Morpeth Harriers catch the eye at Sunderland 5k and Newcastle 10k races

One of the North East’s most popular 5km events, the Sunderland 5k, took place in midweek. Held at Silksworth, it incorporated the Northern Athletics 5k Championship and the North East Masters event. Twelve Morpeth Harriers made the journey, with some solid performances recorded.

The results for the combined Sunderland 5k events placed Ryan McLeod fourth - and first M40 - with a time of 14m.45s. Meanwhile, Matthew Walton was fifth (14m.48s), Peter Smallcombe seventh (14m.54s), Sam Hancox 12th (15m.18s), and Oliver Tomlinson 29th (15m.53s).

Andrew Mirfield finished in 16m.34s (49th), with Andrew Lawrence (16m.37s, 50th), and Daniel Craig (16m.40s, 60th) close behind. Richard Hall finished 126th (18m.06s), Shaun Land 145th (18m.26s), Kirsty Burville 183rd, as well as a fine second F45 (19m.31s). Richard Glennie crossed the line in 19.44 (202nd).

McLeod and Burville also medalled in the Northern Athletics and Vets event, while McLeod, Walton, and Smallcombe collected well-deserved team medals too.

Elsewhere, Morpeth’s Ryan McLeod was in action on Sunday, winning the Runthrough Newcastle 10k in a time of 31m.11s. He also won the M40 category. The event was coupled with a half-marathon event in which Andrew Lawrence finished fourth in 1:17.09, winning the vets M40 category in that event. The races were held around Kingston Park and Dinnington, with around 1,200 athletes taking part in total.

And finally, Harrier Joe Dixon (U23) ran 4m.09s in the 1,500m in the B race of the recent BMC meeting in Loughborough.