Cross Country Page
Cross Country 2009-2010
Click here for Harrier League Dates for 2009 / 2010
Click below for report of the
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )
at Newcastle on Saturday 30th January 2010.
Click below for report of the
North of England Cross Country Championships !
at Blackburn on Saturday 23rd January 2010.
Click below for report of the
North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships !
at Darlington on Saturday 12th December.
Click below for report of the
McCains UK Challenge Cross Country !
at Liverpool on Saturday 28th November.
Click below for report of the
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 1 )
at Sunderland on Saturday 28th November.
Click below for report of the
Gateshead International Cross Country Races !
at Gateshead Bowl on Saturday 14th November.
Click below for report of the
Sunderland Harriers Open Cross Country Races !
at Farringdon School on Saturday 12th September.
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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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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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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