Saturday 27th October 2007.
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE Sherman Cup/Davidson Shield
at Temple Park, South Shields.

Sunday 18th November 2007
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 1.
at Shibdon Park, Blaydon.

Saturday 15th December 2007
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 2.
at Cramlington

Saturday 5th January 2008
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 3.
at Temple Park, South Shields.

Saturday 12th January 2008
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 4.
at Farringdon Sunderland.

Saturday 16th February 2008
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 5.
at Edmond Campion School, Wrekenton.

Saturday 1st March 2008
NORTH EAST HARRIER LEAGUE 6.
at Prudhoe

www.startfitness.co.uk

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All Local & National 2007/2008 Cross Country Dates

Sun 7th October - NYSD XC League 1 - Summerhill Leisure Centre, Hartlepool.
Sun 21st October - NYSD XC League 2 - Barnard Castle.
Sat 27th October - Sherman Cup / Davison Shield - Temple Park, South Shields.
Sun 4th November - NYSD XC League 3 - Normanby.
Sat 10th November - Gateshead International and UK Cross Country Challenge - Gateshead.
Sun 18th November - NE Harrier League 1 - Shibdon Park, Blaydon.
Sun 18th November - NYSD XC League 4 - Thirsk.
Sat 8th December - North East Counties XC Champs - Hartlepool.
Sat 15th December - NE Harrier League 2 - Cramlington.
Sat 5th January 2008 - NE Harrier League 3 - South Shields.
Sat 12th January - NE Harrier League 4 - Farringdon, Sunderland.
Sun 13th January - NYSD XC League 5 - Caedmon School, Whitby.
Sat 26th January - Northern Athletics XC Champs - Roundhay Park, Leeds.
Sun 10th February - NYSD XC League 6 - Blakeston School, Stockton.
Sat 16th February - NE Harrier League 5 - Edmond Campion School, Wrekenton.
Sat 23rd February - England National XC Champs - Alton Towers.
Sat 1st March - NE Harrier League 6 - Prudhoe.
Sat 15th March - UK Inter-Counties XC Champs - Nottingham.
Sun 16th March - NYSD XC League 7 - Richmond School, Richmond.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 6 )
The final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture
held at Prudhoe on Saturday 1st March, saw Morpeth Harriers
round off their season by clinching team success in the
Senior Mens and Under 13 Boys sections, and Mark Brown,
Adam Harrington and Deborah Oakley all won best performance awards.

Brown confirmed his individual success in the strong wind on Saturday
by coming home in eighth place from the Fast Pack,
easily recording the fastest time of the day,
and leading Morpeth Harriers to fourth team place,
and first from Division 2, which confirmed their divisional victory
and promoted them to Division 1 next term.

Further team support for Morpeth came from excellent runs by
Alistair MacDonald (10th) (Slow Pack)
David Steel (32nd) (Medium Pack)
Mike Winter (42nd) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (54th) (Slow Pack)
and John Woods (83rd) (Medium Pack)

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys also confirmed themselves as
League champions by finishing third on the day,
and their leading finisher Jonny Nisbet also grabbed himself
a piece of the action by producing a superb run from
the Fast Pack to finish second, which in turn gave him a Silver Medal
for his individual performances for the season,
only beaten by clubmate Adam Harrington,
who missed Saturday's race to prepare for a school Skiing trip.

Nisbet was supported in Saturday's team effort by
Ryan Dodds (7th) (Slow Pack) and Ben Steel (21st) (Slow Pack)

Deborah Oakley ran excellently to finish third from the Fast Pack
in the combined Under 17 and Under 20 Womens event,
and confirmed herself as the seasons best performer for the age group.
Morpeth also finished as third team for the season behind Houghton and Gateshead.

Morpeth's Jordan Scott was second fastest on the day when
he finished fifth from the Fast Pack in the Under 17 Mens event.

In the Under 15 Boys event Philip Shuttleworth finished eighth from the Fast Pack.

Sarah Wilkes of Morpeth ran superbly to finish in fourth place
from the Slow Pack in the Under 13 Girls event.

In the Under 15 Girls event Rachel Steel also produced an
excellent run to finish in fourth place from the Fast Pack.

Margaret MacDonald finished 47th from the
Slow Pack in the Senior Womens event.

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Inter Counties Cross Country Championships !
Three Morpeth Harriers played their part in a superb
Senior Mens Team victory by the North Eastern Counties at the
Inter Counties Cross Country Championships held at
Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday 15th March.

Ian Hudspith finished an excellent ninth to lead the squad home,
and he was well supported by club colleagues Lewis Timmins
and Nick Swinburn who were second and sixth counters in
sixteenth and forty eighth places respectively.
Hudspith was always up with the leaders, and the fact that he was only
just under forty seconds away from an individual medal amongst younger
opposition is pure testimony to an excellent performance.

It was also a particularly fruitfull day for Timmins, as he had to make
the journey from his base in America to compete.
He had contacted Team Boss Steve O'Gara several weeks before,
declaring an interest to run, and that he was in excellent form,
and he more than repaid the faith shown him by turning in this performance.

For Swinburn's part, it was again an excellent performance amongst older athletes,
and again repaid the faith shown in him after his superb English National last month.
Although a non scorer, Morpeth's Mark Brown ran competitively to finish in 115th place.

Click Here For Photos From Senior Mens Race.......

The North East were very unlucky to lose out in very close
team finishes in the Senior Womens and Under 15 Boys events.
In both cases they finished fourth, and only 24 and 15 points adrift respectively.

Morpeth's Jane Mooney, who unfortunately missed
the English National due to illness ran well to finish as fourth
counter in 78th place for the Senior Womens squad.
One place ahead of her was her club colleague Delyth James,
who had managed to gain a "wild card" entry as an individual from the organisers.
These were both excellent performances in a total field of 254 finishers.

Click Here For Photos From Senior Womens Race.......

Marcus Cram of Morpeth gave an excellent performance in the
Under 15 Boys event to finish as second counter for
the North East in nineteenth place of 281 finishers.

Click Here For Photos From Under 15 Boys Race.......

Morpeth's Marc Cochrane repaid the faith of the selectors
to finish as fourth counter in 91st place for a North East
Junior Mens squad that finished in tenth team place.

Click Here For Photos From Junior Mens Race.......

Another North East squad that finished tenth were the Under 13 Boys,
and three Morpeth Harriers played their parts excellently.
Superb runs by Jonny Nisbet and North East Champion
Adam Harrington saw them finish in 35th and 37th places
respectively and only a second apart in the final run in
that saw them as first and second counters.
Lewis Coyle produced an excellent performance to come
home as fourth counter in 80th place out of 298 finishers.
Eighth and final finisher for the North East
was Jack Hepple who placed 181st.

Click Here For Photos From Under 13 Boys Race.......

Morpeths Rachel Denton led the North East's Under 15 Girls squad
home to 13th team place when finishing 58th in a field of 274 finishers.
Clubmate and training partner Hannah Rank was
a non scorer as fifth from the region in 95th place.

Click Here For Photos From Under 15 Girls Race.......

The North East's Under 17 Womens squad who were hit by the loss of
former Inter Counties Champion Laura Weightman,
finished in sixteenth team place.

Natalie Young of Morpeth produced a superb performance to come
home as second counter in 70th place out of 240 finishers.

Click Here For Photos From Under 17 Womens Race.......

Although a non scorer, Morpeth's Jordan Scott answered his late
call up to the North East's Under 17 Mens squad by finishing 145th of 258 finishers.

Click Here For Photos From Under 17 Mens Race.......

Morpeth's Laura Dixon finished 111th in the Junior Womens event.

Click Here For Photos From Junior Womens Race.......

Its thought that the North East Counties may have won
the overall trophy by completing as a prominent team
in all of the ten events to count in the competition.

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Scottish Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships
Competing in the Boys 15 to 17 year age group, Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram
led his Fettes College of Edinburgh team - mates to fourth team place in the
Scottish Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships held in Irvine on Saturday 8th March.
Marcus finished eighth and was thirteen seconds adrift of a Bronze medal.

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2008 English Schools Cross Country Championships !
Eleven Morpeth Harriers competed for Northumberland at the
English Schools Cross Country Championships held at
Sefton Park, Liverpool on Saturday 8th March.

On a day when the county certainly underperformed,
there was brightness in the individual performance of Rachel Denton,
and the best team performance being achieved by
the Intermediate Boys who finished eleventh.

In Denton's case she ran very competitively to come home in 24th place
and led Northumberland's Junior Girls home to 22nd team place.
Other Morpeth Harriers amongst the counters in this age group
were Hannah Rank (135th) and Rachael Steel (225th),
who were third and sixth for the county.

The Intermediate Boys were helped in their eleventh placed effort by
Morpeth's Alistair Douglass, who in finishing 139th was fifth counter.

Although Laura Weightman's form is still a worrying factor,
she managed to lead Northumberland's Senior Girls home to
20th team place with her individual placing of 22nd.
A lack of regular racing this winter did not daunt Natalie Young
when she came home as third counter in 101st place.

Northumberland's Intermediate Girls finished in 22nd team place
and were helped by Morpeth's Claire Pitt (187th) (4th counter)
and Zoe Armstrong (218th) (6th counter)
Although not a counter Deborah Oakley
competed well to finish in 236th place.

Northumberland's Junior Boys finished in 25th team place with
Morpeth's Jonny Nisbet being their fifth counter in 161st place.

Jordan Scott of Morpeth was second counter for
the Senior Boys who finished in 30th team place.
His individual placing was 145th.

Recent rain had made the Sefton Park course a little tricky in places,
with tightness of space also being experienced in several cases by athletes.

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2008 English National XC Championships !

In terms of individual performance, Adam Harrington's placing of seventh in the Under 13 Boys
event at the Saucony sponsored English National Cross Country Championships,
held at Alton Towers in Staffordshire on Saturday 23rd February,
was the most outstanding from any Morpeth Harrier on the day.

The North East Champion went off strongly from the gun,
and held himself prominently throughout, and was only a
mere eight seconds adrift of a Silver medal at the finish line.
Northern Champion Fergus Roberts of Richmond and Zetland
had stolen well away to claim another Gold Medal victory.

Morpeth Harriers finished eighth in the team competition in this event
with Harrington's excellent run being well supported by Jonny Nisbet (26th)
Jack Hepple (84th) and Reece Ramsey (157th).

The best team effort for Morpeth came in the Junior Mens event where
they finished fourth and only fourteen points adrift of Bronze medal placing.
Nick Swinburn ran solidly throughout the three medium sized lap
event trying to hold onto a top fifteen place,
and was up against a lot of strong opposition.
However he stuck to the task in hand and finished in a well accomplished tenth place,
and had he not run out of ground, could possibly have clinched a top six placing.
Swinburn led the Morpeth squad home with further support coming from
Jonathan Taylor, Ross Floyd and a return to action man, Jonathan Young.

Taylor was quite evidently disappointed with his finishing of 21st
after being well up in the top five on lap one.
He suffered badly for pace on the second lap following a torturous hill section,
which was quite extraordinary considering his good form this winter.
Floyd was another who was going well until a bilious attack got the better
of him in the later stages and he slipped to a finishing place of 60th.

Having been out with injury and illness for most of this winter,
forced Jonathan Young to show some caution, however he ran with
a lot of determination to finish and complete the Morpeth scoring quartet.

Sixth team place against some strong opposition was a
good result for Morpeth's Under 17 Women.
Despite another slightly jaded performance by her own standards,
Laura Weightman led the Morpeth quartet home by finishing in seventeenth place.
Second counter home was Natalie Young, who like brother Jonathan,
was making a competitive comeback after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Natalie finished in 60th place.
Third counter was Zoe Armstrong, who had begun strongly,
but slipped a little in the later stages to eventually finish 92nd.
The scoring count was completed by Deborah Oakley who finished 103rd.

Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Girls finished as 16th team.
They were led home by Rachel Denton who finished in 25th place.
Hannah Rank was second counter in 79th place.
The Morpeth team counts here were completed by
Ailsa McGregor (183rd) and Catriona MacDonald (258th).

A bit of in house competing between Karl Taylor and Jordan Scott
led Morpeth's Under 17 Mens squad home to 21st team place.
After Scott had gone slightly ahead of Taylor at the end of the first lap,
Taylor chased him home and caught him just ahead of the finish line
to finish in 83rd place, with Scott finishing in 85th spot.
The scoring counts were completed by Alistair Douglass (96th)
and Daniel Hedley who finished 290th.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Womens hopes were dealt a heavy blow
on the journey down when Jane Mooney fell ill and only made it as far
as Washington Services on the A1 before having to return.
However they held their resolve to finish as 23rd team.
They were led home with an excellent run being
had by Sarah Graham who finished 68th.
Aiveen Fox struggled on the second lap and came home in 86th place.
The scoring counts were completed by Gwenda Cavill (221st)
and Michelle Muller (284th).

On a note of credibility, Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls squad
performed excellently to finish as 35th team.
Bearing in mind all of this squad are in the first year of their age group,
and will all be eligible to compete at the same level again next year,
their performance holds a great deal of promise for the future.

They were led home by the "mighty atom" tactics of tiny Sarah Wilkes,
who battled the tough natured course to finish in 229th place.
Excellent further support came from Adele Stewart (240th)
Stephanie Purvis (289th) and Eve Shashova (310th).

Back to individual performance, and Marcus Cram produced
a sound run to finish 28th in the Under 15 Boys event.
Unfortunately Morpeth could not close as a team in this event,
and other club finishers were Tom Brookes (292nd)
and an injured Philip Shuttleworth (330th).

In the Junior Womens event Morpeth's lone runner
was Laura Dixon who finished 99th.

Morpeth Harriers force at Senior Mens level appears to have
diminished somewhat at present, and this was clearly shown in the fact
that on this occasion they could only muster two finishers.
Ben Harrison finished in 254th place, and Paul Waterston,
despite his 22mile Road Race the previous week,
stuck it out during the three long lap affair to finish in 332nd place.

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North of England Cross Country Championships !
Despite the heavy overnight winds, conditions were near perfect
for the athletes who took part in the North of England Cross Country
Championships, held at Roundhay Park, Leeds on Saturday 26th January.

Two of our athletes managed to claim themselves individual medals,
and Morpeth managed to claim one set of team medals
and came very close to a second set.
After Ricky Stevenson of New Marske dropped out
during the Junior Mens 8k event,
Morpeth's Jonny Taylor battled his way through to claim a Silver medal
and subsequently led his ambitious clubmates to team Silver.
Further support came from Nick Swinburn, who is admittedly not quite
in the form that he was at this stage of the season last year,
however he stuck to the task in hand to finish ninth,
and the third and fourth counts came from excellent runs by
Ross Floyd (18th) and Robert Balmbra (38th)
Other Morpeth athletes competing in this event were
John Woods (75th), Martyn Cairns (80th) and Gary Clark (94th)

Morpeth's North East Under 13 Boys Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington certainly showed his full potential
when he finished third to take a Bronze medal in his 3k event.
With around 800m remaining Harrington had slipped back to fifth,
however he summoned all of his reserve on the final
steep uphill to regain a medal placing,
and only just ran out of ground to take Silver.
Harrington's individual effort very nearly spurred team Bronze for Morpeth,
as they were just sixteen points adrift of third placed Warrington.
Excellent efforts by Jack Hepple (30th), Lewis Coyle (44th)
and Reece Ramsay (62nd) were the supporting counts.
Other Morpeth efforts worthy of praise in this event were
from Jonny Anderson (79th), Ben Steel (149th) and Joe Elder (159th)

Unfortunately Morpeth's Laura Weightman experienced breathing
problems in the Under 17 Womens 4.5k event, and
was disappointed to come home in seventh place.
Morpeth finished as sixth team here with good supporting runs
coming from Zoe Armstrong (39th), Deborah Oakley (60th)
and Stevie Goodfellow (82nd)

Another Morpeth athlete to suffer breathing problems was
Marcus Cram, who was forced to slow down after being in
the top ten in the early stages of the Under 15 Boys 4k event.
He eventually slipped back to 52nd place.
Morpeth's only other runner in this event was
Philip Shuttleworth who finished 95th.

Despite having been ill in the few days leading up to the event,
Morpeth's Rachel Denton still managed to work her way
through to finish 13th in the Under 15 Girls 4k event.
Morpeth finished as eighth team with further excellent team support
coming from Hannah Rank (22nd), Rachel Steel (63rd)
and Catriona MacDonald (128th)
Louise Cairns finished two places behind Catriona.

Morpeth's Chris Sampson was first from the region in the
Senior Mens 12k where he finished an excellent 29th.
However Morpeth, with most of their big guns missing,
could only finish as fifteenth team and second from the region,
with Elswick finishing in 11th place.
Further support came from Ben Harrison (80th)
Paul Waterston (115th)
Gordon Dixon (194th)
David Steel (254th)
and Richard Driscoll (403rd)

A freak head injury sustained in an accident just prior to the event,
forced Morpeth's Karl Taylor to withdraw during the Under 17 Mens 6k.
This left the club without the scoring four which was unfortunate
because Jordan Scott and Alistair Douglass finished in
42nd and 61st places respectively,
and Daniel Hedley came home in 161st place.

Surprisingly Morpeth did not manage to field a
full scoring four in the Senior Womens 8k event.
Jane Mooney was the clubs first finisher in 33rd place,
closely followed by Aiveen Fox in 36th place.
Morpeth's other finisher was Gwenda Cavill in 114th place.

Delyth James finished ninth in the Under 20 Womens 6k event,
and her Morpeth clubmate Laura Dixon finished in 48th place.

Morpeth could not turn out a full team in the Under 13 Girls 3k event.
Steph Courty was first home for the club in 95th place,
and Carley May Webster and Sarah Wilkes
finished in 133rd and 137th places respectively.

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Northumberland County Schools XC Championships !
Having being out of action since November, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman
bounced back into winning form at the Northumberland Schools Cross
Country Championships held at Kirkley Hall on Wednesday 16th January.

She won the Senior Girls event with thirty eight seconds
to spare over her nearest rival.
Fellow Harriers Natalie Young and Laura Dixon also ran well
to finish in third and seventh places respectively.

Another Morpeth Harrier winner was Adam Harrington.
The North Eastern Under 13 Boys Champion won the
Junior Boys event by a margin of six seconds.
Fellow Harriers Jack Hepple, Jonny Nisbet and Lewis Coyle
finished in seventh, eleventh and fourteenth places respectively.

Rachel Denton made it a hat-trick of Morpeth winners when she
won the Junior Girls event, with her clubmate Hannah Rank
coming home in second place.
Other Morpeth Harriers in this event were Ailsa McGregor (9th)
Steph Courty (13th) and Rachael Steel (14th)

Stephanie Purvis finished second in the Minor Girls event,
and fellow Morpeth Harrier Eve Shashoua finished seventh.

In the Intermediate Girls event Deborah Oakley, Claire Pitt
and Zoe Armstrong finished fourth fifth and sixth,
and Jessica Caldwell came home in fifteenth place.

Robert Balmbra finished fifth in the Senior Boys event,
and fellow Morpeth Harrier Martyn Cairns came home in eleventh spot.

Reece Ramsay and Joe Elder finished
second and twelfth in the Minor Boys event.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 5 )
There were a number of confidence boosting performances generated
around the Morpeth Harriers camp in preparation for this weekends
English National Cross Country Championships, at the fifth and penultimate
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting held at Cardinal Hume School,
Wrekenton, Gateshead on Saturday 16th February.

One most noteable was that of the outstanding performance by Deborah Oakley
who won the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event from the Fast Pack
by an excellent twenty six second margin over Tynedale Harrier
Megan Lewis who had led her for a portion of the way.
She had also managed to overhaul long term leader Hannah Nagel of Chester Le Street,
who had the advantage of a 160 second start from the Slow Pack.
Once Oakley had got away from Lewis and got past Nagel on the second lap,
there was no catching heras she stole to the finish line.

This victory, added to her previous Harrier League performances
this season, puts her firmly in line for the best overall performance
of the season in the Under 17/Under 20 Womens age group,
with only Blaydon's Helen Girtig posing a major threat.

Another Morpeth Harrier firmly in line for an overall performance
of the season award in the Harrier League is Adam Harrington.
There was just no stopping the North Eastern Counties Under 13 Champion
as he fought his way through to second place from the Fast Pack, losing out
for overall victory to Luca Irvine of Sunderland Harriers by a margin of
twenty two seconds after giving away eighty seconds handicap at the start.

Harrington's clocking was fourteen seconds faster than his closest rival,
which just happened to be his Morpeth Harriers clubmate and
North Eastern Silver medallist Jonny Nisbet,
who in finishing seventh just behind another Morpeth athlete Liam Brooks,
closed a winning team score for Morpeth.
That was a superb start for Brooks, who was having his first competitive
run for the club, and that team win puts Morpeth very much in pole position
in the team competition in the Under 13 Boys, with one fixture remaining.

Two other excellent Morpeth runs, although not team counters,
were that of Jack Hepple who was third fastest on the day,
finishing seventh running from the Fast Pack, and Joe Robertshaw,
who has been extremely successfull at Indoor sprints of late,
who showed his versatility, and passion for his clubs cause
to finish eighth, running from the Slow Pack.

Karl Taylor looks to have found better form in time for the
forthcoming National and Inter Counties Championships,
judging from his run in the Under 17 Mens event.
Running from the Fast Pack, he drew on all his resources to
battle his way to finish fourth, and led Morpeth to second team place
with good supporting runs coming from Jordan Scott and
Alistair Douglass who finished eighth and fourteenth respectively from the Fast Pack.

A fairly mediocre Senior Mens turnout by Morpeth meant that they
finished fourth on the day in the Division 2 team battle.
They had to look to sixty fifth place overall to find their
first counter in Mike Winter from the Slow Pack.
Further counts came from
Robert Balmbra (69th) (Fast Pack)
Phil Walker (72nd) (Fast Pack)
Richard Driscoll (102nd) (Slow Pack)
Jim Alder (108th) (Slow Pack)
and Ian Corner (115th) (Slow Pack)

In the Senior Womens event Morpeth only fielded two competitors.
Claire Bruce finished twenty second from the Slow Pack
and Gwenda Cavill finished in thirty eighth spot from the Fast Pack.

Rachel Todd and Ailidh McCallister-Williams finished
thirtieth and thirty seventh respectively in the
Under 13 Girls event running from the Slow Pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 4 )
Three team victories, and some of the fastest times recorded on the day,
portrayed Morpeth Harriers dominance at the
fourth Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at Farringdon School, Sunderland on Saturday 12th January.

Top of the pile were most definitely the clubs Under 13 Boys who
in achieving their third team victory in a row are quite clearly on their
way to winning the competitions Team Trophy with two meetings still remaining.

On the individual front Adam Harrington also looks
well on his way to winning the Under 13 Boys Best Performer title
after also achieving the best time for the third meeting in a row.
His run got him through to third place finisher, after giving away
80 seconds to slightly more than half of the 46 strong field,
and he led Morpeth to team victory with excellent supporting runs
once again being supplied by clubmates Jack Hepple and Jonny Nisbet.
It was a case of a repeat performance of South Shields the previous week
as Hepple and Nisbet clocked identical times as they finished fifth
and sixth respectively from the Fast Pack.
Again it was down to the judges to split them with
Hepple once again getting the approving nod.
Their times were also the second equal fastest on the day.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men claimed an excellent Division 2 team victory
being led home by Medium packer Paul Waterston, who was 16th fastest
overall and finished in 14th place which means he moves into the Fast Pack
for the two remaining fixtures and for next season.
He was also third finisher from the Medium Pack on the day.
Morpeth team support came courtesy of excellent runs from
David Steel (24th) (Medium Pack)
John Woods (36th) (Medium Pack)
Mike Winter (47th) (Slow Pack)
Archie Jenkins (48th) (Slow Pack)
and Richard Driscoll (56th) (Slow Pack)

An absolutely superb run by Jane Mooney saw her finish as
second fastest in the Senior Womens event,
and as second overall running from the Fast Pack.
That run inspired Morpeth Harriers to team success with further
excellent support coming from runs by Aiveen Fox (5th) (Fast Pack)
and Sue Calvert (21st) (Slow Pack)
Sue had battled through the second lap of the two lap
event having sustained a leg muscle injury.

Morpeth's Hannah Rank finished well clear of her rivals
in the Under 15 Girls event running from the Slow Pack.
Having the advantage of a 80 seconds start over most of the 27 strong field,
she was never in danger of being caught as she clocked the fastest
time of the day by a margin of 28 seconds.
Morpeth finished as second team here with good supporting runs
coming from Rachel Steel (8th) (Fast Pack)
and Louise Cairns (13th) (Fast Pack)

Jordan Scott of Morpeth clocked the second fastest time of the day
when he finished fourth from the Fast Pack in the Under 17 Mens event.

Stevie Goodfellow battled strongly to finish third in the
Under 17/Under 20 Womens event from the Slow Pack.
Morpeth clubmate Deborah Oakley, running from the Fast Pack,
once again produced an excellent performance to finish
one place behind her as third fastest on the day.

Carly-May Webster finished third running from the Slow Pack
in the Under 13 Girls event and her Morpeth clubmate
Ailidh McCallister-Williams finished 27th, also from the Slow Pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 3 )
There were good performances all round from Morpeth Harriers
athletes at the third fixture of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
held at Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields on Saturday 5th January.

Marcus Cram began 2008 on a high when he came through in the Fast Pack,
and giving 80 seconds away to nine Slow Pack athletes,
to win the Under 15 Boys event by a margin of seven seconds over his closest rival.
He also clocked the fastest time by a margin of eleven seconds.

Morpeth Harriers dominated the Senior Mens three lap event,
and were led home by Mark Brown who produced a superb
fastest time to finish in sixth place having given five
minutes to the slower runners in the event.
Closest to him was Claremont's Peter Newton who was
thirty nine seconds adrift back in ninth place.

Morpeth's team success which made them well ahead in
their Division 2 fight on the day, was achieved with excellent
supporting runs by John Woods (8th) (Slow Pack),
Gordon Dixon (10th) (Slow Pack), Paul Waterston (21st) (Medium Pack)
Ross Floyd (29th) (Fast Pack) and Richard Driscoll (47th) (Slow Pack)

North Eastern Counties Under 13 Boys Cross Country Champion
Adam Harrington produced another superb run to lead his
Morpeth Harriers clubmates home to team victory.
Giving 80 seconds to nearly half of the 42 strong field he came
through in the Fast Pack to finish second, and recorded the fastest time
of the day by a margin of fourteen seconds.
Excellent team support came from Jack Hepple and Jonny Nisbet,
who finished seventh and eighth with respective equal times,
and gave the judges a bit of a headache
in deciding who had nosed the line first.

Rachel Denton of Morpeth was a very easy winner of the Under 15 Girls event.
Running from the Slow Pack she literally blew her rivals away,
and crossed the finish line with 131 seconds to spare over her nearest rival,
and with very easily the fastest time of the day.
Morpeth however could only finish one other athlete in the event
so could not count in the team stakes.
Running from the Fast Pack Louise Cairns finished in 21st place.

Delyth James produced an excellent individual performance
to finish second from the Fast Pack in the combined
Under 17 and Under 20 Womens event.
Giving 140 seconds away to over half of the field,
she posted the fastest time of the day by nearly a minute,
and led Morpeth Harriers home to second team place on countback. The Morpeth squad had scored the same points as Gateshead,
and it was the actual finishing positions that settled the issue.
Morpeth's supporting counts came from Zoe Armstrong (3rd) (Slow Pack)
and Stevie Goodfellow (8th) (Slow Pack)
Stevie just held off the close attentions of clubmate Deborah Oakley,
who again produced an excellent run to finish ninth from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth's Senior Women finished as third team in their two lap event.
They were led home with an excellent performance from Aiveen Fox,
who came through in the Fast Pack to finish fourth.
Good team support came from Sue Calvert (12th) (Slow Pack)
and Sally Welsh (24th) (Slow Pack)
In fact all of the Morpeth squad who took part in this event did well.
Newcomer Claire Bruce finished 27th from the Slow Pack,
Michelle Muller finished 31st from the Slow Pack
and Gwenda Cavill got up to 43rd from the Fast Pack having given
160 seconds advantage to 56 runners in the 74 strong field.

Morpeth's sole Under 17 Mens competitor Jordan Scott
finished in seventh place from the Fast Pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League ( 2 )
Cross Country events returned to Cramlington after an absence
of ten years when Blyth Running Club hosted the second
Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
at East Cramlington Nature Reserve on Saturday 15th December.
Thankfully the event was not blighted by the incessant rain that competitors
had to endure at the previous weeks North Eastern Championships,
and apart from the odd patches of hard frosted surface the meeting
went unhindered under clear sunny winter skies.

One Morpeth Harrier who continued his excellent form of the
previous week was North East Under 13 Boys Champion Adam Harrington
who was clearly the fastest of his age group on the day after
coming through to finish fifth from the Fast Pack having given 80 seconds
to more than half of the 47 strong finishing field.

Harrington's run was so powerful, that he finished only thirty four seconds
adrift of race winner and clubmate Jonny Nisbet who was Silver Medallist
behind him at the Championships, and was one of the runners who had held
an eighty second advantage over him with a Slow Pack start.

Morpeth easily won the team race with Lewis Coyle (3rd) (Slow Pack)
and newcomer Reece Ramsay (4th) (Slow Pack) supporting Nisbet's victory.
Ramsay just beat Harrington by one second to deny
him a share in the team victory.

With Harrington, Nisbet, Coyle and Ramsay involved,
and also Jack Hepple still to call upon,
Morpeth's quest for future honours in this age group
over the forthcoming Cross Country season looks rosy.

Also performing for Morpeth on the day were Joe Robertshaw (18th) (Slow Pack)
Philip Caldwell (28th) (Slow Pack), Jonny Anderson (33rd) (Fast Pack)
and Matthew Denton (43rd) (Slow Pack)

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men were very much thwarted on the day
by good packing by Heaton Harriers and North Shields Poly in their Division 2 battle,
however their undoubtable highlight was the effort of Mark Brown,
who just lost out on a Bronze medal in the North East Championship.

Brown produced by far the fastest time of the day to work his way home
to an excellent seventh when running from the Fast Pack
and giving five minutes to the majority of the field.
Only four Slow Packers and two from the Medium's were to beat him on the day.

Another excellent Morpeth Senior Mens performer was Marc Cochrane
who came through to finish nineteenth from the Medium Pack,
and that effort sees him rise to the Fast Pack for the remainder of the campaign.
Further Morpeth team support came from Ross Floyd (38th) (Fast Pack)
David Steel (46th) (Medium Pack), Gavin Bayne (60th) (Slow Pack)
and Gary Clark (99th) (Slow Pack)

Aiveen Fox produced a superb run from the Fast Pack to finish third
and led Morpeth Harriers Senior Women home to third team place
with further excellent team support coming from Sue Calvert (20th) (Slow Pack)
and newcomer Claire Bruce (27th) (Slow Pack)

Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls gave excellent account
for themselves by finishing as third team.
Stephanie Courty led them home by finishing fifth from the Slow Pack,
and further team support came from Adele Stewart (7th) (Slow Pack)
and Sarah Wilkes (18th) (Slow Pack)

Running from the Slow Pack, Mariska Simpson led Morpeth Harriers
Under 15 Girls squad home to fourth team place by finishing 12th,
with excellent supporting runs coming from Rachel Steel (14th) (Fast Pack)
and Louise Cairns (19th) (Fast Pack)

Alistair Douglass was Morpeth's lone performer in the Under 17 Mens event.
He was however third fastest on the day when he finished sixth when running from the Fast Pack.

Morpeth's Deborah Oakley finished fourth in the combined
Under 17/Under 20 Womens event, however found herself disqualified
in the judges room for running from the incorrect pack.
Meanwhile Laura Dixon had an excellent run to finish sixth from the Fast Pack.

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North Eastern Counties XC Championships
Despite the incessant rain, the 102nd Annual North Eastern Counties
Athletic Association Cross Country Championships took place at
the Summerhill Visitor Centre at Hartlepool on Saturday 8th December.

Thankfully the pre-event preparations were not hampered,
and the rain that fell throughout the nine event programme
only began as the first event was about to get underway.
That opening event, the Under 13 Boys 3.2k, brought the first ray
of sunshine to Morpeth Harriers as Adam Harrington
became the newest champion of the club.
Harrington went off hard from the gun along with his
Morpeth clubmates Jonny Nisbet and Jack Hepple.
Hepple was the first to show pace, however unpredictably
he suffered two bilious attacks during the event which
restricted his time at the front.

Nisbet was the first to show the initiative,
however Harrington hung in just behind him.
As the pair neared the finishing stretches Harrington sensed
that victory was possible and took a slight lead.
That lead was still only slight as Harrington entered the steep
downhill before the finishing straight,
and Nisbet was still determined to go for Gold.
Harrington was forced into some extra kicks in the
final metres to cement his claim to the title,
and he won with a second to spare over the hardworking Nisbet,
who was nevertheless delighted with his Silver Medal,
and was praiseworthy of Harrington for his effort,
which had been instrumental in his own success.

Meanwhile Jack Hepple, despite his misfortune,
hung in well to come home in fifth pace,
and his efforts were well rewarded when Jonny Anderson
came home in 28th place which secured a Morpeth team title.
Praise must also go to the other Morpeth runners
in the Under 13 Boys event,
who were all from the younger end of the age group.
Joe Robertshaw finished 30th,
Ben Steel finished 33rd and Joe Elder finished 35th.
Harrington, Nisbett and Hepple will all come into the
selection process for the North Eastern team which competes
at the UK Inter Counties Championships at Nottingham in March.

That team win was the first of two outright Morpeth victories on the day,
the second came in the Senior Mens 12k Championship over 4 laps of the testing circuit.
Conditions were very difficult by the time the Senior Mens event got underway,
however a strong contingent of Morpeth runners were well up
with the leaders as they neared the end of the first lap.
At the end of the first lap 2006 winner Mark Hood
decided to try to recapture his title, and he went on
to build up a lead that was to prove uncatchable.

The race behind was however proving interesting,
as Morpeth pair Chris Sampson and Mark Brown battled alongside
Sunderland's former Championship winner Brian Rushworth, now at the tender age of 45.
Sampson was the first to break the Veteran,
as he gradually stole away at the end of the third lap.
The Morpeth Harrier, like Mark Brown, has graduated through the ranks,
and although knowing that the Gold had gone,
was determined that he was not going to lose his grip on Silver.
As he ascended the final hill around 500 metres from the finish,
Sampson put in another final kick that was to ensure his Silver medal placing.
Rushworth was gaining however, but this was only because he had Morpeth's
Mark Brown breathing down his neck in search of the Bronze medal.

The Wearsider managed to hang on to become the oldest ever to win
a North Eastern Cross Country Championship individual medal.
Brown took fourth place, just ahead of his Morpeth clubmate,
another former winner Neil Wilkinson who produced an excellent run for fifth.
With Terry Wall and Kristian Forster both producing
superb performances to finish ninth and eleventh,
a Morpeth Senior Mens team victory looked very much probable.
That probable became very much a definite, when the clubs
Road and Cross Country Team Manager David Swinburne
produced his best run for some time to finish in 21st place to
close the Morpeth score which was 49 clear of
archrivals Sunderland Harriers, who had won the 2006 title.
To further demonstrate Morpeth Harriers supremacy in the Senior Mens event,
their three non counting runners Andrew Lawrence, Phil Walker
and Paul Waterston all finished within the top fifty
in 30th, 37th and 47th places respectively.

The Under 13 Boys and Senior Mens efforts contributed
greatly to another Morpeth victory in the overall competition,
although on this occasion they were run very close to one point by Gateshead Harriers.

Morpeth finished as second team in four of the other age group competitions.
In the Senior Womens 8k Championship they were led
home by Jane Mooney who finished fourth.
Excellent supporting runs by Sarah Graham (10th),
and former Northern Junior Champion Aiveen Fox (12th) sealed the points.
Non counters Kate Chapman and Gwenda Cavill finished 25th and 30th respectively.

Rachel Denton had a superb run in the Under 15 Girls 4k event
where she took an individual Bronze, and led Morpeth to Silver team medals
with good support also coming from Hannah Rank (5th) Ailsa McGregor (13th)
Another good Morpeth performer here was Rachel Steel (16th)

Morpeth's Under 17/ Under 20 Womens squad suffered a blow
with the loss of 2006 Champion Laura Weightman due to illness,
however they battled through for team Silver medals,
being led home by Zoe Armstrong who finished tenth and was fifth Under 17 home.
Further team support came from excellent runs by the ever improving
Deborah Oakley (12th) and newcomer Claire Pitt (13th)
Laura Dixon battled bravely to finish 22nd.

Morpeth Harriers unfortunately lost their Under 20 Mens title that they
have held for a number of years to an excellent New Marske squad.
Nevertheless Ross Floyd (10th), Marc Cochrane (12th) and Robert Balmbra (13th)
battled through the mud strewn 8k course to secure a Silver medal placing.
Gary Clark of Morpeth finished 22nd.

In the Under 13 Girls 3.2k event, a very young Morpeth Harriers
squad performed well to finish as sixth team.
They were led home by Adele Stewart who finished 18th.
Good supporting runs came from Sarah Wilkes (23rd) and Eve Shashova (37th)
Also competing for Morpeth in this event were
Ailedh McCallister-Williams (42nd) and Rachel Todd (43rd)

The only events on the day where Morpeth Harriers failed to complete
as teams were in the Under 15 Boys 4k and Under 17 Mens 6k Championships.
In the Under 15 Boys event Philip Shuttleworth and Tom Brookes
battled well to finish13th and 34th respectively.

Lack of a fourth counter definitely denied Morpeth's Under 17 Men
some medals because the three who did turn out all had respectable runs.
Despite taking a heavy tumble, which could have denied him an individual medal,
Karl Taylor picked himself up to finish in sixth place.
Jordan Scott again produced an excellent run to finish ninth.
Although he was not best pleased with his run,
Alistair Douglass battled well to finish halfway in the field in seventeenth place.

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UK Challenge XC Series ( 2 )
Jonathan Taylor and Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers competed
at the second UK Cross Challenge meeting held at
Liverpool's Sefton Park on Saturday 24th November.

Jonathan showed good form to finish 54th and was 21st Under 23
competitor in the Senior Mens 9.8k event, his second run at the longer distance.
Meanwhile Nick finished 28th in a very competitive Under 20 Mens 6.7k event.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League (1)
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men got their Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
campaign off to a superb start in the first fixture at Blaydon on Sunday 18th November.
Competing in Division 2 they finished well clear of their closest rivals Heaton.

They were led home by Marc Cochrane who benefited
from a run from the Slow pack to finish seventh.
Cochrane had missed the entire Track season
due to a stress fracture of a leg, and this performance will have
given him great encouragement to say the least.
Second counter home for Morpeth was David Steel who also
ran well from the Slow Pack to finish twelfth.
Next home was Ross Floyd in 15th place from the Medium Pack.
Martyn Cairns also missed all of the Track season,
and he will be very much buoyed by his finishing as
fourth counter in 17th place from the Slow Pack.
Mark Brown had an excellent run from the Fast Pack
to be Morpeth's fifth counter in 26th place,
and was second fastest overall on the day.
The excellent Morpeth team score was completed by Terry Wall
who came through in the Fast Pack to finish in 43rd place.

Morpeth's Under 13 Boys squad finished as fifth team
courtesy of Ben Steel (11th) (Slow Pack), Joe Elder (19th) (Slow Pack)
and Matthew Denton (25th) (Slow Pack)

Alistair Douglass of Morpeth put every ounce of his strength into
his performance when finishing fifth in the Under 17 Mens event from the Slow Pack.

In the Under 15 Boys event Morpeth's Marcus Cram ran the days
equal fastest time when coming through to finish tenth from the Fast Pack.

Rachel Steel of Morpeth had a superb run to finish fourth
from the Slow Pack in the Under 15 Girls event.
Clubmate Louise Cairns running from the Fast Pack finished in twentieth spot.

In the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens event,
Morpeth's Deborah Oakley produced an excellent performance
to finish second when running from the Slow Pack.
Stevie Goodfellow, also running from the Slow Pack, finished in eighth place.

Morpeth Harriers newcomer Claire Bruce did well to finish in
fourteenth place from the Slow Pack in the Senior Womens event.

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Masters Cross Country International !
Morpeths Walter Ryder and Archie Jenkins each gained medals
at the British Masters Cross Country Championships
held at Stormont, Northern Ireland on Saturday 17th November.
In Walter`s case, he retained his hold on the Over 70 Mens title to take Gold,
and then won another Gold by virtue of leading England to a team victory.
Archie helped the Scotland Over 55 Veterans to a team victory when finishing seventh.
and was their third counter.
In the Mens Over 35 age group event Morpeth's Phil Walker was 18th.

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UK Challenge XC Series ( 1 )
Several Morpeth Harriers produced excellent high level performances
at the prestigious International Cross Country meeting held
at Gateshead's Riverside Bowl on Saturday 10th November.

The meeting which formed the first of the four in the
UK Challenge XC Series attracted some top class athletes
who all expressed delight at the Gateshead Council organisation,
and it was only the weather at times that failed to behave itself.

The Under 17 Womens 4.5k event provided the perfect platform
for Morpeth's Laura Weightman to shine amongst some of her feared
opponents, and she did so with distinction.
Finishing second and only nine seconds adrift of Lincoln Wellington's
Blue Haywood was indeed a fine achievement, and clearly portrays
that the Duchess High School pupil has every opportunity to pick off
some valuable titles during this forthcoming Road and Cross Country season.

Although Morpeth's Nick Swinburn wasn't particularly upbeat
about his fifth place in the Junior Mens 7.3k event,
he remains focussed in his drive for success this winter,
including retainning his North Eastern Cross Country title
at Hartlepool in December, and trying to better his
Northern best of second at Leeds in January.

One young Morpeth Harrier who is certainly firing on all
cylinders at the moment is Adam Harrington.
After an excellent run at Mansfield the previous week that saw him
come home in sixth place on first leg, and as eleventh fastest overall on the day,
Harrington can feel absolutely delighted with his sixth place in the
Under 13 Boys 3k event and only forty one seconds adrift of the winner.
He was also only two seconds adrift of his Gateshead Harriers rival Barry Maskell.
Maskell had denied Harrington of a Silver medal in the 800m
at the North Eastern Track and Field Championships at Gateshead in May.
Equally pleasing in the Under 13 Boys event were the performances
of Harrington's Morpeth clubmates Jonny Nisbet and Lewis Coyle.
Nisbet placed 12th with Coyle not far adrift in 17th place.

Ian Hudspith continued his run of excellent form when he finished
an excellent tenth in the Senior Mens 8.7k event.
Fellow Morpeth Harriers Chris Sampson and Jonathan Taylor
also produced superb runs to finish 29th and 34th respectively.
For the latter it was probably his longest race run to date.

Morpeth's Sarah Wilkes finished 27th in the Under 13 Girls 3k event.

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2007 Saucony National Cross Country Relays !
Although Morpeth Harriers had no medals to show from their exploits
at the Saucony sponsored English National Cross Country Relay
Championships held at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday 3rd November,
they can feel justly proud of the efforts put in by some of their younger athletes.

The clubs best performers were undoubtedly their Under 13 Boys,
who were very much spurred by the first leg efforts of Adam Harrington,
who clocked the days eleventh fastest time of 7m02.60s
over the 2k course to place them in a superb sixth place.
Second leg runner Jonny Nisbet certainly had them very much
in a medal challenging position when he rose up to fourth with
an excellent top twenty clocking of 7m07.20s.
This saw Morpeth only three seconds adrift of second and
third placed clubs Shaftesbury and Chiltern Harriers,
and seven seconds adrift of long term leaders Coventry Godiva.

A lot rested with the legs of final and third leg runner Jack Hepple,
who had unfortunately felt ill just before the competition.
Despite giving his all, Hepple unfortunately found some faster legs
around him as the lead changed with pre-race favourites
Aldershot and Farnham going to the front for glory courtesy
of an athlete who clocked the days third fastest time.
Shaftesbury stayed in second and East Cheshire
Harriers & Tameside came through from eighth to third.
Jack battled gamely with the athletes of Chiltern and Coventry,
however had to settle for sixth with his clocking of 7m24.30s.
This squad certainly hold a lot of promise for the foreseeable future,
with another couple of good athletes sitting in the wings also awaiting their chance.

Next best result for Morpeth on the day was secured
by the Junior Men in their 3x3k event, where they finished eighth.
Ross Floyd on first leg got round in 9m44.05s to finish in thirty sixth place.
Impact was made on leg two when Jonathan Taylor climbed a superb
twenty five places to eleventh with an excellent 8m47.80s,
which proved to be the second fastest of the leg
and fourth fastest overall on the day.
Nick Swinburn on the third and final leg clocked 9m09.65s
to climb another three places to eighth.

Morpeth's Under 17 Men finished in twentieth place.
Jordan Scott continues to make great strides in this age group,
as his clocking of 9m51s on first leg for 3k where he finished 34th clearly testifies.
Alistair Douglass gained two places on second leg with his clocking of 10m04.80s.
Karl Taylor on the final leg clocked 9m43.40s
to take them to their final placing of twentieth.

Morpeth's Under 15 Boys squad finished 44th
out of 75 finishing teams in their 3x2k event.
Steven Harrogate on first leg clocked 8m15.10s,
however Marcus Cram's 6m28.20s, which was just outside
the top ten best saw them rise to 64th.
Final leg runner Philip Shuttleworth battled relentlessly and gained
another twenty places with his excellent 6m55.80s.

Best Morpeth female performers were the Under 17 Women
who completed their 3x2.5k event in a total time
of 28m40.35s to finish thirteenth overall.
With 10m22s on leg one Stevie Goodfellow came home in 48th place,
however her battling had left leading light Laura Weightman
with plenty of runners within catching distance.
Weightman soon started to overturn opposition and by the time
she had reached the changeover line in 8m50.30s,
which was just outside the top ten best, she had got her club up to 14th place.
Final leg runner Zoe Armstrong battled hard and managed to
claw back another place as she got round in 9m28.05s.

Morpeth's Under 15 Girls squad battled well to finish in
seventeenth place overall in their 3x2k event.
Rachel Steel's first leg clocking of 8m15.35s saw them in 62nd place.
However the experience of firstly Hannah Rank (7m42.40s) (41st)
and Rachel Denton (7m10.30s) saw them through to a very respectable finish.
Denton's clocking was just outside the top ten of the day.

Morpeth's young Under 13 Girls squad battled well to finish 44th.
Carley May Webster's 8m18.45s saw her finish in 43rd place
and Sarah Wilkes (8m42.90s) and Steph Purvis (8m53.10)
only saw them drop one place throughout.

The biggest disappointment from Morpeth Harriers
point of view on the day was their inability to turn out
a strong Senior Mens squad for a competition that has seen
them claim six victories and a second since its inception.
Despite Team Manager David Swinburne's commendable efforts
to get a competitive squad together, he was thwarted by either
injury or general unavailability of key players.
This resulted in the club having its lowest ever finish in the Senior Mens 4x5k event.
They finished a lowly 41st and six minutes adrift of winners Belgrave Harriers.
Ben Harrison's first leg clocking of 16m40.35s saw him finish in 67th place.
Terry Wall managed to climb fourteen places
on leg two with his clocking of 16m33.95s.
Morpeth's fastest runner on the day was Mark Brown on
third leg who clocked 16m02.95s to come home in 44th place.
Team Manager Swinburne donned his Blue and White vest
on the final leg to gain another three places with his clocking of 16m51.50s.

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Morpeth Win Sherman Cup & Davison Shield !
Morpeth Harriers successfully retained their hold on the major trophies
at the Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Harrier League
Sherman Cup and Davison Shield fixture held at
Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields on Saturday 27th October.

In the case of the Womens Davison Shield events it was easy
pickings for Morpeth as they were the only club on the day to
turn out finishing teams in all four qualifying age group races.

However in the Mens Sherman Cup events it was very
much a different story, as a nailbiting finish between Gateshead,
Sunderland and Morpeth had developed with one event remaining.
The Wearsiders held a narrow five point lead over Gateshead with Morpeth
a further twenty four points adrift in third place as the Under 17 Men set off.

The determination to win individually was etched on Morpeth's Karl Taylor's face,
however he came home in third place a little disappointed,
however that disappointment turned to elation when he learned that he had
led his team colleagues to a one point marginal Under 17 Mens victory over
Gateshead with support coming excellently from Jordan Scott (5th) and Alistair Douglass (12th)
That victory ensured Morpeth had retained the Sherman Cup for the sixth successive occasion.

Another excellent result in the Mens competition for
Morpeth came in the Under 13 Boys who also won.
They were led home by Adam Harrington who produced
a superb run to finish second and he was well supported by the
fine runs also by Jonathan Nisbet (9th) and Lewis Coyle (10th)

Morpeth's Under 15 Boys finished fifth being led home with a
superb run by Marcus Cram who finished second.
Supporting runs came from a limping Matthew Timmins (26th)
and a slightly distraught Stephen Harrogate (29th)

Morpeth's Senior Men finished as fifth team being led home by
Mark Brown who ran well to finish strongly in third place.
Team support came from Veterans Paul Waterston and
Alistair MacDonald who finished 16th and 37th respectively.
Morpeth's Phil Walker produced an excellent run to finish tenth,
however he is still ineligible to count following his transfer from Blaydon Harriers.

Best performance for Morpeth in the Womens events undoubtedly belonged
to Laura Weightman who won the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens
race with seventeen seconds to spare over Shildon's Kate Avery.
Morpeth were the only squad to finish a complete team here
with further support coming with excellent runs by
Stevie Goodfellow (4th) and Deborah Oakley (8th)

Carley-May Webster led an excellent Morpeth Under 13 Girls
squad home to fourth team place by finishing 14th with support
coming from Sarah Wilkes and Stephanie Purvis
who finished 21st and 23rd respectively.

In the Senior Womens event Morpeth finished second being led home
by Aiveen Fox who finished an individual third.
Further team support came from Gwenda Cavill (12th)
and Margaret MacDonald (26th)
Claire Bruce running for the first time in Morpeth colours
finished an excellent 18th, however she is still ineligible to count
following her transfer from North Shields Poly.

Morpeth's Under 15 Girls squad finished as sixth team,
being led home by newcomer Ailsa McGregor who finished eleventh,
with good supporting runs coming from Louise Cairns (18th)
and Catriona MacDonald (19th)
With Catriona being one of the counters this meant that all three MacDonald's,
father Alistair and mother Margaret received winners medals on the day, a unique story in itself.

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Nicol Hunter Cross Country Relays !
Ian Hudspith and Rachel Denton were the pick of Morpeths
performers at the Nichol Hunter Cross Country Relays
held at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon on Sunday 14th October.

Hudspith is certainly a man in form at the moment,
as his 10th placing in the Bupa Great North Run clearly
testifies, and on Sunday he proved beyond doubt that he
is a man for the big occasion as he brought his club
into the top three places in the Senior Mens event.
After Ross Floyd's 10m58s had the Morpeth squad in
seventh place on Leg One, Hudspith clocked the days
fastest time of 9m40s to take his club up to third,
and Marc Cochrane, who has missed all of the
track season with a serious leg injury, ran superbly to
hang onto third place on the final leg with his clocking of 11m36s.
Martyn Cairns was a lone runner for the Morpeth B team,
and he clocked 12m19s.

Denton was by far the fastest performer in the
Under 15 Girls event as she anchored her club home
to second place with her clocking 7m35s.
The earlier legs of Rachel Steel (8m59s)
and Hannah Rank (7m59s) (4th Fastest)
had seen them rise from eighth to third.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Womens A team finished
just adrift of the medals in fourth place.
On first leg Gwenda Cavill came home eighth in 13m26s.
Zoe Armstrong clocked the days 10th equal fastest time
of 12m55s to guide them up to fourth place on Leg Two,
and a resolute 13m48s by Sue Calvert on the final leg
saw them hold the placing.
The Morpeth Senior Womens B team finished 16th
courtesy of Stevie Goodfellow (13m59s)
Michelle Muller (14m50s) and Margaret MacDonald (15m18s)

Morpeth's young Under 13 Girls squad finished fifth courtesy
of good performances by Carly May Webster (8m49s) (12th Fastest)
Sarah Wilkes (9m34s) and Eva Shashova (10m08s)
Elske Simpso ran for the incomplete B team clocking 10m26s.

With 7m59s, Tom Brookes was Morpeth's fastest performer
in the Under 15 Boys event in a squad who finished seventh
with further good legs coming from Matthew Timmins (8m11s)
and Steven Harrogate (8m43s)

In the Under 13 Boys event Morpeth had an incomplete team,
however Joe Robertshaw (8m27s) and Ben Steel (9m57s)
can feel pleased with their performances.

Morpeth Harriers Veteran Men finished ninth courtesy
of Kevin Bray (12m52s), Archie Jenkins (12m20s)
and Neil McAnany (13m08s)

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Sunderland Harriers Open XC Meeting !

Karl Taylor, Zoe Armstrong and Rachel Denton of Morpeth Harriers
all began their Cross Country season in fine style
when they claimed emphatic individual victories at
Sunderland Harriers Open Cross Country meeting
held at Farringdon on Saturday 22nd September.

Taylor won the Under 17 Mens 1.8mile event with ten seconds
to spare over Gosforth's Jonny Hewitt with his clocking of 9m01s,
and Tynedale's Tristan Venus was a further three seconds back in third place.

In the combined Under 17, Junior, Senior and Veteran Womens event,
Zoe Armstrong was always up with the early pace
alongside Senior opposition in Chester Le Street's
Scottish International Freya Murray, Alyson Dixon,
also of Chester Le Street, and former Morpeth Harrier
Carolyn Dickie, running in the colours of Windsor, Slough and Eton.
To her credit Armstrong maintained a good pace and came home in
fourth place overall to take the Under 17 Womens
title in 10m49s over the 1.8mile circuit.

That run gave her a significant margin of twenty three seconds
over Gosforth's Emma Masson, with Sunderland Harrier
Sarah Crosby coming home third, a further three seconds adrift.

Stevie Goodfellow of Morpeth finished seventh
in the Under 17 Womens race in 12m23s.

In the Senior Womens event Margaret MacDonald
finished 24th in 13m26s.

Rachel Denton comfortably took victory in the
Under 15 Girls 1.8mile event in 10m27s.
Other Morpeth Harrier performances in this event were
Hannah Rank (4th) 11m02s, Mariska Simpson (12th) 12m25s,
Rachael Steel (17th) 12m42s, Louise Cairns (21st) 13m14s
and Catriona MacDonald (23rd) 13m32s.

In the Under 15 Boys 1.8mile event Morpeth athletes
Philip Shuttleworth and Matthew Timmins finished tenth and
seventeenth in respective times of 10m16s and 10m41s.

The younger Under 11 and Under 13 age groups saw several
Morpeth Harriers make encouraging debut performances in higher competition.

In the Under 11 Boys event Ben Steel ran well to finish
tenth just in front of clubmate Joe Elder.

Sarah Wilkes, who has become something of a star in her own write,
produced a superb performance against sterner
opposition to finish an excellent fourth in the Under 11 Girls event.
Fellow Morpeth Harriers Elske Simpson and Chantelle Spoor
finished eighth and twenty second respectively.

Newcomer Lewis Coyle produced an excellent run of 10m48s
to finish sixth in the Under 13 Boys 1.8mile event.
Other Morpeth performances here were
Joe Robertshaw (13th) 11m32s, Eddie Matthew (16th) 11m43s
and Matthew Brown (34th) 13m51s.

The Under 13 Girls 1.8mile event saw Morpeth's Eve Shashova
finish ninth in 12m09s and clubmates Stephanie Purvis and
Frances Holland finished sixteenth and twenty eighth
in respective times of 13m22s and 17m37s.

It was very much an under strength Morpeth Senior Mens
squad that finished eighth in their 4 x1.8mile Relay event.
Andrew Shipley (10m08s), Terry Wall (8m53s)
Richard Kay (9m13s) and Anthony Colwell (10m43s) formed the quartet.
Wall's time was just outside the top ten best.

In the Veterans Relay, only Archie Jenkins turned out on the day.
He came home in eleventh place on leg one in 10m22s.

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English Schools Cross Country Championships !
Northumberland athletes gave good account for themselves at the
Sainsbury's sponsored English Schools Cross Country Championships
held at Temple Newsam, near Leeds on Saturday 24th March.

Amongst their leading performers were representatives from Morpeth Harriers.
Top of the bill was undoubtedly Laura Weightman,
who having bounced back well from a horrific spiking
injury sustained at the Northern Cross Country Championships in January,
finished fifth in the Intermediate Girls event,
and although agonisingly just missing out on an individual medal,
won herself a prized second Cross Country England vest
after her placing guaranteed her selection to represent her country at the
forthcoming Home International Schools Cross Country Championships.
Weightman was always prominent throughout the event and
joins Cumbria's Laura Park who won and Durham's
Kate Avery (2nd) in that forthcoming International.

She will be joined on the trip by her Morpeth Harriers
colleague Marcus Cram who will be representing
Scotland as a virtue of finishing an excellent sixth in the Intermediate Boys
event at the recent Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships.
He was running for his Edinburgh School, Fettes College.

Laura was leading counter for Northumberland who closed as nineteenth team,
with club colleagues Natalie Young (2nd Counter) (55th)
Zoe Armstrong (3rd Counter) (65th) and Stevie Goodfellow (5th Counter) (191st)
all giving excellent support.

Northumberland had a winner in the Intermediate Boys event
with Gateshead's Ross Murray, and as a team finished sixteenth with
Morpeth's Karl Taylor producing a superb run to finish fortieth as second counter.
Unfortunately Alistair Douglass had an off day by his standards
and came home as a non counter in 220th place.

In the Junior Girls event Northumberland finished as seventeenth team
and were led home by Morpeth pair Rachel Denton and Hannah
Rank, who both had excellent runs to finish 39th and 55th respectively,
and their performances were clearly jettisoned
by their big race experiences of recent times.

In the Senior Boys event Northumberland were sixteenth team
and were led home by Morpeth's Robert Balmbra who finished
strongly in 63rd place individually.

Morpeth's Angharad Porteous and Laura Dixon were third and sixth counters
in a superb Northumberland Senior Girls effort to finish as
ninth team, which was the county's best closing on the day.
Angharad was 59th and Laura finished in 180th place individually.
For Laura it was indeed an achievement, for she has been selected to
run in the English Schools Cross Country throughout her entire
school and Morpeth Harrier career.

Northumberland's second best team effort of the day
came from the Junior Boys who finished thirteenth.
Morpeth's David Redpath was third counter coming home in 65th place individually.
Club colleague Philip Shuttleworth came home as sixth counter in 237th place.

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Saucony English National Cross Country Championships !

North East Under 20 Mens Cross Country Champion
Nick Swinburn returned to the scene of his emphatic
December victory and won himself a well earned Bronze medal
at the Saucony sponsored English National Cross
Country Championships on Saturday 10th March.

Herrington Country Park with its superb view of Penshaw Monument
performed the perfect backdrop for the event, however on the day
very little success came the way of North East clubs
apart from Swinburn's individual medal,
and the added fact that he led his Morpeth Harriers clubmates
to team Silver medals over the 10k one short and two long lap circuit.

Up to that point the North East had not even scented medals,
so it was certainly a pick me up for both the region and Morpeth Harriers
at the sight of Swinburn sitting tightly behind Liverpool Harrier Jonathan Mellor,
and using the taller Merseysider as a windshield as they fought
a close battle for the much prized Bronze medal.
A few weeks previous Swinburn had snatched the Silver medal
at the Northern Championships in Manchester from Mellor,
was Morpeth's preying mantis about to strike again.
The Gold and Silver medals had gone so it was all down to the scrap for Bronze,
and Swinburn's hunger was clearly evident as he stole away a few yards from the finish,
to at least give the finish officials a bit of excitement to keep their day alive.
Swinburn's joy was undoubtedly increased as Morpeth
took team Silver with excellent further support coming from Jonathan Taylor (15th)
Nathan Shrubb (43rd) and Jonathan Young (48th)

For Shrubb it was particularly pleasing, as he has spent the last year
attempting various comebacks from serious injury problems,
and this run will now give him some positive signals that he
is at last nearing his return to regular action.

Morpeth Harriers Team Manager Mike Bateman,
although a little despondent over some of the days returns,
was particularly pleased to see Shrubb receive his well deserved team medal,
as he felt he had certainly played his part well in the effort.
Although not a Morpeth team counter Ross Floyd had put in a very solid run to finish 58th.
Unfortunately Robert Balmbra failed to finish after losing one of his spikes in the early stages.
Morpeth's only other runner in this event was Scott Hunter who finished in 135th place.

The Senior Mens 12k event saw Morpeth put out one of
their strongest line-ups for a couple of years.
On the first of the three laps Ian Hudspith found himself very much in
a medal challenging position and he entered the second lap in third place.
At the end of the second lap he was still well up in contention
and battling to remain in fourth or fifth place.
Meanwhile race winner and pre-event favourite Frank Tickner of Wells City
had drawn clear and was well on his way to victory.
Former Morpeth to Newcastle winner Huw Lobb of Bedford was battling
for second place with Sale's Gareth Raven and
Shaftesbury's North East born Dominic Bannister was entering the picture.

These placings remained exactly the same throughout the final lap
and Morpeth's Ian Hudspith managed to come home in an excellent
sixth place and sixty nine seconds adrift of the winner.
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men took fifth team place
with further good support coming from Mark Hudspith (23rd)
Michael Morris (65th), John Mooney (75th)
David Swinburne (100th) and Ivan Hollingsworth (134th)

Other Morpeth placings were Neil Wilkinson (146th)
Andrew Lawrence (154th)
Ben Harrison (182nd), Paul Waterston (231st)
Mike Hegarty (298th) and Les Cavill (629th)

The Senior Womens 8k event saw the Morpeth Harriers squad
achieve their best ever English National Cross Country
result when they finished as ninth team.
Led home by Jane Mooney in fifty first place they were only fourteen
points adrift of seventh placed Chester Le Street which was no mean achievement.

Further good team support came from Aiveen Fox (56th)
Kate Chapman (83rd) and Sarah Graham (104th)
Gwenda Cavill and Margaret MacDonald also produced good runs
when finishing 141st and 233rd respectively.

Karl Taylor produced a superb performance to finish 27th
in the Under 17 Mens 6k event and led Morpeth Harriers
to tenth team place with further support coming from Marc Cochrane (75th)
Jordan Scott (93rd) and Martyn Cairns (154th)

Morpeth's Hannah Rank and Rachel Denton worked very
closely together during the Under 13 Girls 3k event.
Hannah finished very strongly to come home in a well achieved 16th place,
and Rachel battled well to come home in 24th spot.
Mariska Simpson, after a poor start battled to finish in 130th place.
Unfortunately Morpeth failed to finish as a team here.

They did finish as a team however in the Under 15 Girls event.
Led home by Zoe Armstrong in 61st place they finished 18th
with further team support coming from Stevie Goodfellow (120th)
Louise Cairns (212th) and Catriona MacDonald (230th).

Laura Weightman, not surprisingly found the going
tough in the Under 17 Womens 5k event.
Although running freely and well in contention in the early stages
of the event, the prevailing wind and a slight lack of full fitness eventually
took its toll as she slipped back to finish fourteenth,
but slightly more than a minute down on opposition she
would normally have been giving cause for concern.
However on a positive note, what she can take from the event
was that she was still first from the region and seventh from the North of England.
Fellow Morpeth clubmates Natalie Young and Rachel Adams
had respectable placings of 42nd and 68th, however once again Morpeth
were robbed of a team finish with Laura Dixon
an early withdrawal with breathing problems.

This event was combined with the Under 20 Women
where Morpeth athletes Delyth James, Angharad Porteous and
Rebecca Turnbull finished in 21st, 44th and 59th places respectively.

Morpeth could only field three finishers in the Under 15 Boys 4k event.
Alistair Douglass was the clubs first finisher, where after a bright
start he slipped back to 70th place.
Philip Shuttleworth and Stephen Bewick finished
in 152nd and 262nd places respectively.

In the Under 13 Boys event Morpeth's three finishers were
Jack Hepple (133rd), Jake Dawson (160th) and Jonathan Anderson (235th).

Thanks must go to Max Coleby and all his helpers and planners
for organising what was an interesting, tough and very competitive course.
The competition would not have gone smoothly without the excellent
support of the officials who turned out to give their services.

Click here to see more photos taken at Herrington Country Park.

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UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships !

Two Morpeth Harriers gained medals by virtue of team success by
the North East at the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships,
held at a very muddy Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday 24th February.

Delyth James, who has spent some time fighting injury and illness in recent times,
put in a superb performance to finish tenth, and was second counter for the region
in a Silver medal winning Under 20 Womens squad.

Silver medals were also won by the North East in the Under 20 Mens event
and Nick Swinburn, although somewhat disappointed to finish as low as 32nd,
was third counter for the region.
Although a non counter in this event fellow Morpeth Harrier
Ross Floyd was delighted with his placing of 38th.

Equally pleased will be Angharad Porteous, who although a non counter,
finished 46th in the Under 20 Womens event.
Next best regional performers to these were the Senior Women who finished fifth,

and Morpeth's Jane Mooney was third counter when finishing in 62nd place.
Club colleague Aiveen Fox, who was brought in as a replacement for the
unavailable Sonia Thomas, was a non counter in 112th place.

The North East Under 17 Mens squad finished seventh
and Morpeth's Marc Cochrane was fourth counter in 80th place.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Karl Taylor was forced to pull out
on the second lap with breathing problems.

Morpeth's Zoe Armstrong was third counter in the North East
Under 15 Girls squad that finished ninth.
Her finishing position was 71st.

The North East Under 17 Womens squad finished eleventh,
with Morpeth's Natalie Young coming home in 47th place as second counter.
Rachel Adams who finished 114th was a non counter.

Alistair Douglass finished 88th in the Under 15 Boys race and was
a non counter in a North East squad that finished twelfth.

The North East Under 13 Girls squad finished as 17th team and
Morpeth's Hannah Rank and Rachel Denton were first and third counters
when finishing in 49th and 69th places respectively.
Morpeth's Mariska Simpson was forced out on the eve of the event owing to illness.

There was disappointment for the North East when they
failed to finish as a team in the Senior Mens event.
Of the three Morpeth Harriers selected only David Swinburne
made it to the start line, David finished in 111th place.

Click here to see more photos taken at Wollaton Park Nottingham

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IAAF Eurocross Cross Country !

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn competed for Great Britain
at the IAAF Eurocross Cross Country event in Luxembourg.
He was never troubled as he comfortably won the Junior Mens
event with six seconds to spare over his nearest rival Thorsten Baumeister
of Germany with the third placed Damian Kabat of Poland
a further thirty three seconds adrift in third place.
Nick described his trip as enjoyable, but would have expected
and would have preferred a much sterner test from opposition.

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BUSA Cross Country Championships !
Morpeth Harriers Andrew Lawrence, Ross Floyd,
Delyth James and Sarah Graham competed for their respective
Universities at the BUSA Cross Country Championships
held at Bath University on Saturday 3rd February.
Andrew finished 90th in the Mens Long Race and finished 90th
and was second counter for 13th placed Durham.
Ross competed for Newcastle and was second counter in 103rd place.
Competing for Birmingham, Delyth finished 28th in the Womens Long Race
and Sarah, competing for Leeds in the same race finished 99th.

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The 2007 North of England Cross Country Championships !

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn produced a superb performance
at muddy Heaton Park, Manchester on Saturday 27th January
to earn an individual Silver Medal for himself at the
North of England Cross Country Championships and had the added delight of
leading his fellow clubmates to team Bronze medals.

Those medals came in the very last event of the day in the
Under 20 Mens 8k, and prior to that the Northumbrian club had
every reason to believe that they were going to return to their
base with nothing to show for their hard working efforts.
Misfortune had come home hard to the club earlier when
2006 Under 15 Girls Inter Counties Champion Laura Weightman
had been forced out of the Under 17 Womens 4.5k event
just moments after the start, when she both lost a shoe and had a
leg badly spiked in the charge to reach the front of a surging 100 plus field,
and this at that stage had summed up Morpeth's day.

However the positiveness of Swinburn and his Under 20 Men
colleagues Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Young, Ross Floyd and
Robert Balmbra at least managed to bring a smile to the faces
of the supporting Morpeth hierarchy as they laid claim to some prize medals.

12 months earlier at Blackburn, Swinburn and Floyd had played their
part in a superb Morpeth victory, however on this occasion
the might of Liverpool and Trafford had got in ahead of them.
Nevertheless with the non counting Taylor (7th), Young (23rd)
Floyd (25th) and Balmbra (50th) there was enough to secure Bronze medals.
For Swinburn's part, after he took an early lead he eventually
settled back amongst the front runners and was very much
involved at medal level as the field set off on the second of two laps.
By the time the front runners emerged from the outer reaches of the course,
Kevin Deighton of Bridlington had carved out a comfortable lead
and Mellor of Liverpool and Holliday of Trafford were fighting
out a battle for Silver and Bronze with Swinburn a clear fourth.

With around half a mile remaining Swinburn still sensed that a medal
was possible so he made another surge in pursuit.
On the final climb Swinburn was almost level with Mellor and Holliday
as the Lancashire pair still remained in a tense battle.
With the finishing straight beckoning Swinburn summoned one big last effort
and surged past them to claim his well deserved prize.
Other Morpeth finishers in the Under 20 Mens event were
Anthony Colwell (92nd) and Scott Hunter (94th)

Morpeth will be well served in this age group when it comes to
the English National Cross Country in March, when Jonathan Taylor will
be eligible for team competition and will make this squad all the more feared.

Back to the Weightman injury, and what made the overall situation
all the more unfortunate for her club was that had she
placed inside the top twenty, the superb placings of her clubmates
Natalie Young (12th), Rachel Adams (41st), and Laura Dixon (55th)
would have certainly brought Bronze team medals as an addition.

The next closest Morpeth runners to individual medals
were Rachel Denton and Delyth James.

In Denton's case her fifth placing was just ten seconds
adrift of Bronze in the Under 13 Girls 3k event.
Morpeth finished as sixteenth team here with supporting runs
coming from Hannah Rank (31st), still recovering from a heavy
cold the previous week, Carly May Webster (160th) and Ellen Welsh (162nd)

Delyth James was Morpeth's lone runner in the Under 20 Womens 6k event and
the 2005 Under 17 Womens Northern XC Champion ran well to finish sixth.

SENIOR MENS RACE
Chris Sampson was second home from the region to
Sunderland's Mark Hood in the Senior Mens 12k event.
Sampson has hit the best run of form he has had in a number of years
and he was rewarded with a well deserved 18th place,
which in turn will almost certainly see him on the bus for Nottingham and
the forthcoming Inter Counties Cross Country Championships next month.
He was also only a mere twelve seconds adrift of Hood,
and looks to still have plenty to offer.

The unassuming Sampson will take great heart from the fact
that he finished two places ahead of Sale's seasoned
International Steeplechaser Stuart Stokes.
Sampson is also well experienced in the Steeplechase,
so that factor will have added a little spice to his effort,
however he has had to curtail the barrier event in recent times
as a result of a car accident, but he has made it known that
he wishes to make a return to that event soon.

Morpeth finished as sixth team in the Senior event with further support
coming from excellent runs by Mark Brown (32nd)
David Swinburne (45th)Neil Wilkinson (56th)
Ben Harrison (111th) and Andrew Lawrence (120th)
Another Morpeth Harrier having an excellent run was Paul Waterston
who worked very hard throughout for his placing of 127th.
Mike Hegarty (225th), Gareth Driscoll (289th) and Richard Driscoll (422nd)
were other Morpeth finishers in the Senior Mens event.

SENIOR WOMENS RACE
Jane Mooney ran excellently to finish 23rd and led
Morpeth's Senior Women to seventh team place in their 8k event.

Further team support came from 2005 Northern Junior Womens
Cross Country Champion Aiveen Fox (48th)
Kate Chapman, fast recovering from a leg injury, (64th) and Sarah Graham (70th)
Team Captain Gwenda Cavill also came through well to finish 117th
which placed her well into the top half of the field.

UNDER 17 MENS RACE
In the Under 17 Mens 6k event Morpeth finished as thirteenth team.

They were led home by a battling Karl Taylor who came through to
finish 38th, despite competing with a dislocated toe.
Only twelve seconds behind him came Marc Cochrane in 45th place.
Further team support came from Jordan Scott (90th) and Raymond Kirkup (148th)

UNDER 15 GIRLS RACE
The loss of Zoe Armstrong with a leg problem on the morning of the event
was a bitter blow to Morpeth's Under 15 Girls squad,
however those that remained rallied to finish as seventeenth team.
Stevie Goodfellow was the first home for the club in the 4k event,
where she finished in 67th place.
Further team support came from Louise Cairns (127th)
Catriona MacDonald (144th) and Sarah Bewick (150th)

UNDER 15 BOYS RACE
Alistair Douglass will have gained a superb confidence boost as he
finished as third from the region in the Under 15 Boys 4k event.

After a lean time following his personal disaster in December's
North Eastern Championships he will be very much bouoyed
by his placing of 26th and he led Morpeth home to eighteenth team place
with further support coming from Philip Shuttleworth (72nd)
Stephen Cochrane (162nd) and Oliver Craig (177th)
Other Morpeth finishers in this event were
Stephen Bewick (191st) and Thomas Herbert (192nd)
Unfortunately Marcus Cram had to pull out during the
event with stitch and breathing problems.

UNDER 13 BOYS RACE
The only event where Morpeth did not finish as a team
was in the Under 13 Boys 3k event.
First home for the club was Jack Hepple who finished 89th
and one place and one second ahead of clubmate Jake Dawson.
Jonny Anderson was Morpeth's other finisher in 138th place.

Click here to see photos taken at Heaton Park

Full Results and more Photos.......

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Prudhoe on Saturday 17th March.

Despite the strong blustery winds on a very
exposed course at Prudhoe on Saturday 17th March,
Morpeth Harriers Hannah Rank and Karl Taylor produced
top class performances to give them individual victories
at the final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture.

The added satisfaction to Rank's Under 13 Girls victory
from the Fast Pack giving 1m20s advantage to some of her opponents,
was that it also made her best overall performer
in that age group over the entire season.
She won with twenty seven seconds to spare over her closest rival
which clearly outlined her classy performance on the day.
Another Morpeth Harrier Mariska Simpson, who although
did not compete on Saturday, had also done enough to finish as third overall for the season.
Unfortunately Morpeth did not close as a team in the Under 13 Girls event,
with Katie Tiffin the clubs only other finisher in 32nd place from the Fast Pack.

Karl Taylor comfortably won the Under 17 Mens event from
the Fast Pack and was the fastest on the day by all of fifty one seconds
Second fastest to him was his Morpeth clubmate
and training partner Jordan Scott, who produced a superb
run also from the Fast Pack to finish fourth.
With Marc Cochrane finishing eighth from the Fast Pack,
Morpeth secured their only team victory of the day.
For Cochrane it also meant that he had won the
best Under 17 Mens title for the season.

Morpeth's Zoe Armstrong produced a most encouraging performance
from the Fast Pack to finish second in the Under 15 Girls event.
Louise Cairns also performed well from the Fast Pack to finish in ninth place.

Another encouraging Morpeth performance came from
Alistair Douglass who came through from the Fast Pack
in the Under 15 Boys event to finish sixth.

Natalie Young of Morpeth battled hard to finish second
when running from the Fast Pack in the combined
Under 17/ Under 20 Womens event.

Unfortunately once again Morpeth Harriers failed to finish
as a team in the Senior Mens event with only four making
it to the start line.
However Andrew Lawrence had a superb run to finish
fifteenth overall and was fourth from the Fast Pack
giving five minutes to a good portion of the field.
Robert Balmbra came through to 38th from the Fast Pack.
Evergreen Veteran Archie Jenkins finished 49th from the Slow Pack,
and Nick Armstrong finished 192nd from the Slow Pack.
Failure to finish as a team in the final three fixtures means
that Morpeth Harriers will spend the 2007/08 season in Division 2.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Chester-le-Street on Saturday 3rd March.

The fifth Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting
held at Chester Le Street's Riverside on Saturday 3rd March,
saw athletes from Morpeth Harriers figure amongst some of the successes.
In the Senior Mens 10k event, Nick Swinburn cast aside his
disappointments from the UK Inter Counties Championships
the previous week to record the fastest time of the day
by over a minute as he fought his way to fifth place overall.
Giving both two and a half and five minutes to the majority of the field
he came home in a superb 28m32s which was a whole minute and
ten seconds clear of his nearest rival Tim Field of Sunderland Harriers.

North East Under 20 Mens Champion Swinburn can now look forward
to this weekends National Championships, in the knowledge that
his dip in form at Nottingham was purely momentary, and is up for the
challenges that will face him at Herrington Country Park.
Another Morpeth Harrier having an excellent run in the Senior Mens
event on Saturday was Over 50 Veteran Les Atkinson who was one
place behind Swinburn and clocked an excellent 31m08s
when running from the Fast Pack.
Atkinson's run proved to be the tenth fastest on the day.
Third Morpeth finisher was Robert Balmbra, who although was meant to
run from the Medium Pack following his Wrekenton victory,
chose to go from the fasts and managed to clock the eighth fastest time
of 30m40s which saw him progress through to 44th place.
Unfortunately Morpeth Senior Men could only produce two
other finishers in Les Cavill (158th) (Slow Pack)
and Paul Bentley (177th) (Slow Pack), which meant for the second meeting
in succession they could not close as a team and
face relegation from Division 1 for next term.
With only the final meeting at Prudhoe in two weeks time
they cannot possibly rescue themselves.

However another bright spot for Morpeth on Saturday saw the return
to action for Laura Weightman following her spike injury at last
months Northern Championships.
Running from the Fast Pack she recorded her third Harrier League victory
of the season in the combined Under 17/Under 20 Womens 5k event.
Giving two minutes and twenty seconds to some of the field,
she came home comfortably in 17m12s and was a good forty seven seconds clear of her closest rival Alex Snook of Shildon.
The North East Under 17 Womens Champion is now well focussed
in her attempt to get amongst the medal contenders at this weekends
National, with her eye also trained on English Schools success at the end of the month.

Following his dropout at the Inter Counties with breathing difficulties,
Morpeth's Karl Taylor can feel more satisfied with his second
placing in the Under 17 Mens 5k event where he led Morpeth to team victory on the day.
Giving two minutes and twenty seconds to some of the field he came home
in a time of 14m50s which was the fastest time of the day by a
margin of five seconds over his Morpeth clubmate Marc Cochrane
who finished fourth overall, also running from the Fast Pack.
Taylor and Cochrane had both beaten Sunderland Harrier runners to the line,
and Jordan Scott's placing of tenth from the Fast Pack saw
the Morpeth squad clinch team victory over the Wearsiders by one point.
Martyn Cairns of Morpeth is still in the early stages of recovery after
fitness problems, and he showed great determination when he
finished fourteenth from the Fast Pack.

Another superb Morpeth team and individual victory
came in the Under 13 Girls 2.5k event.
Running from the Fast Pack Rachel Denton and Hannah Rank
cut back their 1min 10sec handicap to finish first and second
respectively with five seconds separating them.
Morpeth's dominance at team level was confirmed when Katie Tiffin,
who was running from the Slow Pack finished eighth and one place
ahead of her clubmate Mariska Simpson who was running from the Fast Pack.
Simpson was seventh fastest on the day.

The Under 13 Boys 2.5k event also saw another Morpeth individual victory
in the form of Jonny Anderson who held on for victory by the
margin of four seconds from the Slow Pack.
Morpeth finished third in the team count here
behind Tynedale and Gateshead
with further support coming from Fast Packers
Jack Hepple (18th) and Adam Harrington (19th).
Hepple and Harrington were eleventh and twelfth
fastest respectively on the day.

The Senior Womens 5k event saw Morpeth's
Gwenda Cavill finish third from the Slow Pack.
Clubmate Aiveen Fox came through from the Fast Pack
as second fastest on the day when she finished fourteenth overall.

Morpeth could not finish as a team in the Under 15 Girls 3.5k event,
however Stevie Goodfellow put in an excellent performance when
she finished sixth running from the Fast Pack.
Her time of 13m08s was fifth fastest overall.
Running from the Fast Pack Morpeth's Louise Cairns
finished in seventeenth place.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Wrekenton on Saturday 17th February.

The fourth meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League,
held at Wrekenton on Saturday 17th February,
saw several Morpeth Harriers choose their moment to inspire.
Five individual winners, that included all the Male gender races,
plus a team victory by their Under 17 Men,
outlined another successful day at the office for the club.

With the Inter Counties, National and English Schools XC Championships
beckoning, Zoe Armstrong showed she is at last rounding into
the form that her coach Mick Groves has been expecting to erupt.
Giving 1m20s start to nearly 50% of the field in the Under 15 Girls 3k event
she forged her way through to gain the lead with around 1k of the course remaining.
She went on to finish very strongly to win with seventeen seconds
to spare over her nearest rival Rachel Lundgren of Gosforth.
Lundgren along with third placed Shonagh Smith of Tynedale
will accompany Zoe in the North East Counties Under 15 Girls squad at the
Inter Counties Championships in Nottingham this Saturday,
so prospects of success in this age group look good
especially with Shildon's Kate Avery at the helm of affairs.

Zoe may well have been inspired by watching one of her younger
training partners Adam Harrington half an hour earlier,
have his first taste of success in a Morpeth vest, when he led from gun
to tape to win the Under 13 Boys event with nineteen
seconds to spare over his closest rival.
Adam was noticed at the recent county schools championships
by Morpeth Club Secretary Mike Bateman, and is certainly repaying his
mentors with some fine aptitude, which has in turn resulted in this fine victory
which saw him finish as twelfth fastest overall in a field of 29 finishers.

Going back to the Under 15 Girls event, Morpeth Harriers finished
as third team with further support coming from Louise Cairns,
who finished fifth with a very strong run from the Slow Pack,
and Sarah Bewick who ran with a lot of determination
from the Fast Pack to finish 25th.
Meanwhile Adam was Morpeth's lone competitor in the Under 13 Boys event.

Other Morpeth athletes who led from gun to tape
were Karl Taylor and Robert Balmbra.
Karl, running from the Slow Pack, literally ran away from the rest of the field
in the Under 17 Mens event and won with seventy seconds
to spare over his closest rival, who just happened to be his clubmate and training partner
Jordan Scott who also had a splendid run from the Slow Pack.
With Marc Cochrane coming home in sixth spot from the Fast Pack,
as third fastest overall, Morpeth snatched a team victory on the day from Tynedale.

Robert Balmbra was a clear winner of the Senior Mens 9k event
by using his Slow Pack advantage to its very utmost.
He won with sixty four seconds to spare over his closest rival,
and he was ninth fastest overall.
Unfortunately Morpeth failed to finish as a team here as
they only had another four finishers to accompany Balmbra.
Paul Waterston had a splendid run from the Medium Pack to finish in 22nd place.
Other Morpeth finishers were Mike Hegarty (116th) (Fast Pack)
Les Cavill (147th) (Slow Pack) and
Nick Armstrong (203rd) (Slow Pack).

One Morpeth runner who certainly had to work
hard for his victory was Marcus Cram.
Having the advantage of a Slow Pack start in the Under 15 Boys event,
he was closely followed all the way by Gateshead runner
Adam Glenton and was forced into a sprint finish
to take individual victory by one second.
Cram's clocking saw him finish as tenth fastest overall in the event.
Alistair Douglass is now getting back to some excellent form,
and his splendid run to finish in seventh place from the Fast Pack,
and he was third fastest overall.
With Stephen Bewick finishing in 38th place from the
Slow pack Morpeth finished as fourth team here.

Another splendid individual performer for Morpeth
on the day was Under 13 Girl Mariska Simpson.
She ran superbly from the Fast Pack to come through to fifth
and was second fastest overall, only just beaten by a margin of two seconds
by Gateshead's Faye Lockhart who finished fourth.

Gwenda Cavill of Morpeth finished ninth in the
Senior Womens event running from the Slow Pack.

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Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League
at Farringdon, Sunderland on Saturday 13th January.

A superb run by Morpeth's Marc Cochrane saw him comfortably
win the Under 17 Mens event at the third Start Fitness sponsored
North Eastern Harrier League meeting held in very blustery conditions
at Farringdon, Sunderland on Saturday 13th January.
Giving 2m20s to a couple of Slow Pack athletes, he eventually chose to leave
it all to the final hill before passing long term leader Cameron Rutherford
of Tynedale to win with thirteen seconds to spare.

In the Under 15 Boys event Morpeth finished as second team
being led home by Oliver Craig and Stephen Cochrane who used their
Slow Pack starts to good effect by finishing third and sixth respectively.
Alistair Douglass closed the Morpeth score when he came
through to finish eleventh from the Fast Pack.

In the Under 13 Boys event Morpeth finished as seventh team.
A Christmas holiday in Australia posed no ill effects for Jack Hepple,
who despite running from the Fast Pack, came through to
finish thirteenth as the clubs