Saturday 25th October 2008.
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE
Sherman Cup/Davidson Shield
at Temple Park, South Shields.

Sunday 23rd November 2008
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 1.
at Shibdon Park, Blaydon.

Saturday 10th January 2009
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 2.
at Farringdon Sunderland.

Saturday 14th February 2009
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 3.
at Edmond Campion School, Wrekenton.

Saturday 28th February 2009
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 4.
at Cramlington

Saturday 14th March 2009
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 5.
at Prudhoe

Saturday 28th March 2009
NORTH EASTERN HARRIER LEAGUE 6.
at Temple Park, South Shields.

The final fixture will be the celebration of the centenary
of the mens section of the North Eastern Harrier League.

www.startfitness.co.uk

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Local & National 2008/2009 Cross Country Dates

Saturday 13th December 2008
North East Counties Cross Country Championships
at Wrekenton, Gateshead.

Saturday 24th January 2009
2009 North Of England Cross Country Championships
St.Helens
Lancashire

Saturday 21st February 2009
England Cross Country Championships
Parliament Hill Fields,
London.
Click here for more info.......

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 6 )

The curtain came down on another Cross Country season
on Saturday 28th March, with British Athletes competing
for highly prized medals at the World Championships in Jordan,
and local attention being centred on the final Start Fitness
sponsored North Eastern Harrier League meeting,
held at Temple Park Leisure Centre, in South Shields.

It also coincided with the Centenary Celebration of the League,
and in honour of that occasion, all seven events were
started by legendary Morpeth Harrier Jim Alder MBE,
who is also a past President of the organisation.
The weather did not play its part however,
as athletes faced a biting cold wind on the open stretches
within the nature of the course at South Shields.

Those factors did not deter the winner of the Senior Womens event,
Gemma Floyd of Morpeth Harriers.
It was indeed a superb comeback and tonic for Floyd,
as she had not raced for around ten years, when she had run
under the surname of Taylor, and was indeed a very competitive runner.

That competitive edge certainly appeared as if had never been away,
as with her Slow Pack advantage of three minutes over some of her most illustrious rivals,
she strode to a five second marginal victory over her closest rival,
who just happened to be the seasons best performer Kim Simpson
of Gateshead Harriers, who had run well to force her
way through to second from the Fast Pack, considering the conditions.

Nevertheless it was a tremendous boost for Floyd,
who is going to continue her comeback with a cautious approach,
and hopes to do a number of longer Track races during the Summer months.
Morpeth Harriers finished thirteenth as a team in this event,
with further support coming from Margaret MacDonald (71st) (Slow pack),
and Claire Bruce (75th) (Fast Pack).
This result also gave Morpeth a seasons final positioning of sixth for the Senior Women.

Morpeth Harriers also produced an individual winner
on the day in the Under 15 Boys event.

In this case it marked an excellent debut run for Sean Anderson,
who had competed for Northumberland in the previous
weeks English Schools Cross Country Championships.
Anderson used the whole of his 1min 20 sec Slow Pack
advantage to hang on for a three second marginal victory over
chasing Fast Packer Lewis Hogg of Gateshead Harriers.

He led Morpeth Harriers to fourth team place on the day,
with further good supporting efforts coming from Jonny Nisbet (6th) (Fast Pack)
and Sam Hancox (33rd) (Fast Pack).

It marked a good end to the season also for Nisbet,
when he received the Bronze medal in the individual
Under 15 Boys section for his efforts.
Morpeth ended up sixth in the Under 15 Boys team race for the season.

Best team result for the season for Morpeth came from their Under 13 Girls,
who finished second, and on Saturday they finished third on the day.

Once again they were led home by Alison Brown,
who despite giving 1min 20 secs away to ten of the 23 strong field,
managed to work her way through to finish in tenth place,
and as eighth fastest on the day.
Further team support came from twin sisters Mollie and Rosie McDonald,
who finished 15th and 16th respectively
from the Slow Pack.

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys also produced an excellent
seasons effort to finish as third team.
On Saturday they finished sixth, and were led home by Ben Steel,
who produced probably what was his best run in the
league to date, to finish tenth from the Slow Pack.
Further team support came from Joe Robertshaw (25th) (Fast Pack)
and Martin Hood (39th) (Fast Pack).

It was also a good day for Ben Steel's older sister Rachael
who picked up the Bronze medal for her overall seasons
performance in the Under 15 Girls age group,
and on Saturday was third fastest finisher when placing fifth from the
Fast Pack, and one place behind debutant clubmate Lucy Shuttleworth,
who on this showing also looks a bright prospect for the future.

In the Under 17/Under 20 Womens section Morpeth Harriers
finished third for the season, however lack of a third
runner on Saturday saw them fail to finish as a team on the day.
It was a bit disappointing however because both Louise Cairns
and Catriona MacDonald battled hard throughout to
come home as second and third respectively from the Slow Pack.

Morpeth Harriers confirmed their final status as eighth in Division 1
of the Senior Mens league when they finished tenth on the day.
With only the bare six to count turning out, it was very essential
that all finished, as there was still a distinct possibility of
a relegation issue looming.
All six did finish however, and they were led home by
David Steel who finished 55th from the Medium Pack.
Morpeth's other finishers were Archie Jenkins (64th) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (91st) (Slow Pack)
Alistair MacDonald (103rd) (Medium Pack)
Ross Floyd (145th) (Fast Pack)
and Paul Bentley (285th) (Slow Pack).

Thanks went to Hugh and Steph Bingham of Tynedale Harriers
for their efforts in maintaining the league standards over
the last few years since the retirements of previous
secretaries George and Audrey Ogle, and best wishes are given to
Alan Wears of Jarrow and Hebburn who is to take over the role in the forthcoming future.
Tribute was also paid to Start Fitness who are to continue sponsoring the league.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 5 )
Morpeth Harriers best result at the fifth and penultimate
Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at windswept Prudhoe on Saturday 14th March,
came from their Under 13 Boys who won the team race by a
margin of two points from Sunderland Harriers.

An excellent run from the Slow Pack by Joe Elder
resulted in him finishing second overall, and he led the Morpeth
squad home with equally excellent support coming from fellow
Slow Packers Martin Hood and Ben Steel who finished
seventh and fifteenth respectively.

Ben's sister Rachael, also produced an excellent run in the
Under 15 Girls event, where she finished fourth from the Fast Pack.

Sam Hancox produced a strong performance to finish fourth
from the Slow Pack in the Under 15 Boys event.

Morpeth's only other team success came in the Under 13 Girls event,
where they were led home by Alison Brown,
who certainly ticked a few positive boxes by finishing seventh overall,
when running from the Fast Pack, courtesy of
her recent Harrier League victory at Cramlington.
Sarah Wilkes (11th) (Fast Pack), and Rose McDonald (15th) (Slow Pack)
supported Alison's run to give Morpeth third team place.

Unfortunately Morpeth failed to field a sixth runner in order to continue
their Division 1 team interests in the Senior Mens competition.
Mark Davies was first home for Morpeth on this occasion,
and he produced an excellent run to finish sixth, and his
Medium Pack effort was the eleventh fastest of the day.

Other Morpeth Senior Mens results were as follows
Alistair MacDonald (62nd) (Medium Pack)
Gordon Dixon (77th) (Medium Pack)
Archie Jenkins (84th) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (110th) (Slow Pack).

In the Senior Womens event Morpeth
also failed to mount a team challenge.
Claire Bruce (52nd) (Fast Pack)
and Margaret MacDonald (58th) (Slow Pack)
were the clubs only participants.

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Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships !
Despite a number of excellent individual performances,
including some from athletes belonging to Morpeth Harriers,
the North East could only bring two sets of Bronze Team Medals
home from the Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships,
held at Nottingham's Wollaton Park, on Saturday 7th March.

The ten race programme that always produces quality,
saw athletes performing to their highest, with the showpeice
being the Senior Mens 12k event which brought together an
interesting battle of wits between Hampshire's Andy Vernon
and Avon and Somerset's Frank Tickner,
which eventually saw Vernon break away in the
final strides to win by three seconds in 37m23s.

North East efforts resulted in them finishing as fourth team,
and only sixty five points adrift of medals.
Unfortunately illness and injury had robbed them of leading light
and North Eastern Champion Mark Hood, and another couple of good athletes,
which had they been present medals could have been a distinct possibility.

Nevertheless there were some excellent efforts to show,
including Morpeth Harriers pairing Nick Swinburn and Chris
Sampson, who finished in 36th and 39th places respectively,
and were the second and third finishers to support
Ryan McLeod's leading finish of 22nd.

Whilst Swinburn was somewhat disappointed by his own individual placing,
Sampson was well pleased with his effort, which saw him take the scalps
of a good number of the country's strongest.

The regions best efforts of the day came in the
Under 20 and Senior Womens events.

In the Under 20 Womens 6k event, Laura Weightman emerged as
Morpeth Harriers only medallist on the day, when she finished an
excellent fifteenth and as second counter to support Kate Avery's third placing,
which ultimately led to Bronze medals.

The North East Senior Womens squad also took Bronze medals,
being led home by Sale Harrier Sonia Samuels, (formerly Thomas)
and also formerly with Wallsend.

Morpeth's Jonny Nisbet played his part well in a North East Under 15 Boys
squad that finished in thirteenth team place in their 4.5k event.
He finished as third counter in 90th place overall,
which was doubly excellent considering him being
a year young to a good portion of the field.

In the Under 17 Womens 5k event, Morpeth's Zoe Armstrong
came home as fourth counter in 87th place.
The squad finished in fourteenth team spot.

Marcus Cram played his part well to finish in 62nd place,
and as second counter for the North East Under 17 Men
who finished seventeenth in their 6k event.

In the Under 15 Girls 4k event the North East finished in 29th team place.
Morpeth pair Hannah Rank and Rachael Steel finished outside the scoring
counts however in 218th and 231st places respectively.

There were no Morpeth Harriers taking part in the Under 13 Girls,
Under 13 Boys and Under 20 Mens events where the North East
finished in eleventh, thirteenth and fifth places respectively.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 4 )
Excellent runs from Ian Hudspith and Delyth James were the major highlight
of a superb set of performances by athletes from Morpeth Harriers
at the fourth Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
meeting held at East Cramlington Nature Reserve on Saturday 28th February.

The tough and demanding course splendidly erected by Blyth Running Club,
did nothing to deter the 38 year old Hudspith, who hadn't competed since November,
when he had run a 10k leg for Great Britain at the Chiba Ekiden Relay in Japan,
and had picked up a throat infection that had forced him out of the
North East Cross Country Championships in December.

Ian had not run in the Harrier League for several years,
and it was soon quite evident that he needed this particular run.
Giving five minutes, and two and a half minute starts to the
majority of the 300 strong Senior Mens field,
after opting to run from the fast pack, he tore round the heavy
and relatively muddy three lap course to come home in fifth place
overall in an excellent 32m07s for the six mile distance,
and he led Morpeth Harriers to second team place on the day
behind their fierce rivals Sunderland Harriers.

This run will certainly give Ian the impetus to begin his Spring
and Summer programme on a positive note, and it will be an enormous
boost for his club to be able to include him in the forthcoming
Northern and National 12 Stage Road Relay Championships in April.

Morpeth's second counter on the day was Matt Nicholson,
who also produced a superb performance from the fast pack.
Matt followed on well from his Harrier League performance at Wrekenton,
where a Medium Pack run had seen him finish second, and as third fastest.
This run saw him finish eighth, and as second fastest on the day.

Morpeth's third and fourth counts came from Medium packers
Mark Davies and Richard Teasdale, who each had
excellent runs to finish 23rd and 28th respectively.
Not far behind them was Barry Taylor in 36th place
with an excellent run from the Slow Pack, and Mike Winter
completed the Morpeth team count when he also finished
excellently from the Slow Pack in 49th place.

Morpeth's Delyth James gave great insight into her current form
when she destroyed the entire field to comfortably win the
Senior Womens event by a margin of sixty two seconds over her closest rival.

Delyth had been picked by the North East selectors for this Saturday's
Inter Counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham,
very much based on information being provided by her
coach at Birmingham University, Bud Baldaro, who had reported
that she was literally "flying", and although there had been very
little shown at a competitive level, she certainly cast away any doubts,
and more than repaid the selectors faith, when giving a three minute start to a good
proportion of the field by running from the fast pack, she worked her way
through to grab the lead on the second of the two lap event,
and led Morpeth home to fourth team place on the day,
only losing out for second by a mere seven points.

Aiveen Fox, whose form had been a little indifferent of late,
came home as Morpeth's second counter, having an excellent
run from the fast pack, to finish in sixth place overall,
and third fastest on the day.

Morpeth's third count came from Claire Bruce,
who was 49th from the fast pack.

After the disappointments of failing to finish both the North Eastern
and Northern Cross Country Championships due to injury,
Laura Weightman gave herself a very much needed confidence booster,
for both this weekends Inter Counties, and the forthcoming
English Schools Cross Country Championships, by battling her way
round the two lap Junior and Under 17 Womens course to win with
eleven seconds to spare over her closest rival who was also running from the fast pack.

Alison Brown crowned both her Morpeth Harriers and Harrier League
debut by winning the Under 13 Girls event by a margin of three seconds.
After a steady start, the Berwick based youngster,
who only attended her first training session with the club last
Monday night, literally ran away from her slow pack rivals,
and it was only the chasing fast pack rivals that looked like
endangering her modest victory in the closing stages.
By finishing as eighth fastest on the day, Alison looks to
be a young athlete with lots of promise for the future.
Morpeth finished as third team on the day with further support coming
from Adele Stewart (14th) (Fast Pack) and
Sarah Wilkes (15th) (Fast Pack).

Faye Kankowski produced yet another excellent Harrier League performance,
when she finished second in the Under 15 Girls event from the fast pack,
and only five seconds adrift of the race winner Steph Bruce of Tynedale,
who also ran from the fast pack.

Despite recent chest problems, Marcus Cram showed that he is
gradually getting back into form when he finished third
from the fast pack in the Under 17 Mens event,
and after giving three minutes start to seven of his sixteen rivals.

Jonny Nisbet also produced an excellent performance when finishing sixth
in the Under 15 Boys event from the fast pack.
Morpeths other runner in this event was Sam Hancox,
who finished 22nd from the slow pack.

Martin Hood led Morpeth's Under 13 Boys home to third team place
on the day when he finished in eleventh place overall from the slow pack.
Further excellent team support came from Ben Steel (18th) (Slow Pack)
and Joe Robertshaw (23rd) (Fast Pack),
who was thirteenth fastest overall out of the 51 finishers.

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English National Cross Country Championships !
Morpeths Nick Swinburn capped an excellent first season as a
Senior athlete when he finished eleventh in the main feature at the
Saucony sponsored English National Cross Country Championships
held at the events ancestral home at Parliament Hill Fields,
Hampstead Heath, in London on Saturday 21st February.

In very much springlike conditions, the Bangor University student,
who turns 21 in May, more than matched the abilities of his older rivals around him,
as he held a top 12 placing throughout the whole of the two lap 12k affair,
and achieved one of the best placings for a Morpeth Harrier for a couple of years.

It was in 2003 at the very same venue that Morpeth Harriers
had Senior runners in the top twenty at the National,
when Ian Hudspith and Terry Wall had finished 18th and 20th respectively.
Hudspith added another top twenty placing to that when
he finished sixth at Sunderland in 2007.

Parliament Hills has been a very good hunting ground for Swinburn,
because it was in 2006 that he led the Morpeth Junior Men home to second team place.

This latest performance however will undoubtedly earn Swinburn some rave notices,
and it shouldn't be too long before he gets International recognition at Senior level,
to add to those that he won as a Junior a couple of years ago.
To add to an excellent individual performance, which saw him only eighty seconds
behind the renowned winner Frank Tickner of Wells City,
he would be very pleased to lead a much weakened
Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens squad home to sixteenth team place.

Support firstly came from an excellent run by Chris Sampson,
who despite losing a few places on the run in,
still managed to hold a very respectable 42nd place.
Third and fourth counters Nathan Shrubb and David Swinburne
beavered away to come home in 144th and 170th places.

Next came Andrew Lawrence, who again renewed fine memories of the venue,
as he was the fourth counter in the Junior Mens team success in 2006.
He finished in 266th place.
The Morpeth Harriers scoring count was completed by the endeavours
of the dependable Veteran Paul Waterston who finished 371st.

Disappointingly in other aspects it was a poor day for Morpeth Harriers
as athletes from younger age groups and the Senior Women failed to
compete in the capital on their behalf for varied reasons.

Gwenda Cavill was Morpeth's only Senior Woman to compete,
and she finished 264th in the two lap 8k event.

Sarah Wilkes and Rachel Todd were Morpeth's only other two
runners to compete, and they finished 257th and 315th
in the Under 13 Girls one lap 3k Championship.

Click here to see photos from 2009 English National Cross Country Championships

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )
The wintry storms that hit the region last Thursday left insufficient
aftermath to force any cancellation of the third meeting of the
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League held at Wrekenton, Gateshead,
on Saturday 14th February much to the delight of competing athletes and organisers.

Morpeth Harriers did manage to turn out a full team of Senior Men,
however their finishing positions were not strong enough to continue
their challenge for supremacy at the top of Division 1,
as they could only finish eighth on the day.

On the plus side however, Morpeth's Matt Nicholson produced
one of the runs of the day when he finished second overall to Elswick's Philip Hurst,
and was only denied victory by a margin of thirteen seconds,
blaming a tricky downhill section for thwarting his final challenge.

His run from the Medium Pack along with Hurst was third fastest overall on the day,
and the pair were only beaten by Ross Murray of Gateshead,
whose Fast Pack run got him through finish in seventh place.

Another excellent Senior Mens run for Morpeth came
from newcomer Richard Teasdale, who used his Slow Pack
start to full advantage as he held on to a placing of fifth.

Morpeth's third counter was Phil Walker, who produced an excellent
Fast Pack run that saw him come home in 47th place,
and he was eleventh Veteran finisher.
Twenty places behind Phil came Morpeth's fourth counter in Ross Floyd,
who had started brightly from the Fast Pack, but had struggled on the final third lap.

Morpeth's scoring counts were closed by Rob Hancox (167th) (Slow Pack)
and Peter Scaife (170th) (Slow Pack).

A well back to form Kate Chapman led Morpeths
Senior Women to team victory on the day, when she
finished second from the Slow Pack.
The winning team count was completed by
Gwenda Cavill (8th) (Slow Pack)
and Julie Clark (11th) (Slow Pack).
Morpeth's Claire Bruce finished ninth from the Slow Pack,
however she was disqualified from the team count
as she was wearing an ineligible number.

There was an excellent debut run by Morpeth's Faye Kankowski
in the Under 15 Girls event which she won comfortably
with fifty two seconds to spare over her closest rival.

Morpeth finished as second team in the combined
Under 17/Under 20 Womens event.
They were led home by a much rejuvenated Zoe Armstrong,
who despite giving three minutes away to half of the field
with her Fast Pack start, finished in an excellent fifth place overall.

Further team support came from Louise Cairns (6th) (Slow Pack)
and Jessica Caldwell (14th) (Slow Pack).

Morpeths Under 15 Boys finished in third team place,
and were led home by Jonnie Nisbet, who again
impressed when finishing sixth overall from the Fast Pack,
and was fourth fastest on the day.

Philip Caldwell (11th) (Slow Pack)
and Sam Hancox (17th) (Slow Pack)
were Morpeth's other supporting counts.

There was a third team place also for Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls.
They were led home by Mollie McDonald (14th) (Slow Pack),
with supporting counts coming from Sarah Wilkes(15th) (Fast Pack)
and Rose McDonald (16th) (Slow Pack).

Morpeth Harriers also finished as a team in the Under 13 Boys event.
They came sixth, and were led home by Joe Elder
who finished 16th from the Slow Pack.

North East Counties Under 13 Boys 200m champion Joe Robertshaw
came home in 19th place from the Fast Pack,
and was an excellent tenth fastest on the day as Morpeth's second counter,
and the score was completed by Henrik Paulsen who was 26th from the Slow Pack.

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North of England Cross Country Championships !
Despite missing some key athletes, Morpeth Harriers Men and Womens
squads battled hard in the heavy mud at Sherdley Park, St Helens
at the North of England Cross Country Championships on Saturday 24th January.

Very late withdrawals by some of the clubs younger athletes
did nothing to help the clubs already beleaguered situation,
commented Club Secretary Mike Bateman, and in the younger
age groups it left them with just two complete teams to battle
for medals, and this kind of commitment is certainly not healthy.

On top of that, the situation was so close for the minor placings
in the Senior Mens event, with only fifty six points spanning second
and eighth place, which is where Morpeth finished, another top athlete
taking part would have made such a difference to the clubs fortunes on the day.

Morpeth's best team placing on the day went to the Under 17 Women,
who finished fifth, albeit that there were only six full competing
teams spanning the 82 finishers in that event.

They were led home by Zoe Armstrong, who is at long last getting
back to the form that she is known for, and her placing of twentieth,
and the added fact that she was third from the region,
bears out the fact that all of the hard work she has put into her training
in recent times is beginning to bear fruit, and she is repaying
the patience and faith shown by her coaches, to the extent that she has
come out of the troubled times with a positive result.
Support in the team effort came from Louise Cairns (64th)
Catriona MacDonald (66th) and Jessica Caldwell (67th)

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men battled hard and well in a field of 604 finishers,
and were led home with a superb run by Nick Swinburn,
who fought off the close attentions of some well seasoned
campaigners to finish eleventh, and not far behind him, also having excellent runs,
and staying true to the cause, were Chris Sampson and Mark Brown who
finished 19th and 34th respectively.
Unfortunately Kristian Forster was forced to drop out after also
being up with the leaders in the early stages which left
Morpeth just that bit weaker in the challenge.

There was still a lot of hope left for medals when Morpeth's Road
and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne finished in 73rd spot,
and Veteran Paul Waterston definitely produced one
of the clubs "runs of the day" when he finished in 104th place.
Realising he was still part of the scoring six Ross Floyd
battled to stay in contention, as he finished in 145th place.
However the team battle was intense, and other
clubs just forced their way in front.

Other Morpeth finishers in the Senior Mens event were
Gary Clark (462nd) and Rob Hancox (502nd).

There was a tremendous battle at the front of the Senior Womens
event where Kendal's Gemma Miles eventually managed to extinguish
the early lead by Hallamshire's Hatti Dean, to retain the Northern
title that she won in 2008 at Leeds.

Behind all this however two North East clubs
were battling it out for team honours.
Chester Le Street just did enough to finish second,
however Morpeth Harriers can feel well pleased with their efforts
to finish a respectable seventh, and second from the region.

Jane Mooney led them home with a superb battling performance
that saw her finish 24th, and she was sixth from the region.
Sarah Graham (40th), Aiveen Fox (49th) and Gwenda Cavill (100th)
supported Mooney in the Morpeth team effort.
Graham and Fox were tenth and eleventh from the region respectively.
Margaret MacDonald also produced an excellent run to finish
185th in a total finishing field of 238 finishers.

Morpeth's other team score came from their young Under 13 Girls squad,
who battled hard to finish seventeenth of nineteen competing squads.
Sarah Wilkes led the Morpeth team home with her individual placing of 68th
. Team support came from Adele Stewart (87th)
Steph Purvis (118th) and Rachael Todd (129th).

Unfortunately Laura Weightman again succumbed
to a Championship injury problem.
She took a tumble when nearing the end of the first lap
of the two lap Under 20 Womens event, and was forced to
retire with an ankle strain, it is hoped that this was more of a
precaution with other major events looming ahead.
Laura was in the leading ten runners at the time.
Morpeth's only other runner here was
Laura Dixon who finished in 50th place.

Jonny Nisbet produced an excellent performance when finishing
17th in the Under 15 Boys event, however with only two other
Morpeth runners to support him, there was no reward awaiting him in a team challenge.
Morpeth's other two runners were Philip Caldwell (127th) and Sam Hancox (155th).

At the time of going to press Morpeth's Hannah Rank's name
is missing from the results sheet for Under 15 Girls
event because of an administrative error.
However it is reckoned that she finished just outside the top fifty.
Morpeth's only other competitor in Carley - MaeWebster who finished in 88th spot.

Perhaps one of Morpeth's biggest disappointments was the failure
to field a fourth runner in the Under 13 Boys event,
because the three who did run, Liam Brooks, Joe Elder
and Martin Hood all had respectable runs when finishing in
54th, 161st and 163rd places respectively.

Morpeth's Martyn Cairns pulled out during the Under 20 Mens event,
and sadly illness and late withdrawals meant
they had no runner at all in the Under 17 Mens event.

It is hoped that Morpeth Harriers do manage to get their squads
in action for the National Championships in London in February.

Click Here For Full Results.......

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League !
Despite the prevailing cold and icy conditions,
nearly 600 athletes turned out for the second
Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
meeting held at Farringdon College, Sunderland on Saturday 10th January.

Main highlight of the day was the Senior Mens event
which had a total of 319 finishers, and Morpeth Harriers
capped a good day at the office by winning
the Division One Mens team race on the day.
That win leaves Morpeth on equal points at the top
of the cumulative table along with Heaton and Wallsend,
with four races remaining.

Reigning Champions for many years Sunderland Harriers,
are still awaiting a win, and if Morpeth Harriers could turn
out some decent Slow and Medium Pack runners over the four remaining fixtures,
they could well give the Wearsiders a good run for their money.

On Saturday Morpeth Harriers were led home by an
excellent performer in Welshman Mark Davies who
joined the club in the late summer,
and this was only his second outing in a Morpeth vest,
and this was admittedly his first Cross Country experience in thirteen years.

Mark took all the advantage of his Slow Pack start to come home
in sixth place overall and looked every inch a man with handy potential for the future.

Two places behind Mark, and producing a superb run from the Medium Pack,
was Morpeth's Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne,
who is at last beginning to recapture the form that he showed a couple of seasons ago,
and a just reward for the hard effort he has put in on the way in training.

Morpeth Harriers third, fourth and fifth counts were also the result
of some tremendous hard work, as Chris Sampson, Kristian Forster
and Mark Brown came through to occupy fourteenth,
fifteenth and sixteenth places respectively.
Forster ran from the Medium Pack, however in Sampson and Brown's
case they were the fastest and second fastest efforts of the day.

Morpeth's scoring count was completed by an excellent run
by Michael Winter which saw him finish 81st from the Slow Pack.

This was probably Morpeth Harriers best Senior Mens turnout
for a number of years as in addition to the scoring six
they had another six non scorers in the event.
They were led by Rob Hancox, who admitted he hadn't
competed in a Cross Country event for over 20 years.
He finished 104th from the Slow Pack.

The other Morpeth finishers were Gordon Dixon (109th) (Medium Pack)
Alistair MacDonald (122nd) (Medium Pack)
Martyn Cairns (177th) (Medium Pack)
Les Cavill (235th) (Slow Pack)
and Ricky Davison (267th) (Slow Pack)

Zoe Armstrong, who is currently making good progress in her
efforts to get herself back in the upper echelon of her athletics career,
saw herself rewarded with an excellent result
in the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event.
She finished eighth overall and was fifth fastest on the day
when chasing down a Fast Pack handicap.
Zoe was also third Under 17 and can take some real encouragement
from her performance in what was very testing conditions.

Morpeth performed well as a team here by finishing second,
with Zoe being complimented by the combined efforts of
Louise Cairns (13th) (Slow Pack) and
Catriona MacDonald (18th) (Slow Pack).
Unfortunately Deborah Oakley took a nasty tumble on the
course which left her with injuries to the arm and leg when
she finished in 22nd place from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Women also performed well
to finish as third team in a total field of 99 finishers.
They were led home by their Road and Cross Country Team Manager
Gwenda Cavill who finished thirteenth from the Slow Pack.

One place behind Gwenda came clubmate Claire Bruce (Slow Pack) and
Morpeth's scoring count was completed also by an excellent performance
from Julie Clark who was 16th from the Slow Pack.
Morpeth's other runner in this event was
Margaret MacDonald who finished 82nd from the Slow Pack.

On the individual front, Morpeth's Jonny Nisbet produced another
excellent run to finish eighth and as third fastest in the Under 15 Boys event.

Unfortunately Morpeth failed to finish as a team here
with Sam Hancox their only other runner.
Sam ran very well to finish 21st from the Slow Pack.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys performed well to finish as third team.
They were led home by Joe Elder who finished fourteenth from the Slow Pack,
and the scoring count was completed by excellent runs by
Liam Brooks (15th) (Fast Pack) and Martin Hood (20th) (Slow Pack)
Other Morpeth finishers in this event were Ryan Dodds (26th) (Fast Pack)
and Henrik Paulsen (34th) (Slow Pack).

Morpeth Harriers team of Under 13 Girls were all having
their first taste of competitive Cross Country action.
They finished fourth team with Mollie MacDonald
leading the squad home in fifteenth place.
Supporting counts came from Beth Wooley (19th), and Alice Kelly (22nd)
Morpeth's other finisher here was Rose McDonald, who was 24th.

Carly - May Webster (5th) (Slow Pack)
and Rachel Steel (12th) (Fast Pack)
were Morpeth's only two finishers in the Under 15 Girls event.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers failed to turn out any Under 17 Men athletes.

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North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships !

It was certainly not for the fainthearted when athletes took on the tricky and testing
conditions at the 103rd Annual North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships
held at Wrekenton on Saturday 13th December.

Heavy overnight rain had left pools of water over various parts of the course,
and just before the first event began, the rains returned along with a cold wind
that made life even harder for the organisers.
However with a tremendous amount of determination and grit,
the nine race programme was completed before darkness fell,
and perhaps more importantly, before temperatures dropped to near freezing.

The major highlight of the day for Morpeth Harriers was a tremendous team win by their Senior Men,
and seeing their leading finisher Nick Swinburn, a winner previously as an Under 20,
grab an individual Silver medal after a tremendous tussle with reigning Champion
Mark Hood of Sunderland who was taking victory for the third year in succession.

After being at close quarters with Hood for two of the three lap 8k race,
Swinburn was eventually resigned to taking the Silver medal
and finishing twenty nine seconds adrift.

What was particularly special for Morpeth Harriers in their team win
was that they achieved it without the services of a lot of their leading lights,
with the exception of the aforementioned Swinburn,
and their Road and Cross Country Mens Team Manager David Swinburne,
who also earned tremendous plaudits for his performance to finish twelfth as second counter.

Neil Armsworth was the next Morpeth counter in an excellent fourteenth place,
and considering that he had been absent from these championships since 2003,
this was no mean achievement.

Morpeth Harriers team dominance was further completed
by excellent performances by Phil Walker (21st),
David Steel (34th) and Alistair MacDonald (42nd).

Other good Senior Men performances from Morpeth
came from John Woods (58th) and Steve Beattie (90th).

Next best performers on the day for Morpeth were their
Under 15 Girls who finished as second team.
They were led home by Hannah Rank who finished fifth,
with excellent team support also coming from Rachael Steel (6th)
and Carley May Webster (22nd)
Also running in this event for Morpeth was
Miriam Inverarity who finished 25th.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Women finished as third team
behind winners Chester Le Street, and second placed Gateshead.
They were led home by Jane Mooney who finished seventh.

Supporting counts came from eighth placed Aiveen Fox
and twelfth finisher Sarah Graham.
Other Morpeth finishers in this event were Claire Bruce (38th)
Gwenda Cavill (41st) and Margaret MacDonald (55th).

Morpeth Harriers also gained Bronze team medals in the
combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event.
They were unfortunate to lose the services of leading light Laura Weightman,
who suffered a calf injury at the beginning of the second lap.
Laura Dixon led the squad home when finishing fifteenth.

Supporting counts came from Under 17 athletes
Catriona MacDonald (21st) and Louise Cairns (23rd).

Morpeth's Under 15 Boys just missed out on Bronze medals.
They were led home by Jonnie Nisbet, who had an excellent run to
finish fifth amongst opposition that were a year older in the age group.
Excellent team support came from Tom Brookes (23rd)
Josh Dunn (29th), and Steven Hancox (41st).

In the Under 13 age groups Morpeth Harriers
finished as fifth team in both sections.
The Boys were led home by Connor Weightman (brother of Laura),
who ran excellently to finish 14th.
Further team support came from Oliver Dent (18th)
Martin Hood (29th), and Ben Steel (31st).
Another Morpeth performer here was Henrick Paulsen who finished 45th.

The Girls were led home by Stephanie Purvis,
who produced an excellent run to finish eleventh.
Further good team support came from Adele Stewart (19th)
and Rachael Todd (22nd).
Also competing for Morpeth in this event were Sara Wilkes (24th)
Rebecca Reed (34th), and Lucy Pargetter (35th).

Despite suffering a bout of tonsillitis just prior to the Championships,
Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram took his place on
the start line for the Under 17 Mens event
After attacking hard on the first lap, where he was in third place
as the field began their second lap, he battled hard to
hold his position, however he eventually came home in sixth place.
Other Morpeth Harriers in this event were Thomas Foster-Beattie (18th)
and Harri Dunn (25th).

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McCains UK Challenge Cross Country !
Despite the freezing fog in Liverpool's Sefton Park,
Morpeths Nick McCormick gave a more improved performance
when he finished tenth in an exciting Senior Mens event at the second
McCains sponsored UK Challenge meeting on Saturday 29th November.

The Loughborough based former UK 1500m Champion was certainly
in more determined mood than his previous showing earlier this month at Gateshead,
and the fact that he was so much closer to event winner Andy Vernon of Aldershot,
clearly outlines that he is heading in the right direction to recover some of his loss of confidence.

Fellow Morpeth Harriers Jonathan Taylor and Nick Swinburne
finished further down the field in 34th and 60th places respectively.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League !
Despite the overnight snow, and chilly conditions,
there was an excellent turnout for the first meeting of the
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League which was held
at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon on Sunday 23rd November.

There were a total of 343 finishers in the Senior Mens event,
and Morpeth Harriers were boosted by the fact that they
finished fourth in the Division 1 team score behind Heaton,
Wallsend and South Shields, and one place above reigning
champions Sunderland Harriers.

Morpeth Harriers were led home by Kristian Forster,
who took full advantage to finish ninth from his Slow Pack start.
Second counter was Phil Walker, who came through
excellently in the Medium Pack to finish 20th.
Barry Taylor, who is making a welcome return to the sport after many years out,
was Morpeth's third counter in 39th place from the Slow Pack.
Taylor ran as a Junior for Morpeth back in the 80s,
and his return is more than welcome, especially after this performance.
Mike Hegarty was Morpeth's fourth counter in 68th place from the Medium Pack,
and he was closely followed home by clubmate David Steel who placed 73rd,
also running from the Medium Pack.
Ross Floyd closed the Morpeth count by finishing 124th from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth's Jonny Nisbet, who secured a silver medal in last years
North East Cross Country Under 13 Boys Championship,
began his North East Harrier League Under 15 Boys campaign
by snatching a narrow and well fought victory from the Slow Pack
over Chester Le street's Craig Roberts, with Gateshead's Barry Maskell
only a mere second adrift in third place.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Philip Caldwell produced
an excellent run to finish twelfth from the Slow Pack.

Running from the Slow Pack, Ben Steel led Morpeth's Under 13 Boys
home to sixth team place by finishing 15th.
Further team support came from fellow Slow Packers Martin Hood
and Matthew Denton who finished 19th and 27th respectively.
Morpeth's Joe Robertshaw finished as thirteenth
fastest overall running from the Fast Pack.

Philip Shuttleworth was Morpeth's only Under 17 Man to turn out,
and he finished eleventh from the Slow Pack.

Led by Jane Mooney who was third fastest on the day,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Women finished as seventh team.
Mooney, running from the Fast Pack, and giving away
three minutes to a large proportion of the 111 strong field,
came through nicely to finish 22nd overall.
Further supporting counts came from Claire Bruce (25th) (Slow Pack)
and Gwenda Cavill (39th) (Slow Pack)

Morpeth Harriers finished as fourth team in the
combined Under 17/Under20 Womens event.
They were led home by Louise Cairns in fourteenth
place from the Slow Pack, with further support coming from
Jessica Caldwell (15th) (Slow Pack), and Deborah Oakley (24th) (Fast Pack)

In the Under 15 Girls event, Morpeth's Carley-May Webster
finished 13th from the Slow Pack,
and Rachel Steel finished 24th from the Fast Pack.

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Gateshead International Cross Country Races !
With very little racing activity under her belt of recent,
Morpeths Laura Weightman produced a most promising
performance in the Junior Womens 4.5k event at the
McCain sponsored Gateshead International Cross Country Races
at the Riverside Bowl on Saturday 15th November.

Weightman who is included in the nations latest list of
Lottery Funded athletes under the Talent section, finished
thirteenth, in what can only be described as a field of high
class opposition and her performance clearly pointed to the
fact that there is more to come from her in the forthcoming winter programme.

She was a little disappointed not to have made
it into the top ten on the day, however she can take much stock
from the fact that she was only mere seconds away from doing so
on a day that proved to be excellent in conditions for most around her.

In the case of clubmate Nick McCormick however it was not quite
the sort of homecoming he would have wished for.
After going off hard in the Senior Mens International 6 lap 8.7k event,
the now Loughborough based athlete eventually
faded to fifteenth, and was clearly seeming to struggle
in the later stages as the pace hotted up at the front of the field.

McCormick is still struggling to recapture the form that won
him many accolades three years ago, and a return to basics,
including domestic club action to gain some confidence,
would probably be his best form of remedial treatment.

In contrast club colleague Nick Swinburn will feel well
boosted by his run that saw him come through to finish 24th
after taking things nice and steady in the early stages.
Three places behind Swinburn came Morpeth's
Heaton Road Race winner Jonathan Taylor who is
very tactically attacking his races at the moment.
Despite his early aggression he hung on well to claim his final placing.

Morpeth Harriers newcomer Matt Nicholson finished 19th
in a very fast run Senior Mens 1 lap 1mile International event.

In the Veteran Mens 7.3k, 5 lap event Morpeth's
David Steel competed well to finish eleventh.

Jonnie Nisbet of Morpeth ran well to finish 18th in the Under 15 Boys 4k event.

Other performances by Morpeth Harriers on the day saw
Delyth James finish 27th in a top class Senior Womens 7.3k event,

Stephanie Purvis and Sarah Wilkes finished 20th
and 26th respectively in the Under 13 Girls 3k event,

Deborah Oakley finished 17th in the Under 17 Womens 4.5k event,
and Ben Steel finished 33rd in the Under 13 Boys 3k event.

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2008 English National Cross Country Relays !
In what was mainly a southern dominated event,
largely through Aldershot and Farnham, and apart from the
exceptional victory by New Marske Junior Men,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men provided one of the regions best
performances at the English National Cross Country Relays,
held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday 1st November.

They battled hard and well to clinch well earned Bronze medals,
on what otherwise was a very uneventful day for the Northumbrian club.
For the first time in almost two decades,
Morpeth Harriers had no teams competing
in Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 Men, Junior Men and Women,
and Senior Womens events, and other than Senior Men,
only the Under 17 Women could muster a squad, and even they suffered
misfortune as you will find out later in this article.

The Morpeth Senior Mens challenge began well when Jonathan Taylor
ran a first leg of 15m19.50s to come home in an excellent ninth place.
He handed over to a very much in form Chris Sampson,
who despite running a slightly slower 15m35.0s,
managed to maintain progress and climbed up one place
at the expense of Stockport, who had slipped back badly after
Steve Vernon's first leg had seen him come home
very much in front of 188 other runners,
and eventually to be rewarded with the fastest time of the day of 14m51.05s.

Third leg saw Morpeth Harriers bring their fastest runner
into the fray in the form of Ian Hudspith, who sped round the
two lap course in an excellent 15m12.35s,
and in furious pursuit of the leader Frank Tickner
of Well City Harriers who were only in front by five seconds.

Hudspith's time on the third leg was only beaten by
Newham and Essex Beagles Mark Warmby who were lying in fifth
place at the end of the stage, and beginning to mount a serious
challenge to the would be medal protagonists.

It was indeed a most daunting task when Morpeth's fourth
and final leg runner Nick Swinburn took over from
Hudspith, because he now had the lead at the expense of Wells City,
who had failed to provide a fourth runner, and were now out of the reckoning.

This meant that Swinburn was now being hard chased by
Nielson Hall of Bedford who took over in third,
Bruce Raeside of Notts who had taken over in fourth,
and Keith Gerrard of Newham, who had taken over from the
aforementioned Warmby in fifth.
All three knew that they had been elevated at the expense of Wells,
which made Swinburn's position no better to handle.

Swinburn did battle hard however, but eventually succumbed to Hall,
who realising he had grabbed the lead, went on to capitalise his advantage
by clocking the fourth best fastest time of the day of 14m58.05s
to claim Gold medals for Bedford.

Unfortunately Nick was also eventually passed by Gerrard
who claimed Silver for Newham and Essex by clocking the
seventh best fastest time of 14m59.95s.
Gerrard had however done some damage by
running the legs off Raeside of Notts, which gave Swinburn the
opportunity to hold off another challenge,
and clinch some well earned Bronze medals for his Morpeth club colleagues,
as he finished in an excellent individual time of 15m29.75s,
and with a seven second cushion over the Notts man.

The third placing for Morpeth Harriers also meant they were
first from the North of England, with sale Harriers being
their closest rivals back in fifth spot and forty three seconds adrift.

Morpeth also had a B team back in 46th place
courtesy of Mark Brown (16m04.25s)
David Swinburne (16m35.65s)
Ross Floyd (17m10.10s)
and Jordan Scott (17m59.00s)
They finished as sixth B team.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Womens
team were victims of an officiating blunder.
Their event time was brought forward slightly,
and as a result of this first leg runner Deborah Oakley was slightly late to
the start line and was denied entry onto the course by an over zealous official.

A protest was lodged by Morpeth Harriers Team Boss
and Club Secretary Mike Bateman which won them a reprieve
that they be allowed to run as a non counting
Senior Womens team in the later event.

With Morpeth Harriers having no Senior Womens team taking
part the organisers agreed to this, which meant that the
three girl squad were not to have had a wasted journey
although they were facing a slightly longer race than anticipated.

This is the second occasion that Morpeth Harriers
have fallen foul to officials judgement at this event.
In 2006 their Under 15 Girls team were deprived of their
correct start when Louise Cairns was prevented by an official
from entering the course when she had every right to take her place on the start line.

Eventually after heavy protests they were allowed to run,
albeit around nine minutes behind the rest of the field.
In the team that day was Catriona MacDonald,
and this must have felt like a repeat performance,
when she ran second leg after Deborah Oakley's first leg
clocking of 13m23.70s saw the squad in 82nd place.
Catriona did make up some ground however as she clawed
back eight places with her clocking of 14m10.15s.

Third and final leg runner Jessica Caldwell managed
to get round in 14m45.85s, and got the
Morpeth Under 17 Girls squad up to a final placing of 65th.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League Sherman Cup & Davison Shield Meeting !

Morpeth Harriers Womens section took pride of place at the
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League Sherman
Cup & Davison Shield meeting held at Temple Park,
South Shields on Saturday 25th October,
when they won the latter trophy for
the fourth year in succession.

Unfortunately the same could not be said for the clubs Male counterparts,
who despite some good performances, failed to retain the Sherman Cup
for the seventh year in a row by virtue of their failure
to turn out a complete Under 15 Boys squad.

The best contributors to the Morpeth Harrier Womens
overall result were undoubtedly their Under 15 Girls who
finished second to Gateshead Harriers,
albeit by the slender margin of two points.
This squad were led home by Hannah Rank who finished fourth,
and only just missed out on an individual Bronze by the margin of two seconds.

Further scoring counts came from excellent runs by
Ailsa McGregor (9th) and Carly-May Webster (13th).

Next best Morpeth performers were the
Under 17/Under 20 Women who finished third.
They were led home by Deborah Oakley who finished seventh,
and was fourth in the Under 17 Womens section.
Further scoring counts came courtesy of Louise Cairns (14th)
and Catriona MacDonald (17th), who were also tenth
and thirteenth respectively in the Under 17 finishers.
Another Morpeth Harrier finisher was
Jessica Caldwell who was 20th and sixteenth Under 17.

Morpeth's Senior Women came fifth in their respective event.
Road and Cross Country Team Captain Gwenda Cavill
was the first home for the club, finishing in 23rd place overall.

Other supporting counts came from Shuna Rank,
who finished 29th, and was having her first ever taste
of team competition on behalf of Morpeth,
and Margaret MacDonald who was 31st.
What made Rank and MacDonald's part more interesting
was that both their daughters Hannah and Catriona had also
competed to their clubs success,
which made it very much a Morpeth Harriers family affair.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls finished sixth in their team race.
They were led home by their recently crowned Road Champion
Stephanie Purvis who finished in eleventh place.
Other supporting counts came from Adele Stewart (21st)
and Francesca Price (22nd).
Two places behind Francesca came another
Morpeth finisher in Rebecca Reed.

At one stage it was thought that Morpeth Harriers may have
missed out on their team victory to great rivals Gateshead,
however eagle eyed judges in the results room spotted that
Gateshead's leading trio in the Senior Womens event had
included two non scorers who were still rendered
ineligible due to their change of clubs.

On to the Mens section, where Morpeth's best result on the day
came from their Under 17 Men who won their team event.

They were led home by an excellent performer in Marcus Cram
who won a personal battle to finish second,
but unfortunately could not quite match terms
with the older race winner Michael Priestley of North Shields.
Other scoring counts in this event came from Alistair Douglass
who finished seventh, and Philip Shuttleworth who placed 14th.
Harri Dunn also had an impressive Morpeth Harriers debut when he finished 21st.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men finished fourth in their team event,
and their scorers all came from their Veteran ranks.
First home however for Morpeth was non scorer and debutant
Matthew Nicholson newly acquired from Gosforth Harriers.
Nicholson was certainly impressive when he finished fourth,
and just outside an individual medal.

First official counter for Morpeth was Neil Wilkinson who was eighth,
and his efforts were well supported by Paul Waterston (14th) and Phil Walker (21st)
Other Morpeth runners in the Senior Mens event were Jordan Scott (30th),
Gordon Dixon (38th), David Steel (41st) and Bernie Cordes (176th).

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys finished in fourth team place.
They were led home by an excellent performer in Joe Robertshaw,
who is the North East 200m Under 13 Boys Track Champion,
and is more known in the Winter for his exploits on the Indoor Track over 60m.
Robertshaw finished eleventh which proved to be in the top half of a 38 strong field.

Second counter was Joe Elder who was 18th,
and third counter was Ben Steel who was 20th.
Also running for Morpeth in this event were Matthew Denton,
and debutant Martin Hood who were 22nd and 28th respectively.

The major disappointment on the day for Morpeth Harriers
was the failure to field a complete Under 15 Boys squad,
with only Philip Caldwell turning out for his clubs cause.
Caldwell finished 27th.

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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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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.

Click Here For Photos From Senior Mens Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Senior Womens Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Under 15 Boys Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Junior Mens Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Under 13 Boys Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Under 15 Girls Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Under 17 Womens Race.......

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.

Click Here For Photos From Under 17 Mens Race.......

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

Click Here For Photos From Junior Womens Race.......

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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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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2008 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Latest News.......
Links To Other Fell Racing Sites.......
2009 NECAA Open Fell Running Championship Series !
2009 Fell Racing Calendar !
Click Here For Local Weather !

LATEST NEWS.......
Updated 22nd June 2009

Alwinton Fell Race !
Morpeth Harriers sole competitor Margaret MacDonald
finished 34th in the annual Alwinton Fell Race on Saturday 6th June.
On the usual tough course, although the cool dry conditions
slightly favoured the runners rather than the marshals,
Margaret finished in 2hrs 59.36mins, and was fifth Lady finisher.

Return To Fell Racing Page Index

Anniversary Wa Fell Race !
Morpeth Young Athletes Rachael and Ben Steel ran in the Anniversary Wa Fell Race on Saturday 11th April.
It was the first counter race for the English fell running championships at Stair near Keswick
and they were running up the notorious Catbells.
It was very competitive with some serious young fell runners taking part
Rachael came 4th in the U16 girls section,
and Ben came 13th in the U14 Boys section.

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NECAA/NEHRA FELL RUNNING CHAMPS 2009 RESULTS UPDATE
Overall Positions

Senior Ladies Results

Vet Ladies Reults

Vet Men Results

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2009 NECAA Open Fell Running Championship Series !

		NECAA / NEHRA 2009: Selection of races
	North East Counties Athletic Association & North East Hill Running Association Fell Running Championships 2009: Selection of races   Date Race Name & Contact Details Cat Dist (miles) Height (ft) Remarks 1 Sunday 29th March 2009 Doctor’s Gate PM/NT Details: Gerry Hehir 07720 112500 gerryhehir@btinternet.com Website: www.durhamfellrunners.org.uk BM 6 1050 11.00 a.m. From The Grove car park, Hamsterley Forest. £8.00 Pre-entry or EOD. (GR 065 299 OS Sheet 87) 2 Sunday 5th April 2009 Gisborough Moors Race ER/LK/NS/PM/T Details: David Parry 01287 660309 davidparry100@hotmail.com  Website: www.nym.ac     BL 12.5 2600 11.00 a.m. From Guisborough Rugby Club. (GR 616 155) Pre-entry advised (limit 250), £7 to organiser. 3 Saturday 13th June 2009 Roman Wall Show PM Details: Rachel Vincent, 01434 689582 rachelizabethcarter@yahoo.co.uk BS 4.4M 620 12.00 noon £4.00 Entry to show field. From Steel Rigg car park (GR 752 677) 4 Saturday 4th July 2009 Chevy Chase (Cheviot Hills) ER/LK/NS/PM/T Details: Claire Bagness 01668 281401 cbagness@fish.co.uk Website: woolerrunningclub.co.uk BL 20M 4000 11.00 am from Wooler YHA £15.00 pre-entry only (GR 992 278) 5 Saturday 29th August 2009 Bellingham Show PM/NS Details: Michael Shields 01434 220174 michael.shields2@ukonline.co.uk BS 4M 600 2.00 pm £3.00 EOD From the show field 6 Sunday 18th Oct 2009 Saltergate Gallows LK/NS/PM/NT Details: David Parry 01287 660309 davidparry100@hotmail.com Website: www.nym.ac  BM 8M 1200 10.30 am  £6.00 EOD from Saltergate Bank Top nr Goathland  (GR 853 937) 7 Sunday 13th Dec 2009 Simonside Cairns ER/LK/NS/PM/T Details: Paul Appleby 01669 620871 paulappleby@hotmail.co.uk BM 11M 1420 11.00 am £5.00 from the Newcastle Hotel, Rothbury. (GR 057 017) Key: ER= Experience required       LK= Local knowledge           NS= Navigational Skills NT= No Toilets                   PM= Partially Marked           T= Toilets The sixth running of the North East Counties Athletic Association (NECAA) Open Fell Running Championship series is to take place during 2009. As in previous years the series will incorporate the North East Hill Running Association (NEHRA) Fell Running Championships for veteran men and women. This year the series will consist of seven races of which a competitor’s best four results will count. The results will be calculated on the same basis as the British and English championships, i.e. 1st 52 points, 2nd 49 points, 3rd 48 points and then 50th 1 point, in each category (see below). This year, as has been the custom, races are selected from those that are published in the first edition of the FRA calendar. The races have been selected from Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire. This is to enable competitors to participate in at least three of the four races in an area within a reasonable travelling distance of their home. An attempt has been made to select races that also balance the competition in terms of length, ascent, winning times, and distribution throughout the year. The first race in the series will be the Doctor’s Gate Race on Sunday 29th March. The distribution of the races will hopefully give people sufficient lead in time to enable as many as possible to take part in the championships and complete at least four of the seven races. The competition is open to all those over the age of eighteen who were born in or have been resident for more than one year within the boundaries of the old NECAA, that is, from Whitby, north to Berwick upon Tweed, (Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, Cleveland and part of the old North Riding of Yorkshire). Age categories, for the year of the competition, will be those that are declared on the result sheet of the competitor’s first championship race of the series. It will be assumed that members of clubs from within the region are eligible unless they declare themselves ineligible. Unattached runners and runners from clubs outside the region will be assumed to be ineligible unless they declare themselves eligible to the organiser. Engraved medals will be awarded to qualifying competitors as shown below. Competition categories are: NECAA FR Championships First three Senior Males and Females NEHRA FR Championships           First three Vet O40 Male and Female           First three Vet O50 Male and Female           First three Vet O60 Male and Female           First three Vet O70 Male and Female Keith Cooper 1st January 2009 Return To Fell Racing Page Index Open Fell Running Championship Series Results Update Veteran Men Results Senior Ladies Results Senior Men Results Veteran Women Results Return To Fell Racing Page Index 2008 NECAA Open Fell Running Championship Series ! Return To Fell Racing Page Index Links To Other Fell Racing Sites....... North Yorkshire Moors A.C. Northumberland Fell Runners Barrys Home Page Northern Runner The Fell Runners Association Scottish Hill Racing Cumberland Fell Runners Alnwick Harriers Wooler Running Club TracknTerrain Trail Guides Return To Fell Racing Page Index 2009 FELL RACING CALENDAR Local Races 2009     Next race(s) highlighted in red. Northumberland races are shown in bold. Key to abbreviations Details of most fell races can be found in the FRA Fixtures Calendar & Handbook - Join the FRA to get a copy. For other local races that may appeal and some further afield, also see: FRA | SHR | SH Racing | BarryCornelius.com | NYM.AC | Northern Runner | Low Fell RC Date race grade / dist/height (imperial [metric]) more info Jan 1 Hill Forts & Headaches AS - 3mi/1020' [5km/310m] flyer | loc | map | FRA OC . 1 Captain Cook's BS - 5.5mi/750' [9km/230m] NR-W | FRA OC . 4 Five Mile Charity Challenge walk/run/cycle 5 mile trail over Weetwood Moor, Wooler Maria Douglass Fund | flyer . 11 Clay Bank East BM - 6mi/1000' [10km/305m] NR-W | FRA OC . 25 Black Hill and Beck BM - 7.5mi/1150' [12km/350m] loc | DFR | FRA OC Feb 15 Castleton-Danby (Beacon) BM - 8mi/1100' [13km/335m]] NR-W | FRA OC . 28 Inov-8 High Cup Nick BM - 9mi/1500' [14km/460m] loc | map I FRA OC Mar 1 Commondale Clart BM - 6mi/1000' [10km/305m] NR-W | FRA OC . 8 Kielder Borderer BM 17mi/3000' [27km/910m] loc | website | FRA OC . 22 Brough Law AS - 5mi/1250' [8km/380m] loc | map | FRA OC . 29 Doctor's Gate NECAA BM - 6mi/1050' [10km/320m] loc | DFR | FRA OC Apr 4 Allendale Challenge BL - 25mi/3400' [40km/1040m] loc | NOTSRT . 5 Gisborough Moors NECAA BL - 12.5mi/2600' [20km/790m] NR-W | FRA OC . 18 iROC (fell race part of multi-event) AM - 8mi/3000' [13km/900m] website . 26 Cheviot Summit BM - 6mi/2676' [10km/820m] loc | map | FRA OC . 30 DFR Summer Handicap #1 BM - 6mi/1100' [10km/340m] loc | DFR | evening race, 7pm May 28 DFR Summer Handicap #2 BM - 6mi/1100' [10km/340m] loc | DFR | evening race, 7pm Jun 6 Alwinton Fell Race BL - 14mi/2900' [23km/884m] loc | map | FRA OC . 13 Roman Wall Show NECAA BS - 4.4mi/620' [7km/190m] loc | FRA OC . 21 Windy Gyle Fell Race BM - 9mi/1800' [14km/550m] loc | map | FRA OC . 25 DFR Summer Handicap #3 BM - 6mi/1100' [10km/340m] loc | DFR | evening race, 7pm Jul 4 Chevy Chase NECAA BL - 20mi/4000' [32km/1220m] loc | map | website | FRA OC . 7 Saltwell Harriers BS - 5.5mi/1000' [9km/305m] loc | map | FRA OC . 9 Beacon Hill AS - 5.75mi/1500' [9km/460m] loc | map | FRA OC . 23 DFR Summer Handicap #4 BM - 6mi/1100' [10km/340m] loc | DFR | evening race, 7pm Aug 4 Gribdale Gallop BM - 8mi/1400' [13km/430m] NR-S | FRA OC . 9 Forest Burn BS - 3.5mi/500' [6km/150m] loc | map | FRA OC . 18 Guisborough Grunt BM - 7mi/1000' [11km/305m] NR-S | FRA OC . 22 Falstone Falcon CS - 5mi/500' [8km/150m] loc | Falstone Show | FRA OC . 22/23 Force Ten (Phoenix) Long O 2 day 'long orienteering' website . 29 Bellingham Show NECAA BS - 4mi/600' [6km/180m] loc | map | FRA OC . 29 Cheviot Challenge walk / run (non-competitive) 18 or 25 miles [29/40km] website Sept 1 Roseberry Topping AS 1.5 mi/560' [2km/218m] NYMAC | FRA OC . 13 Top of the Forest BM - 7.5mi/1250' [12km/380m] Sunday, 11am start . 19 Simonside (Thropton) BM - 6.75mi/1200' [11km/370m loc | map | FRA OC Oct 18 Saltergate Gallows NECAA BM - 8mi/1200' [13km/190m] NYMAC | FRA OC . 18 Dryderdale Dash BS - 5.5mi [9km] loc | DFR | Sunday, 11am start Nov 8 Track 'n' Terrain Blackton Fell Race BM 10 mi/1350 [16km/410m] loc | DFR | Sunday, 11am start . 8 Three Tops AM - 8mi/2000' [13km/610m] NYMAC | FRA OC . 22 Clay Bank West BS - 5.5mi/900' [9km/270m] NYMAC | FRA OC Dec 6 Hexhamshire Hobble CM - 10.5mi/1220' [17km/370m] flyer | loc | map | FRA OC . 13 Simonside Cairns NECAA BM - 11mi/1420' [18km/430m] loc | map | FRA OC . 27 Guisborough Woods BM - 6mi/1000' [10km/305m] NYMAC | FRA OC . 27 DFR Xmas Ayhope Skyline BM - 9.5mi/1330' [15km/405m] loc | DFR | Sunday, 11am start Return To Fell Racing Page Index   Key:   FRA OC - Fell Running Association Online Calendar loc - streetmap location of race start and/or registration NECAA - NECAA / NEHRA: North East Counties Athletic Association & North East Hill Running Association Championship races NFR Northumberland Fell Runners 2009 Championship race NR-S - Cleveland NEHRA / Northern Runner Summer Series NR-W - Cleveland NEHRA / Northern Runner Winter Series grades e.g. AM Two-letter fell race grading: A,B or C describes height per mile (A=steepest), followed by Short, Medium, Long (distance) - for a full explanation of FRA race grading, see FRA Rules for Competition * distances / height gain in both imperial and metric are only approximate.