
at the prestigious International Cross Country meeting held
at Gateshead's Riverside Bowl on Saturday 10th November.

The meeting which formed the first of the four in the
UK Challenge XC Series attracted some top class athletes
who all expressed delight at the Gateshead Council organisation,
and it was only the weather at times that failed to behave itself.

The Under 17 Womens 4.5k event provided the perfect platform
for Morpeth's Laura Weightman to shine amongst some of her feared
opponents, and she did so with distinction.
Finishing second and only nine seconds adrift of Lincoln Wellington's
Blue Haywood was indeed a fine achievement, and clearly portrays
that the Duchess High School pupil has every opportunity to pick off
some valuable titles during this forthcoming Road and Cross Country season.

Although Morpeth's Nick Swinburn wasn't particularly upbeat
about his fifth place in the Junior Mens 7.3k event,
he remains focussed in his drive for success this winter,
including retainning his North Eastern Cross Country title
at Hartlepool in December, and trying to better his
Northern best of second at Leeds in January.

One young Morpeth Harrier who is certainly firing on all
cylinders at the moment is Adam Harrington.
After an excellent run at Mansfield the previous week that saw him
come home in sixth place on first leg, and as eleventh fastest overall on the day,
Harrington can feel absolutely delighted with his sixth place in the
Under 13 Boys 3k event and only forty one seconds adrift of the winner.
He was also only two seconds adrift of his Gateshead Harriers rival Barry Maskell.
Maskell had denied Harrington of a Silver medal in the 800m
at the North Eastern Track and Field Championships at Gateshead in May.
Equally pleasing in the Under 13 Boys event were the performances
of Harrington's Morpeth clubmates Jonny Nisbet and Lewis Coyle.
Nisbet placed 12th with Coyle not far adrift in 17th place.

Ian Hudspith continued his run of excellent form when he finished
an excellent tenth in the Senior Mens 8.7k event.
Fellow Morpeth Harriers Chris Sampson and Jonathan Taylor
also produced superb runs to finish 29th and 34th respectively.
For the latter it was probably his longest race run to date.

Morpeth's Sarah Wilkes finished 27th in the Under 13 Girls 3k event.

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Blackhill Bounders Fruitbowl MT Race !
Six Morpeth Harriers took part in the Blackhill Bounders
Fruitbowl Multi Terrain event in Gibside Estate,
near Rowlands Gill on Sunday 4th November.

Results are as follows
Neil Wilkinson (2nd) 38m41s, Mike Winter (57th) 48m05s,
Neil McAnany (72nd) 49m39s, Sue Calvert (13th Lady) 52m32s,
Paul Tomlinson (209th) 56m52s and Steve MacDonald (240th) 58m24s.
Wilkinson lost out in a tough tussle with Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell.
Bell's winning margin was nine seconds.

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Derwentwater 10mile Road Race !
Athletes from Morpeth Harriers made the trip to Cumbria
worthwhile on Sunday 4th November when they finished
as third team behind North York Moors and Border Harriers,
and won the Veteran Mens team title at the annual Derwentwater 10mile Road Race.
The same three athletes counted in both categories with new recruit
Phil Walker leading the Morpeth contingent home in 14th place in 56m58s.
Paul Waterston ran 58m02s to finish 17th, and the scoring three were
completed by Gordon Dixon (31st) in 60m46s.
Walker was second in the Over 40 veteran category and
was fourth overall in the Veteran section.

Other Morpeth finishers on the day were
Alistair MacDonald (39th) 61m27s
Margaret MacDonald (384th) (80th Lady) 85m36s.

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2007 Saucony National Cross Country Relays !
Although Morpeth Harriers had no medals to show from their exploits
at the Saucony sponsored English National Cross Country Relay
Championships held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday 3rd November,
they can feel justly proud of the efforts put in by some of their younger athletes.

The clubs best performers were undoubtedly their Under 13 Boys,
who were very much spurred by the first leg efforts of Adam Harrington,
who clocked the days eleventh fastest time of 7m02.60s
over the 2k course to place them in a superb sixth place.
Second leg runner Jonny Nisbet certainly had them very much
in a medal challenging position when he rose up to fourth with
an excellent top twenty clocking of 7m07.20s.
This saw Morpeth only three seconds adrift of second and
third placed clubs Shaftesbury and Chiltern Harriers,
and seven seconds adrift of long term leaders Coventry Godiva.
A lot rested with the legs of final and third leg runner Jack Hepple,
who had unfortunately felt ill just before the competition.
Despite giving his all, Hepple unfortunately found some faster legs
around him as the lead changed with pre-race favourites
Aldershot and Farnham going to the front for glory courtesy
of an athlete who clocked the days third fastest time.
Shaftesbury stayed in second and East Cheshire
Harriers & Tameside came through from eighth to third.
Jack battled gamely with the athletes of Chiltern and Coventry,
however had to settle for sixth with his clocking of 7m24.30s.
This squad certainly hold a lot of promise for the foreseeable future,
with another couple of good athletes sitting in the wings also awaiting their chance.

Next best result for Morpeth on the day was secured
by the Junior Men in their 3x3k event, where they finished eighth.
Ross Floyd on first leg got round in 9m44.05s to finish in thirty sixth place.
Impact was made on leg two when Jonathan Taylor climbed a superb
twenty five places to eleventh with an excellent 8m47.80s,
which proved to be the second fastest of the leg
and fourth fastest overall on the day.
Nick Swinburn on the third and final leg clocked 9m09.65s
to climb another three places to eighth.

Morpeth's Under 17 Men finished in twentieth place.
Jordan Scott continues to make great strides in this age group,
as his clocking of 9m51s on first leg for 3k where he finished 34th clearly testifies.
Alistair Douglass gained two places on second leg with his clocking of 10m04.80s.
Karl Taylor on the final leg clocked 9m43.40s
to take them to their final placing of twentieth.

Morpeth's Under 15 Boys squad finished 44th
out of 75 finishing teams in their 3x2k event.
Steven Harrogate on first leg clocked 8m15.10s,
however Marcus Cram's 6m28.20s, which was just outside
the top ten best saw them rise to 64th.
Final leg runner Philip Shuttleworth battled relentlessly and gained
another twenty places with his excellent 6m55.80s.

Best Morpeth female performers were the Under 17 Women
who completed their 3x2.5k event in a total time
of 28m40.35s to finish thirteenth overall.
With 10m22s on leg one Stevie Goodfellow came home in 48th place,
however her battling had left leading light Laura Weightman
with plenty of runners within catching distance.
Weightman soon started to overturn opposition and by the time
she had reached the changeover line in 8m50.30s,
which was just outside the top ten best, she had got her club up to 14th place.
Final leg runner Zoe Armstrong battled hard and managed to
claw back another place as she got round in 9m28.05s.

Morpeth's Under 15 Girls squad battled well to finish in
seventeenth place overall in their 3x2k event.
Rachel Steel's first leg clocking of 8m15.35s saw them in 62nd place.
However the experience of firstly Hannah Rank (7m42.40s) (41st)
and Rachel Denton (7m10.30s) saw them through to a very respectable finish.
Denton's clocking was just outside the top ten of the day.

Morpeth's young Under 13 Girls squad battled well to finish 44th.
Carley May Webster's 8m18.45s saw her finish in 43rd place
and Sarah Wilkes (8m42.90s) and Steph Purvis (8m53.10)
only saw them drop one place throughout.

The biggest disappointment from Morpeth Harriers
point of view on the day was their inability to turn out
a strong Senior Mens squad for a competition that has seen
them claim six victories and a second since its inception.
Despite Team Manager David Swinburne's commendable efforts
to get a competitive squad together, he was thwarted by either
injury or general unavailability of key players.
This resulted in the club having its lowest ever finish in the Senior Mens 4x5k event.
They finished a lowly 41st and six minutes adrift of winners Belgrave Harriers.
Ben Harrison's first leg clocking of 16m40.35s saw him finish in 67th place.
Terry Wall managed to climb fourteen places
on leg two with his clocking of 16m33.95s.
Morpeth's fastest runner on the day was Mark Brown on
third leg who clocked 16m02.95s to come home in 44th place.
Team Manager Swinburne donned his Blue and White vest
on the final leg to gain another three places with his clocking of 16m51.50s.

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October 2007

Morpeth Win Sherman Cup & Davison Shield !
Morpeth Harriers successfully retained their hold on the major trophies
at the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
Sherman Cup and Davison Shield fixture held at
Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields on Saturday 27th October.

In the case of the Womens Davison Shield events it was easy
pickings for Morpeth as they were the only club on the day to
turn out finishing teams in all four qualifying age group races.

However in the Mens Sherman Cup events it was very
much a different story, as a nailbiting finish between Gateshead,
Sunderland and Morpeth had developed with one event remaining.
The Wearsiders held a narrow five point lead over Gateshead with Morpeth
a further twenty four points adrift in third place as the Under 17 Men set off.
The determination to win individually was etched on Morpeth's Karl Taylor's face,
however he came home in third place a little disappointed,
however that disappointment turned to elation when he learned that he had
led his team colleagues to a one point marginal Under 17 Mens victory over
Gateshead with support coming excellently from Jordan Scott (5th) and Alistair Douglass (12th)
That victory ensured Morpeth had retained the Sherman Cup for the sixth successive occasion.

Another excellent result in the Mens competition for
Morpeth came in the Under 13 Boys who also won.
They were led home by Adam Harrington who produced
a superb run to finish second and he was well supported by the
fine runs also by Jonathan Nisbet (9th) and Lewis Coyle (10th)

Morpeth's Under 15 Boys finished fifth being led home with a
superb run by Marcus Cram who finished second.
Supporting runs came from a limping Matthew Timmins (26th)
and a slightly distraught Stephen Harrogate (29th)

Morpeth's Senior Men finished as fifth team being led home by
Mark Brown who ran well to finish strongly in third place.
Team support came from Veterans Paul Waterston and
Alistair MacDonald who finished 16th and 37th respectively.
Morpeth's Phil Walker produced an excellent run to finish tenth,
however he is still ineligible to count following his transfer from Blaydon Harriers.

Best performance for Morpeth in the Womens events undoubtedly belonged
to Laura Weightman who won the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens
race with seventeen seconds to spare over Shildon's Kate Avery.
Morpeth were the only squad to finish a complete team here
with further support coming with excellent runs by
Stevie Goodfellow (4th) and Deborah Oakley (8th)

Carley-May Webster led an excellent Morpeth Under 13 Girls
squad home to fourth team place by finishing 14th with support
coming from Sarah Wilkes and Stephanie Purvis
who finished 21st and 23rd respectively.

In the Senior Womens event Morpeth finished second being led home
by Aiveen Fox who finished an individual third.
Further team support came from Gwenda Cavill (12th)
and Margaret MacDonald (26th)
Claire Bruce running for the first time in Morpeth colours
finished an excellent 18th, however she is still ineligible to count
following her transfer from North Shields Poly.

Morpeth's Under 15 Girls squad finished as sixth team,
being led home by newcomer Ailsa McGregor who finished eleventh,
with good supporting runs coming from Louise Cairns (18th)
and Catriona MacDonald (19th)
With Catriona being one of the counters this meant that all three MacDonald's,
father Alistair and mother Margaret received winners medals on the day, a unique story in itself.
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ERRA 6 & 4 Stage Road Relays !
The loss of the services of Dan Samuels with a back injury was a bitter blow to Morpeth Harriers, as it severely dented their hopes of a top six placing at the National Mens 6 Stage Road Relays, held at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield on Saturday 20th October.

Having no Nick McCormick or Mark Hudspith to call upon had already extinguished any thought of a medal challenge, the lack of Samuels, who had been their second fastest athlete at last months North of England Championship, further compounded the respectability of the clubs perceived performance.

Team Manager Dave Swinburne, who was not fit enough himself to don his racing shoes, was forced to bring in young Nick Swinburn, who was himself not at his best, however he rallied to his clubs call.

The outcome at the end of the day was that they finished eleventh, and just less than three minutes adrift of Bronze medals. Ivan Hollingsworth found the pace a little hot on Leg One, as Elswick's Ryan McLeod, who had been allowed to run the first leg as a one off guest courtesy of the coaching regime, came home clocking a sprightly 17m11s over the 5.85k circuit in first place. Hollingsworth was halfway down the field in 42nd place as he clocked 18m12s, but had left himself very much in contact with around sixteen runners directly in front of him to give second leg runner Jonathan Taylor the opportunity to make some impact.
Taylor did exactly that as he clocked 17m53s to climb an excellent eighteen places to finish in twenty fourth place.

It soon became apparent however that third leg runner Nick Swinburn was not at his best as he slipped back to thirty first with his clocking of 19m03s.

Thankfully at this point there was an upturn for Morpeth as the very much inform Ian Hudspith tore round in the eighth fastest time of the day of 17m06s to rise fourteen places to seventeenth at the end of the fourth leg.

This was all the impetus that Hudspith's training partner Chris Sampson needed on fifth leg, as he produced an excellent run of 17m57s to rise six places to eleventh, and to pass former Morpeth clubmate Steve Platts, now running for his Leicester club Owls AC, on the way up.

Michael Morris held the placing of eleventh entirely throughout the final leg as he came home in 18m21s.

With that final placing Morpeth Harriers were third finishers
from the North of England behind second placed Leeds City
and ninth placed Altrincham.
Morpeth Harriers also headed the North East contingent of
three with New Marske finishing 34th in 1hr53m48s and
Sunderland Harriers finishing 44th in 1hr55m43s.
The finishing time for Morpeth was 1hr48m32s.
Belgrave Harriers were event winners in 1hr44m30s.

Morpeth Harriers Womens 4 Stage squad finished 28th
and were ninth from the North of England and second from the
North East with Chester Le Street finishing ahead of them in fifth place overall.
After being behind Gateshead for two of the four legs they pulled
away from them on the final leg to finish three places ahead.

Morpeth's fastest runner here was Birmingham University student Delyth James who was 27th on the first leg with her clocking for 4.32k being 15m14s. Aiveen Fox on second leg admitted to not having one of her better runs as she slipped back to 30th with her clocking of 16m06s. Kate Chapman on third leg rose two places to 28th on Leg three as she got round in 16m50s. Final leg runner Sarah Graham held the placing with an excellent 16m16s.
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ERRA Young Athletes Road Relays !
An excellent run by Marcus Cram saw him finish fourth on the
first leg of the Under 15 Boys event at the Young Athletes Road Relays
held at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield on Sunday 21st October.
Cram's 12m34s also proved to be the sixth fastest on the day,
but unfortunately he had no one to share his efforts as
Morpeth Harriers failed to field a full squad to support him.

That wasn't the same however for clubmate Rachel Denton who
clocked the thirteenth fastest time of of 14m12s to come home in
a final 17th place after Rachel Steel's 16m28s and
Hannah Rank's 15m15s to secure a team finish for the clubs Under 15 Girls.
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Nicol Hunter Cross Country Relays !
Ian Hudspith and Rachel Denton were the pick of Morpeths
performers at the Nichol Hunter Cross Country Relays
held at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon on Sunday 14th October.

Hudspith is certainly a man in form at the moment,
as his 10th placing in the Bupa Great North Run clearly
testifies, and on Sunday he proved beyond doubt that he
is a man for the big occasion as he brought his club
into the top three places in the Senior Mens event.
After Ross Floyd's 10m58s had the Morpeth squad in
seventh place on Leg One, Hudspith clocked the days
fastest time of 9m40s to take his club up to third,
and Marc Cochrane, who has missed all of the
track season with a serious leg injury, ran superbly to
hang onto third place on the final leg with his clocking of 11m36s.
Martyn Cairns was a lone runner for the Morpeth B team,
and he clocked 12m19s.

Denton was by far the fastest performer in the
Under 15 Girls event as she anchored her club home
to second place with her clocking 7m35s.
The earlier legs of Rachel Steel (8m59s)
and Hannah Rank (7m59s) (4th Fastest)
had seen them rise from eighth to third.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Womens A team finished
just adrift of the medals in fourth place.
On first leg Gwenda Cavill came home eighth in 13m26s.
Zoe Armstrong clocked the days 10th equal fastest time
of 12m55s to guide them up to fourth place on Leg Two,
and a resolute 13m48s by Sue Calvert on the final leg
saw them hold the placing.
The Morpeth Senior Womens B team finished 16th
courtesy of Stevie Goodfellow (13m59s)
Michelle Muller (14m50s) and Margaret MacDonald (15m18s)

Morpeth's young Under 13 Girls squad finished fifth courtesy
of good performances by Carly May Webster (8m49s) (12th Fastest)
Sarah Wilkes (9m34s) and Eva Shashova (10m08s)
Elske Simpso ran for the incomplete B team clocking 10m26s.

With 7m59s, Tom Brookes was Morpeth's fastest performer
in the Under 15 Boys event in a squad who finished seventh
with further good legs coming from Matthew Timmins (8m11s)
and Steven Harrogate (8m43s)

In the Under 13 Boys event Morpeth had an incomplete team,
however Joe Robertshaw (8m27s) and Ben Steel (9m57s)
can feel pleased with their performances.

Morpeth Harriers Veteran Men finished ninth courtesy
of Kevin Bray (12m52s), Archie Jenkins (12m20s)
and Neil McAnany (13m08s)
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September 2007

Whalton Classic Road Race!
Clocking a time of 27m29s gave Morpeth Harrier
Les Atkinson an eight second cushion for victory in
the Whalton Classic 5mile Road Race on Sunday 30th September.

It was Atkinson's second victory in the event having won
the inaugural event in 2005, and the evergreen vet had also
plenty to be pleased about as he had bettered his 2006 time
by three seconds which had saw him finish third.
Second place went to Birtley's Lee Millmore,
with Ash Henderson of Blyth taking third place in 27m59s.
Mark Armstrong of Hartlepool Burn Road had made a lot
of the early pace however he slipped back to finish fourth in 28m12s.
Fifth place went to Mark Smith of Gateshead who clocked 28m19s.
North Shields Poly's Martin Frost finished sixth in 28m33s.
Michael Jones of South Shields came home in seventh place in 29m10s.

Morpeth's Gavin Bayne had an excellent run to finish eighth in 29m29s,
just ahead of former Gateshead Harrier John Larkin
now running unattached, who clocked 29m32s.
Tenth place went to Derwentside's John Donneky who clocked 29m34s,
just outpacing Morpeth's Gordon Dixon who finished eleventh in 29m37s.

The placings of Les Atkinson, Gavin Bayne and Gordon Dixon
gave Morpeth Harriers the Mens Team title.

First Lady home was Tynedale's Karen Robertson
who finished 24th overall in 31m57s.
Second Lady was North Shields Poly's Jayne Goble
who was 33rd in 33m35s.
Sue Calvert of Morpeth Harriers was third Lady
to finish in 40th place in 34m37s, and led Morpeth Harriers Ladies to a
team victory with assistance from Sally Welsh (4th Lady) (54th) 36m16s
and Pam Woodcock (5th Lady) (61st) 37m13s.

The event also incorporated the Veterans North East 5mile Championships
where Morpeth Harriers Gavin Bayne, Neil McAnany
and Margaret MacDonald all received certificates
of merit for their race performances.

The event had 92 finishers and at the after race presentation
Race Organiser Alistair MacDonald thanked the event
sponsors Intersoil Morpeth for their generosity,
and the people of Whalton for their help with the use of the Village Hall,
and all the marshalls and officials that had turned out on the day.
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Great North Run !
Morpeth Harrier Ian Hudspith produced a superb performance
to finish tenth in the Bupa Great North Run on
Sunday 30th September in a time of 63m59s.
Other creditable runs by Morpeth Harriers in the event came from
Chris Sampson (20th) 67m08s and Ivan Hollingsworth (25th) 68m10s.
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Junior Great North Run !
Laura Weightman of Morpeth Harriers repeated her 2006 victory
in the 13 to 16 year old Girls event at the Tesco Junior Great North Run on Saturday 29th September.
Fellow clubmate Zoe Armstrong also got on the podium by finishing third.
Zoe had finished second in 2006 ahead of Dundee's Elish McColgan,
daughter of former Great Britain International Liz.
This time round McColgan took second spot.
Other notable Morpeth performers were Marcus Cram (6th)
in 13 to 16 Boys race and Jack Hepple (7th) in 9 to 12 Boys race. There were also some excellent performances by some of the clubs younger element
in the Under 13 section at the Junior Great North Run.
Sarah Wilkes (13th) Stephanie Purvis (19th) and Eve Shashova (26th)
can all feel well pleased with their efforts.
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NoE 6 and 4 Stage Road Relay Championships !
A good number of top performers were missing from
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Senior Womens teams
when they competed at the North of England 6 and 4 Stage
Road Relay Championships on Saturday 29th September at Warrington.

Late withdrawals left Mens Team Manager David Swinburne
very much down to the bare bones, and he was forced to
take to the roads himself, and despite feeling unwell managed
to bring his depleted squad home to a well earned final
nineteenth position, the lowest Morpeth Harriers Men
have finished for a good number of years.
Another unwell runner was Ben Harrison who began the day by
coming home in thirty third place on the first leg with a clocking of 28m07s.

All of the runners on Leg One felt that the course was a much
longer distance than advertised and this factor showed through
as the afternoon progressed.
Dan Samuels produced an excellent tenth fastest time on second leg
of 26m47s to haul his club up a mammoth eighteen positions to fifteenth
An equally excellent third leg by Jonathan Taylor (26m28s)
third fastest of the leg, saw the squad rise to tenth.
Despite the sterling efforts of Paul Waterston (29m13s)
Richard Kay (29m36s) and David Swinburne (29m22s)
Morpeth progressively slipped back to nineteenth.

Morpeth Womens team also suffered from the
absence of key athletes in their 4 Stage Relay.
This effectively meant they couldn't better their 2006
performance which saw them finish fourth.
Aiveen Fox's 20m34s on Leg One saw them
come home in eleventh place.
Jane Mooney clocked 21m07s on Leg Two,
but unfortunately dropped a place to twelfth.
Julie Clark on third leg slipped back to fifteenth with
a clocking of 22m52s, however Gwenda Cavill managed
to pull back a place to fourteenth on the final leg
with her clocking of 23m00s.

The Senior Men qualified for the National Championships
due to be run at Sutton Park in a three weeks time,
when they hope to have a stronger squad in action,
and the Women will also travel providing they
can get their strongest squad together.
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Prestonpans Half Marathon !
A trip over the border to Prestonpans proved quite fortuitous
for some athletes from Morpeth Harriers when they captured the Male Team
prize at the annual Prestonpans Half Marathon on Sunday 23rd September.

It also proved to be an excellent day for their leading finisher
Paul Waterston, who not only finished second in 78m07s,
but was also the first home in the Over 40 Veteran Mens category.
Second home for Morpeth was Gordon Dixon who finished eighth in 79m52s
and was third in the Over 40 category.
Alistair MacDonald also produced an excellent run of 83m27s
to come home in twelfth place to seal the team title.

Other Morpeth Harriers producing excellent runs in the event were,
Mike Winter (23rd) 87m32s, Simon Robson (43rd) 93m54s
and Ian Corner (62nd) 98m06s.
173 runners competed in the event.
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Teespride 10K Road Race !
Three Morpeth Harriers took part in the Middlesbrough Teespride
10k Road Race on Sunday 16th September.
First home from the club was Terry Wall who finished seventh in 32m49s
and was two minutes and twenty one seconds behind race winner
Stephen Hepples of Newham and Essex Beagles (formerly with Loftus AC)
In finishing 47th in 37m48s evergreen Morpeth Veteran Archie Jenkins
came first in the Over 55 Male category.
Ten places behind Archie came one of Morpeth's newest recruits
Andrew Shipley who finished in a time of 38m18s.
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Michael Page Memorial Multi Terrain Event !
Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall was a comfortable winner of the Michael Page
Memorial 10km Multi Terrain Race, at a windy Hetton Lyons Country Park
on Sunday 2nd September.
Wall clocked a time of 35mins 31secs coming home
43secs ahead of Sunderland Harrier, Steve Potts.
Andrew Shipley finished 10th (41:49)
and Paul Fairbrother occupied 28th place (50:05)
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August 2007

Jarrow Riverside 10k Road Race !
At the inaugural Jarrow Riverside 10km on Tuesday 21st August,
Morpeth's three athletes still managed to finish third in the team event.
The counters were: 17th Archie Jenkins 40:06 (also 1st Over 55)
20th Mike Winter 40:16
and 25th Graeme Leathard 41:14 (7th Over 40)
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Robin Hood 10k Road Race !
Three Morpeth Harriers took part in the Robin Hood 10k
Road Race held in Jarrow on Monday 20th August.
The combined efforts of Archie Jenkins (17th) (1st O/55) 40m06s,
Michael Winter (20th) 40m16s
and Graeme Leathard (25th) (7th O/45) 41m14s
saw Morpeth Harriers finish as third team behind hosts
Jarrow and Hebburn and second placed Heaton Harriers.
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Exhibition Park 5K Race !
The 5k race event held in Newcastle's
Exhibition Park on Wednesday 15th August
attracted a total of 250 finishers, amongst them
were athletes from Morpeth Harriers.

First home for Morpeth was new recruit Phil Walker
who finished seventh in 16m02s and was second Over 40 Male Veteran.
Walker was unable to count for the Morpeth team
however as having transferred from Blaydon he has
to serve a short term of suspension from team competition.

In the Mens team race Morpeth finished fifth.
They were led home by Kristian Forster, who can feel well
pleased with his return to action, having being out through
illness and injury since before last Christmas,
after pulling out during the Mens race at the North East Counties Cross
Country Championships at Herrington Country Park in early December.
Forster, son of former Gateshead International
Marathon runner Kevin, finished eleventh in 16m13s.
Next counter was Paul Waterston who came home in
sixteenth place in 16m51s, and the Morpeth Mens count was
completed by Graeme Leathard who was 56th in 18m51s
and was thirteenth Over 40 Veteran Man.

In the Womens Race Morpeth finished third,
being led home by Jane Mooney who was second
Lady finisher in 35th place overall.
The Morpeth team count was completed by Julie Clark
who in finishing 97th overall in 20m09s was twelfth Lady,
and Laura Dixon who finished 145th in 22m12s,
and was 25th Lady overall, and was second Under 17.

Other Morpeth Harriers to finish were as follows
Mike Winter (57th) 18m55s
Nick Armstrong (89th) (17th O/40) 19m56s
Gary Clark (91st) (3rd U/20) 19m59s
Ricky Davidson (114th) 20m36s
Ian Corner (118th) 20m46s
Pam Woodcock (156th) (1st O/55 Lady) 22m37s.
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Ulverston Summer 10k !
Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison, based in Lonsdale,
finished sixth in the Ulverston Summer 10k in Cumbria.
He clocked a time of 34m19s on a tough undulating circuit.
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World Mountain Trophy Trials !
Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn has earned himself
yet another International call up after he
won the Junior Mens event by seven seconds
at the World Mountain Trophy Trials
held at Braithwaite in Cumbria.
Swinburn covered 8.7k reaching
a height of 680m in a time of 43m05s.
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Darlington 10k Road Race !
Morpeth Harriers new signing Andrew Shipley finished 66th in the
Sherwoods Darlington 10k Road Race on Sunday 12th August in a time of 38m26s.
Other finishers from Morpeth in the event were
Mike Winter (88th) 39m48s and Ian Corner (207th) 44m09s.
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Chorley Night Series !
Ben Harrison of Morpeth Harriers finished eighth in the final race
of the Chorley Night Series in a time of 21m20s,
which put him fifty five seconds adrift of the race winner.
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2007 Morpeth 10k Road Race !
Alnwick Harrier Dave Kirkland recorded an emphatic win in the
A-Belco sponsored Morpeth 10k Road Race on Tuesday 7th August.

274 finishers took part in the eleventh running of the event,
and Kirkland was the first to reach the finish line in a time of 33m14s.
Although well outside Ian Hudspith's course record,
Keilder based Kirkland was never troubled as only Morpeth Harriers
newest recruit Phil Walker went with him on the first uphill climb on the
Whalton Road, only to find himself around forty metres adrift at the halfway point.
Walker was eventually to finish fourth as first veteran finisher in 34m23s,
as Heaton pair James Buis and John Moore filled second and third
places with second lap challenges.
Buis and Moore clocked 34m04s and 34m10s respectively.

Fifth place went to Blyth's Leo Talbot who finished in 34m47s.
Five seconds behind him came second veteran finisher Morpeths Paul Waterston.
Seventh place went to another Morpeth runner Andrew Lawrence, who clocked 35m08s.
Stephen Gray of Elswick finished eighth in 35m34s, and was third veteran finisher.
Paul Leigh of Wallsend was fourth veteran finisher in ninth place in 35m43s.
Tenth place went to Alnwick Harrier Geoff Campbell who clocked 36m11s.

The Ladies race was won by Morpeth Harrier
Aiveen Fox for the third year in succession.
She finished 27th in 38m07s, however she was very nearly
caught in later stages by clubmate Jane Mooney who
had an excellent run to finish 30th in 38m11s.
Third Lady home was Chester Le Street's Heather Robinson who
finished 43rd in 39m34s, and was also the first veteran Lady to finish.

In addition to main sponsors A-Belco, Morpeth Harriers would also
wish to thank Brumell and Sample (Morpeth based Solicitors)
Stanton Hall Nurseries and Alderbuild for their generous sponsorships,
Morpeth Town FC for the use of Craik Park as the Race Headquarters,
NPIL Pharmaceuticals (UK) Ltd, for the use of their premises for Race Parking,
Ted Phizacklea and his Red Cross team for being present,
Northumbria Police for their assistance, and all the members and friends
of Morpeth Harriers who turned up on the night to
help with equipment and with course marshalling,
thankfully the weather behaved itself.
Click here for full results.......

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July 2007

James Herriot Trail Race !
Morpeths Terry Wall finished second at the James Herriot Trail Race
in Castle Bolton, Wensleydale on Sunday 29th July in 54m26s,
which was exactly sixty two seconds adrift of the experienced
race winner Garry Dunn of Thirsk and Sowerby.
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New Marske Victorian 10k !
Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall won the Victorian 10k road race
at New Marske on Sunday 22nd July in a time of 32m19s.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Alistair MacDonald also ran well to
finish tenth in 37m32s and was second Over 40 finisher.
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Sunderland Harriers 5k Road Race !
Sunderland Harriers 5k Road Race on Wednesday 18th July,
saw Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn finish second to
Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell in a time of 15m01s.
Next home for Morpeth was Alistair MacDonald who finished 35th
and was eighth Over 40 Veteran Man in 17m45s.

Aiveen Fox of Morpeth finished two places behin Alistair in 17m46s
and lost out for victory in the Ladies Race by four seconds to Teesdale's Claire Robson.

Archie Jenkins was first Over 55 Male Veteran when he finished 43rd in 17m54s.

Gwenda Cavill was first Over 40 Lady when she finished 111th in 19m47s.

Margaret MacDonald was fourth Over 40 Lady when she finished 183rd in 23m05s.
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Northumberland Coastal Run !
After tackling the shorter Multi Terrain Angel View Run,
Morpeth Harriers newest aquisition Lewis Timmins tackled the more
ambitious rigours of the Northumberland Coastal Run on Sunday 15th July,
between Beadnel and Alnmouth and gave host club athlete
Dave Kirkland more than a run for his money into the bargain.
Kirkland eventually won the day however and became the first
ever Alnwick Harrier to triumph in all the 28 years of the events existence.
Timmins eventually finished second in 79m18s over the 14 mile plus course
and was 72 seconds down on Kirkland.

Second home for Morpeth was Les Atkinson, who is undoubtedly
no stranger to the event, and he finished fifth in 80m27s and was
second Veteran home and first in the Over 50 category.
Paul Waterston and Gordon Dixon of Morpeth each produced
excellent performances to finish tenth and thirteenth
respectively in times of 82m25s and 85m03s.
Waterston was second Over 40 Male Veteran
and Dixon was second in the Over 45's section.

There were 800 finishers and other
Morpeth Harriers results were as follows
Mike Hegarty (31st) 89m08s
Gavin Bayne (49th) 91m38s
Michael Winter 92m58s
Neil McAnany (78th) 96m06s
Norman Clark (144th) 101m46
Michelle Woodley (185th) 103m49s
Sue Calvert (215th) 105m05s
Graeme Leathard (228th) 105m39s
Ian Stearman (281st) 109m36s
Ricky Davidson (316th) 111m48s
George McDougal (357th) 114m30s
Geoff Bird (358th) 114m31s
Pauline Brennan (371st) 115m33s
Ian Corner (372nd) 115m35s
Steve McDonald (381st) 116m02s
David Taylor (388th) 116m41s
Shuna Rank (442nd) 119m46s
Angharad Porteous (468th) 121m53s
Tricia McDougal (468th) 121m58s
Margaret MacDonald (501st) 124m23s
Jack Kelly (502nd) 124m24s
Julian Turner (551st) 127m54s
Alan Oliver (665th) 136m54s
Jane Blackett (692nd) 140m27s
Susan Smith (693rd) 140m28s.
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Low Fell Angel View Multi Terrain Event !
Morpeth newcomer Lewis Timmins won the
Low Fell Running Club Angel View Multi Terrain
event at Gateshead on Thursday 12th July in a time of 26m34s.

Finishing 21st in 31m21s, Morpeths Jane Mooney won the
Ladies race making it a double triumph for Morpeth

Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the event were
Nick Armstrong and Paul Bentley who had
respective placings of 43rd and 49th
in times of 34m43s and 35m21s.

In the Under 11 Girls shorter event
Morpeth's Sarah Wilkes finished fifth in 3m56s.
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Hylton Castle Parks Race !
The Hylton Castle Parks Race on Wednesday 11th July saw
Morpeth's Terry Wall just miss out for victory by the
margin of five seconds to Sunderland's Brian Rushworth.
Terrys crossed the line in 13m42s.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Alistair MacDonald finished tenth in 15m56s.
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Heaton Harriers Women Only Run !
For the fourth year in a row Morpeths Aiveen Fox dominated
the field at the Heaton Harriers Womens Only 5.4k Race
held in Jesmond Dene on Monday night.( 9th July )
Despite being five seconds down on her 2006 victory with her clocking of 20m15s,
she managed to pull off another victory after being given a run
for her money by her close friend, training partner and clubmate Jane Mooney,
who was finishing second for the third year in a row but will feel well pleased
to be 39 seconds faster than 2006 with her clocking of 20m34s.

It was indeed a glorious night for Morpeth Harriers as they also
pulled off the team victory for the fourth year in a row with Fox and Mooney
being well supported by Gwenda Cavill's placing of tenth in 23m00s.
The event had a total of 194 finishers and it was held
for the first time in honour of Heaton Harrier Anita Nott,
who was sadly killed by a car when out for a training run
in Richmond, North Yorkshire last year.
A minutes silence was observed before the event commenced.
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European Mountain Running Championships !
Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers was Great Britain's third counter
for their Junior Mens squad that finished as 5th team behind winners
Turkey at the European Mountain Running Championships in Cauterets,
France on Saturday 7th July.
Swinburn had an excellent run that saw him finish as 24th in a very classy field.
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Tynedale Pie & Peas 10K !
The Tynedale Pie & Peas 10k race held on Wednesday 4th July
saw Morpeth's Mark Brown finish second to Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell.

After Bell had set a fast and furious early pace to assume command,
Brown eventually caught up with the soon to be 35 year old Veteran,
only to lose ground again as Bell put in another kick to draw clear
and head home to to clinch a twenty three second marginal victory.

Mark Brown crossed the finish line in second place, having given his all
with a clocking of 32m11s, and was pleased to lead his club home to
a Mens team victory with excellent supporting runs coming
from David Swinburne (12th) 34m33s and Mike Hegarty (18th) 35m26s.

It was indeed an excellent night for Morpeth with
Aiveen Fox winning the Ladies title when finishing thirty sixth overall in 37m32s,
and the icing was certainly placed on a very big cake with supporting runs by
Jane Mooney (42nd) (3rd Lady) 37m47s
and Michelle Woodley (140th) (14th Lady) 42m13s
securing a superb Ladies Team victory.

Other Morpeth Results were as follows
Mike Winter (58th) 38m56s
Richard Driscoll (66th) (4th O/50) 39m24s
Neil McAnany (78th) (12th O/45) 40m09s
Simon Robson (103rd) 41m04s
Nick Armstrong (126th) (27th O/40) 41m45s
Gwenda Cavill (151st) (2nd O/40 Lady) 42m39s
Sue Calvert (164th) (3rd O/40 Lady) 43m01s
Les Cavill (170th) (27th O/45) 43m13s
Ian Corner (226th) 45m23s
Paul Tomlinson (256th) (20th O/50) 46m15s
Pam Woodcock (283rd) (1st O/55 Lady) 47m14s
R.Halliday (317th) (10th O/60) 48m36s
Bernie Cordes (358th) (5th O/65) 50m05s
Susan Smith (457th) (26th O/40 Lady) 55m31s
Jane Blackett (461st) (27th O/40 Lady) 55m42s.
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Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10K Road Race !
Morpeth's Sarah Graham finished third to Great Britain International
Tracey Morris in the Womens race in the Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10k Road event.
Sarah clocked 39m17s.
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Lancaster 10k !
Morpeths Ben Harrison finished ninth in
the recently held Lancaster 10k in a time of 35m48s.
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June 2007

Beat the Tram 10k !
On Sunday 24th June, Morpeths Nick Swinburn
repeated his 2006 victory in the Beat the Tram 10k
at Beamish Museum in a time of 34m31s.
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Newburn River Run !
Morpeth Harrier Ivan Hollingsworth returned to race
winning form at the Newburn River Run.on Wenesday 20th June.
Clocking a time of 34m51s he won with 33 seconds to spare
over second placed Mark McLeod of the host club Elswick Harriers.

Other leading Morpeth finishers were
Paul Waterston (11th) (1st O/40) 37m41s
and Jane Mooney (22nd) 40m20s who won the Ladies Race.

Michael Winter, Richard Driscoll,
Neil McAnany and Steve Robson
were all prominent in finishing
30th, 35th, 46th and 50th in respective times of
41m08s, 42m00s, 42m56s and 43m14s.
Driscoll was first in the Over 50 Mens Veteran category.

Further Morpeth Results are as follows
Les Cavill (66th) (9th O/45) 44m30s
Nick Armstrong (72nd) 44m52s
Sue Calvert (73rd) (1st O/40 Lady) 44m56s
Michelle Woodley (80th) (6th Lady) 45m19s
Norman Clark ((95th) (6th O/55) 46m07s
Gwenda Cavill (101st) (2nd O/40 Lady) 46m26s
Paul Tomlinson (164th) (15th O/50) 51m14s
C. Werner (236th) (27th O/45) 55m51s
Susan Smith (259th) (13th O/40 Lady) 57m47s
Chris Offord (260th) (13th O/60) 57m47s
J.Blackett (274th) (16th O/40 Lady) 59m36s
and Susanne Millward (286th) (11th O/45 Lady) 60m46s.
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Newton Aycliffe 10k Road Race !
Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall completed his fifth victory
in the Newton Aycliffe 10k on Sunday 17th June,
in an excellent 32m23s, which was around
10 seconds faster than his 2006 victory.
Wall, recent winner of the Raby Castle 10k dominated
the event from the off, and by half-way he had a 38 second lead.
That lead was extended to 58 seconds by the end of the two lap event,
and although he was looking for a much faster time,
agreed that it was tough having to push all the way on his own.

Another good Morpeth performer was Alistair MacDonald
who finished twelfth in 38m12s and was third Veteran Man.
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2007 Bislett Games !
Nick McCormick of Morpeth Harriers finished sixth in the 1500m
at the Bislett Games in Oslo on Friday night ( 15th June ) in an excellent 3m38.46s,
which takes him to second in the Power of 10 Rankings for that distance this year.
The event was won by Brimin Kiprop Kipruto of Kenya in 3m36.27s.
That performance by McCormick is just the spur he needs as he heads
for Munich this weekend to compete in the European Cup for Great Britain in the 3000m.
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Tesco Junior Great Coastal Run !
On Sunday 17th June, Sarah Wilkes of Morpeth Harriers won
the Under 12 2.8k event at the Tesco Junior Great Coastal Run in 12m21s.
She was followed in very closely by fellow Morpeth Harrier Steph Purvis who clocked 12m26s.
To make it a good day all round for Morpeth, Hannah Rank won the Under 15 Girls Race in 11m05s.
On Saturday 16th June, Sarah retained her Under 11 Girls
Blyth Beach Mile title in atrocious conditions.
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Alwinton Fell Race !
Seventeen runners completed the Alwinton Fell Race
held on Saturday 9th June and organised by Morpeth Harriers.
There were good conditions underfoot and the event was won
by Northumberland Fell Runner Will Horsley, who won by
the narrowest of margins (eight seconds) from his clubmate Gary Owens.
The winning time was 1hr50min14secs.

First lady home was Morpeth's Sally Welsh who finished ten minutes
ahead of second lady Andrea Mitchell, also of Morpeth.
Jim Tomlin of Morpeth finished 13th and was third Over 55 Veteran.
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The Nike Blaydon Race !
Ian Hudspith of Morpeth Harriers was the first British
and North East finisher in the 27th running
of the annual Blaydon Race on Saturday 9th June,
sponsored once again by Nike.

Clocking an excellent 26m55s, he finished third
and was actually only a mere 27 seconds adrift
of Ehiopian winner Tewodoros Shiferaw,
such was the quality of his run.
Only sixteen seconds divided him from second place
which was secured by another Ehiopian Gemechu Kidane.
Hudspith did however finish one place and eighteen seconds
ahead of pre- race favourite Simon Tonui of Kenya.

Another good Morpeth Harrier performer on the night
was Mark Brown who finished eighth in 28m37s.
Ivan Hollingsworth showed he is well on the road to recovery
after yet another injury set back, when he finished twelfth in 29m27s.
Nick Swinburne finished fifteenth in 29m57s.

Morpeth's Aiveen Fox will feel a little disappointed
with her 75th position in 34m01s,
which saw her finish as seventh lady behind Cathy Mutwa.
Other leading Morpeth Harrier Lady finishers were
Jane Mooney (119th) (17th Lady) 35m25s
and Kate Chapman (136th) (20th Lady) 35m54s.

Other Morpeth Harriers amongst the top 300 finishers
in a field in excess of 4,000 were the following.
Paul Waterston (30th) (5th O/40) 31m26s,
Kirk Wilson (38th) 31m56s,
Mike Hegarty (57th) 32m59s,
Mike Jeffrey (111th) (13th O/45) 35m10s,
Mike Winter (126th) 35m40s,
Ricky Davidson (131st) 35m48s,
Gareth Driscoll (134th) 35m52s,
Graeme Leathard (148th) (25th O/40) 36m10s,
Neil McAnany (151st) (21st O/45) 36m12s,
Richard Driscoll (153rd) (8th O/50) 36m15s,
Simon Robson (213th) 37m31s,
Hamish McCallister - Williams (214th) (33rd O/45) 37m31s,
Gwenda Cavill (217th) (32nd Lady) 37m39s,
Les Cavill (248th) (36th O/45) 38m05s,
Michelle Woodley (274th) (39th Lady) 38m29s,
Nick Armstrong (279th) (38thO/40) 38m32s
and Sue Calvert (293rd) (40th Lady) 38m43s.
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May 2007

Jesmond Dene Handicap Series ( 2 )
Running her first ever 5k road event, Morpeth Harrier Zoe Armstrong clocked the second fastest Womens time at the Heaton Harriers Jesmond Dene Handicap on Monday night (28th May) Competing off a handicap of nine minutes and thirty seconds Zoe clocked an overall time of 22m48s. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Nick Armstrong (no relation) running off a handicap of eight minutes clocked 21m54s.
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Edinburgh Marathon
Morpeth Harrier David Swinburne was one of the top finishers at the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday 27th May. Incorporated within the event was a relay, so at the time of going to press his exact finishing position could not be determined, his finishing time was 2hrs41mins subject to further ratification.
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Raby Castle 10k Road Race
Morpeth Harriers provided dual winners of the Raby Castle 10k Road Race held at Staindrop, near Darlington on Sunday 27th May. Terry Wall won the Mens Race in 33m11s and Aiveen Fox, who finished 22nd overall in 38m20s was first Lady finisher. Other leading Morpeth finishers were Alan Shepherd (5th) 34m54s and Andrew Lawrence (9th) 36m04s. Lawrence actually ran in the vest of Durham University.
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Clive Cookson 10k Road Race
Morpeths Mark Brown was a clear winner of the Clive Cookson 10k Road Race at Monkseaton on Wednesday 23rd May.

Brown's time was 32m01s which put him 77seconds clear of his nearest rival and clubmate Ivan Hollingsworth, who was on another road to recovery after serious injury. Paul Waterston of Morpeth was the first Veteran finisher when he placed ninth in 34m38s.

Morpeth's Jane Mooney won the Ladies race when finishing 32nd in 38m07s. Kate Chapman of Morpeth was third Lady in 46th place in 39m41s.

Other Morpeth finishers were
David Steel (19th) 37m01s,
Mike Winter (36th) 38m42s, Mike Jeffrey (37th) 38m57s
and Graeme Leathard (45th) 39m40s, Nick Armstrong (62nd) 41m15s,
Hamish McAllister-Williams (65th) 41m25s, Simon Robson (75th) 41m55s,
Julie Clark (89th) 42m42s (PB), Ian Corner (106th) 43m45s,
Ricky Davidson (112th) 44m12s, Chris Offord (177th) 48m55s,
Susan Smith (225th) 54m16s, Jane Blackett (228th) 54m35s,
Suzanne Millward (251st) 58m04s.

For Julie Clark it was a new personal best. For the very first time the event also included a shorter 5k race, and Morpeth's Archie Jenkins finished 14th in 18m33s.
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Bupa Great Manchester 10k Run
Ian Hudspith and Chris Sampson of Morpeth Harriers were amongst the Elite finishers in the Bupa Great Manchester 10k Run on Sunday 20th May. Hudspith was fifth Briton when placing tenth in an excellent 29m08s. Sampson clocked 31m11s when finishing 48th.
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Les Allcorn 10k Road Race
Dave Kirkland of Alnwick Harriers won the Les Allcorn Memorial 10k Road Race held in Hulne Park, Alnwick on Tuesday 15th May. Kirkland clocked 33m58s, just outsprinting Blyth's Ashley Henderson by the margin of two seconds. Third place went to Morpeth Harriers evergreen Veteran Les Atkinson, who clocked 34m34s. Atkinson always runs the event in honour of Allcorn, his former Alnwick clubmate, with whom he shared many a team success back in the Eighties. That placing also gave him the Over 50's Male Veteran title.

First Over 40 Veteran was Morpeth's Paul Waterston, who finished fifth in 35m47s. Next home for Morpeth was Gordon Dixon who finished tenth in 37m52s.

Morpeth's Michelle Woodley was third Lady finisher in 30th place overall in 41m44s.

Other Morpeth finishers were
Mike Jeffrey (17th) 39m08s, Michael Winter (19th) 39m41s
Richard Driscoll (23rd) 40m09s, Simon Robson (37th) 42m27s
Sue Calvert (42nd) (6th Lady) 42m57s, Paul Tomlinson (53rd) 45m03s
Keith Cooper (77th) 47m34s, Shuna Rank (87th) (13th Lady) 49m55s
Susan Smith (109th) (21st Lady) 55m51s
and Jane Blackett (111th) (22nd Lady) 56m04s.

For the first time the event also incorporated a Junior Event run over 2.8k, and Morpeth Harrier Hannah Rank triumphed by crossing the finish line in 11m26s and was credited with first place despite clocking an identical time to that of Alnwick Harrier Ben Davison. Other Morpeth Harriers to finish were Sarah Wilkes, who finished eighteenth overall in 13m13s, and was fourth Junior Female finisher, and Sarah Forester who finished thirty fourth in 15m10s, and was thirteenth Junior Female.
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Golden Ball 5k Road Race
Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison won the Golden Ball 5k Road Race on Sunday 13th May in Morecambe in 16m21s.
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Alnwick Sprint Triathlon
Several Morpeth ladies performed well in the Alnwick Sprint Triathlon, held on Sunday 13th May at Willowburn Leisure Centre in Alnwick. The event consisted of a 600m pool swim, a 23km bike and a 5k off road run. Natalie Batey of Ryton Tri was first out of the pool closely followed by Helen Jones of Alnwick Tri, who ran for Morpeth prior to the birth of her daughter last year. Angharad Porteous, of Morpeth Harriers competing for Alnwick Tri, was third out of the pool with Jane Mooney, also of Morpeth Harriers and competing for Alnwick Tri, and Amanda Cantle of Sun City Tri behind. Amanda overtook all the girls on the bike to start the run 1.5 min ahead of Helen. Jane and Angharad gave chase a further 20sec behind.

The off road run was very slippery in the rain, but Jane's running strength showed through. She caught and overtook both Helen and Amanda to win by an impressive 40 sec. This is the first Triathlon that Jane has won, but certainly won't be her last. Angharad also ran very strongly, overtaking Helen, but Amanda had too much of a head start to be caught twice. Angharad finished as third lady. Her performance is particularly impressive as she is only a junior and she will undoubtedly improve with age and experience.

Meanwhile Jenny Holland was unable to use her strong bike to her advantage due to the wet conditions, but nevertheless she still finished as third veteran lady.

Morpeth Harriers Results
Jane Mooney, first Lady, 1hr 12m10s
Angharad Porteous, third Lady and first Junior Lady, 01:13:23
Jenny Holland, third Veteran Lady, 01:21:55

Other finishers were Les Cavill 01.11.28, fourth Senior Male Veteran
Nick Armstrong, Paul Tomlinson & Gwenda Cavill.
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Tesco Great Junior Run
Two of our young Morpeth Harriers produced excellent performances in Edinburgh on Saturday 5th May at the Tesco Great Junior Run. Sarah Wilkes won the Under 12 Girls 2.4k race in 10m05s and thirteen seconds later her clubmate Steph Purvis followed her home to take second place to make it a fantastic double honour for them and their club.
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April 2007

Mark Brown Wins Blyth Valley 10k Race !
Despite running sixteen seconds slower than in 2006, Morpeths Mark Brown repeated his previous victory in the Transped sponsored Blyth Valley 10k Multi Terrain Race on Sunday 29th April. Brown was well clear after halfway, and went on to win in 32m04s, which put him around ninety seconds clear of his closest rival John Moore of Heaton Harriers, with Elswick's Mark McLeod, elder son of former Olympic 10,000metre Silver Medallist Mike, a further nine seconds adrift in third place.

Paul Waterston of Morpeth Harriers produced an excellent run in 34m52s to finish seventh, and he was first home in the Male Veteran ranks. Third home for Morpeth was Junior Ross Floyd who placed eleventh in 35m34s.

Also having good runs amongst the Morpeth runners were Richard Driscoll (51st) 39m23s, Neil McAnany (54th) 39m28s and Graeme Leathard (58th) 39m39s.

Other Morpeth finishers were as follows
Kevin Bray (80th) 41m04s, George McDougal (114th) 43m03s, Sue Calvert (119th) 43m28s, Ian Corner (127th) 44m04s, Mike Steven (144th) 44m43s, Peter Bassett (159th) 45m34s, Pam Woodcock (197th) 47m32s, Chris Offord (218th) 48m52s.

The following Morpeth Harriers finished as indicated however no timings were available when going to press. Trevor Robinson (254th), Anthony Payne (268th) Susan Smith (287th), Jill Blackett (307th) and Suzanne Millward (318th)
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Flora London Marathon !
Morpeth Harriers leading finisher in the 27th Flora London Marathon on Sunday 22nd April was Kate Chapman, who finished as 137th Lady in a time of 3hrs11mins20secs. This was indeed an excellent run for Kate who started very steadily by going through the first 10k in a modest 43m45s and by halfway had run a very respectable 1hr32mins50secs. Those tactics allowed her to progress over the second part of the event to an overall position of 1,657th and giving her a very respectable clocking.

Next home for the club was Stephen McDonald who finished 6,199th in the Mens event in a time of 3hrs51mins37secs having gone through halfway in 1hr52mins19secs.

Ben Groves completed the contingent of Morpeth finishers when finishing 7,255th in 3hrs57mins42secs having gone through halfway in 1hr46mins41secs.
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Martin Scaifes Marathon Debut !
Morpeth Harrier Martin Scaife crowned his Marathon debut in Antwerp, Belguim on Saturday 21st April, by finishing an impressive seventh behind Kenyan David Kibet. Kibet's winning time was 2hrs16mins37secs and Scaife's clocking was 2hrs25mins50secs.
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Wallsend Harriers Multi Terrain 5mile Race !
Wallsend Harriers Multi Terrain 5mile Race, held at the Rising Sun Country Park on Sunday 15th April saw Morpeth Harrier Mike Hegarty place fifth in 28m25s. He was Morpeths leading finisher of which there were 118 in all in the regions newest event. Forced off the roads by increased traffic and mounting demands by the Police authority, Wallsend Harriers have opted for an off road course in order to keep a popular event on the athletics calendar.

Second home for Morpeth and first Under 17 Mens competitor was Marc Cochrane who clocked 28m50s. Delyth James of Morpeth finished 18th overall in 30m15s and was second in the Womens race to former clubmate Dianne Henaghan of Chester Le Street who won in 29m32s. James was first Under 20 Womens finisher. Other Morpeth Harriers finishers were Archie Jenkins (15th) (1st O/50) 29m52s and Bernie Cordes (70th) (2nd O/70) 36m23s.
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Silver For Morpeth Men At National 12 Stage Road Relays !
At long last the Southern and Midlands dominant grip on the Mens English National 12 Stage Road Relay title was loosened, when Leeds City and Morpeth Harriers finished in Gold and Silver medal positions at a warm and sunny Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham on Saturday April 14th.

That result paid great testimony to the Northern Championship held at Sunderland two weeks previous when both clubs battled out a thrilling finish with Morpeth Harriers coming out as Northern Champions. However on Saturday Leeds City came out stronger by just over two minutes after grabbing the lead on seventh leg through a very much in form James Walsh. Morpeth's drive for glory was not to be diminished however as they battled on relentlessly over the final five legs to emerge as first time Silver medal winners despite a last ditch effort by Southerner's Belgrave to deprive them of a taste of elevated glory.

The sheer determination of Commonwealth Games Bronze medallist Mark Hudspith (27m17s) on the long Leg Eleven prevailed however, to hold off an equally determined Paul Freary of Belgrave, to allow final leg runner Mark Brown the cushion of twenty eight seconds as he set off to claim prized Silver medals. Brown's efforts held firm as he increased Morpeth's advantage to sixty one seconds at the finish line with his excellent short stage clocking of 15m08s.

Earlier, things hadn't happened positively for Morpeth Harriers until Leg Six, when Nick McCormick, who was to have run a long leg, was forced onto the short option by the late withdrawal of Dan Samuels. Undaunted, Nick set about carving through the opposition in front of him to climb a mammoth eight places with the fastest short stage clocking of the day of 13m39s, and the fifth ever fastest short stage clocking on the now well established course.

The earlier legs had seen Morpeth very much on a seesaw situation, as they went from Michael Morris's 27m28s which saw them hit a Leg One placing of twentieth through to Martin Scaife's fifth leg clocking of 26m53s which saw them in tenth place. Jonathan Taylor's National 12 Stage debut for Morpeth on second leg saw him clock an excellent 15m06s which saw him rise to thirteenth spot, and despite not being pleased with his clocking of 27m47s, third leg runner Chris Sampson still managed to claw a further three places to tenth, which meant he had clearly played his part towards the positive end. Fourth Leg runner Jonathan Young kept up his excellent form with a splendid short stage clocking of 15m19s to take his club up to seventh place.

The aforementioned Scaife and McCormick kept the Morpeth efforts going on Legs Five and Six. Unfortunately Morpeth's seventh leg runner Neil Wilkinson succumbed to faster efforts around him and slipped to fifth with his clocking of 28m07s being passed Leeds City, Cardiff and 2006 Champions Newham and Essex Beagles who were starting to show through for the first occasion of the afternoon.

Team Captain David Swinburne went for damage limitation on Leg Eight, and although he slipped a further two places to seventh with his clocking of 15m24s the gaps were small enough for ninth leg runner Ian Hudspith to get Morpeth back amongst the medals in second place with the days seventh fastest long stage clocking of 26m08s. On Leg Ten Morpeth Harriers replaced Samuels with Terry Wall and he held firm with a splendid 15m26s, allowing Mark Hudspith and Mark Brown to determine their clubs final fortunes.

Morpeth Harriers also fielded an incomplete B team which spanned six legs. Ben Harrison clocked their fastest long stage time of 28m51s with Robert Balmbra getting their fastest short stage time of 16m47s. Unfortunately Nathan Shrubb picked up another injury when running the long third stage and was forced to almost a crawl through the closing stages. Hopefully this injury may not see him out of action for a lengthy period.

The North East had a good day at Sutton Park as Chester Le Street Ladies made the medal rostrum for Bronze in their 6 Stage event. Despite finishing fifth in the Northern Championship Morpeth Harriers could not field a team at Sutton Park with leading runners Jane Mooney and Kate Chapman rendered unavailable owing to other commitments.

Mens 12 Stage Leading Results 1st Leeds City AC 4hrs11mins31secs 2nd Morpeth Harriers & AC 4hrs13mins42secs 3rd Belgrave Harriers 4hrs14mins43secs 4th Newham & Essex Beagles 4hrs14mins54secs 5th Cardiff AC 4hrs16mins20secs.

Other North East Results Gateshead Harriers (45th) 4hrs46mins46secs Chester Le Street (51st) 4hrs53mins04secs North Shields Poly (62nd) 5hrs09mins00secs.

Womens 6 Stage Leading Results 1st Charnwood 1hr41mins14secs 2nd Aldershot Farnham & District 1hr14mins23secs 3rd Chester Le Street 1hr41mins56secs.
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North Tyneside 10k Road Race !
Over 1300 runners took part in the third North Tyneside 10k on Sunday 8th April. The race was sponsored by North Tyneside Council and Start Fitness with further support coming from Northumbrian Water. The event, run from The Parks Centre in North Shields to St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, saw sunny but blustery conditions en-route and was won by Heaton Harriers newcomer James Buis in 33m18s.

Four Morpeth Harriers were among the top twenty, namely Nathan Shrubb, Andrew Lawrence, Paul Waterston and Marc Cochrane and their placings pointed to another emphatic team win. For all four it was their second competitive outing of the Easter weekend, however none of them showed any signs of weakness after the Elswick events on Good Friday.

Nathan Shrubb can feel well pleased with his run that saw him place seventh in 34m18s, exactly a minute adrift of the winner. Andrew Lawrence finished tenth in 34m35s. Paul Waterston was third Over 40 Veteran home in fourteenth place in 35m17s. Marc Cochrane, running his first ever 10k event, can feel well pleased with his effort which saw him finish in seventeenth place in 35m36s. Another excellent Morpeth performance came from Mike Winter who finished 49th in 39m16s.

Other Morpeth placings were as follows Andrew Banks (75th) 40m22s, Graeme Leathard (87th) 40m45s Nick Armstrong (132nd) 42m23s, George McDougal (138th) 42m29s Julie Clark (196th) 43m51s, Michelle Woodley (235th) 44m47s Ian Stearman (236th) 44m47s, Ricky Davidson (265th) 45m06s Paul Tomlinson (288th), Jenny Holland (339th) 46m46s Peter Bassett (1st O/70) (381st) 47m30s, Ian Corner (397th) 47m51s Shuna Rank (408th) 48m02s, Mike Steven (432nd) 48m32s Chris Offord (507th) 50m28s, Susan Smith (779th) 55m19s June Blackett (892nd) 57m25s and Suzanne Milward (1070th) 61m36s.
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Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival !
Running in the colours of Leeds University, Morpeth Harrier Sarah Graham had a successful time at the Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival where she finished as fourth overall in the Womens Championship. The event combined the Port Erin 10k on April 6th, the Peel Hill Races on April 7th and the Douglas 5k on April 8th. Sarah finished as third Woman in the 10k in 37m57s, second in the Hill race in 18m23s and sixth in the 5k in 19m08s.
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