Having his first competitive team outing for Morpeth Harriers since April 2007,
Nick McCormick provided his club with a tremendous spur for medal success
in the Senior Mens 4x5k event at the Saucony sponsored
English National Cross Country Relays held at Berry Hill Park,
Mansfield on Saturday 31st October.
The Loughborough based former UK 1500m Champion,
now reunited with his former coach and mentor Lindsay Dunn,
ran first leg, and had his club handsomely placed third, as he clocked what was to be
the days fifth fastest time of 14m59.45s, only just shaded by New Marske's
Ricky Stevenson who outkicked him in the closing stages
to claim second place on the opening leg,
behind early leaders City of Norwich, who were to fade back
to an eventual 13th as the event progressed.
This provided the perfect platform for Morpeth's second leg runner
Chris Sampson to consolidate their position, however despite going quite well in training,
Chris has failed to reinvent the form that he showed when
producing a lifetime best in September's Great North Run,
and again on this occasion, he agonisingly failed to hold on to a medal placing.
He slipped back to seventh with his clocking of 15m58.80s,
however when you examine the efforts of the main protagonists for medals that were around him,
they were all running around thirty seconds quicker,
which to Chris felt very much like being in the pressure cooker.
Jonny Taylor on third leg got Morpeth Harriers back up to
third with his clocking of 15m20.40s, and this left Ian Hudspith
to do battle on the final leg for the minor placings, as Bedford who
had grabbed the lead on leg three had a healthy margin.
Ian battled away throughout the two lap effort, mainly alongside
the fifteen years younger Scott Overall of Blackheath and Bromley,
who was to eventually clock the second fastest time of the day of 14m58.30s,
only surpassed by his team mate and fellow International Mike Skinner (14m47.90s)
which had taken his club up a mammoth thirty five places to ninth at the end of leg two.
With around 400m remaining Ian and Overall were neck and neck,
and Silver medals for Morpeth still looked a distinct possibility,
however as the pair took the final hill Overall seized an advantage
and got away as Ian took on a new battle in the form of Bristol and West AC,
whose final runner had run a tremendous final lap to get closer,
agonisingly Ian lost his second battle and a chance of Bronze medals
as the pair hurtled across the finish line almost simultaneously.
Ian's clocking was 15m20.85s, however disappointingly
after all of the hard work, no medals to show for the efforts.
Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens B and C teams also performed well.
The B team came home in 32nd place courtesy of
Matt Nicholson (15m56.40s), Ross Floyd (16m18.90s)
Peter Newton (16m36.45s) and Nathan Shrubb (17m10.90s)
They were fourth B team to finish.
The Morpeth C team finished in 45th place out of the 151 finishing teams.
Efforts were from Michael Dawson (16m37.85s), Jonny Young (17m10.46s)
Ben Harrison (16m52.44s) and Neil Wilkinson (16m54.75s)
In the younger age group events, Morpeth Harriers fielded teams
in the Under 13 Girls, Under 13 Boys, Under 15 Boys and Under 17 Men. Results are as follows
UNDER 13 Girls 3x2k (38th)
Alison Brown (8m28.95s)
Sarah Wilkes (8m34.40s)
Josie McCreton (8m30.90s)
UNDER 13 Boys 3x2k (51st)
Joe Elder (8m01.95s)
Andrew Allan (8m29.90s)
Ben Steel (8m17.75s)
UNDER 15 Boys 3x2k (65th)
Jonny Nisbet (6m59.55s)
Philip Caldwell (7m27.45s)
Henrick Paulsen (8m45.60s)
UNDER 17 Men 3x3k (56th)
Harri Dunn (10m20.00s)
Alasdair Inverarity (11m56.65s)
Philip Shuttleworth (10m48.00s)
Commonwealth Games marathon gold medallist Jim Alder,
the Scottish Native record holder (2:12:04),
is the seventh athlete to be inducted
into the scottishathletics Hall of Fame.
Alder, who celebrated the 45th anniversary
of his world track mark for two hours (37,994m)
- the oldest athletics world record - earlier this month,
said: "I was born in Scotland, and even though I moved
to the North-East of England when I was nine years old,
it meant a lot to me to compete for Scotland.
To be honoured in this way is very special."
Mark Hollinshead, Chair of scottishathletics said: "45 years on,
and Jim Alder's records are standing the test of time.
It's an honour to induct him into the scottishathletics Hall of Fame."
Jim follows Allan Wells, Eric Liddell, Liz McColgan,
Wyndham Halswelle, Yvonne Murray and Tom McKean
into the Hall of Fame and was selected this month by a panel
comprising Doug Gillon, Arnold Black, Colin Shields,
Alan Potts and Mark Hollinshead.
Between 1964 and 1972 Jim set six Scottish
records from 20,000m to two-hours.
They survive today. His 30,000m and two-hour marks
are still UK best performances.
He won Commonwealth marathon gold in Kingston (Jamaica) in 1966
and European Championships bronze in Athens (Greece) 1969,
but set his Scottish Native record for the distance (2:12:04)
when finishing second in the Commonwealth Games marathon
on home soil in Edinburgh, 1970.
Jim Alder was presented with the customary 'Hall of Fame' framed photograph,
which will mark his official induction into the scottishathletics Hall of Fame
at the scottishathletics Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday 31st October.
In atrocious weather conditions, a trio of Morpeth Harriers
waded through knee high water to compete in the
50th Anninversary running of Keswick AC's
Derwentwater 10 Mile Road Race on Sunday 1st November.
The extensive and generous awards were
made by the legendary Ron Hill MBE.
Paul Waterston finished in 7th place with a time of 58m55s
Paul was also second in the V40 Category.
Pam Woodcock crossed the line in 1hr21m12s
and was second in the W55 Category,
and Andrea Mitchell finished in 1hr40m14s
Wet, miserable conditions greeted the 382 runners who took part in
the Gibside annual Fruitbowl Race on Sunday 1st November.
First home for Morpeth Harriers was Michael Winter
who clocked 48m37s when finishing 34th.
Other finishers for Morpeth Harriers were
Richard Sill (90th) 53m05s,
Claire Bruce (112th) 54m27s,
Andrew Hughes (159th) 56m50s,
Richard Thomson (161st) 56m57s,
Ian Corner (169th) 57m17s,
Lucy Sill (251st) 63m10s,
Stuart Bruce (320th) 69m28s.
The final round of Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes Championships took
place at Lancaster Park on Monday night, ( 2nd November ) with the
Under 11 Girls, Under 11 Boys and Under 17 Mens events.
Harri Dunn was a convincing victor in the
Under 17 Mens event, coming home in 16m35s.
Second place went to Tom Brookes who clocked 16m59s.
Alasdair Inverarity claimed the third place medal when he came home in 17m39s.
Fourth and fifth places went to Charlie Trotter who clocked 18m05s,
and the guesting Matthew Boyle , who is now a Junior, who clocked 18m41s.
Emily Todd (11m29s) and Andrew Mirfield (9m44s) were the respective
winners of the Under 11 Girls and Under 11 Boys Championships.
In the Under 11 Girls Championships, the Minor placings went to
Florence Thomson (2nd) 12m11s, and Sophie Newton (3rd) 13m02s.
Other finishers were Megan Scott (4th) 13m37s, and Emma Hume (5th) 13m59s.
The Minor placings in the Under 11 Boys event went to
Matthew McGuinness (2nd) 9m46s, and Sam Fisher (3rd) 9m55s.
Other placings in the Under 11 Boys were as follows
Alex Leviers (4th) 10m02s,
Patrick Smith (5th) 10m23s,
Patrick Booth (6th) 10m28s,
Jake Stevenson (7th) 10m49s,
Fin Farthing (8th) 10m51s,
Sam Thompson (9th) 10m52s,
Chris Aspey (10th) 11m00s,
Liam Henderson (11th) 11m01s,
Andrew Holland (12th) 11m02s,
Hamish Thompson (13th) 11m27s,
Elliot Henderson (14th) 12m18s,
Oliver Lewis (15th) 13m06s.
Morpeth Harrier Alan Shepherd completed his fourth victory
in the Albert Park Time Trial Run on Saturday 31st October in Middlesbrough in a time of
16m44s, which was six seconds adrift of his best on the course, set 14 days previous.
Intermittent blustery showers failed to dampen the spirits of athletes
who took part in the first meeting of the Start Fitness North East 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.
Despite being ill during the previous week, Hannah Rank defied
all odds to win Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Womens Road
Championship held on Lancaster Park, Morpeth on Monday night ( 19th October ).
Rank's time of 8m48s gave her thirteen seconds to spare over her closest rival Rachael Steel,
with Catriona MacDonald a further forty six seconds behind in third place.
Other finishers were
Louise Cairns (4th) 10m28s,
Beth Copeland (5th) 12m47s,
and Ellen Welsh (6th) 12m47s.
Morpeth Harriers Senior Mens squad emerged with a great deal
of credit from their performances at the English National 6 Stage
Road Relays held at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield on Saturday 17th October.
The low October Sun, linked with the now somewhat
burnished appearance of some of the park trees,
proved a perfect backdrop to what became an exciting event,
which saw the Morpeth A team finish in a well earned seventh place
behind a rampant Newham and Essex Beagles squad,
who won with 100 seconds to spare over second placed Belgrave,
with Aldershot a further eleven seconds adrift in third place.
In what became very much a Southern dominated event,
Morpeth Harriers eventually battled through to finish not only in their
aforementioned position, but also very creditably second from the North
behind fifth placed Leeds City, and also first of the
four competing North East clubs on the day.
Morpeth's B team also performed well to finish 37th of the
87 teams who started, and were the seventh B team to finish.
Matt Nicholson, who had been out of action for around three months,
was Morpeth A's runner on Leg One of the 6 x 5.85k event,
and he clocked a steady 17m59s to come home in 29th place,
however leaving Jonny Taylor with plenty of opposition
to aim at as he set out on Leg Two.
Jonny succeeded brilliantly to clock not only the leg's equal fastest time,
but also the days sixth equal fastest time of 17m06s,
to climb a mammoth twenty places overall, and put Morpeth very much
into a realistic position of possible medal challenge.
Morpeth A's third leg runner Ian Harding, who had earned his place
in the team courtesy of an excellent run in last months Northern
Championships, where he ran for the B team,
however didn't quite run to expectations as he slipped
back to fourteenth with his clocking of 18m19s.
Fortunes were revived however on Leg Four, when Nick Swinburn
brought them back up to eighth with his clocking of 17m42s,
which was just outside the top ten times of the leg,
and very much equal to that of Newham's Kevin Skinner,
who was holding a fifteen seconds lead over Leeds City's
James Wilkinson at the front of the field at the time.
This set Morpeth as third team from the North at the time,
behind the aforementioned Leeds City and Altrincham who were fourth.
Morpeth had Chris Sampson on Leg Five, however he had some
very stern opposition around, and he slipped to eleventh with his
clocking of 18m02s, which by his own standards was a little disappointing.
Ian Hudspith on the sixth and final leg, however gave Morpeth
the spur they needed as he clocked the Leg's second fastest time of 17m20s,
only surpassed by Newham's Moumin Geele's 17m03s,
which saw them further confirm victory,
after leading light Mo Farah had confirmed superiority on the fifth leg
with the days fastest overall clocking of 16m33s.
Hudspith's run saw him claw back four places to seventh for Morpeth,
and they saw Altrincham slip back to fifteenth, enabling a well
earned placing as second from the North to be confirmed,
with Derby allowing a late flourish to confirm them
as third from the North in tenth place.
Meanwhile the Morpeth B team of debutant Peter Newton (18m20s)
Ross Floyd (18m30s), Jonny Young (19m27s), David Swinburne (19m19s)
Michael Dawson (19m09s) and Ben Harrison (19m16s)
maintained a consistent middle order battle to finish
in 37th place, as seventh B team, and also well ahead of the A teams
of North East rivals New Marske and Sunderland Harriers
who finished in 48th and 51st places respectively.
The North East's other representatives Gateshead Harriers
came through after a poor start to finish in 24th place overall.
Unfortunately due to an injury withdrawal Morpeth Harriers were
unable to mount a challenge in the Womens 4 Stage Championship.
Morpeths Alan Shepherd won the Albert Park Time Trial
in Middlesbrough on Saturday 17th October,
not only for the second week in a row,
but also for the third time, and more importantly to him,
in a new personal best on the course of 16m38s.
This also sees him rise from 16th to 13th best overall on the course.
Not content with this result, on Sunday 18th October,
Alan travelled further South to Richmond, North Yorkshire,
and finished fourth in the annual Richmond Castle 10k in a time of 35m30s.
Morpeth Harriers held the second of their series of Young Athlete Club
Championships on Lancaster Park on Monday night (12th October)
when the Under 15 age group athletes faced the starter.
North Eastern 1500m Champion Jonny Nisbet got round
the one lap circuit in 7m47s to win the Boys title,
and Carley May Webster took the Girls title in 8m50s.
In the Boys event Jack Hepple and Rhonan Green
claimed the minor medals in 8m06s and 8m33s,
and in the Girls event, Miriam Inverarity and Lucy Shuttleworth
shared the spoils with their clockings of 9m42s and 10m01s.
Further results were as follows
UNDER 15 BOYS
Sam Hancox (4th) 8m40s,
Connor Weightman (5th) 8m44s,
Joe Robertshaw (6th) 8m48s,
Jonny Anderson (7th) 8m51s,
Matthew Levison (8th) 9m15s,
Daniel Smith (9th) 9m16s,
Henrick Paulsen (10th) 10m06s,
Peter-Li-D'oyley (11th) 10m08s,
Sasha O'Connor (12th) 10m15s.
UNDER 15 GIRLS
Rachael Todd (4th) 10m29s,
Polly Jeffrey (5th) 10m44s,
Greta Maldziukaite (6th) 11m15s,
Rhian Watkins (7th) 11m22s,
Sarah Forrester (8th) 13m10s,
Regina D'oyley (9th) 14m35s,
Emma Storey (10th) 14m39s.
Next Monday 19th October sees the clubs Under 17 athletes in action.
Morpeths Terry Wall finished fourth in the Yorkshire Coast 10k
on Sunday 11th October in Scarborough in a time of 33m10s.
The event was won by Loftus AC's Alec Duffield in 31m49s.
Morpeths Alan Shepherd won the Albert Park Time Trial event
on Saturday 10th October at Middlesbrough in a time of 16m47s,
which was agonisingly just one second adrift of his personal best
which he set when finishing to New Marske's Dominic Shaw on the 19th September 2009.
It was Alan's second victory in the event,
having won on the 6th June 2009 in a much slower time of 17m12s.
Alan has now had nine runs in the event,
and is currently ranked 16th fastest overall in the Mens League,
which is currently headed by his Morpeth Harriers clubmate
Michael Dawson, who holds the fastest time of 15m46s.
Other Morpeth Harriers in the top section of the event rankings are
Craig McBurney who is third fastest with 15m55s,
and Gary Jones who is twelfth with 16m36s.
Morpeths Andrew Lawrence secured a 12 second marginal victory
in the Manches Moor Park 10k in Rickmansworth,
Hertfordshire on Sunday 27th September 2009.
Andrew clocked 34m31s for his efforts.
Philip Winkler and Sarah Wilkes were the respective winners of
Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys and Under 13 Girls Road Championships
held on Lancaster Park, Morpeth on Monday night (5th October)
The first in the series of Young Athletes Championships attracted a total of 37
competitors, with 16 taking part in the Boys event, and 21 in the Girls event.
Both races were held on the usual circuit of around one and three eighth miles,
and Winkler completed his victory in an excellent 8m13s,
and Wilkes got round in 8m55s, that would have made her fifth in the Boys event,
such was the enormity of her victory.
Winkler finished twenty four seconds ahead of his closest rival Joe Elder (8m37s)
with Ben Steel a further two seconds adrift in third place.
Wilkes's victory saw her finish with twenty one seconds to spare
over her closest rival Alison Brown (9m16s)
with Josie McReton easily claiming third place in 9m57s.
Other Results
UNDER 13 BOYS
Tom Fisher (4th) 8m53s,
Martin Hood (5th) 8m56s,
Andrew Allan (6th) 8m59s,
Ben Welsh (7th) 9m19s,
Sam Dodds (8th) 9m29s,
Joel Laviers (9th) 9m48s,
James Fagents (10th) 9m55s,
Mathew Jordan (11th) 11m00s,
Sam Foster-Beattie (12th) 11m44s,
Matthew Connell (13th) 11m55s,
Gabriel Farthing (14th) 12m58s,
Cameron Thomas (15th) 13m04s,
Oliver Gascoigne (16th) 13m16s.
UNDER 13 GIRLS
Beth Wooley (4th) 10m46s,
Alice Kelly (5th) 10m49s,
Hetty Naylor (6th) 11m37s,
Rebecca Dodds (7th) 11m52s,
Molly McDonald (8th) 12m00s,
Rosie McDonald (9th) 12m15s,
Ella Brookes (10th) 12m22s,
Jess Twelves (11th=) 12m27s,
Olivia Rodda (11th=) 12m27s,
Ella Atherton (13th) 12m32s,
Nina Speight (14th) 12m57s,
Kirsty Lang (15th) 13m05s,
Abigail Neilly (16th) 13m10s,
Amy Thomas (17th) 13m11s,
Anna Featherstone (18th) 13m46s,
Lauren Havery (19th) 13m59s,
Katie Dunn (20th) 14m05s,
Heather Martin (21st) 14m52s.
Next Monday 12th October sees the clubs Under 15 athletes in action.
Exactly one week after frustratingly missing out on medals
at the North of England Road Relays in Leeds,
Morpeth Harriers experienced a high note when they claimed
a Bronze Medal Podium placing at the British Masters Cross Country Relay
Championships held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday 3rd October.
The club's Over 40 Veteran Men bettered their 2008 fourth placing effort,
by finishing behind winners Leicester Coritanian,
and fellow North East rivals Sunderland Harriers,
who grabbed the Silver medal at halfway
when Brian Rushworth passed Ian Abbis.
Abbis was however delighted to share the medal winning podium
with his Morpeth Harriers clubmates Phil Walker, Paul Waterston,
Neil Wilkinson, Alan Shepherd, and Gavin Bayne,
who had all battled their way through gale force winds to claim some glory.
It was particularly pleasing for Wilkinson, who had missed
the previous weeks Road Relays, as he clocked Morpeth Harriers
fastest time on the day of 13m38s, over the two lap 4k circuit.
Morpeth Harriers can also be particularly pleased with their
Over 40 Mens B team who finished ninth, and were the first B team to
finish, courtesy of Alistair MacDonald, David Steel, Gordon Dixon,
Mike Winter, Jim Alder, and Steve Beattie.
We fully support Bob Houston in the points that he makes,
and strongly discourage our members from giving race
numbers to (or receiving them from) others.
Some years ago a runner died during a race that we organised,
and he was wearing someone else's number.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to work out
what could have happened in such circumstances.
SUNDAY 8TH NOVEMBER
This Sunday sees the annual Heaton Harriers Memorial Road Races
taking place within the Exhibition Park and Town Moor areas of Newcastle.
The five event programme gets underway at 9.50am
with the Under 11 Boys and Girls racing over a 1k circuit,
and ends with the Senior and Veteran Men and Women over a 10k circuit at 11.00am.
As usual a One Minute Silence will be held prior to the Senior event,
to remember those who have fought for us in conflict.
Articles and reports on this site are viewed before inclusion,
however the webmaster cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions contained therein.
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