Morpeth Harriers take part in Great North Run weekend

Events kicked off on Friday night at the Quayside, where the elite UK Athletics 5k Road Championships were quickly followed by the GNR 5k race over the same course, and last year’s winner, Morpeth’s Scott Beattie, was once again at the forefront of the action in the UKA Championship race.

This time, however, he had to settle for second place in a sprint finish behind Richmond and Zetland Harrier Marc Scott, with Scott clocking 13 minutes 56 seconds and Beattie 13:58.

The following mass participation 5k race was won by ex-Olympian Chris Thompson in 15:23.

There were four Morpeth finishers this time, with Adam Pratt ninth in 16:32, Richard Deathe 20th in 17:16, Stephen Cessford 94th in 20:22 and Laura Mclean 284th in 23:24.

Saturday saw the Junior GNR races, which were set off in age-related waves along a 4k course.

Edward Roff was 53rd in 18:07, Sofia Gibson 49th in 20:31, Emily Vermaas 145th in 23:52 and Charlotte Johnson 141st in 23:50 in their respective races.

Sunday’s half-marathon, run for the 43rd time this year, featured a record entry of 60,000.

The winners were both Kenyans, Mary Ngugi-Cooper taking the Women’s race in a closely contested finish one hour 7 minutes and 40 seconds, and compatriot Abel Kipchumba the Men’s, which he had led from the off, in 59:52.

Morpeth’s Rory Leonard, whose efforts over the track season have been very much focussed on 5,000 and 10,000m races, made his competitive debut over the half marathon distance, clocking a highly respectable 1:05:16 for 16th place, with Carl Avery, a regular at the fixture, only three places behind in 1:05:27.

Also making the top 50 were Alex Brown, 37th in 1:08:12, and Tom Prentice, 47th in 1:11:32.

Other leading finishers for the club were Rob Balmbra, 76th in 1:13:07 and Andrew Lawrence, 93rd in 1:13:51.

There were 20 finishers in blue and white in total, with perhaps the most remarkable story being that of Gary Mason, who had taken part in the Ben Nevis race less than 24 hours beforehand, where he had finished in a time of 3:28:52, returning on Saturday night before completing the GNR in 2:02:32.