Cross Country 2011-2012

Click here to see 2011/2012 Harrier League dates

There were some good performances from athletes from Morpeth Harriers
at the fourth meeting of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League,
held at Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Wrekenton, Gateshead on Saturday 11th February.

Despite a cold chilly wind, the area seemed to escape the worst
of the wintry conditions that threatened to engulf the country,
and organisers were cheered that they were able to offer conditions
that were manageable with care in places.

Pride of place amongst the Morpeth Harriers performances
must go to their Under 15 Boys squad, who more or less cemented
their place at the top of the seasons Grand Prix standings
with an outstanding team victory on the day.

With leading light, and North East Cross Country
champion Phil Winkler out through injury,
it was left to Elliot Kelly to lead the clubs charge,
and despite suffering the effects of a heavy cold,
he put in a tremendous performance to finish a superb individual third,
and as second fastest on the day overall.

Next home was Ryan Green, who finished seventh, and as fifth fastest on the day.
Green was largely spurred on at the finish, by the sight of his Morpeth Harriers clubmate Jared Lewis,
who it has to be said gave a very polished individual performance to finish ninth,
and only two seconds adrift of Green.Lewis was sixth fastest on the course.
Kelly and Green currently lie second and third in the Grand Prix standings individually.

Jonnie Nisbet made light work of an easy victory in a
sparsely contested Under 17 Mens event,
where he won with twelve seconds to spare over his closest rival.
Unfortunately club colleague Phil Caldwell suffered a recurrence of injury,
and was forced to pull out during the second lap.
Meanwhile Sam Hancox bravely fought his problems to finish 13th.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men continued their fight at the top of Division 1
by finishing third from the Division on the day behind Sunderland and Gateshead.
They now lie in second place, and one point behind Gateshead,
with Sunderland Harriers further adrift by five points in third.

Thomas Straughan, having his first Harrier League outing,
excelled in finishing in sixth place from the Slow Pack, and led the Morpeth squad home.
He now finds himself promoted to the Medium Pack for the remainder of the season.

Another Morpeth Harrier who sees himself promoted is John Woods,
who came home in tenth place from the Slow Pack,
and the same applies to Morpeth Harriers third finisher Mick Thomsen,
who came home in 21st place from the Slow Pack.
Just missing out on a promotion is Morpeth's fourth finisher Stephen Bradley,
who finished 33rd from the Slow Pack.
Alistair MacDonald was the clubs fifth finisher
in 90th place overall from the Slow Pack,
and the Morpeth Harriers scoring count was completed
with Mike Hegarty coming home in 127th place from the Medium Pack.

Other Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens performances were as follows
Paul Waterston (154th) (Fast Pack), Les Cavill (195th) (Slow Pack),
Richard Kirby (201st) (Slow Pack), and Chris Waugh (209th) (Medium Pack).

In the Senior Womens event, Morpeth Harriers Gemma Floyd
and Jane Hodgson both produced outstanding runs.
Gemma, running from the Slow Pack battled throughout
on this her first Harrier League outing, to finish an excellent second.

Meanwhile Jane pulled out all the stops, to once again
clock the fastest time of the day when placing fourth.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys maintained their second place
in the grand prix standings, when finishing as second on the day
Also maintaining their second and third placings in the individual standings
were Jacob Hopkins and Kieran Hedley, who finished fifth and eleventh
on the day respectively from the Fast Pack.
Further team support came from an excellent Slow Pack
run from Samuel Williams, who finished 22nd.

Other Morpeth finishers in this event were Philip Kirby (25th) (Fast Pack),
Euan Jones (27th) (Fast Pack), and Lewis James (46th) (Slow Pack).

Hannah Sheerin and Charlotte Jewell both had good runs in the Under 15 Girls event,
which saw them place second and fourth from the Slow Pack.
Excellent runs by Teegan Dryden (4th) (Slow Pack), Georgia Priest (10th) (Slow Pack),
and Harriet Grace (19th) (Slow Pack), saw Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls
finish in third team place on the day behind Birtley and Elswick.

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North of England Cross Country Championships !

Superb individual performances by Jane Hodgson, Lewis Timmins and Jacob Hopkins
were the main highlights on a day when team medals for Morpeth Harriers
proved to be as elusive as horses with jockeys,
at the North of England Cross Country Championships,
held at Pontefract Park Racecourse, on Saturday 28th January.

The infrequently used West Yorkshire track, provided an excellent
and most dramatic backdrop for hundreds of runners from various Northern Athletic clubs
who descended on its territory, and the event was duly blessed with continued January sunshine
that prevailed throughout, and runners greatly appreciated the underfoot conditions,
that had been described in true racing terms beforehand by Race Referee Kevin Carr, as good to firm.

Those conditions surprisingly remained throughout the ten race programme,
which made athletes very much appreciative of the venue,
a factor clearly echoed by Senior Women, who being the ninth event on the day
would have normally experienced the heaviest of surfaces.

Amongst those Senior Women in their two lap 8k event was Morpeth Harrier Jane Hodgson,
who truly revelled in finishing seventh overall, and second from the North East
behind Durham City’s North East Champion Rosie Smith,
who ran excellently to finish fourth, just missing out on an individual Bronze by a mere 15 seconds.
Hodgson’s own performance also saw her only ninety seconds adrift of medals,
and was indeed tenacious to say the least.

Morpeth Harriers finished a very creditable ninth of twenty five closing teams,
and were again second from the region behind Durham City.
The supporting performances to Hodgson came from Emma Pearson (52nd),
Kate Chapman (94th), and Marie Drozdowicz (153rd ).

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men were undoubtedly the regions best performers
in their three lap 12k event by finishing seventh of 52 closing teams,
although final results may see them elevated to fifth.

Former Under 17 Mens Northern Cross Country Champion Lewis Timmins led them home,
having an excellent hardworking run throughout to finish in a very creditable tenth place overall,
and as second from the region behind New Marske’s Andy Wiles,
who finished just outside the individual medals.

Timmins’s outstanding performance was well supported by Matt Nicholson (23rd),
who had been well up with the leaders as they entered the second circuit,
Sam Forester, who had flown in from Germany in support of his club,
can feel well pleased with his placing of 54th in such company,
and North of England 10, 000metres Track Champion Peter Newton,
battled hard to come through to finish 64th.

Morpeth Harriers next finisher was Ross Floyd,
whose actual finishing position is undetermined at the time of going to press,
and finally Ben Harrison gave a dogged performance to finish in the top 100
by finishing 98th to complete the scoring count.

Other Morpeth Harriers finishers in the Senior Mens event were as follows
Gary Jones (116th), Neil Gunstone (117th), Paul Waterston (213th),
Michael Thomsen (250th), Gordon Dixon (347th).
There were 685 recorded finishers in the Senior Mens event.

In the Under 13 Boys 3.1k one lap event, Morpeth’s Jacob Hopkins battled tenaciously throughout,
and was quite prominent amongst the leaders in the early stages.
He eventually came home in 15th place overall, and as second from the region
behind Gateshead’s second placed Markhim Lonsdale,
but Hopkins was only a mere thirty seconds adrift of the
Bronze medal placing such was the strength of competition around him.

Morpeth Harriers team placing of ninth of seventeen closing teams
in the Under 13 Boys was very creditable, and was very much due to the excellent run of Hopkins,
supported by the equally excellent and perhaps surprising performance of Kieran Hedley,
who after spending nearly ten days in sick bay following a bout of influenza,
turned out in support of his club.
Hedley’s performance was a very much valued contribution
as he came home an individual 45th, and eighth from the region.
Further Morpeth team support came from excellent runs
from Philip Kirby (101st ), and Euan Jones (113th).

Morpeth Harriers best team achievement on the day undoubtedly came from their Under 15 Boys,
who led home by North Eastern Champion Philip Winkler finished in fourth place of sixteen closing teams,
and agonisingly just outside team Bronze medals.

Winkler who was always prominent in their one lap 4k event,
however may feel a little disappointed individually to finish in seventeenth place,
and third from the region behind Jarrow’s Thomas Coyne (9th),
whom he had out sprinted in the regional championships
at Cramlington, and Sunderland Harrier Joel Jones (12th).
Morpeth’s team count was further supported by Elliot Kelly (37th),
Ryan Green (61st), and Jarod Lewis, who produced one of his best
ever performances to finish 75th in a 158 strong field.

Jonny Nisbet was Morpeth Harriers lone competitor in the Under 17
6.2k event which involved completion of two 3.1k laps.
After a steady start Nisbet carefully made his way through the field,
which had a total of 111 finishers, to finish 18th,
and saw him as third from the region behind North Eastern Champion
Wayne Parker of New Marske (9th), and Gateshead’s Greg Chambers (15th).
On this occasion however North Eastern Bronze medallist Nisbet,
did finish well ahead of the North Eastern Silver medallist,
Gateshead’s Barry Maskell, who after a promising start,
sadly faded to finish in fifty eighth place overall.

At the time of producing this report final results have not been fully clarified,
which means that we cannot confirm the team performance of Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Girls squad,
who despite the first publication of results, which indicated that they had not finished as a team,
they did finish as a full squad, however Charlotte Jewell a key member of the squad
tripped shortly after the start, and unfortunately shed a shoe.
Having recovered her shoe, without the added help of a budding " Prince Charming",
she continued to chase down her rivals, and it is believed that she finished
approximately 100th of what is reported to be a 157 strong field.

If she was rewarded with a final position of 100th, this then when recorded
alongside the finishing positions of Alison Brown (43rd), Hannah Sheerin (122nd),
and Sarah Wilkes (135th), would have given Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Girls
squad a final team placing of fourteenth of eighteen closing teams.

Morpeth Harriers did not have any competing athletes in the Junior Mens,
Under 13 Girls, Under 17 Womens or Under 20 Womens age group events.

Click here for Full Results

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Durham Cathedral Cross Country Relays !

In a superb nailbiting finish, Morpeth Harriers Senior Men
managed to reverse the 2011 result by winning the title at the
28th Durham Cathedral Cross Country Relays on Sunday 22nd January.

After holding a close second place throughout the first two legs,
courtesy of Lewis Timmins (8m52s), and Ross Floyd (9m11s),
it was very much thanks to an excellent final leg by Matt Nicholson (8m55s),
who courageously fought out a very close battle with New Marske youngster Mark Shaw,
to come away eventually to secure a three second marginal victory,
with Gateshead A, a further twenty eight seconds adrift in third place.

In the final leg battle between Nicholson and Shaw,
Shaw had tried to shake the Morpeth man off at halfway,
however Matt was having none of it, and eventually managed
to gain a slender lead as the pair returned to face the
wind as they entered the final lap of the two lap effort,
which he maintained all the way to the finish line.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens B team, very much spurred by
Jonny Nisbet's first leg clocking of 9m35s, which saw him in tenth place at the stage,
came through to finish an excellent sixth, and as first B team, with further good
efforts coming from Gary Jones (10m00s), and David Swinburne (9m53s).

Neil Gunstone clocked 10m04s for an incomplete Morpeth Harriers C team in the Senior Mens relay.

An excellent first leg clocking of 10m32s, the fastest of the day,
by Ashley Gibson, set Morpeth Harriers Senior Women's A team
well on the way to an outstanding victory in their three stage relay.
The victory was so outstanding, that the legs of Jane Hodgson (10m42s),
and Sarah Wikinson (10m56s), second and third fastest on the day,
saw them take victory by a handsome 160 second margin over Durham University A
team, and a retention of the title that they had won twelve months previous,
with the Morpeth Harriers Senior Womens B team coming home in third spot,
a further sixty seconds adrift.Morag Stead, who had been in the victorious
A team twelve months previous, clocked the B teams fastest time of
11m15s, and that was well supported by Abbie Bagshaw's 11m55s,
and Kate Chapman's 12m40s on the final leg.

Morpeth Harriers Womens C team of Jane Briggs (12m56s),
Claire Bruce (14m12s), and Marie Drosdowicz (13m20s), finished in nineteenth place.

The Veteran Mens relay saw an excellent battle being fought out
at the front by North Shields Poly and Sunderland Harriers,
with the North Tyneside outfit eventually gaining victory over the Wearsiders by twenty one seconds.

However a lot of eyes were very much on the battle for third place,
with Morpeth Harriers Veteran Mens B team eventually winning the day
over the B team by a slender seven second margin.
Indeed it was a battle all the way from first leg,
when Paul Waterston (10m27s), for the B team, came home in fifth place,
and three places ahead of his A team colleague Terry Wall (10m41s).
On second leg, B team runner Phil Walker (10m43s) progressed up to third,
whilst A team runner Michael Thomsen (11m01s), also made progress by moving into fifth.

A very impressive last leg clocking by Chris Waugh (10m15s), fastest Over 50 Veteran Man,
managed to fend off the advances of Morpeth A team runner Neil Wilkinson,
who moved into fourth, following his equally impressive 9m50s,
which eventually emerged as the second fastest overall time,
behind North Shields Poly's Ian Twaddle (9m39s), clocked when he was scenting final leg victory.

Click here for Senior Mens Results

Click here for Veteran Mens Results

Click here for Senior Vets and Womens Results

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North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships !

A superbly timed last gasp effort from Philip Winkler gave Morpeth Harriers
a much welcome individual Gold Medal win at the
North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships,
held at East Cramlington Nature Reserve on Saturday 10th December.

The Mike Bateman coached Duchess High School pupil certainly
deserved all his plaudits as he calmly got on with the business in hand
to produce one of the finest performances of the day,
that also saw one of the tightest of finishes.

Perhaps it was Winkler's country roots, that saw him take on the role of a wily fox scenting its prey in front him,
that enabled him to grab the Under 15 Boys Gold Medal in the final run to the line
with Jarrow and Hebburn's Thomas Coyne, and only a mere second divided them at the death.

However for Winkler, it was a just reward for all of the hard work that he has put in,
along with his aforementioned coach, and this Gold is a much coveted
addition to the Silver Medal that he won at Darlington, when he was an Under 13.

Winkler was obviously overjoyed on learning that he had also
spearheaded a very much welcome Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys team
victory by a margin of twenty two points over Shildon, with further excellent support
coming from Elliot Kelly (6th), and Ryan Green (13th).
Kelly had an excellent run, and he clearly showed his bravery in the early stages
when he established a slender lead.
Green also ran a sensibly judged race to produce an excellent performance all round.

Although not making the scoring count, Joe Elder also deserves some praise for his performance,
where in finishing 18th, was easily in the top half of a fifty one strong Under 15 Boys field.
Morpeth Harriers other finisher in this event was Jarod Lewis,
who finished 29th, but will feel a little disappointed at not being further up the field.

Despite being without Maxine Czarneka through illness,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Women still managed to pull of an expected team victory.

The Northern Road Relay Champions, now boosted by the added presence
of former Elswick Harrier Ashley Gibson, won by a margin of eleven points over Durham City,
who included former Northern Junior Champion, and former Morpeth Harrier Aiveen Fox,
who emerged as their second counter in tenth place.

Meanwhile Morpeth Harriers led by Gibson (3rd) were outstanding in their win.
For Gibson, who never gave up, despite having to spend much of her race
having to chase down the powerful Rosie Smith (Durham),
and 2010 Champion Kirsty Legg of Middlesbrough Mandale,
a Bronze individual medal was well deserved.

However the addition of a Gold team medal was even more deserved,
following the excellent supporting performances by Jane Hodgson (4th),
and Team boss Sarah Wilkinson, who in finishing sixth was indeed a very inspirational force.

Slightly further down the field were Sarah Graham (19th),
Gemma Floyd (22nd), and newcomer Abi Bagshaw (24th),
whose excellent combined performances would have seen
an excellent B team performance in finishing as fifth best on the day.

Marie Drozdowicz, who is gradually getting back to full fitness
following a painful foot injury, and her finish in 57th place was a very creditable effort.
Margaret MacDonald also ran well to finish in 100th place in a strong field.

With a distinct lack of their normal front runners, including Team Manager David Swinburne (ill),
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men couldn't manage to pull off an expected team victory.
However certain absences did see a unique window of opportunity for some of the clubs lesser knowns,
to grab a chance of what became a Silver Medal team effort,
behind a relatively strong Gateshead Harriers.

Only thirty three points divided Morpeth from victory,
and it was Matt Nicholson who led them home with a solid
performance to finish fifth behind race winner Ricky Stevenson of New Marske,
who eventually won his own personal battle of wits with 2009 Champion Patrick Martin,
(formerly Sunderland Harriers), now with Stockport,
with Jack Martin, also now Stockport in third place.

Fourth place went to New Marske's Andy Wiles,
who was a Bronze medallist in 2009 behind Martin.

Next home for Morpeth in 18th place was Michael Dawson,
with Gary Jones having an excellent run to finish in 26th place as third counter.

Veteran Paul Waterston also produced a superb performance to emerge as the fourth counter in 34th place.
Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens scoring count was completed by Andrew Lawrence,
who made the journey from London worthwhile when placing 40th,
and one place ahead of clubmate Mike Hegarty,
who won his first ever North Eastern Cross Country Championship medal,
which in turn was just reward for all the hard work he has put in training.

Although the following did not make the scoring count they gave creditable performances.
Phil Walker (52nd), Neil Gunstone (60th), after missing the start,
Alistair MacDonald (70th), Gordon Dixon (80th), John Butters (86th),
John Woods (90th), Mick Thomsen (115th) (1st Championship),
and Rob Hancox (150th).
There were a total of 292 finishers in the Senior Mens Championships.

Only two points deprived Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys of a Gold Medal team win.
They finished behind Middlesbrough Mandale, and were led home by an excellent Jacob Hopkins,
who tried to stay with eventual race winner Markhim Lonsdale of Gateshead Harriers
for as long as he could muster over the 2.9k circuit.

Eventually Lonsdale drew away, however Hopkins did have the satisfaction
of putting five seconds between himself and Elswick's Ewan Cassidy,
to grab a Silver individual medal, to add to the aforementioned team medal.

Assisting Hopkins in the team medal were Kieran Hedley,
who produced a superb run to finish fifth, and Philip Kirby,
who gets better with every race, who finished in 22nd place
out of a 48 strong field of Under 13 Boys finishers.
Morpeth's Samuel Williams also ran creditably to finish in 32nd place.

Unfortunately a pre race bout of glandular fever hit Morpeth Harrier's
Jonnie Nisbet's chances of winning the Under 17 Mens title.
Nevertheless Nisbet took his place on the start line,
and battled bravely throughout the 6.3k event, to finish in third place,
to take the Bronze Medal behind New Marke's Wayne Parker,
and Gateshead Harrier Barry Maskell.

Nisbet will also be grateful to club colleagues Sam Hancox (25th)
and Matthew Leveson (26th), whose combined
supporting efforts gained additional Bronze team medals.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers just missed out on medals
in the combined Under 17/ Under 20 Womens event.
Ailsa McGregor was fifth Under 20 in eleventh place overall,
and Hannah Rank was sixth Under 20 in seventeenth place overall.
The scoring count was closed by Lucy Shuttleworth,
who was 25th Under 17, and 25th overall finisher.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls finished as fifth team behind Jarrow and Hebburn.
They were led home by Lizzie Rank (14th), with good supporting runs coming from
Teegan Dryden (19th), and Olivia Priest (23rd).
Harriet Grace and Lois Scott also finished for Morpeth Harriers in 33rd and 39th places out of 41 finishers.

It was very disappointing that Morpeth Harriers failed to field a complete Under 15 Girls squad,
and only an excellent run by Alison Brown (8th),
and Jennifer Tynemouth (36th) were to show for the club.

Morpeth Harriers just missed out on countback as the overall best performers on the day.
Finishing level on the day with Gateshead Harriers,
it was only the three teams wins to Morpeth's two that gave them the nod.

In the Ladies events Morpeth scored one more point than their rivals,
however Gateshead had the same margin in the Mens events.
Shildon were the third overall club on the day, however the margin was quite vast.

Credit must go to Blyth Running Club, and their Team Leader
Dave Kitching for their superb organisation on the day.

North East Counties Cross Country Championships Results

Under 13 Boys
A HREF=http://www.new-marske-harriers.co.uk/images/stories/nexc/print%20outs%20u13b.pdf>Click here for Under 13 Boys Results

Under 13 Girls
Click here for Under 13 Girls Results

Under 15 Boys
Click here for Under 15 Boys Results

Under 15 Girls
Click here for Under 15 Girls Results

Under 17 / Under 20 Women
Click here for Under 17/ Under 20 Women Results

Under 20 Men
Click here for Under 20 Mens Results

Senior Men
Click here for Senior Mens Results

Senior Women
Click here for Senior Womens Results

Under 17 Men
Click here for Under 17 Mens Results

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (3)

Talented Irish import and Northumbria University student Eoin Everard
certainly marked his Morpeth Harriers debut with distinction,
when he easily clocked the days fastest time in the Senior Mens event
at the third Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting held
at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon on Saturday 26th November.

On a slightly heavy surface, and giving five minutes to a good
proportion of his opponents as a result of his Fast Pack start,
he literally carved through all but thirty of the record 419 strong field,
to emerge as a very worthy fourth counter for his new club,
who finished as second team behind Gateshead Harriers.

Within this performance he also showed to his new clubmates
that Morpeth Harriers have acquired a very useful
talent potentially worthy of International status.

Morpeth were led home by Veteran Phil Walker,
who when finishing tenth fom the Slow Pack,
showed that he is getting back to somewhere very near his best form.

Only two places behind Phil was his Morpeth clubmate Chris Waugh,
who also came through from the Slow Pack.

Another man certainly returning to near his better form is Gary Jones,
and his run from the Medium Pack saw him finish a very creditable nineteenth.

Next home was the aforementioned Everard,
and the Morpeth Harriers scoring count was completed by the
excellent runs by Nick Swinburn (37th) (Fast Pack),
and Gordon Dixon (52nd) (Slow Pack).

What is very creditable about Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens
overall performance on the day, is that in addition to the scoring six,
another five from the club managed to finish inside the first 150.

In addition to Everard, Morpeth Harriers also produced the
fastest performers in another three events on the day.
Notable of these was Philip Winkler, who worked his way
through from the Fast Pack to finish fourth, and led his
clubs Under 15 Boys to a narrow team victory over Blyth,
with excellent further team support coming from
Elliot Kelly (8th) (Fast Pack), and also Ryan Green (12th) (Fast Pack).

Despite a mid race tussle with Blackhill's Isaac Dunn,
Morpeth's Jonnie Nisbet clocked the fastest Under 17 Mens
time to finish third on the day.

Ashley Gibson marked her Morpeth Harriers Harrier League debut
by posting the fastest Senior Womens time to come through to finish eleventh,
and led her club to second team place in Division 2.
Further team support came from excellent runs by Jane Hodgson (15th) (Fast Pack)
and Emma Pearson (41st) (Fast Pack).

Morpeth Harriers finished as fourth team in the Under 13 Boys event,
being led home by an excellent Jacob Hopkins,
who was second fastest when finishing fifth from the Fast Pack,
and just ahead of clubmate Kieran Hedley (6th) (Fast Pack), who was third fastest.
Morpeth's scoring count was completed by Philip Kirby (39th) (Fast Pack).

Alison Brown finished eighth in the Under 15 Girls event,
and her run from the Fast Pack saw her emerge as fifth fastest on the day.
Sarah Wilkes finished 18th from the Slow Pack for Morpeth.

The Under 13 Girls event saw Morpeth's Georgia Priest and Lois Scott
finish 11th and 24th respectively from the Slow Pack.

In the non scoring Under 11's event, Morpeth Harriers Ailsa Jones
and Harriet Priest finished as sixth and 17th females respectively.

Click here for complete Male Results

Click here for complete Female Results

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2011 English National Cross Country Relays

Some of the worst conditions ever faced at the venue,
blighted some athletes individual ambitions at the annual
Saucony English Cross Country Relays, held at Berry Hill Park,
Mansfield on Saturday 5th November.

A heavy rainstorm during the Under 15 Boys 3 x 2k event made its mark
on the normally reasonably pristine surface, which also continued to prevail
slightly during the Senior Womens 3 x 3k event which followed, however it
did manage to peter out during the final event of the day, the Senior Mens 4 x 5k.

On the day, Morpeth Harriers athletes managed to produce some
positive results from the four events in which they competed.
The most surprising however, and most welcome,
came from their Under 13 Boys, in their 3 x 2k event,
where they thoroughly exceeded all expectations by finishing
in 16th place out of 91 teams who faced the starter,
and were seventh from the North of England.

Fortunes were indeed boosted by first leg runner Kieron Hedley,
who in September was a relatively unknown force.
However he proved his worth when he came home in 18th place in 7m31s,
which was followed by Jacob Hopkins excellent 7m29s on second leg,
which in turn saw him rise eleven places to seventh.
This left final leg runner Philip Kirby, who would not always be automatic third choice
, with the task of maintaining a respectable placing.
Philip did an excellent job, by clocking 8m07s, which although saw him drop back to sixteenth,
still showed him to play his part in a superb result.

Morpeth Harriers fielded two Senior Womens teams in their event,
and their A team were boosted by the debut of Ashley Gibson (formerly Elswick),
who came home in seventh place on the first leg in 10m35s,
which just outside the top ten best performances of the day.

They maintained this position throughout the three leg event,
with further excellent support coming from Maxine Czarneka (11m15.95s),
and Sarah Wilkinson (11m11.50s).
That placing also saw them finish as second from the North of England
, behind Yorkshire's Bingley Harriers who finished in fifth spot.

Morpeth Harriers B team were 43rd, and were also sixth B team to finish.
Kate Chapman (12m57.35s), Carolyn Booth (formerly Dickie) (12m08.55s),
and Sarah Graham (12m02.35s), all had excellent runs.

Much had been expected of Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens performance,
and despite illness and injury respectively robbing them of the services
of Ian Hudspith and Nick McCormick, their two teams performed
superbly to finish in ninth and thirty first places.

The A team got off to an excellent start, with Jonny Taylor clocking
the days fifth fastest overall time of 15m48.35s,
and coming home with a first leg placing of fifth.

On second leg Peter Newton found a great deal of tough opposition around him,
as he battled in the tricky conditions to maintain a respectable placing.
Peter slipped to eleventh place, despite clocking 17m00.35s,
and third leg runner Ian Harding ran a similar 17m01.80s, as he dropped a further place.

Matt Nicholson did supply a last leg revival however as he got back up
to a final ninth at the end of his excellent 16m32.50s clocking,
as they also finished as fourth from the North of England.

The Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens B team also performed excellently to finish as third B team.
Their fastest runner was Michael Dawson, who clocked 17m23.40s when placing 59th.
Ben Harrison climbed a further six places on second leg when he got round in 17m54.55s.
David Swinburne kept the momentum going when he climbed a further eight places
to 45th with his clocking of 18m12.40s.
On the final leg, Morpeth Harriers welcomed back Sam Forester
to the fold after many years of absense, and the former Junior Great North Run
winner certainly did his club proud, as he clocked a superb 17m25.15s,
to climb a further mammoth fourteen places to their finishing spot.

The Under 15 Boys 3 x 2k event was run during what was the worst conditions of the day,
where a heavy downpour forced spectators and officials alike to seek some protective shelter.
During the course of proceedings Morpeth Harriers first leg runner Ryan Green
began the challenge by coming home in a time of 7m34s to finish 55th of the 98 starters,
and passed on to Joe Elder, who was called in as a last minute replacement for the ill Philip Winkler,
who gained a further place on his run of 7m47s.
Jarod Lewis finished off the final effort by placing 51st in 7m46s,
which gave Morpeth Harriers the mantle of 22nd from the North of England.

Having three out of their four competing teams in fairly high positions
was certainly a good result for Morpeth Harriers, after a good days work,
and withstanding the conditions, was a true testament to their athletes determination.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (2)

Having a total of nine finishers inside the top 80 of a 370 plus strong field,
saw Morpeth Harriers Senior Men achieve an outstanding result in the Division 1
Grand Prix standings, at the second Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture,
held at Farringdon College, Sunderland on Saturday 29th October.

Those nine included their new signing Graeme Taylor,
who was a non counter on the day, owing to his recent
transfer from Jarrow and Hebburn.
Taylor is indeed a key signing for Morpeth,
having established an early lead in the individual standings,
after his run at the first meeting at Cramlington at the beginning of the month,
where he finished as fastest on the day in 23rd place.
On Saturday he emerged as seventh fastest in 54th place overall from the Fast Pack.
He was however behind five of his new clubmates, who all performed exceptionally.

First of those was Ian Harding, whose run from the Medium Pack,
with a two and a half minute handicap against the majority of the field,
came through to finish a well accomplished fourth,
and clocked the third fastest overall time of the day.

Second home for Morpeth Harriers was North of England
10,000metre Track Champion Peter Newton,
whose form continues to prosper with each run.
Peter's run from the Fast Pack, giving five minutes to the majority of the field,
saw him place an excellent 23rd, and as second fastest on the day,
and only 13 places, and only 76 seconds adrift of the fastest man,
the guesting Yarod of Bradford and Airedale.

Not far behind Peter, Morpeth Harriers saw their third counter
Chris Waugh place 42nd from the Slow Pack.
Fourth counter was Steven Bradley, who is showing great improvement
since joining the club this Summer, and his run to finish 45th overall
from the Slow Pack clearly testifies to his blossoming abilities.

Next home for Morpeth came Michael Dawson in 53rd place,
coming through as sixth fastest on the day from the Fast Pack,
and one place of the aforementioned Taylor.

This made Neil Gunstone as Morpeth's closing counter,
finishing in 67th place overall from the Slow Pack.

However other Morpeth Harriers who produced creditable runs on the day
were John Woods who finished one place behind Gunstone, also running from the Slow Pack,
and the clubs Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne,
who again put in one of his exemplary performances when finishing in 72nd place from the Fast Pack.

An excellent team leading performance by Jarod Lewis,
saw Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys just lose out in the
team race on the day to Gateshead Harriers.
Running from the Slow Pack, Lewis finished fourth overall,
and further team support came from excellent performances by
James Heppell (7th) (Slow Pack), and Philip Winkler (14th) (Fast Pack)
who in turn was sixth fastest in the race.
Morpeth's other runner in this event was Hans Paulsen,
who finished 46th from the Slow Pack.

Another good Morpeth Harriers result on the day came from their Under 13 Boys,
who finished third, only losing out for second on countback when on level points with Chester Le Street.
They were led home by a buoyant Jacob Hopkins, who continues to impress,
and his run from the Fast Pack to finish sixth overall, was indeed something special,
as he was third fastest on the course.
Not far behind him in eleventh place was Kieron Hedley,
who also produced an excellent run from the Fast Pack,
that saw him finish as eighth fastest overall.
The Morpeth team count was closed by Samuel Williams,
whose run from the Slow Pack saw him finish 17th overall.
Other Morpeth Harriers to finish in this age group were Euan Jones (32nd) (Fast Pack)
Philip Kirby (43rd) (Fast Pack),
Hamish Thomson (44th) (Slow Pack),
and Lewis James (53rd) (Slow Pack).

Jonny Nisbet continued his splendid form to finish in fifth place overall in the Under 17 Mens race.
Running from the Fast Pack he emerged as easily the fastest on the course.
Sadly here there was no Morpeth Harriers team challenge,
with the clubs only other competitor being Henrik Paulsen,
who finished 19th from the Slow Pack.

Jane Hodgson showed that her recent Marathon has not taken its toll
when she finished in 12th place in the Senior Womens event.
Running from the Fast Pack, she was the third fastest overall on the day.
Morpeth Harriers other runner in this event was Emma Pearson,
who also ran well from the Fast Pack to finish in 39th place out of a 153 strong field.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers could not turn out full teams
in either the Under 13 or Under 15 Girls events.
In the Under 13 Girls, Florence Thomson ran very confidently
from the Slow Pack to finish eighth overall,
and not far behind her was fellow Slow Packer Georgia Priest,
who finished in twelfth place.

Morpeth Harriers two Under 15 Girls Charlotte Jewell and Sarah Wilkes,
finished in twelfth and twentieth places respectively from the Slow Pack.

In the Non Scoring Under 11's event, Morpeth Harriers Ailsa Jones
and Harriet Priest finished in 15th and 40th places
as sixth and 22nd females respectively.

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Start Fitness North East Harrier League Sherman Cup / Davison Shield

A good club turnout, laced with a number of excellent individual performances,
saw Morpeth win the Davison Shield, and finish runners up in the Sherman Cup,
at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday 22nd October.

In the Sherman Cup (Mens competition), unless there are any further result revelations,
Morpeth just lost out by a mere point to arch rivals Gateshead Harriers,
despite having enjoyed a team win by their Under 13 Boys,
and second placing on the day by their Senior Men and Under 17 Men.

The Davison Shield (Womens competition) brought a surprise,
however very much welcome team victory on the day by their Under 13 Girls.

On the individual front, there were excellent individual victories by Jonnie Nisbet (Under 17 Men),
and Sarah Wilkinson (Senior Women), however in Wilkinson's case it all came about as a surprise,
as she was unaware that long term leader Danielle Hodgkinson of Wallsend had in fact gone off course,
and had lost so much ground, she ended up in tenth place overall.
Afterwards, Wilkinson was honest enough to feel some remorse for her unfortunate rival,
and claimed that she had definitely done enough to have won the race comfortably

To gain success in these competitions clubs have to ensure full turnout in all four races by each gender.
In the Sherman Cup, only two other clubs apart from Morpeth Harriers achieved this,
Gateshead and Sunderland Harriers, however in the Davison Shield,
Morpeth were the only club to fully compete.

On the day Morpeth's Under 13 Boys clearly dominated,
and they were led home valiantly by their club Road Champion Jacob Hopkins,
who finished third, after just losing out for second in the run in.
He was very closely followed home by Kieran Hedley in fourth place,
and the scoring count was very ably completed by Leon Craggs,
who on his debut placed fifteenth.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Men put up a very game fight
to finish as second on the day to Gateshead.
They were led home by Jonnie Nisbet, who after a close first lap battle,
won a battle of wits with Gateshead's Barry Maskell,
to eventually create a handsome margin of fifty one seconds.
Good supporting Morpeth counts came from Philip Caldwell,
who finished 16th, and who bravely got round with the agony of a painful leg injury,
which may see him absent from the scene for a considerable period unfortunately,
and Sam Hancox who finished 18th.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men finished in second team place to Gateshead,
and were led home by a much rejuvenated Matt Nicholson,
who came through well to finish third.
Good supporting counts came from Michael Dawson (7th),
and their Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne,
who produced one of his best performances for some time, when finishing fifteenth.

Finally on the Male side, Morpeth's Under 15 Boys,
who were minus the talents of Ryan Green and Elliot Kelly, finished fourth on the day.
They were led home by Philip Winkler, who ran well to finish fifth.
Supporting counts came from Jarod Lewis (12th), and Andrew Allan (23rd).

Best Morpeth result in the Davison Shield on the team front,
came from their Under 13 Girls, who were led home by Abbie Elliot (13th),
with supporting counts coming from Olivia Priest (15th), and Georgia Priest (17th).

Next best team result came in the Under 15 Girls,
who finished third on the day,
and were led home by Alison Brown (7th),
with further support coming from Charlotte Jewell (18th),
and Jennifer Tynemouth (26th).

Morpeth Harriers Senior Women finished as fourth team on the day,
being led home by the winner Sarah Wilkinson,
with excellent further support coming from Kate Chapman (18th),
and newcomer Abi Bagshaw, whose debut performance
to finish 30th in a field of 117 finishers, opened a few watching eyes.

It was good and refreshing to see Club Secretary Mike Bateman's efforts
to turn out a team of Under 17/Under 20 Women pay off,
as they added to the club success on the day, by finishing as fourth team.
They were led home by Ailsa McGregor, who despite a lack of recent competitive activity,
came through well to finish in eighth place.
Further excellent team support came from Lucy Shuttleworth (11th), and Polly Jeffrey (25th).

Other Morpeth Harriers performances not aforementioned were as follows

SHERMAN CUP
UNDER 13 BOYS
Philip Kirby (23rd),
Samuel Williams (31st)

UNDER 15 BOYS
James Heppell (27th),
Hans Paulsen (38th)

UNDER 17 MEN
Matthew Levison (20th)

SENIOR MEN
Gary Jones (17th),
Paul Waterston (28th),
Tom Brookes (36th),
John Woods (80th),
Rob Hancox (140th)

DAVISON SHIELD
UNDER 13 GIRLS
Harriet Grace (27th),
Lois Scott (28th)

SENIOR WOMEN
Marie Drosdowicz (34th)

Morpeth Harriers had two competitors facing the Starter
in the non scoring Under11's event at Temple Park.
Mark Booth finished ninth, and Ellie Ferman finished 28th.

Click here for complete results from the Sherman Cup

Click here for complete results from the Davison Shield

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Start Fitness North East Harrier League ( 1 )

The first in the series of Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meetings
took place at East Cramlington Country Park on Saturday 8th October.

Athletes from Morpeth Harriers were very swift to get their names on the honours board,
with a superb team triumph being achieved by their very promising Under 13 Boys squad,
plus an individual triumph being very much enjoyed by Under 15 Boys athlete Ryan Green.

Until a few weeks ago young Kieran Hedley was a virtually unknown,
when he made his competitive debut in the Northern Relays at Warrington.
However running from the Slow Pack, he very nearly won the Under 13 Boys event outright,
only losing out by 15 seconds to South Shields Harrier Matthew Wakefield.

Kieran was joined in a nine point marginal team victory over Northumberland rivals Alnwick Harriers
by Euan Jones and Samuel Williams, who finished third and twelfth respectively from the Slow Pack.

At the end of the day Hedley and Jones were credited with the overall sixth and eighth fastest times,
and Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys Road Champion for 2011 Jacob Hopkins emerged as third fastest,
when finishing a creditable fifteenth from the Fast Pack.
Other Morpeth Harriers finishers in this event were young Mark Booth,
who competing against Boys much than himself, finished a very creditable 35th from the Slow Pack,
Philip Kirby (38th) (Fast Pack), and Lewis James (47th) (Slow Pack).

Ryan Green certainly used his Slow Pack start to good advantage,
when winning the Under 15 Boys event with eleven seconds to spare over his closest rival,
and emerged as sixth fastest on the day.
He also led Morpeth Harriers to sixth team place,
with further support coming from Elliot Kelly,
who came through to finish in 19th place from the Fast Pack,
and as a very creditable third fastest overall,
and Joe Elder (32nd) (Fast Pack), (16th Fastest).

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men finished in third team place on the day,
and were second in Division 1 on the day.

They were led home by the ever improving Mike Hegarty,
who is certainly finding the recent work he is doing
with Coach Chris Waugh proving to be a valuable asset.
Hegarty finished fifth overall from the Slow Pack.

Next home was John Butters, who having returned to the sport,
is enjoying the experience immensely.
Butters was a good youngster with the club in the late eighties,
and his placing of 24th from the Slow Pack, also owes a great deal
to the work he has been doing with Waugh on a Monday evening.

Next home was Michael Dawson, who was second fastest on the course,
when placing 29th from the Fast Pack.
Fourth Morpeth Harriers finisher was Waugh himself,
who finished 45th from the Slow Pack.
Waugh is also in the middle of his second spell with the club,
having been a successful Junior in the late seventies and early eighties
before work commitments took him South.

Morpeth Harriers scoring count was completed by John Woods (49th) (Slow Pack),
and Stephen Bradley (65th) (Slow Pack).
With these results at the first meeting, and further input expected from the rest of the squad,
a good seasons result is very much in prospect.

Another good Morpeth performer on the day was Paul Waterston,
who although not amongst the clubs scoring six,
managed to finish as second fastest in the League's Veterans Grand Prix standings,
when finishing 117th from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Men finished as fifth team,
being led home by an excellent performer in Philip Caldwell,
who when finishing eleventh from the Fast Pack, was second fastest on the course.
He was further supported in the team effort by Henrick Paulsen (18th) (Slow Pack),
and Sam Hancox (25th) (Fast Pack).

In the Under 15 Girls race Sarah Wilkes finished in 14th place from the Slow Pack,
just one place ahead of her Morpeth clubmate Alison Brown,
who produced an aggressive performance from the Fast Pack,
to finish as fifth fastest overall.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers failed to field a third member for team count.
The club also failed to turn out a third runner in the Under 13 Girls event,
where Olivia Priest (22nd) (Slow Pack), and Georgia Priest (28th) (Slow Pack),
were their sole competitors.

Even more disappointingly, the cub failed to turn out a single athlete
in the combined Under 17/Junior and Senior Womens event.
Hopefully that problem will prove to be rectified as the season progresses.

Click here for complete Male Results

Click here for complete Female Results

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Sunderland Harriers Open XC Races !

Several athletes from Morpeth Harriers successfully kick-started their Cross Country season
on Saturday 10th September, at Sunderland Harriers Open XC Races held at Farringdon School.

Philip Winkler and Jonnie Nisbet celebrated by recording excellent individual placings,
and good runs by Ailsa Jones, Jacob Hopkins and Maxine Czarneka saw them achieve minor medals.

There were also a handful of excellent improved performances,
particularly from Philip Caldwell, Alison Brown, Elliot Kelly,
Harriet Priest, and Lauren Robson.

Despite feeling unwell before and after the event, Philip Winkler took his place
on the startline in the Under 15 Boys race, and was boosted to win with nine seconds
to spare over his tough Chester Le Street rival Thomas Gouldings.
Not far behind Philip came clubmate Elliot Kelly, who is really starting to show his potential,
and he showed this with a highly commendable placing of fifth,
and was very close to battling for a minor medal.

Ryan Green came through steadily to finish ninth,
and other Morpeth Harriers to finish in this event were
Jarod Lewis (12th), and Joe Elder (17th).

Jonnie Nisbet made a comfortable job of winning the Under 17 Mens event
with twelve seconds to spare over his closest rival, however the shining light
for Morpeth Harriers in this race was definitely Philip Caldwell,
who battled well throughout, and was not far away from the minor placings when he finished fifth.
Other Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Mens finishers were
Sam Hancox (15th), and Jack Hepple (16th).

Ailsa Jones won herself a Silver medal in the Under 11 Girls event,
which also saw excellent performances being set by Harriet Priest (6th), and Lauren Robson (7th).

Jacob Hopkins ran excellently to take a Bronze medal in the Under 13 Boys event,
and there were also good Morpeth finishers in Euan Jones (10th), and Hamish Thomson (25th).

Maxine Czarneka finished third behind a rampant Rosie Smith of Durham City
in the Senior and Veteran Women event,
and Gemma Floyd can feel well pleased with her placing of eighth.

Despite having one of her best runs, Alison Brown can count herself very unfortunate
to be just run out of the medals in the Under 15 Girls event when she finished fourth.

Morpeth Harriers had an excellent turnout in the Under 13 Girls event,
managing to field no less than six runners.
Other Morpeth positions were as follows
Lizzie Rank (9th), Abbie Elliot 12th)
Olivia Priest (15th), Harriet Grace 16th)
Georgia Priest (18th), and Florence Thomson (22nd).

In the Under 11 Boys event Robbie Elder finished thirteenth.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 6 )
Domestic Cross Country action for the 2010/11 season drew to a close on Saturday 26th March,
with the final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League taking place at Prudhoe.

Highlights of the days performances for Morpeth Harriers
were the individual wins by Jane Mooney and Ian Harding,
and the on the day team success of their Under 17 Men,
amongst a number of other good individual efforts.

It was indeed icing on the cake for Jane Mooney,
when she won the Senior Womens event from the Fast Pack,
despite giving four minutes and two minutes start to a good proportion of the field.
She won with nine seconds to spare over Emily Collinge of Gosforth Harriers,
to whom she had given a two minute start, on the toughest of Harrier League courses.

This win certainly confirmed her victory in the Senior Womens Grand Prix stakes for the season.
Morpeth Harriers other runner in this event was Claire Bruce, who placed 39th from the Slow Pack.

Another Morpeth Harriers Grand Prix winner was Jonny Nisbet,
who finished second from the Fast Pack in the Under 17 Mens event to confirm his success.
He also led his club to team victory over Blyth,
with excellent runs by Philip Caldwell (4th) (Fast Pack),
and Sam Hancox (11th) (Fast Pack), supporting the team effort.
Caldwell's effort also sees him finish second in the Grand Prix stakes to Nisbet.

What should have been a possible first Senior Mens Division 1
Championship victory for Morpeth Harriers, turned out to be a
disappointing loss at the final hurdle on countback to Heaton Harriers,
who by comparison were blessed by an excellent commitment by their athletes on the day,
whilst Morpeth were sadly let down in depth by some with other priorities.

Nevertheless, a few die hard members from the club did turn out to lend support,
and their excellent performances did see them finish in second place overall,
and only a mere twenty two points adrift of winners Heaton.
Sadly giving Heaton an advantage on the day, tipped the scales in favour
of the Newcastle club to take the Championship trophy,
by virtue of having victory at more meetings than Morpeth.

As aforementioned, the athletes who did turn out for Morpeth Harriers gave their all,
and their required six counters all figured inside the top seventy on the course.
They were led home by Ian Harding, who used his Slow Pack start to establish a very early healthy lead,
which he never relinquished, and came home, despite going slightly off course near the end,
to win by a comfortable margin of three minutes and thirteen seconds over his closest rival.

He was also the second fastest on the course, his time only bettered
by Heaton Harrier James Buis by thirteen seconds,
who had given him a five minute start, by virtue of his Fast Pack status.

Second home for Morpeth Harriers was Terry Wall,
who finished third overall running from the Medium Pack.

Ross Floyd, who has enjoyed a superb cross country season in the Morpeth colours,
was third home for his club, finishing ninth from the Fast Pack, and was third fastest overall.

David Swinburne, Morpeth Harriers Road and Cross Country Team Manager,
produced yet another exemplary performance, when coming home as the clubs
fourth counter in 32nd place from the Fast Pack.

Another excellent performer was John Woods, who worked
his way through in the Medium Pack, to finish in 46th place.
Morpeth Harriers scoring count was completed by Rob Hancox,
who battled hard on a tough course, to finish in 69th place from the Slow Pack.

Other Morpeth Harriers Senior Men who gave their commitment on the day were
Mike Winter (139th) (Medium Pack)
Richard Kirby (186th) (Slow Pack)
and Stewart Bruce (279th) (Slow Pack).

As a plus point, without having to run on Saturday,
Morpeth Harriers Matt Nicholson and Peter Newton have
finished first and second in the Senior Mens Grand Prix rankings for the season,
and their performances throughout had been very contributory to their clubs near win in the Division.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys just lost out in the team race on the day to Tynedale Harriers.
They were led home by Ryan Green, who again produced an excellent run to emerge
as second fastest on the day by twenty nine seconds.
He worked his way through to place fourth from the Fast Pack,
and excellent team support came from Jacob Hopkins (11th)
and Sam Fisher (14th), both also from the Fast Pack.

Other Morpeth Harriers finishers in this event were Sam Williams (35th) (Fast Pack)
Philip Kirby (38th) (Fast Pack), and Patrick Booth (39th) (Fast Pack).

After spending most of the cross country season being unable to field an Under 13 Girls squad,
Morpeth Harriers are pleased to be able to call upon some very promising talents in the form of
Florence Thomson, and Olivia and Georgia Priest, who combined well on Saturday,
to see their club finish as third team in a very competitive event.

Olivia was first home for the club in ninth place from the Slow Pack,
which will probably see her elevated to the Fast Pack next season.
Florence and Georgia also ran from the Slow Pack,
and finished in 11th and 14th places respectively.

Olivia and Georgia received sound encouragement from the sidelines
from their large family of parents and grandparents who had come to spectate,
who included Stephen, Anthony and Susan Priest,
who back in the late 80's were all prolific runners for Morpeth Harriers.

Alison Brown and Joe Elder were lone Morpeth Harrier
competitors in the Under 15 Girls and Boys events.

Brown finished a good sixth from the Fast Pack,
and Elder showed good improvement in his comeback
from injury problems to finish twenty fifth,
again running from the Fast Pack.

In the combined Under 11 Boys and Girls event
Morpeth Harriers had four runners facing the starter.
First home was Hamish Thomson, who was ninth overall and sixth boy.
One place behind Hamish came Ailsa Jones, who was third girl home.
Morpeth's other two runners were more from the Priest family.
Harriet finished 13th as sixth girl, and Chloe finished 17th as 8th girl.

At the presentation at the end of proceedings,
it was also confirmed that Morpeth Harriers were winners
of the Sherman Cup and Davison Shield competitions,
that had been incorporated into the previous fixture at Blaydon,
and the club were presented with the respective trophies.

Main Grand Prix awards were also announced,
however presentations of these awards will take place
on Thursday 14th April 2011,
at Start Fitness' Main Store on Pilgrim Street, Newcastle.

Matt Nicholson, Peter Newton, Jane Mooney,
Jonnie Nisbet, and Philip Caldwell of Morpeth Harriers
are amongst those in line for awards.

In a closing speech given by the Chairman of the North East Counties Bill McGuirk,
he thanked all those involved with the organisation of the league,
and praised them for their efforts in a season that had required
a fair amount of decision making with regards to weather conditions etc,
and the fact that the only meeting lost had been the normally
separated Sherman Cup and Davison Shield events,
a great deal of understanding and co-operation by the clubs had been achieved,
and he thanked everyone for this.

Click here for complete Mens results from Prudhoe

Click here for complete Female results from Prudhoe

Click here for complete Female Harrier League Grand Prix results

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 5 )
An excellent turnout by athletes across all the age groups,
saw Morpeth Harriers confirm their supremacy in winning
the Sherman Cup and Davison Shield, (subject to final results scrutiny),
at the fifth and penultimate meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League,
held at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon on Saturday 12th March.

The event also saw Sam Fisher and Ailsa McGregor record individual victories,
and Morpeth Harriers also enjoyed team successes in the Under 13 Boys,
Under 13 Girls, Under 15 Girls, and Senior Womens sections.

On to league events themselves, and Morpeth Harriers Senior Men,
despite losing out on the day to Sunderland Harriers,
maintained their status at the top of Division 1 by one point over Heaton Harriers,
who finished as third on the day, with the Wearsiders now lodging themselves into third place,
and still worthy of a realistic challenge for the team title.

Morpeth were led home by Neil Wilkinson from the Medium Pack,
who managed to catch all but three of the Slow Pack athletes who had
a two and a half minute start on him, to finish in a well accomplished fourth place.

Meanwhile matters were really hotting up behind him,
as his club colleagues Peter Newton and Matt Nicholson had
been locked into a tremendous Fast Pack battle with
Sunderland Harriers Jack Martin and Mark Hood.
Eventually Martin emerged with the fastest time of the day when finishing fifth,
however it was Newton who came home as Morpeth's second counter in seventh place,
with Nicholson twelve seconds adrift in ninth place.

Nicholson still however heads the Senior Mens Grand Prix standings,
with Newton close behind in second place, and in third place is Ross Floyd,
who when finishing 37th from the Fast Pack,
was Morpeth's fourth counter, and was sixth fastest overall on the day.

At the time of going to press, Nicholson is one point ahead of Newton,
with Floyd a further six points adrift.

Next home for Morpeth Harriers was their Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne,
who worked his way doggedly through from the Fast Pack to finish in 48th place,
and was eighth fastest on the course.

Having his first run in the Blue and White of Morpeth,
Neil Gunstone, formerly with Dundee Hawkhill, distinguished
himself well, when finishing 55th from the Fast Pack.

Unfortunately his clearance for team competition has not yet been confirmed,
so he was unable to be part of Morpeth Harriers team count on the day.

The clubs team count was completed by Slow Packer Rob Hancox,
who ran well to finish in 117th place.
Other Morpeth Harriers competing on the day were John Woods,
who ran well to finish 131st from the Medium Pack,
and Stewart Bruce who placed 294th from the Slow Pack.

So it is all down to the final meeting on the traditional tough and testing course
at Prudhoe at the end of the Month, for the Division 1 title race,
and the tremendous battle for individual supremacy in the Senior Mens Grand Prix
standings for three Morpeth Harriers, exciting stuff.

Another Morpeth Harriers in line for an award and many plaudits
at the end of the Harrier League season is Jane Mooney.
Having clocked the fastest times at three of the five meetings so far,
she has now established a virtually unbeatable
lead at the top of the Senior Womens Grand Prix rankings.

On Saturday at Blaydon her contribution not only as an individual,
but also as a superb team player and leader was immense.
After giving two and four minutes start to 93 of her competing opponents,
she worked her way through to finish second,
and led her club to an excellent team victory on the day ahead of Heaton and Wallsend.

Good team support came from Kate Chapman (6th) (Slow Pack),
and Claire Bruce (25th) (Slow Pack).
Other good runs on the day were had by Lucy Sill (53rd) (Slow Pack),
and Collette Jewell (103rd) (Slow Pack).
Collette had taken much pleasure earlier in the day by watching
her daughter Charlotte lead Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls to an excellent team victory.

Charlotte, having her first Harrier League run finished in fourth place from the Slow Pack,
and very narrowly missed out on a Bronze medal on the day for her efforts.
Morpeth Harriers team count was well supported by Georgia Priest (12th) (Slow Pack),
and Jennifer Tynemouth (13th) (Slow Pack).
Other good Morpeth performers on the day in this age group
were Emily Todd (28th) (Slow Pack), and Lizzie Rank (30th) (Fast Pack).

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys also pulled off an excellent team victory on the day,
and for the second meeting in a row, the club also provided the race winner.

Sam Fisher used his Slow Pack start to record an excellent seventeen second marginal victory,
and at the end of the day he was fifteenth fastest in a total field of 48 finishers.
Supporting Sam well in the team challenge were Euan Jones (4th) (Slow Pack),
and Sam Williams in his first run came through well to place tenth from the Slow Pack.
Again having an excellent run in this age group were Ryan Green and Jacob Hopkins
who as Fast Pack competitors worked their way well to finish 12th and 20th,
and respectively they were excellent fourth and ninth fastest in the race.
Patrick Booth also had a good run from the Slow Pack
to finish one place behind the aforementioned Ryan Green.
Andrew Allan and Philip Kirby, who were also running from the Fast Pack,
finished in 36th and 47th places.

Morpeth Harriers secured another team victory in the Under 15 Girls event,
and were led home by Alison Brown, who in finishing fourth overall,
was an excellent third fastest on the day.
Excellent team support came from twin sisters Rosie and Molly McDonald
who ran well to finish eighth and ninth from the Slow Pack.

Ailsa McGregor had an excellent individual win in the
Under 17/Under 20 Womens event by the margin of six
seconds when running from the Slow Pack.
She was also third fastest in the race, and with good support
by Lucy Shuttleworth (6th) (Slow Pack), and Hannah Rank (10th) (Fast Pack),
Morpeth Harriers finished in second team place to a well packed Gosforth Harriers effort.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Men also finished in second team place,
and were led home by an excellent Tom Brookes, who finished second from the Slow Pack.
Equally excellent Fast Pack runs by Jonny Nisbet and Philip Caldwell were the support.
They finished ninth and eleventh respectively and as fifth and seventh fastest in the race.
Matthew Levison (16th) (Slow Pack), and Sam Hancox (22nd) (Fast Pack),
also competed for Morpeth Harriers in this event.

Jonny Nisbet currently heads the Under 17 Mens
Harrier League Grand Prix rankings, and is unlikely to be caught.

Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys finished in fourth team place,
and were led home by Henrik Paulsen,
who ran well from the Slow Pack to finish in fifteenth place.
Further team support came from Philip Winkler (20th) (Fast Pack),
and Tom Fisher (33rd) (Slow Pack).
Joe Elder of Morpeth finished 40th from the Fast Pack.
Winkler was seventh fastest on the day.

Prior to the main events there was a combined Under 11's events,
which was an opportunity for some of Morpeth Harriers younger athletes
to taste some big race atmosphere, some for the first time.

They were led home by Matthew Hogan who finished 23rd,
and he was followed home by Ciaran Jewell (25th),
Harriet Priest (26th), and Anna Fisher (37th).

The formal presentation for the Sherman Cup and Davison Shield
will take place along with the end of season awards
at the final meeting at Prudhoe on Saturday 26th March 2011.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 4 )
Athletics activity at the weekend centred round the fourth
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting,
held at Cardinal Hume School in Wrekenton,
Gateshead, on Saturday 26th February.

Despite some pre-event rain, the course was in good raceable condition,
although there were some heavy patches of ground.

This did nothing to deter Morpeth Harrier Ryan Green,
who in the first event on the programme,
the Under 13 Boys, took a handsome victory by a margin of twenty eight seconds,
by clocking the fourth fastest overall time of the day,
while using well his 100 second Slow Pack advantage.
Philip Kirby, having his first run for the club as an Under 13 Boy,
having previously taken great experience from his Under 11 outings,
ran superbly to come home in eighth place from the Slow Pack.
With Jacob Hopkins also coming through well in the Fast Pack to finish sixteenth,
Morpeth Harriers snatched a four point marginal team victory on the day from Tynedale Harriers.

Matt Nicholson showed he had recovered well from his
previous weeks exertions at Alton Towers, where he finished 35th,
when he worked his way through to second place from the Fast Pack,
by clocking the fastest Senior Mens overall time of the day,
and was closely followed in third place by his Morpeth Harriers clubmate
Peter Newton, who was second fastest on the day from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth Harriers eventually finished as second team on the day,
to their Division 1 rivals Sunderland Harriers, which means that in the Grand Prix stakes,
they are equal top currently with Heaton Harriers, who unfortunately on the day
took a bit of a nosedive by placing fourth in the Divisional count.

Meanwhile Nicholson had also added greatly to his chances
of retaining the individual Senior Mens trophy that he won last year,
and he and Newton look good prospects to compete well for the region
at the Inter Counties Championships, scheduled to be held
at Cofton Park, Birmingham, this weekend.

Further excellent Morpeth Harriers team counts came from
Paul Waterston (14th) (Medium Pack), Michael Dawson (22nd) (Fast Pack)
Ross Floyd (28th) (Fast Pack), and Alistair MacDonald (57th) (Slow Pack)

Jane Mooney bounced right back to the top of the leaderboard
in the Senior Womens Grand Prix standings by running the days fastest time,
when coming through to place third overall with a superb performance.
She will also on current form, prove to be a very valuable asset when
representing the region in Birmingham this weekend.

Morpeth Harriers only other finisher in this event was Claire Bruce,
who placed 45th from the Slow Pack, which disappointingly once again
meant there was no team challenge by the club.

Sam Hancox and Henrik Paulsen were Morpeth Harriers sole competitors
in the Under 17 Mens and Under 15 Boys events respectively.
Sam finished eleventh running from the Fast Pack,
and Henrik finished 31st from the Slow Pack.

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English National Cross Country Championships !
Sadly Alton Towers in Staffordshire proved to be no fairground attraction for athletes
taking part in the English National Cross Country Championships on Saturday 19th February.
A heavy early morning snowfall, plus an incessant rainstorm made conditions very difficult underfoot,
and in some places very near impossible.

At one stage organisers came very close to considering abandonment,
as following the first two events which had resulted in some accidents,
caused a delay to proceedings. After further checks, officials decided to continue
on slightly shorter courses, in order to try to complete the ten race programme.

It was a disappointing day for Morpeth Harriers, as a result of several cry offs,
only eight of their athletes overall made the start line, with only seven of them finishing.

There were some positives however, in the performances of Matt Nicholson,
Andrew Lawrence, Alison Brown, and Jonnie Nisbet.

After a spell of warm weather training in Portugal with his coach Lindsey Dunn,
Nicholson could be forgiven if he didn't fancy the prospect of working his way round
a now shortened, yet extremely muddy Senior Mens course,
however he stuck to the task in hand, and got round the approximately
10k circuit to finish in a very creditable 35th place, and was second from
the North East behind New Marske's Andy Wiles, who in turn did well to finish 15th.

Andrew Lawrence, who had journeyed up from London beforehand,
also performed well to finish 176th. Morpeth Harriers third Senior Man home
was Rob Hancox, who certainly chose the right footwear on the day, to finish a very creditable 865th.

With no other runners to offer, Morpeth Harriers could not muster any challenge in team affairs.
Alison Brown certainly gave her all in her first National experience as an Under 15 athlete,
and although very exhausted afterwards, could feel well pleased in her efforts in finishing in 106th place.

Fellow Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes also competed bravely in what was becoming a sea of mud,
interspaced by lake like areas, to finish in 214th place.

In the Under 17 Mens event, Morpeth's Jonnie Nisbet couldn't quite match his best form,
however he courageously soldiered on to finish in 69th place.
Sam Hancox, also braved his way round to finish in 228th place.
Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers other runner in this event,
Philip Caldwell, was forced to call matters to a halt after one lap,
when he aggravated an ankle problem that he had recently suffered with.

Click here for Full Results

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )
In very much mudbath conditions, several athletes from Morpeth Harriers
gave good account for themselves at the rescheduled third meeting
of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League,
held on Newcastle's Town Moor, on Sunday 6th February.

Most notable were the runs by Jane Mooney, Peter Newton and Jacob Hopkins.
Fresh from her exertions from the previous weeks Northern Cross Country Championships,
Jane Mooney bravely battled her way through from the Fast Pack to win the Senior Womens race outright.

She also led her club to seventh team place, with supporting runs
coming from Emma Pearson (27th) (Fast Pack), and Claire Bruce (54th) (Slow Pack).

Peter Newton was the days fastest performer in the Senior Mens event,
when he also came through from a Fast Pack start to finish third,
and the second and fifth fastest performances belonged to his club colleagues
Ross Floyd and Michael Dawson, who finished fourth and seventeenth respectively.
With further Morpeth Harriers team support coming from Gary Jones (55th) (Fast Pack)
Rob Hancox (94th) (Slow Pack), and Peter Scaife (143rd) (Slow Pack)
the club finished as sixth team on the day,
but still maintain their seasons fight for Division 1 supremacy.

Jacob Hopkins produced an excellent run to finish second,
as Morpeth Harriers sole competitor in the Under 13 Boys event.

In her very first Harrier League outing, Morpeth's Lizzie Rank
competed well to finish sixth in the Under 13 Girls event,
and was third from the Slow Pack.

Sam Hancox also had a good run when he finished fourth
in the Under 17 Mens event from the Slow Pack.

Henrik Paulsen and Joe Elder finished 17th and 25th
respectively in the Under 15 Boys event,
the latter running from the Fast Pack.

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Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships !
Competing for their Scottish club Ron Hill Cambuslang,
Morpeth Harriers Neil Wilkinson and Archie Jenkins finished 6th and 119th respectively,
in the Mens race at the Scottish Masters Cross Country
Championships, held at Kirkcaldy on Saturday 5th February.

In Wilkinson's case it saw him accrue a Gold Team medal as third counter,
and he was also third Over 40 man home.
Archie was twelfth home in the Over 55 Mens category.

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North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships !
Morpeth 11k Road Race winner Lewis Timmins continued his excellent 2011 form,
by cruising to a convincing victory in the Senior Mens event,
and led Morpeth Harriers to a successful retention of the title
that they have held for the last three years,
at the rearranged 2010 North Eastern Counties Counties
Cross Country Championships, held at Temple Park,
South Shields on Saturday 8th January.

Timmins was also adding individual Gold success to the
Under 17 Mens title that that he won at Darlington in 2003,
when he was running for Gosforth Harriers.

History was also created by Morpeth Harriers on Saturday,
when their Senior Ladies team took a Championship title for the very first time,
being led home by a very much on fire Jane Mooney,
who also managed to claim an individual Bronze medal,
adding to the Silver that she won in 2009,
at the expense of her own clubmate Morag Stead,
whom she outsprinted in the finishing straight.

Timmins won with forty two seconds to spare over his closest rival,
who just happened to be his Morpeth Harriers clubmate Peter Newton,
who deservedly took the Silver medal place after a thrilling battle
with eventual Bronze medallist Dan Garbutt of Durham City.
Newton stole away in the closing stages to create
a twenty five second window between him and his rival.
Ross Floyd of Morpeth Harriers also continued his impressive
athletics career by finishing in tenth place,
and just one place ahead of his Team Manager David Swinburne,
who was also having his best race for some time.

With four counters inside the top twelve, it was no wonder that
Morpeth Harriers hopes of retaining the Senior Mens title for the fourth consecutive time,
and when Veteran athlete Paul Waterston came home in 21st place,
the chances became even higher.

A Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens team win was very firmly confirmed
when another Club Veteran Gordon Dixon came home in 57th place,
and gave them a fifty eight point marginal victory over Gateshead Harriers,
with Sunderland Harriers well back further in third place.
In addition to that, despite his many years with Morpeth Harriers,
Dixon was also claiming his first ever Senior Championship medal.

Morpeth Harriers other Senior Man competing in the event was Ben Groves,
and he had a very good run to finish 108th, out of a total field of 231 finishers.

The superb performance by Morpeth Harriers Senior Women,
led home by the aforementioned Jane Mooney and Morag Stead with only one second dividing them,
that saw them win the North East title for the very first time, was further confirmed by Carolyn Dickie,
who finished tenth in her first North East Championship since returning to the region,
and added to that Sarah Graham, also produced a superb run to finish in thirteenth place.

With previous title holders Chester Le Street unable to turn out a full squad,
Morpeth Harriers won by eight points over their closest rivals Heaton Harriers,
with Durham City a further thirteen points adrift in third place.

Unfortunately on the day, Morpeth Harriers only medals came from the
aforementioned Senior Men and Senior Womens efforts,
however they did emerge as second best club performers
overall in the Championships behind Gateshead Harriers.
This was as a result of genuine efforts in some of the other age groups,
especially the clubs Under 15 Girls, who just lost out for Bronze team medals by one point.
They were led home by Alison Brown, who gave a very valiant fight in finishing in tenth place.
Further team support came from Jessica Morrison, Sarah Wilkes,
and Beth Wooley, who finished in 14th, 20th and 21st places respectively.
Unfortunately an injury to Molly McDonald ruled her out of the Championship, and possible medals.

Morpeth Harriers only other team result came in the Under 13 Boys,
who finished seventh of ten competing squads.
They were led home by Ryan Green, who finished 18th,
with further supporting runs coming from Andrew Allan (22nd)
Euan Jones (33rd), and Jacob Hopkins (40th)

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Men were blighted by ill luck
when Philip Caldwell picked up an injury in his warm up,
which left them with only Jonnie Nisbet and Sam Hancox being able to run.
2009 Under 15 Boys Champion Nisbet, did his level best to do battle
with mainly older boys in his first year run at Under 17 level,
and can feel well pleased with his efforts in placing seventh against strong opposition.
Sam Hancox finished in 25th place.

Another blow for Morpeth Harriers came in the Under 15 Boys race,
where 2009 Under 13 Boys Silver Medallist Philip Winkler
pulled up injured during the event, which rendered him unable to continue.
Other Morpeth Under 15 Boys, Joe Elder and Henrik Paulsen
finished 36th and 40th respectively.

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Start Fitness North East Harrier League ( 3 )
The third Start Fitness North East Harrier League fixture
which was due to have taken place on Saturday 27th November,
at Shibdon Pond Blaydon was cancelled due to inclement weather
and deep snow on the course, and for safety reasons.

The League Committee will work with Blaydon the host club
to look at possible dates to re-schedule the event in the New Year.

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Saucony English National Cross Country Relays !

For the second year in succession, Morpeths Senior Men
just failed to get amongst the medals,
as Bedford won the title for the third year in a row,
at the annual English Cross Country Relays,
held on Saturday November 6th, at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield.

They finished fourth, and only twenty six seconds adrift
of Notts AC in a frantic last leg chase to the finish line.

After the early legs of Jonathan Taylor (15m30.05s)
and Matt Nicholson (15m46.15s), had seen them finish in a challenging eleventh spot,
Ian Hudspith took them into a terrific last leg inferno with his 5k clocking of 15m36.25s,
which left him in eighth place, giving last leg runner
Nick McCormick plenty to chase on the tough two lap course.

McCormick quickly set about the opposition,
and by the time he reached the steep uphill section for the second time,
he was disputing fourth place with a determined Belgrave opponent,
and chasing a slender Notts AC lead for third place as both reached the downhill section.

At this point McCormick kicked, and left his Belgrave rival slightly trailing.
Hearing the shouts from the crowd around the finish area,
the Notts runner sensed danger, and managed to find another gear
to leave McCormick trying in vain to reach an elusive Bronze medal slot.

McCormick clocked 15m18.40s to at least help retain pride
in the fact that Morpeth had finished as top Northern club,
ahead of Derby (9th), and Leeds City (14th).

Morpeth's Senior Mens B team also finished fourth by placing an excellent 25th,
courtesy of Nick Swinburn (15m40.40s), Michael Dawson (16m20.95s)
Peter Newton (16m06.25s), and David Swinburne (16m56.70s)
Newton's third leg had seen them reach 21st.

An incomplete Morpeth C team saw Andrew Lawrence (17m08.35s)
and Ben Harrison (17m15.30s), reach 62nd place.

Aiveen Fox (11m03.25s), Sarah Wilkinson (10m42.15s)
and Morag Stead (10m29.20s), steered Morpeths Senior Women
to an excellent eleventh in their 3x3k Championship.

It was Stead's Championship debut for the club,
and with this type of performance, which in turn saw her
eighth fastest of the leg, she is indeed a prize asset for the clubs future.
They also emerged as fifth Northern club in the contest.

Morpeths Junior Men finished in 53rd place in their 3x3k event,
courtesy of James Woolett (12m15.00s), Philip Shuttleworth (10m32.45s)
and Matthew Boyle (11m29.25s).

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 2 )

An upbeat David Swinburne, Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens Road
and Cross Country Team Manager, described his squads performance
at the second Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at Farringdon College, Sunderland on Saturday 30th October
as a superb workmanlike effort, and he felt assured that there was
depth within the ranks, to maintain a positive challenge
for the league title in the fixtures that remained.

He also singled out the individual performance of Matt Nicholson,
who for the second meeting in a row, clocked the fastest time,
and also looked set for retaining his hold on the seasons
best performers title for another year.

Although a little reticent in self praise of his own efforts,
Swinburne must take some applause for the fact that
he led his team home with a solid run from the medium pack,
on a course with less passing places,
and that he managed to channel his way through to twelfth place,
clocking what became the tenth fastest time in a field of 367 finishers.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens team dominance was further confirmed,
when alongside Swinburne's effort, the other five counters
managed to get within the top thirty finishers.

These five were headed by the aforementioned Nicholson,
who had a blistering run to come home two
places behind his Team Manager in fourteenth spot.
He had spent most of the race trying to fend off the
close attentions of clubmate Nick Swinburn,
whom he eventually dropped on the final lap of the three large, and one small lap contest.
Nicholson's fastest time was sixteen seconds faster than the second fastest man,
who just happened to be another Morpeth Harriers clubmate Peter Newton,
who had come through superbly to nineteenth place,
to just outpace Swinburn, who finished twentieth.

The final two Morpeth Harriers counting places also came
from Fast Pack runners Ross Floyd and Michael Dawson,
who with excellent runs came through to twenty ninth
and thirtieth places by clocking the fourth and fifth fastest times.

With those individual performances Morpeth Harriers
were easily the best Senior Mens team performers by
a margin of thirty points from Division 2 rivals Durham City,
with their nearest Division 1 challenge coming from Sunderland Harriers,
who took third place overall on the day,
albeit sixty two points adrift of Morpeth.

Further down the field and nevertheless creditable
Morpeth Senior Mens runs came from Ben Newman,
on his Harrier League debut, who finished 48th from the Slow Pack,
Chris Sharp and Matthew Boyle, also having their first taste of Harrier League action,
who finished 155th and 165th from the Slow Pack,
and evergreen Veterans Archie Jenkins and Tony Ward
who finished 190th and 341st from the Slow Pack.

Another excellent team effort on the day for
Morpeth Harriers came from their Under 15 Boys,
who finished second to a very strong Sunderland Harriers effort.

They were led home by a front running performer in Philip Winkler,
who despite a hip niggle, clocked one of
the fastest times, to win by a margin of nine seconds.
Excellent team support came from vastly improved
performers in Joe Elder (9th) (Slow Pack)
and Martin Hood (23rd) (Slow Pack).

Morpeth Harriers other finisher here was Henrik Paulsen,
who came home in 40th place from the Slow Pack.

Unfortunately lack of a third finisher meant that Morpeth could
not mount a challenge in the team race in the Under 17 Mens event,
however Jonnie Nisbet and Philip Caldwell can take much consolation from the fact
that they were second and sixth fastest of twenty seven finishers,
when their Fast Pack efforts saw them finish 16th and 25th respectively.

Morpeths Euan Jones continues to show great improvement,
and he gave his all when finishing twenty second
from the Slow Pack in the Under 13 Boys event.
Unfortunately again Morpeth lacked athletes
here to mount a respectable team challenge.

In the Senior Womens event, new signing from Chester Le Street Maxine Czarnecka,
marked an excellent debut in the Blue and White of Morpeth Harriers,
by posting the second fastest time of the day,
and came through nicely from the Fast Pack to finish 14th
and two places and eighteen seconds ahead of her new club
colleague Jane Mooney, who was third fastest in the total field of 147 finishers.
Emma Pearson finished 66th from the Fast Pack.

In the Under 15 Girls event, Morpeths Sarah Wilkes
finished ninth from the Slow Pack,
and meanwhile club colleague Alison Brown,
produced an excellent tenth fastest time
when finishing 13th of 25 from the Fast Pack.

Once again the Harrier League held a race for Under 11 athletes,
and Morpeths Philip Kirby and Robbie Elder produced
excellent runs to finish tenth and twenty first
respectively in a field of 46 finishers.

The next Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League is
scheduled to be held on Saturday 27th November at Blaydon.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (1)
Matt Nicholson, Nick Swinburn, Morag Stead,
Jonnie Nisbet, and Alison Brown all produced excellent
performances at the first Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League,
held at East Cramlington Nature Reserve on Saturday 23rd October.

On the team front, Morpeth Harriers managed to finish
second in the Under 17 Mens event, and third from
Division 1 in the Senior Mens section.

It is hoped however that they will fare better in their
other age groups as the season progresses.

In an action packed Senior Mens event that was won
by Sunderland Harrier Mark Hood, taking full advantage
of his Slow Pack start, running from the Fast Pack,
Matt Nicholson tracked Elswick's Ryan McLeod for
a good way during the early stages, however settled
to finish two places down on him in ninth place,
and was second fastest of the race,
just outpacing his club colleague Nick Swinburn
by six seconds, who finished tenth.

The Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens team count was further
enhanced by the performances of Ross Floyd and Michael Dawson,
whose Fast Pack efforts saw them finish in twenty ninth
and thirty first places as sixth and seventh fastest performers on the course.
Alistair MacDonald (41st) (Slow Pack), and Peter Scaife (174th) (Slow Pack)
completed the Morpeth scoring sextet.

Making her Morpeth Harriers Harrier League debut,
after her transfer from Chester Le Street, Morag Stead
(formerly McDonnell), produced an excellent fastest performance
to finish seventh of a 117 strong Senior Womens field,
after giving a four minute handicap start to the majority.

Clubmate Emma Pearson, having her first competitive
outing since her World Triathlon performance in Budapest,
also produced an excellent run to finish thirtieth,
after also giving four minutes start in the event.
She was sixth fastest overall for her efforts.

An interesting battle at the front end of the Under 17 Mens event,
where all competitors had the benefit of a level slow pack start,
saw Jonnie Nisbet finish an excellent third behind
Gateshead Harriers pair Calum Johnson and Robbie Costello.

These three worked so well, and so close together,
they managed to draw clear of the rest of the twenty five strong field,
to forge a 79 second lead over their closest rival at the finish.
Nisbet was assisted in the Morpeth Harriers team challenge,
quite excellently by Philip Caldwell (5th), and Sam Hancox (16th).

Alison Brown had an excellent run to finish sixth from
the slow pack in the Under 15 Girls event, however
was left to plough a lone furrow on the team front for Morpeth Harriers.

Joe Elder certainly showed his vastly improved potential
when he placed fifteenth of a 52 strong Under 15 Boys field.
Morpeth Harriers finished tenth as a team,
with Elder's effort being supported by Henrik Paulsen (36th)
and Martin Hood (37th).

In the Under 13 Boys event, Morpeth's Jake Stoddart finished 35th.

For the first time, the Harrier League provided competition for Under 11 Boys and Girls.
Morpeth Harriers Philip Kirby, Robbie Elder,
Ciaran Jewell, and Matthew Hogan, all performed well to finish
in 11th, 18th, 22nd, and 23rd, in a 44 strong field.

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Sunderland Harriers Open Cross Country Races !
Saturday 11th September, saw runners from Morpeth Harriers
have their first taste of Cross Country action for the season,
with Sunderland Harriers promoting their annual Open Fixture at Farringdon School.

It was the clubs Veteran Men who were the days best performers,
when they had a convincing win by finishing third overall in the combined Senior 4x1.8k event.
Neil Wilkinson really got them into winning ways when he took them into a second leg lead,
by clocking the days fastest Veteran time of 9m11s,
after Paul Waterston's first leg clocking of 9m26s
had his club in a close second place.

Phil Walker's 9m29s on third leg was enough to retain the lead,
and then Terry Wall rounded everything off nicely for victory
with his final leg clocking of 9m15s.

It also saw a good start to the season for Jonny Nisbet,
who won the Under 17 Mens 1.8k event in 9m30s,
and Philip Caldwell and Sam Hancox also produced good early
season runs to finish fifth and eighth in respective times of 10m25s and 10m41s.

Ailsa McGregor just missed by a margin of ten seconds
for victory in the Under 17 Womens event to North Shields Poly's
Gemma Wallett with her clocking of 11m15s.
Her Morpeth clubmate Hannah Rank finished fourth in 11m27s.

In the Senior Womens event, Sarah Wilkinson crowned her Morpeth Harriers debut,
following her move from Chester Le Street, by finishing third in 10m20s.
Carolyn Dickie was also marking her return to Cross Country running
for Morpeth after leaving Windsor, and she finished tenth in 11m02s.

Philip Winkler finished second in the Under 15 Boys event in 10m00s,
and Morpeth club colleagues, Joe Elder and Henrik Paulsen
finished thirteenth and twenty fifth in 10m57s, and 12m15s.

In the Under 11 Girls and Under 11 Boys 1mile events
Morpeths Ailsa Jones, Robbie Elder and Kieron Wall finished eighth,
sixth and seventh respectively, with clockings of 5m05s, 4m39s and 4m52s.

Jennifer Tynemouth finished 18th in the Under 13 Girls event in 15m23s,
and in the Under 13 Boys event Euan Jones and Patrick Booth
finished 23rd and 30th in 12m30s and 13m31s.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (6)
Although already assured of outright victory in their respective Grand Prix
sections of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League,
Morpeths Jane Mooney and Jonnie Nisbet capped what has been
an absolutely excellent Cross Country season for them, by taking superb
victories in the Senior Womens and Under 15 Boys events at the final meeting,
held on what is well known as the toughest of courses at Prudhoe on Saturday 27th March.

The strong swirling wind did nothing to deter the North Eastern Counties
Silver and Gold Medallists as they both claimed emphatic victories,
after giving several of their rivals a handicapped advantage
of three minutes and one minutes thirty seconds respectively.

Mooney's efforts over the season may well be a record for the league,
because she has competed in all five of the meetings
that were held, and has been the fastest in each of them.
Her outstanding run on Saturday saw her win with sixty five seconds
to spare over her closest rival, and seventy five seconds faster than
Chester Le Street's Angela Hunter who was the second fastest overall on the course.

Morpeth Harriers other competitor in the Senior Womens event was Emma Pearson,
who also produced a strong run from the Fast Pack to finish in 44th place overall,
and as fourteenth fastest on the day.

Jonnie Nisbet's winning performance in the Under 15 Boys event was exceptional.
The North East Champion, who by his own admission had not been in his best form of late,
certainly made up for any recent losses by winning with twenty one seconds to spare over
his closest rival Chris Peverley of Chester Le Street, who also had an excellent run from the Fast Pack.

Nisbet's joy was further enhanced on learning that the supporting places
of Joe Robertshaw (8th) (Slow Pack), and Philip Caldwell (10th) (Fast Pack)
had given Morpeth Harriers second team place behind Blyth on the day,
however this was enough to win the Under 15 Boys league championship for the season.

Other good performances for Morpeth in this age group came from
Sam Hancox (11th) (Fast Pack), and Connor Weightman (13th) (Slow Pack)
For Hancox, it meant that he had claimed sixth place in the Grand Prix standings for the season,
which is a very fine achievement for this fast improving youngster.

Morpeth Harriers success on the day was further enhanced when Jessica Morrison
claimed an eight second victory over Birtley's North Eastern Champion
Lydia Turner in the Under 13 Girls race.
In this her first Harrier League outing, Morrison soon had the bit between her teeth,
and used her eighty second advantage of a Slow Pack start to good measure as she
drew well clear of the chasing masses, and it was only Turner who looked
like robbing her of certain victory in the closing stages.
Morrison not only won the race, but was also rewarded with the days fifth fastest time,
plus the added news, that on the day she had superbly led her Morpeth Harriers clubmates
to team victory on the day over Birtley, which in turn assured
them of winning the Under 13 Girls team championship for the season.

The supporting counts on the day came from Alison Brown (8th) (Fast Pack)
and Josie McReton (9th) ( Fast Pack)
Not far behind Brown and McReton were Sarah Wilkes (10th) (Fast Pack)
and Molly McDonald (12th) (Slow Pack)
The runs of Brown, McReton and Wilkes gave them sixth,
seventh, and eighth fastest times respectively.
Rosie McDonald, also running for Morpeth finished 24th from the Slow pack.

Morpeth Harriers most disappointing result featured their Under 13 Boys,
where the lack of a third finisher rendered them unable to score on the day.
Had they scored on the day, they would have added more silverware to the
Morpeth Harriers haul by winning the team championship.
Instead they lost out by one point to Gateshead, with Tynedale a close third.
The on the day efforts by Philip Winkler and Joe Elder are to be applauded however,
as they finished third and seventeenth from the Fast Pack,
and Winkler can take some consolation for the team loss,
in that he won the overall Grand Prix standing for the season.

Despite only being able to field the required six counters,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men managed to finish seventh on the day from Division 1,
and as a result finished third for the season behind Sunderland Harriers and South Shields.

First home for Morpeth was David Steel, who finished sixth from the Slow Pack.
Further supporting counts were provided by John Woods (11th) (Slow Pack)
Mike Winter (26th) (Slow Pack), Gary Jones (41st) (Fast Pack)
Adam Sample (106th) (Medium Pack), and Peter Scaife (246th) (Slow Pack)
In Scaife's case, he deserves much praise for his efforts in turning out at
short notice when recovering from injury, and for his outstanding clubmanship
in helping to ensure that the club tent was carried the extra mile and a half to
reach the start point, and helped to return it back to base after the event.

An added success for Morpeth Harriers was Matt Nicholson's win
in the Senior Mens Grand Prix, where he scored
maximum points in three of the four events that he ran.

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UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships !

One of the best ever North East team performances was produced
at the McCain sponsored UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships
held at Birmingham's Cofton Park on Saturday 13th March,
when the regions Senior Women dominated to take the Gold medals
ahead of fierce rivals Yorkshire, with Essex and Scotland East
having a very close battle for the Bronze team medals.

The North East were so dominant that all of their nine
Women selected to run finished inside the top fifty.

Capping a really excellent Cross Country season was
Morpeth Harrier Jane Mooney, who was the sixth and final counter
for medals, when she finished in 36th place,
only a second adrift of Chester Le Street's Tracy Laws (35th)
and three seconds adrift of Darlington's Georgina Rutherford (33rd).
The region were led home by Sonia Samuels of Sale Harriers who finished in seventh spot.

Another notable mark on the event, was that it was won by
Scotland East's Freya Murray who competes for Chester Le Street,
who managed to outpace National Cross Country Champion Steph Twell of Hampshire,
to record a nine second marginal victory.

Morpeth Harriers, Matt Nicholson, Chris Sampson, and Ross Floyd
all played their part in a fine North East performance in the Senior Mens event,
which was won by Newham and Essex Beagles Mo Farrah,
who finished well clear of National Champion Andy Vernon of Hampshire,
with Farrah's clubmate Moumin Geele taking third place.
The region finished as seventh team.
Nicholson was fourth counter for the North East in 72nd place,
and the excellent runs by Sampson and Floyd saw them
finish as fifth and sixth counters in 96th and 156th places respectively.
It was a great occasion for Floyd in this his first call up for the region at Senior level.

Morpeth's Jonnie Nisbet was the North East's first counter
in their Under 15 Boys team that finished nineteenth.
Jonnie finished in 61st place.

The regions Under 13 Boys squad competed well to finish as seventh team,
and Morpeth's Philip Winkler was fourth counter in 62nd place just behind
fellow North Easterner Luca Irvine of Sunderland Harriers, by a margin of one second.

In the Under 17 Womens event the North East finished in seventeenth team place,
Morpeth Harrier Rachael Steel ran very well, but was unfortunate not to be amongst
the four scoring counters when she finished in 211th place overall.

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English National Cross Country Championships !
An excellent determined run by Ross Floyd saw him place
95th in a hotly contested Senior Mens 12k event,
at the Saucony sponsored English National Cross Country Championships,
held at a cold and damp Roundhay Park, Leeds on Saturday 27th February.

To find himself in the top 100 of such a classic event was true reward
for all of the hard work that Floyd has put in over recent months,
along with his regular coach Bryan Simpson,
and his Monday night mentor Jim Alder,
and the Newcastle University student is well on his way to becoming
an accomplished athlete for the future, following this run that saw him
also finish as fifth from the North East.

With Morpeth Harriers already feeling the blow through the loss
of North East Silver medallist Chris Sampson,
who reported ill on the morning of the event, and Nick Swinburn,
who had not recovered from injury, it was left to Floyd to
lead his clubs challenge in the team race,
and although they finished eleventh,
they can take much more credit in that they
were third from the North behind second placed Leeds City,
and ninth placed Hallamshire, and ultimately first from the North East.

The supporting athletes in the Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens team certainly gave their all,
as each of them finished inside the first 250 of a 1400 plus field.
Next home was Michael Dawson, who ran well all the way to place 124th.
Third finisher for Morpeth was Kristian Forster, who by his own standards
has struggled to find good consistency fitness and form over the last two years.
On this showing, where he ran steadilly to finish 137th,
he is certainly nearing the peak, and can feel well encouraged by his run on the day.
Ben Harrison's London Marathon preparations are going really well,
and his high mileage credentials were clearly evident as he gave
one of his best club performances to finish as fourth counter in 163rd place.

Despite having to stop on more than one occasion to re-tie his shoelaces,
Mark Brown gave a gutsy performance to come home in 180th place.
Completing the Morpeth Harriers team count was the clubs
Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne,
who battled well to finish in 213th place.
Although non counters, Gary Jones, making his National debut for Morpeth,
and Veteran Paul Waterston, also battled
well to finish in 279th and 374th places respectively.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Women's aspirations also suffered a blow
when Sarah Graham was forced to miss their 8k event.
Led by Jane Mooney, who once again produced an excellent run to finish 28th, the club finished 20th.
They were seventh from the North, and were first from the North East,
with Gateshead, Wallsend, Blyth, and Saltwell, all finishing behind them.
Aiveen Fox produced perhaps her best performance of the season to come home in 66th place,
and Emma Pearson and Gwenda Cavill produced the other supporting counts
with brave determined runs to finish 170th and 311th respectively.

North Eastern Cross Country Gold medallist Jonnie Nisbet
still maintained his mantle as first from the region, when he led
Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys squad home to 29th team place in their 4.5k Championship.
Jonnie finished 49th, and further team support came from Philip Caldwell and Sam Hancox,
who battled well to finish 183rd and 246th respectively,
and Henrik Paulsen who ensured he finished in 373rd place to complete the count.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Women finished 15th in their 5k Championship.
Hannah Rank battled hard throughout to come home in 78th place,
and Jessica Caldwell, Catriona MacDonald, and Louise Cairns
gave support with their respective placings of 143rd, 160th, and 170th.

Alison Brown led Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls
squad home to 41st team place in their 3k event.
She finished 150th in a 417 strong field of finishers,
and good team support came from Josie McReton (164th)
Sarah Wilkes (249th), and Molly McDonald (386th).

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers couldn't field a full scoring
squad in the Under 13 Boys 3k Championship.
Despite tiring in the closing stages, North Eastern Cross Country
Silver Medallist Philip Winkler led the squad home by finishing in 31st place,
and again proved to be second from the region behind Middlesbrough's
Ben Spencer who on this occasion finished eighth.
Other Morpeth performances came from Joe Elder and Andrew Allan,
who finished 172nd and 252nd respectively.

Summing the days performances up, Morpeth Harriers were once again
the best performers from the region, having teams finishing in the top twenty of three events,
and actually closing as a team in five of the ten events on the programme.

Gosforth Harriers were the only North East club to finish ahead
of Morpeth Harriers where they finished as a team.
This was in the Under 17 Womens event, where they finished ninth.

Gateshead Harriers were the only other North East club
to gain a top twenty placing on the day, and this came in the
Under 17 Men, where they finished tenth.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (5)

After excellent performances at the fifth Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
meeting held at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday 20th February,
four athletes from Morpeth Harriers have definitely put themselves
in the frame for individual honours at the end of the competition.

Jane Mooney once again headed a strong field of Senior Women,
having also won the week previous at Wrekenton.
Matt Nicholson finished third in the Senior Mens event as the fastest finisher.
North Eastern Under 15 Boys Cross Country Champion Jonnie Nisbet
produced another superb run to finish fourth,
and being the fastest in the age group by twenty nine seconds.
Philip Winkler was the fastest Under 13 Boy,
when he came through to finish third in a field of 49 finishers.

Giving three minutes away to a good proportion of the 112 strong field of Senior Women,
Jane Mooney took her second victory in succession, by a margin of twenty two seconds over her closest rival,
and was a further two seconds clear of her fellow Fast Pack rival Claire Simpson of Chester Le Street.
This result puts Mooney in an impregnable position at the head of the events Grand Prix rankings for the season.
Morpeth Harriers other athlete in the Womens event was Aiveen Fox,
and she came through strongly in the Fast Pack to finish tenth, and was the fifth fastest in the race.

Matt Nicholson led Morpeth Harriers Senior Men to third team place on the day in Division 1,
which puts them in second place behind untouchable Sunderland Harriers
with one meeting remaining at Prudhoe at the end of March.
Further Morpeth Harriers team support came from Kristian Forster (20th) (Fast Pack)
Paul Waterston (29th) (Medium Pack), Alistair MacDonald (30th) (Slow Pack)
John Woods (41st) (Slow Pack), and Rob Hancox (79th) (Slow Pack).

Jonnie Nisbet's run helped Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys to third team place on the day,
it also further cemented their cumulative lead at the head of the table for the season.
Team support came from superb runs by Joe Robertshaw (15th) (Slow Pack), and Philip Caldwell (17th) (Fast Pack)
Although they were non counters, the runs by Sam Hancox (18th) (Fast Pack)
and Henrick Paulsen(19th) (Slow Pack) deserve creditable mention.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys are involved in a very tight battle for league supremacy with Gateshead,
and on Saturday they finished third on the day, being led home by Philip Winkler in third place from the fast pack,
with excellent supporting runs coming from Andrew Allan (26th) (Fast Pack), and Ben Steel (39th) (Fast Pack)
who battled bravely after originally not being able to run, and was called in because of runner shortage.

Currently Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls lead their league cumulatively,
and on Saturday they finished fourth, being led home by Molly McDonald,
who finished fourteenth from the Slow Pack.
One place behind Molly came her club colleague Sarah Wilkes who was running from the Fast Pack.
Morpeth's team count was completed by Molly's twin sister Rosie, who was 24th from the Slow Pack.

In the Under 17/ Under 20 Womens event Morpeth's Hannah Rank ran excellently
to finish third from the Fast Pack, and her club colleague Catriona MacDonald finished twelfth from the Fast Pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (4)
The superb individual wins by North Eastern Counties Cross Country silver medallists Philip Winkler
and Jane Mooney, were the major talking points behind Morpeth Harriers performances, at the fourth
Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League meeting held at Cardinal Hume School in Wrekenton,
Gateshead on Saturday 13th February.

Giving 80 seconds away to more than half of the Under 13 Boys 49 strong field of finishers,
Winkler worked his way through to take the lead with around a quarter of a mile left to complete,
and won with eleven seconds to spare over his closest rival,
and was the fastest performer by a margin of fifty five seconds.
Morpeth took second team place to Gateshead in this event,
with further good supporting runs coming from Tom Fisher
(8th) (Slow Pack), and Joe Elder (23rd) (Fast Pack).
Elder was also ninth fastest on the course.

Jane Mooney proved beyond all doubt that she is definitely a girl in form as she claimed a
fifty second marginal victory in the Senior Womens event after giving a hefty margin
of three minutes to more than half of the 107 strong field of finishers.
She eventually grabbed the lead on the second of the the two long laps
and was also the fastest performer by a margin of eighty six sconds over third placed Angela Hunter
of Chester-le-Street, unfortunately Morpeth Harriers could not close as a team here,
with Emma Pearson being the clubs only other finisher in 27th place from the Fast Pack,
and twelfth fastest on the course.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers Senior Men failed to capitalise
on their slender lead at the head of Division 1 of their event.
This was despite Matt Nicholson clocking the fastest time of the day,
when coming through from the Fast Pack to finish sixth overall.
Morpeth finished as fourth team in the division on the day,
with further team support coming from Michael Dawson (20th) (Fast Pack)
Kristian Forster (48th) (Fast Pack), David Swinburne (49th) (Fast Pack)
Adam Sample (72nd) (Medium Pack), and Rob Hancox (138th) (Slow Pack).

Morpeth Harriers provided the day with a fourth fastest finisher,
when North Eastern Counties Under 15 Boys Cross Country Champion
Jonnie Nisbet finished in fourth place running from the Fast Pack.
Nisbet was twenty seven seconds clear of his closest rival
Tristan Peel of Jarrow & Hebburn, who finished fifth.
However Jarrow did beat Morpeth in the team race,
as the good supporting runs of Philip Caldwell (11th) (Slow Pack)
and Sam Hancox (14th) (Fast Pack), saw them finish second.

In the Under 13 Girls race, Morpeth Harriers finished as second team to Gateshead.
An excellent run by Alison Brown from the Fast Pack,
saw her finish in fifth place, and as fourth fastest on the course.
Morpeth also had good supporting runs coming from
Josie McCreton (12th) (Fast Pack), and Sarah Wilkes (14th) (Fast Pack).

Morpeths Philip Shuttleworth made a long awaited comeback from injury in the
Under 17 Mens race and will be well satisfied with his second place from the slow pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League !

Thankfully the heavy overnight snow that hit the region in the early hours of Saturday 30th January
proved to be no match for the officials at Elswick Harriers,
who were responsible for hosting what was tabled as the third meeting
of the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League, at Newcastle's Town Moor.

The second meeting, which was due to be held at Cramlington on Saturday 9th January 2010,
had to be cancelled due to the snowy conditions, and if this meeting had not gone ahead,
it would have meant yet another week of local Cross Country inactivity,
and the last fixture to go ahead in the region had been the North Eastern Counties Championships,
as far back as December 12th 2009 at Darlington.

So the decision that this event could go ahead, despite the snow underfoot,
was welcome to all, including several athletes from Morpeth Harriers,
who were more than ready for action.

In the Senior Mens event, Morpeth's Matt Nicholson more than made up
for his poor run at Edinburgh in early January, when he finished as second
fastest on the day to Sunderland Harrier Gavin Massingham,
and led his club to second team place by finishing fifth.

Matt was also well supported by Ross Floyd, who after a superb run
in last weeks Northern Championships at Blackburn, showed his appetite,
and his tremendous current depth of good form, to finish as third fastest in ninth place.
Other good supporting counts came from Gary Jones and Adam Sample,
who finished in 17th and 19th places respectively, running from the Medium and Slow Packs.

Morpeth's scoring count was completed by Veteran duo
Paul Waterston and Gordon Dixon, who had also competed at Blackburn.
They finished in 31st and 37th places from the Medium and Slow Pack respectively.

It was also a superb day for the Weightman family, with Laura and Connor both managing victories,
and younger brother Adam, also playing his part in a Morpeth Harriers team victory.
Giving some of her rivals 2m40s start, Laura crowned her first Cross Country outing of the winter,
which she testified to enjoying, by clearly winning the Under 20 Womens event
by a good two minutes over her closest rival, who just happened to be her Morpeth
Harriers clubmate Rachel Steel, who was first Under 17, running from the Slow Pack.
Unfortunately Morpeth lacked a third runner who would have easily brought them a team win.

Connor Weightman did however spearhead a Morpeth team victory in the Under 15 Boys event,
which he won by a margin of one second over his fellow clubmate Philip Caldwell,
running off level from the Slow Pack, and North Eastern Champion Jonny Nisbet
ran the fastest time of the day, to work his way through to fifth, to close the Morpeth count.
Sam Hancox of Morpeth also did well to finish as seventh fastest overall in 14th place.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys squad also enjoyed a team victory,
being led home by Philip Winkler, who clocked the fastest time of the day when finishing fourth.
Good team support came from Andrew Allan (5th) (Slow Pack) and Adam Weightman (7th) (Slow Pack)
Morpeth Harriers other runners in this event, Joe Elder and Martin Hood
also gave creditable performances to come through to 16th and 24th respectively
by running eleventh and fourteenth fastest times in a field of 41 finishers.

Giving three minutes start in the Senior Womens event,
Morpeth Harriers very much in form Jane Mooney battled tremendously to
come home in second place overall, and very clearly as fastest performer on the day.
Morpeth clubmate Emma Pearson also had a superb run
when finishing third from the slow pack, in fourth place overall.
Again lack of a third runner denied Morpeth of what would have been a clear team victory.

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls squad finished in second team place behind Gosforth,
being led home by Josie McCreton, who finished third from the Slow Pack.
Debutant Alys McKee was second counter when placing seventh from the Slow Pack,
and Sarah Wilkes closed the Morpeth count when placing 14th from the Fast Pack.

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North of England Cross Country Championships !

Jane Mooney, Jonnie Nisbet, Philip Winkler, Hannah Rank and Chris Sampson
were Morpeth Harriers brightest stars at a damp and very murky
and foggy Blackburn on Saturday 23rd January.
Despite their individual efforts, along with a host of equally
excellent supporting performances, there were no medals to show for Morpeth,
as their athletes battled very tricky conditions at Witton Park, in the Lancashire town on Saturday.

The occasion was the North of England annual Cross Country Championships,
which had last been held at the venue in 2006, and several athletes who competed
on Saturday had distinct memories of lost shoes, and a good number of fallers,
and again this happened in abundance, along with thick fog to add to their woes.

Nevertheless athletes stuck to the task in hand, and Morpeth Harriers
did get very close to a set of Bronze team medals as their Under 17 Women
lost out by a mere 18 points to Blackburn Harriers when finishing
as fourth team in their 5k event, which was the first race on the 10 event programme.

Led home by Hannah Rank in 28th place, the rest of the Morpeth squad,
Rachael Steel, Jessica Caldwell, and Catriona MacDonald,
were inspired to finish in 37th, 45th, and 49th places respectively,
out of a total of 79 finishers.

In the later run Senior Womens 8k event,
Morpeth Harriers North Eastern Silver medallist,
Jane Mooney led the squad home to seventh team place,
with an excellent individual placing of twelfth,
which also saw her as fourth from the region.
Equally excellent supporting runs came from Aiveen Fox (36th),
Sarah Graham (51st), and Emma Pearson (80th)
Although not a counter, Kate Chapman battled through the tricky conditions
to finish in 104th place out of 222 finishers.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men, were also not far outside the
team medals in fifth place in their 11.5k event.
Unfortunately prior to the event they were robbed of the services
of Nick Swinburn (Stress Fracture), Peter Newton (Ankle),
and Ben Harrison (Throat infection), and it was particularly disappointing for the latter
as he had performed well on the very same course two weeks previous,
when it was covered in snow, to finish tenth in the Lancashire Championships.
Nevertheless the Morpeth squad got on with the task in hand by fielding seven runners in all,
and they all gave a very gutsy performance, on what were now
heavy conditions following the previous nine events,
and such was the determination shown,
that they all finished in the top 250 of a 600 strong field of finishers.

North Eastern Silver medallist Chris Sampson led the squad home with a superb run to finish fifteenth,
and such was his individual performance, he was only forty seconds adrift of being inside the top seven,
and agonisingly ninety seconds adrift of the individual medals, who were all occupied by International talents,
winner Steve Vernon of Stockport, Silver Medallist Andi Jones of Salford, and Bolton's Tom Lancashire (Bronze)
all running on near home territory.

Second home for Morpeth was Ross Floyd, who perhaps paid the price a little for some early enthusiasm,
when he was inside the top fifteen at the end of the first lap, and marginally ahead of Sampson.
Ross did persevere however, and gave a solid performance to come home in 33rd place.

Solid runs were also the order of the day for Michael Dawson and Andrew Lawrence
who finished respectively in 45th and 67th places.
For Floyd and Lawrence it was a poignant return to Blackburn,
as they had both been part of Morpeth Harriers winning Under 20 Mens squad in 2006.

Next home for Morpeth was indeed "Captain Courageous" David Swinburne,
who after losing his shoe on the second lap, retrieved it from the mud, placed it back on,
and came through to finish in an excellent 105th place.
Such was Swinburne's plight, he had been passed by his club colleague Paul Waterston,
who eventually emerged as Morpeth's sixth and final counter in 138th place.

Morpeth's non counter and seventh finisher was Gordon Dixon,
who also produced an excellent run to finish in 229th place.

Best individual performances for Morpeth Harriers on the day in terms of position,
and closeness to individual medals, came from North Eastern Under 15 Boys Champion
Jonny Nisbet and Under 13 Boys Silver medallist Philip Winkler.
Nisbet courageously battled through the sea of mud in his Under 15 Boys 4k event,
to finish in eleventh place and furthermore agonisingly just
twenty three seconds adrift of an individual medal.
Morpeth Harriers finished as seventeenth team in this event,
with further support coming from Philip Caldwell (101st),
Sam Hancox (139th), and Ben Granacher (185th).
Another Under 15 Boys finisher for Morpeth was Henrick Paulsen,
who came home in 194th place.

Winkler was just twenty seconds adrift of a Bronze medal when he
finished fourteenth in the Under 13 Boys 3k Championship,
and Morpeth finished as sixteenth team with further supporting counts
coming from Joe Elder (70th), Ben Steel (135th), and Tom Fisher (159th).

211 competitors finished in the Under 13 Girls 3k event,
and Morpeth Harriers Alyson Brown led her squad home to 22nd team place,
with her individual effort in finishing 64th.
Sarah Wilkes was Morpeth's second counter in 88th place,
and the count was completed by twin sisters,
Molly and Rosie McDonald who were 199th and 208th respectively.

Click here for Complete Results

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North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships !

A great deal of hard working performances and lots of dogged determination
brought four individual and five sets of team medals for Morpeth Harriers
at the 104th North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships,
held at Branksome School, Darlington on Saturday 12th December.

Top of those performers was undoubtedly Jonnie Nisbet,
who siezed the opportunity in the absence of Tynedale's Callum Mitchell,
to claim his second regional title, the other being in the 800m at the
Track and Field Championships at Gateshead last May.
Nisbet set out his stall from the gun, and literally led throughout to
claim a six second marginal victory in the Under 15 Boys 4k
Championship, over Chester Le Street's Chris Peverley, with
New Marske's Drew Davison, a further four seconds away in third place.

Having lost out for an individual medal at Wrekenton in 2008,
this certainly made up for him just losing out by a whisker for Gold in
the Under 13 Boys Championship at Hartlepool in 2007,
to his then clubmate Adam Harrington, who sadly has since drifted from the sport.

Nisbet was further delighted by the news that his Under 15 Boys clubmates
Connor Weightman and Sam Hancox, who had finished
28th and 29th respectively, had also contributed to
a Morpeth Harriers Bronze team medal effort.

Morpeth Harriers also gained three individual Silver medals in addition to Nisbet's Gold,
courtesy of Chris Sampson, Jane Mooney, and Philip Winkler.

Sampson's front running effort in Senior Mens 11.8k event was quite awesome,
as he took on Sunderland Harrier Patrick Martin in a stride for stride battle of wits,
that was only broken on the final long lap of one short and three long of the heavy demanding circuit.
Martin credited Sampson later for a gallant effort, and for the Morpeth man
it was his third Senior North Eastern Cross Country individual medal,
having also tasted Silver at Hartlepool in 2007, and a Bronze at Herrington in 2006.

Sampson's record in the event is very creditable, as apart from 2008,
where he missed out with injury, he has finished sixth on three
occasions, 2002, 2004, and 2005, seventh in 2000, tenth in 2001,
and records also show that he finished fourteenth in 1999.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men were boosted, not only by Sampson's individual effort,
but also by the superb runs by Peter Newton (6th), Michael Dawson (7th),
Ross Floyd (9th), Terry Wall (11th), and David Swinburne (19th),
which saw the squad claim an emphatic victory over Gateshead Harriers and Sunderland Harriers,
and gave them retention of "The Leader Bowl", that they have now won in three successive years.

Morpeth Harrier Jane Mooney's individual Silver medal was the result of a superb run
that saw her battle with a chasing group behind Middlesbrough and Cleveland's
Carolyn Summersgill for two laps of the one short
and two long laps in 8.3k Senior Womens Championship.
Summersgill eventually paid for her earlier enthusiasm,
and faded back to sixth as Durham's Rosie Smith took the initiative,
and cruised to a sixteen second marginal victory over Mooney,
who by her own standards had run a terrific last lap to eventually pass
Chester Le Street's Tracy Laws for the Silver medal placing.

Mooney's efforts had left her somewhat breathless, as she needed several minutes
recuperation to allow herself to take her place on the medal presentation podium.
There was an additional Silver medal for Mooney to collect later however,
when it was learned that the supporting runs by Aiveen Fox (12th),
and Sarah Graham (16th), had given Morpeth Harriers second team place
behind Championship holders Chester Le Street.

Morpeth Harriers day was made particularly special when their
Under 13 Boys squad won Silver team medals to add to the
individual Silver won by their leading counter Philip Winkler.

Winkler ran a superb race alongside Middlesbrough Mandale's Ben Spencer,
and it was only in the final quarter of the 3k event, that the Cleveland runner
took the initiative to claim a fourteen second marginal victory.
Winkler had previously finished twelfth in the 2008
championships at Wrekenton, when running for Alnwick Harriers.
Morpeth's Silver medal winning team support came from excellent runs
by Joe Elder and Martin Hood, that saw them finish twelfth and twentieth respectively.

Bronze medals were won by Morpeth Harriers combined
Under 17 and Under 20 Womens squad who were minus
leading light Laura Weightman for their 5.1k event.
They were led home by a tenacious Zoe Armstrong,
who after battling both worrying and niggling injury problems,
produced a performance very worthy of praise,
in that she finished ninth as fifth Under 20,
with Hannah Rank (11th) (5th Under 17)
and Catriona MacDonald (25th) (18th Under 17)
supplying good supporting counts.

Morpeth Harriers unluckiest squad on the day in terms of winning team medals
were their Under 13 Girls, who lost out only by one point for Bronze medal placing.
Sarah Wilkes (11th), Alyson Brown (12th), and Josie McReton (14th) were the scoring three.

Unfortunately Morpeth Harriers could not contest the Middlesbrough and Cleveland Trophy,
which is presented to the team that combines the best aggregate scores on the day,
as they failed to finish with teams in the Under 15 Girls, Under 20 and Under 17 Mens events.

However their two athletes who contested the Under 17 Mens 6k Championship competed well.
Tom Brookes and Harri Dunn finished within two seconds of each other in 16th and 17th places respectively.

Click here for Complete Male Results

Click here for Complete Womens Results

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McCains UK Challenge Cross Country !

Morpeths Lewis Timmins, Jonathan Taylor and Nick Swinburn
competed in the very prestigious McCain Cross Challenge Senior Mens
9.8k event in Sefton Park, Liverpool on Saturday 28th November,
and for Timmins and Taylor their runs rewarded them with
automatic selection for Great Britains Under 23 team for the
European Cross Country Championships, due to be held
in Dublin on Sunday 13th December 2009.

Timmins and Taylor both had superb runs to finish 11th and 20th
respectively in what was indeed a top class Mens field, and they
were second and fifth placed Under 23's.

Meanwhile Nick Swinburn also ran well to finish 43rd,
however his placing as twelfth Under 23 will unfortunately
probably see him miss out on a European spot.

Lewis Timmins and Jonathan Taylor should link up with fellow
North Easterner Ricky Stevenson of New Marske,
who produced what is probably his best ever performance
to finish fourth overall and first Under 23.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League !

An opportune run from the slow pack saw Morpeths Terry Wall
snatch a six second marginal victory in the Senior Mens event
at the first Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at Farringdon College, Sunderland on Saturday 28th November.

After contentedly sitting behind Elvet Strider's Phil Sanderson
on the first of three 1.8k circuits, the former North of England
Cross Country Silver Medallist eventually drew level after just
under a quarter of the second lap had been completed,
and drew away to a convincing victory, and it was only in the later stages
that young Jason Waite of Sunderland Harriers closed in, after he had passed
the early leader Sanderson approaching the final downhill section of the course.

Further joy for Wall came as he learned that he had led his club
to an excellent Mens team victory on the day from former
Champions Sunderland Harriers in the Division 1 section,
with Heaton taking third spot.

Wall was helped in the team effort by excellent runs by Ross Floyd (5th) (Medium Pack)
Mike Hegarty (20th) (Slow Pack), Richard Teasdale (22nd) (Medium Pack)
Matthew Nicholson (27th) (Fast Pack), and Peter Newton (33rd) (Fast Pack)
Nicholson, Floyd and Newton clocked the top three fastest times of the day.

Another fastest Morpeth Harriers performer on the day was Jane Mooney,
who smoothly moved through the majority of the field to
whom she gave a three minute advantage to,
to finish in fifth place overall, and led her club
to second team place behind Tynedale in
the Senior Womens two lap event.

Further team support here came from Emma Pearson (12th) (Slow Pack)
and Aiveen Fox (23rd) (Fast Pack).

Laura Weightman of Morpeth Harriers can also feel well pleased
with her first outing of the winter campaign as she finished fifth in
the Under17/ Under 20 Womens event, and she was the fastest performer
on the course, giving three minutes to most of her rivals.
She was second counter for her club who finished
second to Shildon by a five point margin.

Hannah Rank used her Slow Pack advantage to come home in third place overall,
and the Morpeth count was completed by Catriona MacDonald
who finished in twentieth spot from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth Harriers failed to field a team in the Under 17 Mens event,
however Harri Dunn can feel well pleased with his individual
effort, where he finished in ninth place from a heavily weighted Slow Pack.

Sarah Wilkes was Morpeth Harriers leading finisher in the
Under 13 Girls event in 18th place from the Fast Pack,
where her club finished as fourth team, with further support coming from
twin sisters Molly and Rosie McDonald, who finished 21st and 24th
respectively from the Slow Pack.

Morpeth Harriers finished as fifth team in both the
Under 13 and Under 15 Boys age group events.
Philip Winkler led the Morpeth contingent home from the Fast Pack,
and his sterling effort to finish in 15th place, saw him also earn
the accolade as fastest performer on the day.
Team support came from Andrew Allan (17th) (Slow Pack)
and Joe Elder (35th) (Fast Pack).

In the Under 15 Boys event, Morpeth were led home by Connor Weightman,
who finished in 16th place from the Slow Pack, and
further team support came from Jonnie Nisbet (19th) (Fast Pack),
and Henrik Paulsen (33rd) (Slow Pack).
Unfortunately Nisbet only missed out by a mere four seconds
to the event winner Callum Mitchell of Tynedale, in the fastest time stakes.

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Gateshead International Cross Country Races !

The first race of the 2009/2010 McCain Cross Challenge, took place on the
testing course at the Riverside Bowl in Gateshead on Saturday 14th November.

The race signals the start of the winter cross country season and is
the opening race of the McCain UK Cross Challenge series.

Quite a few of our athletes were in action at the meeting and in the
Senior Mens 9K race, Jonathan Taylor fresh from his success at the Heaton
Harriers Town Moor races, finished 13th in a time of 29m25s.
Also in the race were Nick Swinburn who finished 26th in 30m14s and
Ben Harrison who clocked 32m57s in 48th place.

In the Senior Mens One Lap (2K) race
Matt Nicholson finished 7th in 6m25s.

In the Junior races Jonny Nisbit was 10th in U15 Boys 4K event
finishing in 14m58s and Connor Weightman finished 42nd with a time of 17m02s.

Philip Winkler took part in the U13 Boys 3K event and was placed 10th
with a time of 12m05s.

In the Vets category, Paul Waterston finished 8th in Veteran Men 8K
event with a time of 29m52s.

Moving on to the Womens events, Jane Mooney took part in the
Senior Women 8K and finished 23rd in 31m24s.

Hannah Rank was 20th in U17 Women 5K event finishing in 22m35s.

In the U13 Girls 3K event Sarah Wilkes finished 18th in 13m57s

Click here for full results

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Sunderland Harriers Open Cross Country Races !

Morpeths Phil Walker clocked the fastest time of the day of 9m15s,
when he secured second team place for the club,
at the 27th Sunderland Harriers Open Cross Country Veteran Mens 4 x 1.7mile
Relay held at Farringdon School on Saturday 12th September.

Fresh from recent excellent performances at Tynedale and New Marske,
Walker did all he could to try to eat into a healthy lead that had been
set by the host club over the previous three legs,
however was still thirty four seconds adrift at the end of the final leg.

The early legs of Paul Waterston (9m32s) and George Hall (9m31s)
had kept the squad well in contention, and Ian Abbis,
who is in the early stages of a competitive comeback,
following several years out of the sport due to family commitments,
can feel well encouraged by the fact that his 10m04s,
(17th fastest of the day)
for the third leg did not see him lose too much ground,
leaving Walker to battle all the way to the finish.

Archie Jenkins ran for an incomplete Morpeth Veteran Mens B team,
coming home in fifteenth place on the first leg in 11m18s.

Morpeth youngster Jonnie Nisbet secured an excellent
seven second marginal victory over Gosforth's Jack Reed
in the Under 15 Boys event.

A superb run by Connor Weightman saw him finish thirteenth.

In the Under 17 Womens event, Morpeth's Rachael Steel finished fifth.

Alison Brown and Sarah Wilkes finished sixth and eleventh
respectively in the Under 13 Girls event.

In the Under 13 Boys event, Morpeth athletes Joe Elder,
Tom Fisher and Ben Steel finished 14th, 15th and 18th respectively.

Kate Chapman of Morpeth finished 15th in the Senior Womens event.

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