Morpeth Harriers' U20 Junior Men's team strolls to victory at Northern Cross Country Championships

Held at Tatton Park, the calm and sunny conditions provided a remarkable contrast to the previous day’s stormy weather with the going largely good under foot for the hundreds of runners who turned out to be part of what is the largest cross country meeting in the north.

Dixon formed part of a small leading group at the front of the field, with Biruk Aduna Kebede of Clayton le Moors making a break at the start of the second lap over the 7.90 kilometre course and the Morpeth runner the only athlete trying to stay in touch.

With Kebede clearly in very good form and extending his lead over the last two kilometres to win by over 20 seconds, it became a battle for the silver medal, with Dixon fighting hard with Skyrac AC’s Abdimajid Darood in the last 100 metres and only losing out by a narrow two second margin in the run in.

Dixon was backed up by a strong Morpeth squad, with Elliot Kelso coming in 10th, Ralph Robson 13th and Bertie Marr 15th.

With three to count for the team, Marr unfortunately missed out, but the miserly team count of only 26 points provided a massive winning margin.

The Junior Men’s success was certainly the highlight for the club, but there were also some other good performances in the earlier races.

In their first taste of racing at this level, Heidi Wilkinson placed 40th in the Under-13 Girls with team mate Zoe Tomlinson 73rd, while in the matching U13 Boys, run over the same 3.15km distance, Mason Gaylor, coming in 18th, looked fearless as he posted a top 20 finish in a field of well over 100 runners.

Gaylor was supported by Jack Dhawar in 69th and Jacob Thompson in 112th, the three runners showing great commitment as they had done in the Northern Road Relays in Blackburn some months ago.

Faye Heatley and Emma Tomlinson both ran well in the U15 Girls, with Faye first back for the club in 67th and Emma 97th, while Emma and Zoe’s older brother Oliver had an excellent run in the U17s to come back in 27th place, while Tabitha Robson placed 28th in the Junior Women’s race.

The Senior Men’s race, over 11.75 strength-sapping kilometres, also saw the biggest field of just short of 400.

Won by City of York’s Angus Mcmillan in 35 minutes and 37 seconds, Morpeth’s Phil Winkler had one of his best ever efforts for the club, the ex-Duchess High School pupil having an outstanding run to place seventh in 36:37.

Sam Hancox was 55th in 39:30 and Matthew Briggs 88th in 40:54, both athletes still working their way back to their best form.

Struck by late injuries and withdrawals for the first time in a long time, Morpeth’s Senior Men failed to field a full six for the team count, with only Sunderland Harriers registering for the North East.