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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.startfitness.co.uk

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Local & National 2008/2009 Cross Country Dates

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

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

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

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 6 )

The final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture
held at Prudhoe on Saturday 1st March, saw Morpeth Harriers
round off their season by clinching team success in the
Senior Mens and Under 13 Boys sections, and Mark Brown,
Adam Harrington and Deborah Oakley all won best performance awards.

Brown confirmed his individual success in the strong wind on Saturday
by coming home in eighth place from the Fast Pack,
easily recording the fastest time of the day,
and leading Morpeth Harriers to fourth team place,
and first from Division 2, which confirmed their divisional victory
and promoted them to Division 1 next term.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2008 English Schools Cross Country Championships !
Eleven Morpeth Harriers competed for Northumberland at the
English Schools Cross Country Championships held at
Sefton Park, Liverpool on Saturday 8th March.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2008 English National XC Championships !

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

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

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

The best team effort for Morpeth came in the Junior Mens event where
they finished fourth and only fourteen points adrift of Bronze medal placing.
Nick Swinburn ran solidly throughout the three medium sized lap
event trying to hold onto a top fifteen place,
and was up against a lot of strong opposition.
However he stuck to the task in hand and finished in a well accomplished tenth place,
and had he not run out of ground, could possibly have clinched a top six placing.
Swinburn led the Morpeth squad home with further support coming from
Jonathan Taylor, Ross Floyd and a return to action man, Jonathan Young.

Taylor was quite evidently disappointed with his finishing of 21st
after being well up in the top five on lap one.
He suffered badly for pace on the second lap following a torturous hill section,
which was quite extraordinary considering his good form this winter.
Floyd was another who was going well until a bilious attack got the better
of him in the later stages and he slipped to a finishing place of 60th.

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

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

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

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

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

On a note of credibility, Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls squad
performed excellently to finish as 35th team.
Bearing in mind all of this squad are in the first year of their age group,
and will all be eligible to compete at the same level again next year,
their performance holds a great deal of promise for the future.

They were led home by the "mighty atom" tactics of tiny Sarah Wilkes,
who battled the tough natured course to finish in 229th place.
Excellent further support came from Adele Stewart (240th)
Stephanie Purvis (289th) and Eve Shashova (310th).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 5 )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 4 )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2008 Fell Racing Calendar !
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LATEST NEWS.......
Updated 11th August 2008

Forest Burn Fell Race !

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

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

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

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

NECAA/NEHRA FELL RUNNING CHAMPS 2008 RESULTS UPDATE
Overall Positions

Senior Ladies Results

Vet Ladies Reults

Vet Men Results

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2008 NECAA Open Fell Running Championship Series !
The fifth running of the North East Counties Athletic Association
(NECAA) Open Fell Running Championship series is to take place during 2008.
As in previous years the series will incorporate the
North East Hill Running Association (NEHRA)
Fell Running Championships for veteran men and women.

Open Fell Running Championship Series Fixtures

Open Fell Running Championship Series Results Update

The series will consist of six races of which a competitor’s best four results will count.
The results will be calculated on the same basis as the British and English championships,
i.e. 1st 52 points, 2nd 49 points, 3rd 48 points and then 50th 1 point, in each category (see below).

This year, as has been the custom, races are selected from those
that are published in the first edition of the FRA calendar.
The races have been selected from Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire.
This is to enable competitors to participate in at least three of the four races
in an area within a reasonable travelling distance of their home.
An attempt has been made to select races that also balance the competition
in terms of length, ascent, winning times, and distribution throughout the year.

The first race in the series will be the Doctor’s Gate Race on Sunday 30th March.
The distribution of the races will hopefully give people sufficient lead in time to enable
as many as possible to take part in the championships and complete at least four of the six races.

The competition is open to all those over the age of eighteen who were born in
or have been resident for more than one year within the boundaries of the old
NECAA from Whitby, north to Berwick upon Tweed, (Northumberland, Durham,
Tyne and Wear, Cleveland and part of the old North Riding of Yorkshire).
Age categories and clubs will be those that are declared on the results sheets.
It will be assumed that members of clubs from within the region
are eligible unless they declare themselves ineligible.
Unattached runners and runners from clubs outside the region will be
assumed to be ineligible unless they declare otherwise.

Engraved medals will be awarded to qualifying competitors as shown below.

Competition categories are:

NECAA FR Championships
First three Senior Males and Females

NEHRA FR Championships
First three Vet O40 Male and Female

First three Vet O50 Male and Female

First three Vet O60 Male and Female

First three Vet O70 Male and Female

Before competing in any fell race please read the
'FRA Safety Requirements for Fell Races'
and the 'FRA Rules for Competition'.
The competitor is responsible for ensuring that
he/she has the necessary fitness, skills and experience to participate in any of the events.
Many events require previous fell running experience
and/or map reading and navigational skills as well as a high level of fitness.
A good way to get experience and advice is to join a fell running club and participate in their activities.
Whatever other running experience you have it is advisable to start
with Short events before tackling more demanding Medium and Long category events.

Details of most fell races can be found in the
FRA Fixtures Calendar & Handbook -
Join the FRA to get a copy.

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