Morpeth Harriers shine in cross country relays

Held at a sunny Lord Lawson of Beamish School, the Birtley Relays featured three separate races and included the North East Masters Athletics Association Championships for male and female athletes aged over 35. A successful morning saw three team wins and seven individual golds for athletes in blue and white.

Perhaps the best victory was by the Women’s Masters team of Jane Kirby, Morag Stead and Jane Hodgson, who finished nearly three minutes ahead of their nearest rivals, Crook AC. Hodgson ran the day’s fastest female time of 11 minutes one second for the three-kilometre course, with Stead also running the fastest time in her age category.

Their victory was matched by that of the club’s O/55s, for whom Gwenda Cavill and Shuna Rank ran fastest category times. Both the O/45s and Seniors picked up team Bronzes, with Rachelle Falloon’s 11:22 the day’s second fastest leg.

The women’s medals were matched by those of the Masters Men, for whose O/35 team Adam Pratt ran 9:52, the fastest in the race. Pratt’s efforts were backed up by Lee Bennett and Neil McAnany, with both recording leading times in O/50 and O/60 categories.

As last year, there was a resounding win for the club’s Over 65s, with Gavin Bayne and David Nicholson running O/65 legs, with support from Les Cavill on his Masters outing.

Last race of the day was the most keenly contested, but although Morpeth ran toe-to-toe with Sunderland Harriers, they had to settle for silver.

At York Racecourse , the Brass Monkey Half Marathon was won in a time of 1 hour 6 minutes and 21 seconds by Spenborough and District AC runner Joe Sagar with Georgia Malir of Leeds City 1st female finisher in 1:15:10. Andy Lawrence was the first finisher for Morpeth, finishing 38th in 1:12:46.

At the Northern Athletics Indoor Championships in Sheffield, promising triple jumper Charlotte Earl set a new personal best. She won an U/20 bronze with a jump of 11.32 metres.