Morpeth Harriers claim top three spots in The Les Allcorn 10k at Hulne Park

Thomas Prentice was first home in 34:19 with Rob Balmbra second in (35:17) and John Butters third and first veteran (36:25).

Morpeth’s Lindsey Quinn was the third female finisher in 44:41.

Other Morpeth finishers included Lee Cuthbertson, seventh in 37:54; Mike Winter, 20th and second over-50 in 42:53; Robyn Bennett, 32nd and eighth female in 45:47; Jane Briggs, 45th and second over-50 in 49:31, and Rich Kirby, 46th in 49:42.

The club picked up both the Men’s and Women’s team prizes.

In the earlier Junior races, under-13 Jack Dhawar was 18th in 13:41.

There were seven teams from the club among the more than 150 in action at the Gordon Smith Relays at Wallsend, with two-mile stages per runner and teams of three, to include at least one over-40.

Race one featured 76 complete teams, with the lead contested by North Shields Polytechnic (NSP), Tyne Bridge (TBH) and last year’s winners, Elswick.

NSP’s Molly Pace came back in 11:42 at the end of leg one along with early leaders Sunderland Strollers and Elswick, but the Whitley Bay club took the lead thanks to triathlete Steph MacLean-Dann on leg two, with Elswick moving into second place.

A scorching run of 10:39 by Charlotte Penfold for NSP on leg three, the evening’s fastest female time, removed any prospect of those behind her getting anywhere near, although TBH’s Lucy Crookes managed to get the better of Justina Heslop for Elswick.

Crookes’ 11:00 was the fastest Senior Female time, with TBH clocking 35:21 to NSP’s 34:03, and Elswick, credited with the same 35:21, in third.

Morpeth’s A team of Lizzie Rank (12:15), Linzi Quinn (13:09) and Gemma Floyd (12:24) did well to come 10th.

The B team of Jane Kirby (13:37), Tayla Murdy (13:49) and Claire Calverley (14:21) came 26th.

The Men’s race, with the same requirement as the Women’s of at least one over-40 running, was as keenly contested, with Morpeth’s Men not quite able to retain the trophy they had held for the last three years.

Sunderland Harrier Scott Armstrong brought their A team in first on leg one, his clocking of 9:32 just ahead of Chris Parr for Morpeth’s B (9:40) and Sam Hancox’s 9:47 for the A.

The lead for the Wearsiders was extended by a fine run by Stephen Jackson on leg two of 9:43, which gave a lead of 48 seconds going in to leg three.

Behind, Conrad Thompson got Gateshead into second, with Andrew Ball (10:36) moving Morpeth’s A in to third.

Despite the best efforts of Callum Johnson for Gateshead – whose 9:12 was the fastest time of the night – Joe Armstrong was more than able to hold his own for Sunderland, his 9:16 bringing the winners home in 28:31.

Gateshead were second in 29:15, with George Lowry recording 10:28 on leg three for Morpeth A in third.

Morpeth’s B came sixth, with Lee Bennett recording 10:56 and Andy Lawrence 10:48 behind Parr.

Ross Floyd made a return to competitive action for Morpeth at the Sunderland City Runs, recording 33:34 in the 10k race for fifth place behind winner Liam Taylor of Sunderland Harriers (32:17).

Andy Leeson ran in the half marathon, recording 1:35:58 in 119th.