Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
( Sherman Cup and Davison Shield Match )
Report

Intermittent blustery showers failed to dampen the spirits of athletes
who took part in the first meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
held at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday 24th October.

The opening fixture, which now traditionally accommodates
the Sherman Cup (Mens) and Davison Shield (Womens) competitions,
saw Gateshead Harriers win the former, and Morpeth Harriers
were once again winners of the latter.

Top performers on the day for Morpeth Harriers were
Jonny Nisbet and Matt Nicholson in the Mens section,
and Jane Mooney in the Womens section.

On a day when the Morpeth Men took Silver Medals,
and the Women took Gold, all three managed to gain
themselves individual medals into the bargain, as a result of their performances.

Nisbet just managed to gain the nod from the judges for third place
in the Under 15 Boys event as he crossed the finish line at
exactly the same time as Jarrow and Hebburn's Tristan Peel.

After a tense and close three lap battle with Elswick's Phil Hurst,
Matt Nicholson eventually finished second in the Senior Mens event.

Jane Mooney finished an excellent second to Chester Le Street's
Sarah Wilkinson in the Senior Womens event, and nearly a minute
clear of Gateshead's Kim Simpson, herself a former
Davison Shield Senior Womens competition winner.
Mooney's was one of a good number of determined Morpeth efforts
on the day that saw them retain the Davison Shield by a margin
of five points over Gateshead, who were the only other team
to close over the four events to count.

Despite not winning a Womens team count Morpeth Harriers
still managed to win by the narrowest of margins.

Their best results came from the Under 15 Girls
and Under17/Junior Womens events.
Carley May Webster led the Morpeth squad home in the
Under 15 Girls event, and only just missed out on an
individual medal spot by seven seconds when she finished fourth.
The combined placings of Miriam Inverarity (12th),
and Lucy Shuttleworth (15th), added to that of
Webster saw Morpeth finish second to Sunderland.

Morpeth also finished second to Gateshead in the
Under 17/Junior Womens event courtesy of
Rachael Steel (7th), Hannah Rank (10th),
and Catriona MacDonald (20th)

Alison Brown (7th), was first home for Morpeth Harriers
in the Under 13 Girls event, which saw them finish as fourth team,
with further support coming from excellent runs
by Sarah Wilkes (9th), and Rebecca Dodds (23rd).

Fifth place was gained by Morpeth Senior Women led by the
aforementioned Jane Mooney, with Claire Bruce (14th)
and Shuna Rank (39th), providing the supporting counts.

In the Mens events, Morpeth's best result came from
their Seniors who won by eight points from Gateshead.
Led by the aforementioned Nicholson,
Morpeth also saw good efforts by Neil Wilkinson (4th)
and Mark Davies (13th) give them an excellent result.

Next best for Morpeth were the Under 15 Boys, who were led
home by Nisbet, with excellent supporting runs by Philip Caldwell (12th),
and Sam Hancox (29th), seeing them home to third team place.

Morpeth's Under 17 Men finished in fourth team place,
and were led home by Philip Shuttleworth (11th), who just
managed to outsprint his clubmate Harrison Dunn (12th),
and Tom Brookes completed the Morpeth count when finishing in 15th place.

Martin Hood led Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys home
to eighth team place when he finished fourteenth.
Further team support came from Andrew Allen (21st), and Ben Steel (23rd).

Unfortunately this squad were shorn of the services of Philip Winkler,
and Joe Elder due to injury and illness respectively, and they
lost Tom Fisher, who took ill during the event,
otherwise they most certainly would have obtained a better result.

The divisional Harrier League programme commences
on Saturday 28th November with the meeting being
held at Farringdon School, Sunderland.

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