Morpeth Harriers clinch team prize at Brampton to Carlisle 10 mile race

Runners in the blue and white vests were first and second over the line, and five athletes from the club occupied the top 10 places.

Run over a course from William Howard School in Brampton to Eden Bridge in Carlisle, the event can boast of being the oldest ten mile race in the UK and one of the longest lasting over any distance in the country, being run here for a remarkable 72nd time and once again attracting a quality field of well over 800 finishers.

Previous winners have included Ron Hill and Steve Cram.

Morpeth’s Carl Avery continued his remarkably consistent season with a fine win in a time of 48 minutes 42 seconds, coming home some 12 seconds ahead of team mate Lawrence Mccourt in his first race back after several months out. Daniel Connolly was third in 49:03.

With the top 10 places also including Alex Brown, who finished fifth in 50:05, Phil Winkler, who was one place behind in 50:28, and Connor Marshall, seventh in 50:40, and Sam Hancox, who came 12th in 51:20, there was no doubt where the team prize for the race was going this time.

Leeds City AC’s Steph Pennycook was the first woman back in a very good time of 54:38, with Scottish athlete Annabel Simpson of Fife AC second in a time of 55:55 and Border Harrier Rachel Brown third in 58:04.

Robyn Bennett was Morpeth Harriers’ first female finisher, coming in as the 11th Senior and 175th overall in 1:02:42 with Lizzie Rank not far behind in 1:04:22.

Anna Wright was 301st and the sixth Over-40 in 1:08:56. Her training companion, Jane Kirby, was 319th and the fourth Over-50 in a time of 1:09:38.

David Nicholson was a winner in the Over-70s with a good time of 1:14:17 with the club’s oldest representative, Over-75 Norman Clark, finishing in a time of 1:34:46.

In all, some 18 Harriers made the journey along the A69 to take part, with 842 runners in total finishing the race.