Morpeth Harriers enjoy busy period of distance running action

Three members of Morpeth Harriers & AC took part in the Valencia Half Marathon last month.

First of the trio to finish was Under 23 athlete Chris Coulson, who posted an excellent personal best time of 62m52s, finishing 48th. Coulson was also an agonising eight seconds adrift of Nick McCormick’s long standing Club Record, which was achieved during the Great North Run in 2012.

Harriers’ other finishers were Carl Avery, in 65m11s, and Finn Brodie, in 65m22s, who came home in 100th and 106th respectively.

Elsewhere, for the first time in many years, Morpeth Harriers could only field one finishing team at the annual English Cross Country Relays, held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday.

The club’s Senior Men finished 36th out of 165 complete teams, and were tenth from the North of England. On first leg for Morpeth, Will Devere-Owen took them to 48th place with an individual clocking of 15m52s for the 5k distance.

An excellent 15m43s on Leg Two by Matthew Walton saw the squad progress to 33rd place. Connor Marshall, who has been out of action for some time, then found the going a little tough on Leg Three, but despite dropping a few places to 43rd, he managed to keep the squad in the top half of the field with his time of 16m58s. The fourth and final leg saw Bertie Marr climb to a final 36th placing, with his effort of 16m27s.

Meanwhile, Morpeth Harriers & AC had four teams in action at the annual Elswick Harriers Norman Woodcock Road Relays, held at Gosforth Park on Sunday.

As previous winners of the event, the club were once again hoping to capture the title, but despite the team efforts of Josh Fiddaman (7m41s), Robert Balmbra (8m08s), and Kirsty Burville (9m55s), their A team finished behind both Elswick Harriers and Heaton Harriers.

The Morpeth B team finished seventh, courtesy of Andrew Mirfield (8m07s), Andrew Lawrence (8m44s), and Caitlyn Flanagan (10m00s).

Bobby Hagan (9m02s), Daniel Craig (9m07s), and Olga Bell (12m29s) saw the Morpeth C team claim 28th, while the D team finished in 39th place, courtesy of Rachelle Falloon (9m48s), Richard Glennie (10m26s), and Vicky Thompson (11m28s).

And finally, Morpeth Harrier Lee Cuthbertson finish in thirteenth place in Sunday’s Derwentwater 10mile Road Race in Keswick, producing a time of 60m07s.