London Irish athlete David Wardle made a Happy New Years Day return to Morpeth after a gap of three years to win the Harriers annual 11k Road Race for the third time. Wardle was hard pressed in the early stages of the event by 2006 winner Mark Brown and Neil Wilkinson of the host club, however he managed to pull clear on the climb up to Mitford Steads and crossed the finish line on the Stanners in 33m47s to record a fifty one second marginal victory. Brown also eventually managed to pull clear of Wilkinson to claim second place by a margin of seven second.

Laura Weightman, Rachel Denton, Marc Cochrane and Mark Brown of Morpeth Harriers all produced five star performances at the second Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting held at Berry Edge, Consett.

A busy weekend saw young Morpeth Harrier Joe Robertshaw pick three Gold medals up in the space of 24 hours. The Under 11 athlete won the Long Jump at the North East Counties Indoor Championships held at the Gateshead Indoor facility, with a best of 3.70m, then he travelled to Monkton Stadium, Jarrow where he won the 60m in 8.8s and created a new personal best when winning the 600m in 2m12s at the Indoor Grand Prix meeting.

Top class runners were very much thwarted by horrendous windy conditions at the prestigious Great Edinburgh Cross Country events held at Holyrood Park. In the Mens 4k event Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick, who was defending his twice successively won title, finished fourth behind superb front running performers Ukraine's Sergiy Lebid and Newham and Essex Beagles Mo Farah. Fellow Morpeth Harriers Ian Hudspith and Chris Sampson can also feel well pleased with their performances at this level as they finished 16th and 18th respectively with excellent clockings of 13m12s and 13m22s Two other Morpeth Harriers Dan Samuels and Michael Morris finished in 26th and 27th places in respective times of 13m40s and 13m43s.

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.

Three Morpeth Harriers gained medals at the North Eastern Counties Indoor Championships Part 2 held at the Gateshead Indoor Arena. Joe Robertshaw secured Gold in the Under 13 Boys 60m where he won in 8.92s. Simon Dale won Bronze in the Under 20 Mens 60m with 7.24s, and Emma Hastings also won a Bronze in the Under 15 Girls 60m where she clocked 8.45s.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men had a very strong turnout at the 24th running of the Durham Cathedral Relays. Such was their force, the clubs Team Management decided to mix their three squads which although gave victory to main rivals Sunderland Harriers, served to give the event one of the most exciting races it has witnessed in a good number of years.

Several Morpeth Harriers were prominent finishers at the Northumberland County Schools Cross Country Championships held at Temple Park Leisure Centre.

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn produced a superb performance at muddy Heaton Park, Manchester 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.

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Athletes from Northumberland were in dominant form at the Northern Inter Counties Schools Cross Country Championships held at Temple Park Leisure Centre, South Shields. On a brilliant sunny day, that was more akin to early Spring, some who participated were on the last stepping stone to representing their county at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, due to be held in Leeds at the end of March. Amongst those athletes were some from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers, and most of them contributed to an outstanding victory for Northumberland on the day, and for both genders. Most notable of these was Karl Taylor, who ran very solidly to finish second to top Cumbrian Tom Farrell with a margin of 22 seconds between them in the Intermediate Boys 5.2k event. However Taylor had done enough to lead Northumberland to team victory over Cumbria, with Durham third and Cleveland fourth.

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. 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.

Despite clocking the fastest time of 9m57s, Ian Hudspith could not prevent Sunderland Harriers from winning the Royal Signals North Eastern Counties Mens Road Relay title for the second year in succession, at a rainswept Watergate Park, Lobley Hill. Conditions apart, runners described the new course as testing, and on a better day most would have appreciated the location.

In the 3000m at the European Trials and UK Indoor Championships meeting held at Sheffield Arena , Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick finished second to Newham's European Cross Country Champion Mo Farah. McCormick and Farah had shared most of the pace together until six laps remaining when the Newham man turned up the heat to go on to win by a comfortable margin in 7m50.86s. Meanwhile, although outside the European qualifying standard with his finishing time of 8m01.35s, McCormick could take a lot of satisfaction from his long term efforts to stay with the rampant Farah.

Ben Harrison of Morpeth Harriers finished sixth in the Winter Warmer 10k in Blackburn, Lancashire, in a time of 34m59s.

The fourth meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League, held at Wrekenton , 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 Northumbrian club.

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.

Joe Robertshaw and Jack Young of Morpeth Harriers competed in the Under 11 Boys 60m at the Gateshead Open Winter Indoor League fixture on Thursday 15th February. The events were run as two heats, with Joe winning Heat 1 in 9.1s which placed him second overall and Jack placed third in Heat 2 in 9.7s which placed him fifth overall.

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. 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.

Archie Jenkins and Walter Ryder of Morpeth Harriers both won Gold medals at the North East Veterans Cross Country Championships held at Farringdon, Sunderland. Jenkins won the Over 50 Mens category and Ryder took the Over 65 Mens title. Paul Bentley of Morpeth Harriers finished fourth in the Over 60 Mens category.

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The fifth Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League meeting held at Chester Le Street's Riverside, 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.

Another bright spot for Morpeth, saw the return to action for Laura Weightman following her spike injury at the 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.

Following his dropout at the Inter Counties with breathing difficulties, Morpeth's Karl Taylor could feel more satisfied with his second placing in the Under 17 Mens 5k event where he led Morpeth to team victory on the day. 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.

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

Morpeth Harriers held their Veterans 2006 Grand Prix Presentation Night at the Sour Grapes pub. The competition was sponsored by Tony Woodcock Planning Consultants. Tony and his wife Pam, who is a Harriers member, were both on hand for the presentation. The Veteran Mens Category was won by Paul Waterston with Richard Driscoll and Les Atkinson taking second and third place respectively. Jane Blackett won the Veteran Womens section with Sue Smith and Michelle Woodley filling second and third places. Tony Woodcock paid tribute to all the athletes who had competed in the Grand Prix and went on to describe them as a very important section of the club when wearing the Blue and White vest at the numerous selected events. Chris Dentice was thanked for his efforts as previous sponsor. He went on to thank Les Thain who had painstakingly kept score as the competition had progressed throughout the year, without his diligent help life would have been difficult. Finally he thanked all those who had turned up on the night to witness the presentation.

Athletes from Morpeth Harriers were amongst the numerous sportspersons to receive awards at the Annual Castle Morpeth Sports Council Sports Awards Night held at Morpeth Leisure Centre. Guest of Honour presenting the awards was Jim Alder MBE, who had only just returned from London after receiving his award from Her Majesty The Queen. This was all carried out in the company of the Mayor of Castle Morpeth Cllr Geoff Proudlock who said he was indeed proud to be in the company of Jim Alder and was equally proud to have known the Morpeth Harriers Marathon Legend for as many years. On the Awards front Nick Swinburn received the Newcastle Building Society Trophy as the Senior Male Open winner. He was also part of the Morpeth Harriers Under 20 Cross Country Team that won the Abbey National Trophy for the Open Team award. Certificates of achievement were awarded to Laura Weightman (Junior Female Under 18), Claire Reid (Senior Female Open) and Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Girls Cross Country Team (Team Award Under 13).

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. The Herrington Country Park with a superb view of Penshaw Monument performed the perfect backdrop for the event, however on the day there was 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 James Mellor, and using the taller Merseysider as a windshield as they fought a close battle for the much prized Bronze medal.

Despite the strong blustery winds on a very exposed course at Prudhoe , 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 at Prudhoe, had also done enough to finish as third overall in the age group for the season. 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

Nick Swinburn and David Swinburne of Morpeth Harriers were so dominant as a front running pair in the Tees Valley Half Marathon at Redcar, that they put between 2 and 3 minutes distance between themselves and the rest of the 1,113 strong finishing field when they finished first and second respectively. They both pulled clear after 2 to 3 mile had been run, and Nick eventually pulled clear for victory with 3mile remaining, to cross the finish line in  72m35s having encountered some very strong battering cold winds in the final stages. David followed home in second place, a mere 25 seconds adrift. With fellow Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison finishing fifth in 75m33s, Morpeth Harriers easily dominated the Mens Team title.

Northumberland athletes gave good account for themselves at the Sainsbury's sponsored English Schools Cross Country Championships held at Temple Newsam, near Leeds. 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 missed 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.

Morpeth Harriers Dan Samuels and Ivan Hollingsworth made a successful trip to Yorkshire, to finish first and third respectively in the South Leeds Stadium 5mile road race. Samuels's winning time was an excellent 26m32s, with Hollingsworth coming home in 27m14s.

Morpeth Harrier Kate Chapman won the Womens Race at the Coniston 14 Mile road event. She won in an excellent 89m46s finishing 48th overall. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Hamish McAllister-Williams finished 198th in 101m24s.

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn competed in his second Half Marathon in seven days, when he finished fourth in class company in the prestigious Ackworth event which incorporated the Yorkshire Championships. Swinburn's finishing time of 80m11s was just over two minutes adrift of the winner Ian Fisher of Otley.

Ian Hudspith of Morpeth Harriers finished third in a top class field at the Bath Half Marathon. His finishing time was an excellent 64m49s.

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Nick McCormick's fastest short leg time of 9m17s turned what was a Leeds City sixty eight second marginal lead, into a mere twenty two seconds and paved the way for Ian Hudspith to create a superb close victory for Morpeth Harriers at the North of England 12 Stage Road Relays which were held at the Silksworth Sports Complex, near Sunderland.. Prior to McCormick's ninth leg effort it looked as if the Yorkshire outfit were going to run away with the title, however Nick certainly had other things in mind as he carved his way with spectacular ease round the two mile circuit. Leeds had led from Leg four and were well clear throughout all of five legs, but once the Morpeth big guns hit the trail everything changed. The Womens North of England 6 Stage Road Relay Championships were held in conjunction with the 12 Stage Championships and Morpeth Harriers achieved their best ever result in the competition when they finished fifth.

At the Schools International in Dublin Morpeth's Laura Weightman finished fifth in the Intermediate Girls event, and was fourth from England.

We reported that Morpeth Harriers Commonwealth Games Marathon legend Jim Alder had received his M.B.E. from H M The Queen at Buckingham Palace. Jim was accompanied to the investiture by his wife Kathleen and Son and Daughter Ian and Susan. He described his day as wonderful, and would like to thank his beloved family for being there to support him. Jim also wanted to thank all his friends within and outside the sport of athletics for their kind wishes. Messages have come from all over the world, and Jim, between supporting his club of course, and getting in his daily 6 mile run, is busy trying to answer as many people as he can.

The superb run of excellent form being enjoyed by Morpeth Harrier Ian Hudspith continued at cracking pace as he smashed his own course record by four seconds when he anchored his club to a most emphatic victory in the Senior Mens relay at the annual Elswick Harriers Good Friday Road Races, held at Newburn Business Park. Hudspith clocked the days fastest time of 10m18s ahead of the host clubs Ryan McLeod and sealed a most welcome victory with valued assisted efforts coming from Chris Sampson (10m55s), David Swinburne (11m17s) and Mark Brown (11m09s).

Morpeth secured an excellent team victory in the combined Under 17/Under 20 and Senior Womens event. They were led home by Aiveen Fox who finished 3rd in 12m46s, with further supporting efforts coming from Jane Mooney (5th) 13m03s and Gwenda Cavill (12th) 13m57s. Morpeth also gained an excellently fought team victory in the Under 15 Boys event. They were led home by fourth placed Alistair Douglass (12m20s) who just outpaced his clubmate Marcus Cram (5th) 12m21s. Philip Shuttleworth also had a superb run to finish 7th in 12m40s to seal the Morpeth team victory.

Two excellent individual Morpeth victories were secured in the Under 13 and Under 15 Girls events. Rachel Denton won by a margin of eight seconds in the Under 13 Girls where she clocked 10m28s. Zoe Armstrong had an excellent twelve second marginal victory in the Under 15 Girls where she clocked 10m22s.

In the Veteran Mens Relay Morpeth had teams finishing in second and ninth places. The Morpeth Veteran A team began in sixth place through Gavin Bayne (12m58s). Then on second leg Les Atkinson clocked what was to be the days second fastest Veteran time of 11m35s to take them into second place. Archie Jenkins clocked 12m55s on Leg Three and only dropped a place. On the final leg Paul Waterston's 12m08s brought them back up to second. The Morpeth Veteran Mens B squad that finished ninth consisted of Richard Driscoll (13m35s), Les Cavill (14m18s), Neil McAnany (13m21s) and Kevin Bray (14m05s).

Morpeth's Under 17 Men finished as second team being led home by Marc Cochrane (2nd) 11m33s, with further support coming from Karl Taylor (5th) 11m43s and Jordan Scott (14th) 12m56s. Adam Harrington produced an excellent run to finish third in 10m03s, and led Morpeth's Under 13 Boys squad home to third team place with superb support also being given by Jack Hepple (5th) 10m08s and Jonathan Anderson (21st) 11m28s.

Over 1300 runners took part in the third North Tyneside 10k, sponsored by North Tyneside Council and Start Fitness with further support coming from Northumbrian Water. The event, run from The Parks Centre in North Shields to St Marys Lighthouse in Whitley Bay, saw Sunny but blustery conditions en-route and was won by Heaton Harriers newcomer James Buis in 33m18s. Four Morpeth Harriers were among the top twenty, namely Nathan Shrubb, Andrew Lawrence, Paul Waterston and Marc Cochrane and their placings pointed to another emphatic team win. For all four it was their second competitive outing of the Easter weekend, however none of them showed any signs of weakness after the Elswick events on Good Friday. Shrubb can feel well pleased with his run that saw him place seventh in 34m18s, exactly a minute adrift of the winner. Lawrence finished tenth in 34m35s. Waterston was third Over 40 Veteran home in fourteenth place in 35m17s. Cochrane, running his first ever 10k event, can feel well pleased with his effort which saw him finish in seventeenth place in 35m36s.

Joe Robertshaw of Morpeth Harriers won Gold in the Under 12 Boys 60m at the Cyril Elliot Open Meeting at Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough. His time was 9.0s.

At long last the Southern and Midlands dominant grip on the Mens English National 12 Stage Road Relay title was loosened, when Leeds City and Morpeth Harriers finished in Gold and Silver medal positions at a warm and sunny Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham.

Running in the colours of Leeds University, Morpeth Harrier Sarah Graham had a successful time at the Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival where she finished as fourth overall in the Womens Championship. The event combined the Port Erin 10k on April 6th, the Peel Hill Races on April 7th and the Douglas 5k on April 8th. Sarah finished as third Woman in the 10k in 37m57s, second in the Hill race in 18m23s and sixth in the 5k in 19m08s.

Wallsend Harriers Multi Terrain 5mile Race, held at the Rising Sun Country Park saw Morpeth Harrier Mike Hegarty place fifth in 28m25s. He was the Northumbrian clubs leading finisher of which there were 118 in all, in the regions newest event. Forced off the roads by increased traffic and mounting demands by the Police authority, Wallsend Harriers have opted for an off road course in order to keep a popular event on the athletics calendar. Second home for Morpeth and first Under 17 Mens competitor was Marc Cochrane who clocked 28m50s. Delyth James of Morpeth finished 18th overall in 30m15s and was second in the Womens race to former clubmate Dianne Henaghan of Chester Le Street who won in 29m32s. James was first Under 20 Womens finisher. Other Morpeth Harriers finishers were Archie Jenkins (15th) (1st O/50) 29m52s and Bernie Cordes (70th) (2nd O/70) 36m23s.

Zoe Armstrong of Morpeth Harriers got her Track and Field campaign off to a flying start on, when she comfortably won the Under 17 Womens 800m at the Anne Marie Readshaw Open Meeting held at Shildon. Competing in her new age group for the first time, she won by a margin of four seconds from New Marske Harrier Jessica Russon in a brand new personal best time of 2m18.9s, and with that has put herself well in the frame for a possible medal chance at the forthcoming North East Counties Track and Field Championships in what she classes as her second best event. Another Morpeth winner at Shildon was Joe Robertshaw who pulled off a double victory. Having comfortably won his heat of the Under 11 Boys 60m in 9.30s, he clocked an even more impressive 9.10s to win the Final. He was also a good 35cm clear of his nearest rival with his best effort of 3.45m to claim victory in the Long Jump.

Morpeth Harriers leading finisher in the 27th Flora London Marathon was Kate Chapman, who finished as 137th Lady in a time of 3hrs11mins20secs. This was indeed an excellent run for Kate who started very steadily indeed by going through the first 10k in a modest 43m45s and by halfway had run a very respectable 1hr32mins50secs. Those tactics allowed her to progress over the second part of the event to an overall position of 1,657th and giving her a very respectable clocking. Next home for the club was Stephen McDonald who finished 6,199th in the Mens event in a time of 3hrs51mins37secs having gone through halfway in 1hr52mins19secs. Ben Groves completed the contingent of Morpeth finishers when finishing 7,255th in 3hrs57mins42secs having gone through halfway in 1hr46mins41secs.

Morpeth Harrier Martin Scaife crowned his Marathon debut in Antwerp, Belguim, by finishing an impressive seventh behind Kenyan David Kibet. Kibet's winning time was 2hrs16mins37secs and Scaife's clocking was 2hrs25mins50secs.

Morpeth Harriers had two winners at the Gateshead Harriers Open Medal Track and Field Meeting held at Gateshead International Stadium. Jack Hepple and Rachel Denton had victories in the Under 13 Boys and Under 15 Girls 800m events in respective times of 2m27.7s and 2m29.5s. Hepple won his race clearly by a margin of eight seconds, and Denton won the first of two seeded races.

Despite running sixteen seconds slower than in 2006, Morpeth Harrier Mark Brown repeated his previous victory in the Transped sponsored Blyth Valley 10k Multi Terrain Race. Brown was well clear after halfway, and went on to win in 32m04s, which put him around ninety seconds clear of his closest rival John Moore of Heaton Harriers, with Elswick's Mark McLeod, elder son of former Olympic 10,000metre Silver Medallist Mike, a further nine seconds adrift in third place. Paul Waterston of Morpeth Harriers produced an excellent run in 34m52s to finish seventh, and he was first home in the Male Veteran ranks. Third home for Morpeth was Junior Ross Floyd who placed eleventh in 35m34s. Also having good runs amongst the Morpeth runners were Richard Driscoll (51st) 39m23s, Neil McAnany (54th) 39m28s and Graeme Leathard (58th) 39m39s.

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In their first North of England Division 2 E match held at Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough,
Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Womens squad finished fourth in a tough contest. In the Mens match Morpeth's best results came from Mark Brown, Les Atkinson, Dave Walker and Chris Sampson. Brown who won last weeks Blyth 10k, scored an excellent double victory in the 800m (2m01.2s) and 1500m (4m07.6s).

Les Atkinson was a convincing winner of the 5000metres in 16m15.3s, and Paul Waterston backed him up well when taking the B race in 16m55.2s.

Dave Walker won the 110m Hurdles in 17.9s, and Morpeth were alert to field a B runner in Ian Godwin who won in 21.8s to get maximum points from the event. Walker also finished second in the 400m Hurdles in 67.7s and Raymond Kirkup bettered his old figures by three seconds when he took the B race in 64.3s.

Former North East Champion Chris Sampson made a welcome return to the 3000m Steeplechase after an absence of three years when he won in 9m33.9s.

The Womens events saw victories by Natalie Young, Aiveen Fox and most notably Claire Reid. Reid broke the Morpeth Harriers club records, which she held,  in the Discus and Shot events with new personal best figures of 37.29m and 10.98m respectively. Young won the 800m in 2m21.7s and clubmate Rebecca Turnbull finished second in the B race in 2m36.1s. Turnbull later won the B race of the 1500m in 5m22.3s, backing up Aiveen Fox's fourth in the A race in 5m03.8s. Fox had earlier worked very hard to win the 3000m in 10m31.4s and Rachel Adams backed that up well by taking the B race in 10m56.1s.

Both Fox and Adams also contributed greatly to their team effort by competing in unfamiliar territory in the 100m and 200m events respectively.

Morpeth Harriers had four winners at the first Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Athletics fixture held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium. Under 17 Star Laura Weightman clocked an excellent personal best of 2m11.5s when she finished first in her age group 800m in a series of  mixed races of Senior, Junior and Under 17 Men and Women. Jack Hepple won the Under 13 Boys 800m in 2m29.5s. In the Under 13 Boys 100m Joe Robertshaw won in 14.1s. Claire Reid won the Womens Discus with 35.83m.

In the North HMC Schools Track & Field Championships held at Gateshead's International Stadium, Morpeth Harrier Rachel Denton won the Junior Girls 800m in a new personal and Championship Best Performance of 2m27.8s.

Two young Morpeth Harriers produced excellent performances in Edinburgh at the Tesco Great Junior Run. Sarah Wilkes won the Under 12 Girls 2.4k race in 10m05s and thirteen seconds later her clubmate Steph Purvis followed her home to take second place to make it a fantastic double honour for them and their club.

Strong winds put pay to any record figures being set at the curtain raiser UK National Young Athletes Northern 1 East match held at Eastbourne Stadium, Darlington. Morpeth Harriers finished second to a very strong City of Sheffield squad, and Alan Richmond and Andrew Toothill were two athletes who produced five star performances in three events for the Northumbrian club. This pairing secured maximum points in the Hammer, Discus and Shot in the Under 17 Mens section. In the Hammer,  Richmond hurled a best of 28.90m and Toothill's 24.18m easily took the B event. Toothill won the Discus with 29.74m and Richmond won the B event with 29.63m. In the Shot Richmond won with 11.29m and Toothill took the B event with 8.98m On the Track at Under 17 Mens level Karl Taylor produced a solid positive performance to win the 1500m Steeplechase in 5m02.0s. Joe Robertshaw and Jack Hepple were the pick of the Under 13 Boys. Robertshaw won the 100m and 200m in 14.4s and 30.1s and he was well backed up by newcomer Flyn Sudgrove who finished second in the B 100m in 15.1s and won the 200m B event in 32.9s. Hepple meanwhile won the 1500m in 5m08.4s and the Long Jump with 4.45m. Jonny Anderson produced a strong performance to finish second  in the 800m in 2m44.0s.

Nineteen individual medals featuring five Gold, seven Silver and seven Bronze were won by athletes from Morpeth Harriers at the North Eastern Counties Track and Field Championships held at Gateshead's International Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.

Most notable of the Gold Medal wins was Laura Weightman who clocked an excellent 2m14.92s to win the Under17 Womens 800m on Saturday, then returned on the Sunday to not only clock a new personal best, but also break the Championship record when she won the 1500m in 4m36.7s beating her closest rival Kate Avery of Shildon by six seconds.

Other Morpeth Gold Medal winners from Morpeth Harriers were Joe Robertshaw, Jack Hepple, Nick Swinburn and Mark Brown. For Robertshaw it was an excellent and unique weekend as he took home one medal of each colour. Gold came in the Under13 Boys 200m on Sunday which he won in 29.19s. He had won Silver in the 100m in 14.2s on Saturday, and he added his Bronze when he finished third in the Long Jump on Sunday with a best of 3.76m.

When Gold looked lost,  Jack Hepple ran a terrific last 100m being pushed all the way by his Morpeth  clubmate Adam Harrington to pass long term leader Barry Maskell of Gateshead to win the Under 13 Boys 800m on Sunday in a new personal best 2m26.17s. Maskell held on for the Silver just outpacing Harrington, who took a much deserved Bronze, also in a new personal best 2m26.84s. Swinburn won the Under 20 Mens 5000m on Sunday in 15m26.16s and with a terrific last lap and a half Brown took his in the Senior Mens 5000m in 15m02.2s.

Morpeth Harrier Ben Harrison won the Golden Ball 5k Road Race in Morecambe in 16m21s.

Laura Weightman and Jack Hepple of Morpeth Harriers added Track athletes of the match awards to their three individual victories that they secured at the second round National Young Athletes Northern One East match held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium, where their club finished second to a very strong Wakefield squad. Weightman won her award for her superb Under 17 Womens 800m victory in 2m13.9s, which although was two seconds outside her personal best of 2m11s, was good enough to see her finish thirteen seconds clear of her closest rival who just happened to be Morpeth B runner Zoe Armstrong. Although her time of 2m26.6s was way short of her best, her presence was enough to give maximum points to her club. Weightman's other victories came in the 300m and 1500m where she made respective clockings of 43.7s and 4m56.5s. Stevie Goodfellow had an excellent run to take the 300m B race in 45.6s. Hepple gained his award for his Under 13 Boys 200m which he won by three seconds in an excellent 27.9s. Shortly afterwards he won the 800m in 2m32.5s, and completed his hat-trick by winning the Long Jump with a best of 4.24m.

Ian Hudspith and Chris Sampson of Morpeth Harriers were amongst the Elite finishers in the Bupa Great Manchester 10k Run. Hudspith was fifth Briton when placing tenth in an excellent 29m08s. Sampson clocked 31m11s when finishing 48th.

Dave Kirkland of Alnwick Harriers won the Les Allcorn Memorial 10k Road Race held in Hulne Park, Alnwick. Kirkland clocked 33m58s, just outsprinting Blyth's Ashley Henderson by the margin of two seconds. Third place went to Morpeth Harriers evergreen Veteran Les Atkinson, who clocked 34m34s. Atkinson always runs the event in honour of Allcorn, his former Alnwick clubmate, with whom he shared many a team success back in the eighties. That placing also gave him the Over 50's Male Veteran title. First Over 40 Veteran was Morpeth's Paul Waterston, who finished fifth in 35m47s. For the first time the event also incorporated a Junior Event run over 2.8k, and Morpeth Harrier Hannah Rank triumphed by crossing the finish line in 11m26s and was credited with first place despite clocking an identical time to that of Alnwick Harrier Ben Davison.

A lifetime best performance of 4m32.85s, brought Gold medal success in the Under 17 Womens 1500m for Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman, at the first day of the Northof England Under 17 and Under 15 Track and Field Championships, held at South Leeds Stadium in Hunslet, Yorkshire. After finishing second in 4m49.01s in the slower of the two heats, Weightman was pushed very hard to the finish line by her North East rival Kate Avery of Shildon, who also achieved a lifetime personal best of 4m32.95s, such was the closeness between them as they hurtled to the finish line.

Representing the North East Counties, Morpeth Harrier Chris Sampson won a Bronze Medal in the 3000m Steeplechase, at the Inter Counties Track and Field Championships in Bedford. Sampson clocked his best time for six years in 9m20.05s, his previous best had been 9m19.50s, which had been at the AAA's Championships in Birmingham in 2001.

Morpeth Harriers provided dual winners of the Raby Castle 10k Road Race held at Staindrop, near Darlington on Sunday. Terry Wall won the Mens Race in 33m11s and Aiveen Fox, who finished 22nd overall in 38m20s was first Lady finisher. Other leading Morpeth finishers were Alan Shepherd (5th) 34m54s and Andrew Lawrence (9th) 36m04s.

Morpeth Harrier David Swinburne was one of the top finishers at the Edinburgh Marathon.

Mark Brown of Morpeth Harriers was a clear winner of the Clive Cookson 10k Road Race at Monkseaton. Brown's time was 32m01s which put him 77seconds clear of his nearest rival and clubmate Ivan Hollingsworth, who was on another road to recovery after serious injury. Paul Waterston of Morpeth was the first Veteran finisher when he placed ninth in 34m38s. Morpeth's Jane Mooney won the Ladies race when finishing 32nd in 38m07s. Kate Chapman of Morpeth was third Lady in 46th place in 39m41s. For the very first time the event also included a shorter 5k race, and Morpeth's Archie Jenkins finished 14th in 18m33s.

Running her first ever 5k road event, Morpeth Harrier Zoe Armstrong clocked the second fastest Womens time at the Heaton Harriers Jesmond Dene Handicap. Competing off a handicap of nine minutes and thirty seconds she clocked an overall time of 22m48s. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Nick Armstrong (no relation) running off a handicap of eight minutes clocked 21m54s.

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Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Womens Track and Field squad finished fourth in their second round Northern Division 2 East match at York. In the Mens events the best Morpeth performer of the day was undoubtedly Jonathan Taylor who won the 800m A race in 1m54.8s. Mark Brown finished second in the B event in 2m04.5s. Brown also claimed victory in the 1500m A race in 4m14.9s, and not far behind him was his clubmate Ben Harrison who took the B race in 4m17.2s. Morpeth had an excellent result in the Mens 110m Hurdles where Dave Walker won the A race in 19.2s and Ian Godwin took the B race in 22.7s. Best Morpeth Mens Field Event performer was Stephen Appleby who finished third in the Discus with 34.65m. In the Womens events Claire Reid was again in outstanding form as a double winner, as she yet again broke her club records as she hurled a best of 37.94m for the Discus, and then Putted a superb 11.40m in the Shot. Aiveen Fox was far and clear a winner in the 3000m in 10m56.6s.

A closely contested third round UK Young Athletes Northern One East match held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium  saw Morpeth Harriers finish fourth, however they were only eight points adrift of third placed Spenborough and twenty five points adrift of second placed Blaydon with Bingley a further thirty two points out in front as winners. Missing athletes were a major problem as Morpeth struggled to field a number of B competitors in key areas, especially in the Boys events.

There were a number of good performers on the day however, including some personal bests. Karl Taylor secured three victories in the Under 17 Mens events. He won what for him is a very rarely run 800m, in a new personal best time of 2m06.2s. A seasons best came for him in the more regularly run 1500m Steeplechase where he clocked a superb 4m44.3s. Karl also extended his strengths when he secured a superb victory in the Javelin with 34.73m.

Andrew Toothill produced a personal best of 32.32m to win the Under 17 Mens Discus, and Alan Richmond won the B event with 26.19m. This pairing also paid rich dividends for Morpeth in the Shot with Alan taking the A event with 10.28m, and Andrew securing a new personal best of 10.15m when winning the B event. Alan also secured a victory in the Hammer with 26.18m.

Joe Robertshaw produced some excellent performances for Morpeth in the Under 13 Boys events. In the 200m he clocked a new personal best of 28.7s to win. Robertshaw also finished second in the 100m in 14.2s and second in the Long Jump with 3.85m.

In the Under 17 Womens events Laura Weightman completed an excellent double victory over 800m and 1500m in respective clockings of 2m15.8s and 4m47.4s. The respective B races were won by Natalie Young (2m23.7s) and Zoe Armstrong (4m55.4s). Armstrong had a confidence boosting victory in the 300m a new personal best time of 44,2s, and Stevie Goodfellow brilliantly took the B race in 45.2s. Weightman, Armstrong, Goodfellow and Young were later to celebrate triumph in the 4x300m in 3m03.5s.

The second meeting of the Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League was held at Gateshead International Stadium. Morpeth Harriers had superb performers in Melissa Anderson, Jack Hepple and Marcus Cram who all tasted victory on the night. For Cram it was sweetened by the fact that he clocked a new personal best of 4m35.5s in the Under 15 boys 1500m. Hepple also clocked a personal best of 28.4s to win the Under 13 Boys 200m. Anderson won her 100m event in 13.0s and was second fastest Lady on the night.

Ian Hudspith of Morpeth Harriers was the first British and North East finisher in the 27th running of the annual Blaydon Race, sponsored once again by Nike. Clocking an excellent 26m55s, he finished third and was actually only a mere 27 seconds adrift of Ehiopian winner Tewodoros Shiferaw, such was the quality of his run. Only sixteen seconds divided him from second place which was secured by another Ehiopian Gemechu Kidane. Hudspith did however finish one place and eighteen seconds ahead of pre- race favourite Simon Tonui of Kenya. Another good Morpeth Harrier performer on the night was Mark Brown who finished eighth in 28m37s. Ivan Hollingsworth showed he is well on the road to recovery after yet another injury set back, when he finished twelfth in 29m27s. Nick Swinburne finished fifteenth in 29m57s.

Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilkes clearly won the Year 5 Girls 600m at the first British Milers Club Summer Event Meeting held at Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough in a time of 2m07.0s.

The Northumberland Schools Track and Field Championships held at Gateshead's International Stadium saw several Morpeth Harriers at the forefront of the action. Most notable was Laura Weightman who not only produced a new personal best, but created a new championship record of 4m30.96s when winning the Intermediate Girls 1500m in 4m30.96s. In the same age group over 800m, Zoe Armstrong was clearly back to her sparkling best as she won in 2m19.82s from clubmate Natalie Young who finished second in 2m23.41s. Gregg Swinburn had a good day when he won the Intermediate Boys 200m in 23.54s, and finished  second in the 400m in 53.80s. Karl Taylor won the Intermediate Boys 1500m Steeplechase in 4m48.72s. Rachel Denton pushed herself well clear early on to claim a comfortable victory in the Junior Girls 1500m in 5m01.47s.

Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick got his track season underway when he finished seventh in the 800m A race at the Nike BMC Neeting at Sport City, Manchester in a time of 1m49.48s. At the same meeting there were lifetime bests from his Morpeth club colleagues Dan Samuels, Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Young and Chris Sampson. Samuels won the 800m E race in 1m52.99s. Taylor finished sixth in the 1500m C race in 3m50.67m In the 1500m E Race Jonathan Young finished eighth in 3m56.12s. Chris Sampson who had won a Bronze Medal at the Inter Counties Championships at Bedford when clocking his best time for five years in the 3000m Steeplechase, improved his personal best further when he clocked 9m15.70s for seventh place.

In the BMC 800m events held in conjunction with the North East Veterans meeting held at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow, Morpeth Harriers, Zoe Armstrong and Jack Hepple both clocked new personal bests of 2m17.55s and 2m23.5s for 800m.

Nick McCormick of Morpeth Harriers finished sixth in the 1500m at the Bislett Games in Oslo in an excellent 3m38.46s, which takes him to second in the Power of 10 Rankings for that distance this year. The event was won by Brimin Kiprop Kipruto of Kenya in 3m36.27s. That performance by McCormick is just the spur he needs as he heads for Munich to compete in the European Cup for Great Britain in the 3000m.

Morpeth Harrier Zoe Armstrong further convinced the Northumberland Schools selectors to include her in the party to travel to the English Championships in Birmingham on the 13th and 14th July,  when she clocked a new personal best of 2m19.67s for the Intermediate Girls 800m at the Northern Schools Inter Counties Track and Field Championships, held at Gateshead's International Stadium. Other good Northumberland performances at the meeting by Morpeth Harriers came from Rachel Denton in the Junior Girls 1500m and Karl Taylor in the Intermediate Boys 1500m Steeplechase. Denton managed to draw clear from her Cumbrian opponent in the last 200m to claim victory in 4m57.75s, unfortunately however that is still outside the entry standard for the event at the English Schools. Taylor also gained victory in 4m45.6s, which again is agonisingly short of the entry standard required.

Sarah Wilkes of Morpeth Harriers certainly had a superb weekend when she won two events in the space of 24 hours. Firstly she retained her Under 11 Girls Blyth Beach Mile title on Saturday in atrocious conditions, then on Sunday she won the Under 12 2.8k event at the Tesco Junior Great Coastal Run  in 12m21s. She was followed in very closely by fellow Morpeth Harrier Steph Purvis who clocked 12m26s. To make it a good day all round for Morpeth, Hannah Rank won the Under 15 Girls Race in 11m05s.

Morpeth Harrier Claire Reid shattered her own club records when she competed in the Senior Womens Shot and Discus Finals at the North of England Senior and Under 20 Track and Field Championships at Liverpool's Wavertree Stadium. Firstly on she won a Bronze medal in the Shot with a best of 11.33m and she returned the following day to produce a best of 38.13m to finish sixth in the Discus. In the Under 20 Womens 1500m Final Delyth James clocked 4m48.51s to finish seventh which was two seconds outside her personal best. Jonathan Taylor finished sixth in the final of the Senior Mens 800m in 1m57.47s. In the Senior Mens 5000m Final Mark Brown and Michael Morris finished seventh and eighth in respective times of 14m50.19s and 14m53.97s. New signing from Gosforth Harriers, Lewis Timmins just missed out for a Bronze medal in the Senior Mens 1500m where he finished fourth in 3m58.53s.

Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall completed his fifth victory in the Newton Aycliffe 10k in an excellent 32m23s, which was around 10 seconds faster than his 2006 victory. Wall, recent winner of the Raby Castle 10k dominated the event from the off, and by half-way he had a 38 second lead. Another good Morpeth performer was Alistair MacDonald who finished twelfth in 38m12s and was third Veteran Man.

Morpeth Harrier Ivan Hollingsworth returned to race winning form in the Newburn River Run. Clocking a time of 34m51s he won with 33 seconds to spare over second placed Mark McLeod of the host club Elswick Harriers. Other leading Morpeth finishers were Paul Waterston (11th) (1st O/40) 37m41s and Jane Mooney (22nd) 40m20s who won the Ladies Race.

In a specially arranged Open 3000m held at the end of a Veterans Track and Field meeting at Monkton Stadium, Morpeth's Ian Hudspith clocked an excellent 8m12s to win. It was Hudspith's first 3000m since 2002 and was fractionally outside his best. Fellow Morpeth Harrier and training partner Chris Sampson finished second in 8m42s.

Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick could only finish fourth in the Mens 3000m at the European Cup in Munich.

Morpeth Harriers finished second to a very strong Hallamshire squad in their fourth round National Young Athletes Northern One East match, held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium. On the performance side for Morpeth, the slightly bigger haul of points came from their female athletes. Laura Weightman secured an 800m and 1500m double at Under 17 level. Her 800m victory in 2m11.1s saw her slightly better her previous figures, and her 1500m was a fairly modest 4m49.5s. Weightman then went on to anchor a Morpeth 4x300m squad to victory with superb help from Zoe Armstrong, Stevie Goodfellow and Natalie Young.

Five Morpeth Harriers were amongst leading finishers at the Norhumberland Schools Minor Track and Field Championships held at a rainswept Gateshead International Stadium. Jack Hepple finished second in the Under 13 Boys 200m in 27.8s and third in the 800m in 2m29.05s. One place ahead of him in the 800m was his Morpeth clubmate Johnny Nesbitt (2m27.38s). Adam Harrington won the Under 13 Boys 1500m in a new personal best 4m54.01s. Rachel Denton won the Under 14 Girls 1500m in 5m05.1s, and her Morpeth clubmate Hannah Rank finished third in 5m12.2s.

Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers repeated his 2006 victory in the Beat the Tram 10k at Beamish Museum in a time of 34m31s.

Laura Weightman impressed when she clocked a new lifetime best of 9m56.2s, to clearly outsmart her rivals in the combined Under 17/Under20/Senior Womens 3000m, at the third Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Athletics League meeting held at Gateshead's International Stadium. After being involved in a closely fought tussle with great rivals Mary Ferrier and Kate Avery, Laura stole away heading into the final lap, and won with plenty to spare despite beating her previous figures set in 2006 by all of five seconds. Another Morpeth personal best was that of Jack Hepple when he finished second in the Under 13 Boys 100m A race in 13.47s. Hepple also performed well when he produced 4.24m to win the Under 13 Boys Long Jump. Claire Reid of Morpeth won the Senior Womens Shot with a best of 11.19m.

In terms of performance Morpeth Harriers Chris Sampson, Jonathan Young and Ian Hudspith all had excellent runs at the BMC meeting at Watford. Sampson and Young both produced lifetime bests and Hudspith was fractionally just outside his seasons best, on a night where other notable Morpeth runners didn't quite achieve their targets. Sampson finished eighth in a classy 3000m Steeplechase, however in a brand new best of 9m09.11s, which was virtually six seconds inside his previous figures, and excellent to say the least. Jonathan Young will certainly take a great deal of delight from his third place in the Mens 1500m G race which saw him clock a new best of 3m54.30s. In a classy 10,000m Ian Hudspith finished fourth in 29m17.64s.

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Morpeth Harrier Les Atkinson broke his own Veterans North East Over 50 Mens 1500m record by a whole second when he clocked 4m25.4s to take the category title at the Track and Field Championships held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium. The field also included Morpeth's Archie Jenkins who was winning the first of his two Over 55 veteran Mens titles of the day in a time of 4m50.8s. Jenkins other Over 55 title came in the 5000m where he clocked 18m03s.

The Tynedale 10k saw Morpeth's Mark Brown finish second to Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell. After Bell had set a fast and furious early pace to assume command, Brown eventually caught up with the soon to be 35 year old Veteran, only to lose ground again as Bell put in another kick to draw clear and head home to to clinch a twenty three second marginal victory. Brown crossed the finish line in second place, having given his all with a clocking of 32m11s, and was pleased to lead his club home to a Mens team victory with excellent supporting runs coming from David Swinburne (12th) 34m33s and Mike Hegarty (18th) 35m26s. It was indeed an excellent night for Morpeth with Aiveen Fox winning the Ladies title when finishing thirty sixth overall in 37m32s, and the icing was certainly placed on a very big cake with supporting runs by Jane Mooney (42nd) (3rd Lady) 37m47s and Michelle Woodley (140th) (14th Lady) 42m13s securing a superb Ladies Team victory.

Morpeth's Sarah Graham finished third to Great Britain International Tracey Morris in the Womens race in the Jane Tomlinson Leeds 10k Road event. Graham clocked 39m17s.

Eight A String and five B String victories, including four maximum points efforts, helped Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Womens Track and Field squad achieve their best result so far this season in their Northern League Division 2 third round match at Gateshead's International Stadium. They finished third behind strong Middlesbrough (Mandale) and Gateshead squads, and now look to be entirely safe from relegation worries. On this occasion it was the Womens performances that contributed most to the 301 total points haul that the Northumbrian club achieved.

Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers was Great Britain's third counter for their Junior Mens squad that finished as 5th team behind winners Turkey at the European Mountain Running Championships in Cauterets, France. Swinburn had an excellent run that saw him finish as 24th in a very classy field.

For the fourth year in a row Aiveen Fox of Morpeth Harriers dominated the field at the Heaton Harriers Womens Only 5.4k Race held in Jesmond Dene. Despite being five seconds down on her 2006 victory with her clocking of 20m15s, she managed to pull off another victory after being given a run for her money by her close friend, training partner and clubmate Jane Mooney, who was finishing second for the third year in a row but will feel well pleased to be 39 seconds faster than 2006 with her clocking of 20m34s. It was indeed a glorious night for Morpeth Harriers as they also pulled off the team victory for the fourth year in a row with Fox and Mooney being well supported by Gwenda Cavill's placing of tenth in 23m00s.

In a busy week of athletics activity several Morpeth Harriers gave performances of high quality. Top of those performers was undoubtedly Alnwick Duchess High School pupil Laura Weightman, who in clocking a lifetime best of 4m29.44s pushed herself up to sixth in the UK Under 17 Womens 1500m rankings, and took the Intermediate Girls title for the distance, at the English Schools Track and Field Championships held at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium. The gusty winds that prevailed were certainly not the best conditions for quick times, however everything went right for Weightman who judged the race to perfection throughout, and with 320 metres remaining put in a kick that at last saw her draw clear of her closest rivals that included Durham's Kate Avery who managed to hang on for the Silver medal placing, also in a new personal best time of 4m30.51s, which in turn sees her rise to eighth in the rankings.

Eleven days after producing a lifetime personal best of 3m54.30s in the 1500m at the BMC Watford Grand Prix, Morpeth Harrier Jonny Young returned to the same venue and clocked new figures of 3m53.66s to finish fourth behind two Kenyan's and an American in the A race the BMC Gold Standard meeting.

Marcus Cram of Morpeth Harriers produced a superb run to win the Under 15 Boys 800m at the fourth Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Athletics League meeting held at Gateshead's International Stadium. Cram clocked a new personal best of 2m08.3s beating his previous synthetic track figures by around six seconds. However the athlete reported that he had clocked around 2m11s on a grass track at a minor schools meet in Scotland a few weeks previous. Other Morpeth track winners on the night were Ian Hudspith and Joe Robertshaw. A very much in form Hudspith was too much of a match for his rivals in the 3000m, however believes that sterner opposition would have brought him a better clocking than 8m19.0s. Robertshaw was fractionally outside his personal best when he won the Under 13 Boys 200m in 28.9s. Emma Hastings won the Under 15 Girls Long Jump with a best of 3.97m.

Morpeth Harriers newcomer Lewis Timmins won the Low Fell Running Club Angel View Multi Terrain event at Gateshead in a time of 26m34s. Finishing 21st in 31m21s, Morpeth Harrier Jane Mooney won the Ladies race making it a double triumph for the Northumbrian club.

After tackling the shorter Multi Terrain Angel View Run, Morpeth Harriers newest aquisition Lewis Timmins tackled the more ambitious rigours of the Northumberland Coastal Run between Beadnel and Alnmouth and gave host club athlete Dave Kirkland more than a run for his money into the bargain. Kirkland eventually won the day however and became the first ever Alnwick Harrier to triumph in all the 28 years of the events existence. Timmins eventually finished second in 79m18s over the 14 mile plus course and was 72 seconds down on Kirkland.

There were some good performances amongst the Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes who managed to turn out for their club at the final Northern One East match at Middlesbrough's Claireville Stadium.

In the Under 17 Mens age group Andrew Toothill made a clean sweep of his chosen events for the very first time. He comfortably won the Hammer with 22.22m and then went on to achieve maximum success in the Discus (32.94m) and Shot (9.84m). Andrew also gave service to the Under 17 Mens 4x400m squad who finished second in 4m04.3s. Another noteable Under 17 Mens success for Morpeth came in the 800m with Karl Taylor winning in 2m04.4s and alistair Douglass taking the B race in 2m13.0s.

Staying with the Boys events Marcus Cram secured a superb win in the Under 15 Boys 1500m with an excellent 4m29.05s, despite having to endure a torrential downpour at the time and some stern opposition from a Middlesbrough Mandale athlete.

In the Under 13 Boys 200m Jack Hepple took the A race in 28.1s and Joe Robertshaw ran well to win the B race in 29.3s. Hepple was involved in another double Morpeth victory in the Long Jump. He won the A event with a best of 4.35m and Jamie Esson took the B event with 3.20m.

Natalie Young clocked 2m18.8s to win the Under 17 Womens 800m. Rachel Moody won the Under 17 Womens 80m Hurdles in 15.0s, then went on to gain more points for her club by supporting Kate Charnley's win in the Shot (8.60m), by winning the B event with a best of 6.77m. Stevie Goodfellow had an excellent win im the Under 17 Womens Triple Jump (8.80m). Rebecca Gibson won the Under 17 Womens Long Jump with a best of 4.15m, and also took the B event of the Discus (17.33m) supporting Kate Charnley's 18.13m which saw her finish second in the A event.

Morpeth's best Under 15 Girls result of the day came in the rainswept 1500m with Rachel Denton clocking 4m57.07s to win the A race, and Hannah Rank taking the B race in 5m05.05s. Courtney Dodd made an excellent clearance of 1.52m to win the Under 15 Girls High Jump.

Despite suffering a horrendous journey to Newport in Wales lasting 12 hours because of severe weather conditions, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman still managed to pull of an excellent victory in the Girls 1500m at the Schools International. She and Shildon's Kate Avery, both representing England, once again competed strongly with each other, however Weightman gained victory by just over a second with her clocking of 4m31.12s.

Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall won the Victorian 10k at New Marske in a time of 32m19s.

The Sunderland Harriers 5k Road Race saw Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn finish second to Chester Le Street's Stewy Bell in a time of 15m01s.

A night of superb athletics saw several Morpeth Harriers achieve their aims of fast times at the BMC Grand Prix meeting in Solihull. Ian Hudspith clocked his best time for over 12 years in the 3000m when he finished ninth in 8m04.89s, and in the same event Dan Samuels knocked around ten seconds off his best when he finished fourteenth in 8m10.06s. Hudspith's best ever clocking for the distance was recorded in 1995 when he ran 8m03.9s, however he can feel well pleased with this latest outing. Chris Sampson achieved a lifetime best of 14m46.58s when he finished eleventh in the 5000m. For the third time in a month Jonny Young bettered his old figures in the 1500m. He finished sixth in the C race in 3m52.99s. Jonathan Taylor finished thirteenth in the 1500m B race in 3m51.98s.

A superb throw of 42.07m earned Claire Reid a victory and a brand new Morpeth Harriers club record for the Senior Womens Discus at the fifth and penultimate Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics meeting held at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. She bettered her previous and the club record by nearly four metres. Reid also won the Senior Womens Shot on the night with a best of 10.89m which was a little short of her personal best and the club record. Another Morpeth athlete in outstanding form on the night was Marcus Cram who won the Under 15 Boys 1500m in a new personal best 4m27.7s. Cram was chasing Sunderland Harrier, J.Archer for the majority of the event, however with 200m remaining he kicked to go past the long term leader. Archer rallied in the finishing stages, however Cram put in yet another kick to clinch a well earned victory. The Under 13 Boys 1500m saw Morpeth's Jack Hepple finish second in a new personal best of 4m57.1s. In the Under 17 Mens Discus, Morpeth's Alan Richmond and Andrew Toothill dominated by finishing first and second with respective best throws of 34.19m and 32.52m.

Morpeth Harrier Ian Hudspith ran a seasons best of 14m19.99s to finish tenth in the final of the Mens 5000m at the Norwich Union World Trials and UK Track and Field Championships.

Terry Wall of Morpeth Harriers finished second in the James Herriot Trail Race in Castle Bolton, Wensleydale in 54m26s, which was exactly sixty two seconds adrift of the experienced race winner Garry Dunn of Thirsk and Sowerby.

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The curtain came down on Morpeth Harriers domestic Track and Field programme at Claireville Stadium, Middlesbrough, and despite missing a number of athletes in certain areas, those who did turn out ensured a well earned third place, which at the end of the day will see the Northumbrians finish third or fourth in the final table once everything has been fully analysed. Double wins by Jonathan Taylor, Laura Weightman and Claire Reid contributed greatly to Morpeth's effort along with a number of other excellent performances. Jonathan Taylor won both the 800m and 1500m events in respective times of 1m53.7s and 4m00.1s, although both outside his personal bests. were well achieved considering he wasn't pushed all the way to the line by threatening opposition.

Maximum points were achieved by Morpeth in the 1500m with Nick Swinburn taking the B race in 4m13.9s. Laura Weightman won the Womens 400m in 60.6s, and also took the 800m in 2m27.1s. Aiveen Fox secured maximum points for Morpeth when she won the B race of the 800m in 2m36.2s. Fox followed that up with a victory in the 3000m A race in 10m41.4s. Claire Reid secured a double victory in the Discus and Shot with respective best efforts of 37.15m and 10.77m. The Shot saw Morpeth gain maximum points with Rachel Moody winning the B event with a best of 8.99m which saw her finish third overall.

Jonathan Taylor of Morpeth Harriers ran a superb 1m52.1s to win the A race of the  BMC 800m at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. Another Morpeth athlete having a splendid run at the meeting was Marcus Cram, who clocked a new personal best of 2m06.3s to finish third in the D race against older opposition. With 150 metres to race Cram was still lying in fifth place, however his acceleration in the finish straight paid enormous dividends. The BMC events were held within the Veterans North East Track and Field meeting, where Morpeth's Alistair MacDonald won the 5000m in 18m12.7s and was second in the Over 45 Mens 800m in 2m20s. Lesley Smith of Morpeth won the Over 45 Womens 100m in 15.7s and the 200m in 33.8s.

Young Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilks made a 700 mile round trip to take part in the Under 12 Girls race at the Tesco Junior Great Wales Run in Cardiff. She won her 5th trophy in 12 Months when ashe finished second in 7m52s and only fourteen seconds adrift of the winner.

Alnwick Harrier Dave Kirkland recorded an emphatic win in the A-Belco sponsored Morpeth 10k Road Race. 274 finishers took part in the eleventh running of the event, and Kirkland was the first to reach the finish line in a time of 33m14s. The Ladies race was won by Morpeth Harrier Aiveen Fox for the third year in succession. She finished 27th in 38m07s, however she was very nearly caught in later stages by clubmate Jane Mooney who had an excellent run to finish 30th in 38m11s.

In the Scottish Senior Track and Field Championships held at Grangemouth, Morpeth Harrier Claire Reid finished fifth in both the Discus and Shot events with respective bests of 35.05m and 10.77m.

Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram ran very close to his personal best when he clocked 2m06.3s to win the Under 15 Boys 800m at the final Start Fitness North Eastern Athletics League fixture held at Gateshead's International Stadium. Rachel Denton of Morpeth was also a winner, when she easily outclassed her opposition in the Under 15 Girls 800m and came home in 2m28.2s. Running in her very first 3000m, Morpeth's Zoe Armstrong clocked 10m43.4s to win the Under 17 Womens event.

Morpeth Harrier Jonathan Taylor ran an excellent lifetime best of 3m46.33s to be just outsprinted by Newton Aycliffe's Lewis Moses in the 1500m A race at the highly prized BMC Trafford Grand Prix meeting.

After running what was  her fastest ever first lap of 62 seconds, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman hung on to take second place behind Humberside's Kerrie Harris and won a Silver medal in the Under 17 Womens 800m at the England Athletics Under 17 and Under 15 Track and Field Championships held at Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium. Laura's final clocking was 2m11.4s, which in the end was fractionally outside her personal best, and this was no mean achievement considering the prevailling wind that was present.

The 5k event held in Newcastle's Exhibition Park attracted a total of 250 finishers, amongst them were athletes from Morpeth Harriers. First home for the Northumbrian club was new recruit Phil Walker who finished seventh in 16m02s and was second Over 40 Male Veteran.

Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburn earned himself yet another International call up after he won the Junior Mens event by seven seconds at the World Mountain Trophy Trials held at Braithwaite in Cumbria. Swinburn covered 8.7k reaching a height of 680m in a time of 43m05s.

Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram finished seventh against strong opposition in the Under 15 Boys 1500m at the Bank of Scotland Under17/Under 15 Scottish Track and Field Championships held at Grangemouth. His finishing time was 4m29.73s.

Three Morpeth Harriers took part in the Robin Hood 10k Road Race held in Jarrow. The combined efforts of Archie Jenkins (17th) (1st O/55) 40m06s, Michael Winter (20th) 40m16s and Graeme Leathard (25th) (7th O/45) 41m14s saw Morpeth Harriers finish as third team behind hosts Jarrow and Hebburn and second placed Heaton Harriers.

Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman clocked another personal best time to win the 1500m at the UK Schools Games at Coventry. The Duchess School Alnwick pupil, representing the North East region, took more than 3 secs off her previous best figures, clocking 4mins 26.02secs.

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Morpeth Harrier Terry Wall was a comfortable winner of the Michael Page Memorial 10km Multi Terrain Race, at a windy Hetton Lyons Country Park. Wall clocked a time of 35mins 31secs coming home 43secs ahead of Sunderland Harrier, Steve Potts.

Morpeth Harriers took the team title at the Tynedale Jelly 10M Road Race, from Hexham to Ovingham. However, the Harriers' first counter was a non scorer, former Blaydon Harrier, Phil Walker who finished in 6th position (55:38). Phil was the first Over 40 and took the incorporated Veterans North East title. Morpeth's scoring team were Ian Handyside(7th in 55:54 and 2nd M40), Paul Waterston (11th in 56:47 and 3rd M40) and Gordon Dixon (23rd in 58:39 and 3rd M45).

Morpeth Harrier Ivan Hollingsworth was a comfortable winner of the Watergate 5km at Lobley Hill, Gateshead, Hollingsworth pulled away from the Chester Le Street pair of Chris Lamb and leading veteran, Stewy Bell on the second of the two laps clocking a time of 15mins 14secs. His margin of victory was 9secs over Lamb, with Bell 11secs further adrift in third.

Jonathan Taylor of Morpeth harriers took third place in a BMC 800m at Trafford on. He clocked 1min 52.84secs.

Young Morpeth Harrier Sarah Wilks has lifted yet another trophy. Sarah travelled down to Sheffield to take part in the inaugural Tesco Junior Great Yorkshire Run 3k event, and came second in the Under 12 Girls Race in a time of 10m46s. She was eight seconds behind race winner Megan Blackburn of Doncaster Harriers. This was Sarah's sixth Great run Trophy in 14 months and she is very much looking forward to competing in the Junior Great North Run later this month. Sarah's day was made very much complete when she met British Heptathlete Jessica Ennis, who was just back from her successes at the recently held World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan.

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. 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. Rachel Denton comfortably took victory in the Under 15 Girls 1.8mile event in 10m27s.

A record number of 41 athletes took part in the first in the series of Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes Championships held at Lancaster Park. There were eighteen in the Under 13 Boys race and twenty three in the Under 13 Girls race. First home in the Boys event was Jack Hepple who retained his hold on the trophy he won in 2006 and knocked a whole fifteen seconds of his previous time with his excellent 8m13s. In fact Hepple made it a hat-trick of victories, having won the Under 11 Championship in his first night at the club in 2005. Second home was Jonny Nisbett who clocked 8m41s, bettering his 2006 figures by 56 seconds and gaining three places and a medal into the bargain. Third place and a Bronze medal went to Joe Robertshaw who clocked 8m57s, and is beginning to find a zeast for distance work as well as short sprints.

The Under 13 Girls title went to Carly May Webster who clocked 9m13s which would have given her fifth in the Boys event. Sarah Wilkes ran as a guest for experience and finished second in the Girls race in 9m24s, and will compete for medals in her own age group race in a few weeks time. So third place finisher Stephanie Purvis took the Silver medal by finishing in 9m35s. The Bronze medal went to Adele Stewart who clocked 9m55s for fourth spot.

Two Morpeth Harriers won age group titles at the Veteran North East Athletics 10,000 and 5000metre Championships held at Jarrow's Monkton Stadium. Archie Jenkins and Paul Bentley won the Over 55 and Over 60 Mens 10,000metre titles in respective times of 37m56.9s and 43m48.4s.

A trip over the border to Prestonpans proved quite fortuitous for some athletes from Morpeth Harriers when they captured the Male Team prize at the annual Half Marathon. It also proved to be an excellent day for their leading finisher Paul Waterston, who not only finished second in 78m07s, but was also the first home in the Over 40 Veteran Mens category. Second home for Morpeth was Gordon Dixon who finished eighth in 79m52s and was third in the Over 40 category. Alistair MacDonald also produced an excellent run of 83m27s to come home in twelfth place to seal the team title.

A good number of top performers were missing from Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Senior Womens teams when they competed at the North of England 6 and 4 Stage Road Relay Championships at Warrington. Late withdrawals left Mens Team Manager David Swinburne very much down to the bare bones, and he was forced to take to the roads himself, and despite feeling unwell managed to bring his depleted squad home to a well earned final nineteenth position, the lowest Morpeth Harriers Men have finished for a good number of years. Morpeth Womens team also suffered from the absence of key athletes in their 4 Stage Relay. This effectively meant they couldn't better their 2006 performance which saw them finish fourth. Aiveen Fox's 20m34s on Leg One saw them come home in eleventh place. Jane Mooney clocked 21m07s on Leg Two, but unfortunately dropped a place to twelfth. Julie Clark on third leg slipped back to fifteenth with a clocking of 22m52s, however Gwenda Cavill managed to pull back a place to fourteenth on the final leg with her clocking of 23m00s.

Clocking a time of 27m29s gave Morpeth Harrier Les Atkinson an eight second cushion for victory in the Whalton Classic 5mile Road Race. It was Atkinson's second victory in the event having won the inaugural event in 2005, and the evergreen vet had also plenty to be pleased about as he had bettered his 2006 time by three seconds which had saw him finish third. The placings of Les Atkinson (1st), Gavin Bayne (8th) and Gordon Dixon (11th) gave Morpeth Harriers the Mens Team title.

Morpeth Harrier Ian Hudspith produced a superb performance to finish tenth in the Bupa Great North Run in a time of 63m59s. Other creditable runs by Morpeth Harriers in the event came from Chris Sampson (20th) 67m08s and Ivan Hollingsworth (25th) 68m10s.

Laura Weightman of Morpeth Harriers repeated her 2006 victory in the 13 to 16 year old Girls event at the Tesco Junior Great North Run. Fellow clubmate Zoe Armstrong also got on the podium by finishing third. Zoe had finished second in 2006 ahead of Dundee's Elish McColgan, daughter of former Great Britain International Liz. This time round McColgan took second spot. Other notable Morpeth performers were Marcus Cram (6th) in 13 to 16 Boys race and Jack Hepple (7th) in 9 to 12 Boys race.

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Philip Shuttleworth and Hannah Rank were respective winners in Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Road Championships held on Lancaster Park. Shuttleworth won with twenty five seconds to spare over nearest rival over Jake Smith in the Boys racein a time of 7m57s. Thomas Beattie came home in third spot a further five seconds adrift. In the Girls event Rank clocked 8m31s, which gave her a forty six second cushion over closest rival Rachel Steel, who produced an excellent run for second place, with Mariska Simpson claiming third place in 9m23s.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Women and Under 17 Men were the pick of the clubs team performances at the North of England Young Athletes Road Relays held at Croxteth Park, Liverpool. After Stevie Goodfellow had the Under 17 Women set in a very handy position of eighteenth on Leg one with her clocking of 14m32s, Junior Great North Run Champion Laura Weightman's clocking of 12m30s, which proved to be the second fastest of the day overall, only bettered by Lincoln Wellington's Blue Haywood's 12m03 on the final leg which gave them victory, was strong enough to lift them a mammoth ten places to eighth on Leg Two. Zoe Armstrong's excellent final leg of 13m20s, 7th fastest, got them up to a final placing of fifth. A similar pattern was followed by Morpeth's Under 17 Men where Jordan Scott on Leg One had them sitting in 18th place with his clocking of 12m07s. Alistair Douglass ran an excellent seventh fastest time of 11m48s on Leg Two to take them up to eleventh. Final leg runner Karl Taylor ran an equally excellent fourth fastest final leg time of 11m38s to finish eighth.

Ian Hudspith and Rachel Denton were the pick of the Morpeth Harriers performers at the Nichol Hunter Cross Country Relays held at Shibdon Pond, Blaydon. Hudspith is certainly a man in form at the moment, as his 10th placing in the Bupa Great North Run clearly testifies, and on this showing he proved beyond doubt that he is a still the 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. 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 stalwarts and officials Bill Woods and Mick Groves were honoured respectively at the North East Counties Athletics Association Awards Night and Dinner at Ramside Hall in Durham. Bill received his award for his long and dedicated service to Track and Field Athletics which also sees him devote some of his time to his post as Secretary to the British League Premier Division as well as being a highly graded Field Official. Mick won his award also for long and dedicated service to Road and Cross Country where he can regularly be seen as a Timekeeper or Recorder.

With a clocking of 9m38s, Sarah Wilkes was a clear winner of Morpeth Harriers Under 11 Girls Road Championship held on Lancaster Park. Not only was Wilkes a clear winner of the Girls event, she was also a good way faster than any of the Under 11 Boys on the road in their Championship, which was won by Ben Steel in 10m20s. The closest Girl finisher to Wilkes was Annabelle Young who clocked 11m06s for to take the Silver Medal, and Ella Brookes clocked the same time for Bronze in a very close finish. Second place in the Boys race went to Joseph Elder (10m26s) with Matthew Denton claiming third place in 11m05s.

The loss of the services of Dan Samuels with a back injury was a bitter blow to Morpeth Harriers, as it severely dented their hopes of a top six placing at the National 6 Stage Road Relays, held at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. Having no Nick McCormick or Mark Hudspith to call upon had already extinguished any thought of a medal challenge, the lack of Samuels, who had been their second fastest athlete at last months North of England Championship, further compounded the respectability of the clubs perceived performance. Team Manager Dave Swinburne, who was not fit enough himself to don his racing shoes, was forced to bring in young Nick Swinburn, who was himself not at his best, however he rallied to his clubs call. The outcome at the end of the day was that they finished eleventh, and just less than three minutes adrift of Bronze medals. Morpeth Harriers Womens 4 Stage squad finished 28th and were ninth from the North of England and second from the North East with Chester Le Street finishing ahead of them in fifth place overall. After being behind Gateshead for two of the four legs they pulled away from them on the final leg to finish three places ahead. Morpeth's fastest runner here was Birmingham University student Delyth James who was 27th on the first leg with her clocking for 4.32k being 15m14s. Aiveen Fox on second leg admitted to not having one of her better runs as she slipped back to 30th with her clocking of 16m06s. Kate Chapman on third leg rose two places to 28th on Leg three as she got round in 16m50s. Final leg runner Sarah Graham held the placing with an excellent 16m16s.

An excellent run by Marcus Cram saw him finish fourth on the first leg of the Under 15 Boys event at the Young Athletes Road Relays held at Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield. Cram's 12m34s also proved to be the sixth fastest on the day, but unfortunately he had no one to share his efforts as Morpeth Harriers failed to field a full squad to support him. That wasn't the same however for clubmate Rachel Denton who clocked the thirteenth fastest time of of 14m12s to come home in a final 17th place after Rachel Steel's 16m28s and Hannah Rank's 15m15s to secure a team finish for the clubs Under 15 Girls.

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. In the case of the Womens Davison Shield events it was easy pickings for the Northumbrian outfit 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.

The final events in the series of Young Athletes Road Championships organised by Morpeth Harriers  took place on Lancaster Park. On this occasion it was the turn of the Under 17 age group, and Zoe Armstrong powered her way round the 1.30 mile cicuit to eventually come home as winner of the Womens event. Her winning time of 8m17s was superb and put her over a minute clear of her nearest rival Stevie Goodfellow who clocked 9m20s, however it was a good run for Stevie who has battled injury in recent times. Third place went to Deborah Oakley who clocked 9m38s. The two lap Under 17 Mens Race was won by Craig Rowley in 18m19s. Craig went through halfway in 9m00s. Second and third places went to Daniel Hedley and Stephen Bewick who clocked identical times of 20m33s.

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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, they could 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 have 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.

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.

Best Morpeth female performers were their 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.

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.

Several Morpeth Harriers produced excellent high level performances at the prestigious International Cross Country meeting held at Gateshead's Riverside Bowl. 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 the Road and Cross Country season.

One young Morpeth Harrier who was certainly firing on all cylinders was 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. 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.

Morpeth Harriers had three individual and one team victory at the annual Heaton Harriers Memorial Road Races which were held within the Newcastle Exhibition Park and Town Moor pathways. Zoe Armstrong wrote herself into the history books as recording a hat-trick of wins at Heaton, having won both of her years in the Under 15 age group she triumphed in the Under 17/ Under 20 Womens 5k event by the handsome margin of 2min14secs over Gateshead's Under 20 athlete Lindsey Dodsworth. Zoe's finishing time was 20m22s which would have placed her seventh in the accompanying Under 17/Under 20 Mens event.

Morpeth Harriers as the only club to finish with three qualifying athletes in the Under 17/Under 20 Womens event won the team race with support coming from Stevie Goodfellow (4th) 23m36s and Sarah Bewick (6th) 28m13s. Hannah Rank won the Under 15 Girls 5k event by the margin of five seconds with her finishing time of 11m40s. With a time of 4m02s giving her a five second cushion, Morpeth's Sarah Wilkes won the Under 11 Girls 1k event. A present course record field of 385 finishers took part in the Senior/Veteran Men and Womens 10k race and amongst them were six runners from Morpeth Harriers. Morpeth were led home by Les Atkinson who was the first Veteran Mens finisher in seventh place in 35m23s. Les's time may have been slightly faster had he not fell after having to turn quickly after going off course with just under 1k remaining.

The dominance of athletes from Morpeth Harriers was clear for all to see at the 56th Brampton to Carlisle Road Race. Not only did they provide the race winner on the day in Michael Morris, they also won the Mens Senior and Veteran Team events, and the Ladies team race.

It was certainly no cake walk for Morris as he sped to the finish line at the Sands Centre in Carlisle in an excellent time of 53m01s, which gave him a six second cushion over runner up Ricky Lightfoot of Ellenborough AC, with former race winner Michael Scott of Border AC a further three seconds adrift in third place. Paul Waterston of Morpeth produced an excellent run of 55m08s to come home in twelfth place. Waterston's twelfth place saw him finish as second in the Over 40 Veteran Mens category and as third Veteran Man overall. The supporting runs of Gordon Dixon (45th) (4th O/45) (15th Vet) 59m34s, and Gavin Bayne (52nd) (6th O/50) (19th Vet) 60m25s, saw Morpeth take the Veteran Mens team title, once again ahead of Border, and also again by a one point margin.

Morpeth took the Womens team title being led home by Kate Chapman who finished 136th overall in 65m43s and was eighth lady finisher. She was however beaten to the line by her club colleague Jane Mooney who was fifth lady in 102nd place in 63m41s, however Jane was unable to make her contribution in team terms due to an admin error where she was listed as an unattached competitor. Supporting counts for Morpeth in the Ladies team race came with excellent runs from Michelle Woodley (220th) (19th Lady) 68m52s and Sue Calvert (269th) (24th Lady)  (5th Lady O/40) 70m36s. (Although Jane Mooney was later re-installed as a counter as it was down to an original admin error).

Morpeth Harriers Senior Men got their Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League campaign off to a superb start in the first fixture at Blaydon. 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.

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. 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.

Morpeth Harrier Kristian Forster did superbly on his comeback run in the City of Glasgow 5mile event. Forster finished seventh in 26m00s.

Walter Ryder and Archie Jenkins of Morpeth Harriers each gained medals at the British Masters Cross Country Championships held at Stormont, Northern Ireland on Saturday. In Ryder'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. Jenkins 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.

After a desperate time dealing with a lack of form and confidence,  a note of positivity was shown in the performance of Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick at the highly rated Chiba Ekiden Relay event held in Japan at the weekend. McCormick ran the first 5k leg that saw him finish eighth of fifteen teams in a good 14m04s, and he paved the way for a sterling Great Britain performance that saw them eventually finish sixth in a high class competition.

Morpeth Harrier Dan Samuels bounced back to winning form in his former clubs Norman Woodcock Memorial Road Race held within the racecourse at High Gosforth Park. Elswick Harriers had devised a two lap 5mile course using the tarmac road that travels round the inside of the horse race track, and Samuels was first home in an excellent 25m36s that saw him finish forty nine seconds ahead of Gosforth's Matt Nicholson, with Heaton's James Buis a further fifty five seconds adrift in third place. Heaton Harriers won the Mens Team race ahead of Morpeth with Samuels run being supported by Gordon Dixon (20th) (1st O/45) 29m38s and Archie Jenkins (22nd) (1st O/50) 29m49s. In the Womens team race Morpeth finished second to Chester Le Street. They were led home by Michelle Woodley who was sixth lady in 64th place overall in 34m05s, with further good team support coming from Sue Calvert (12th) (86th) (2nd O/35 Lady) 35m15s and Sally Welsh (21st) (112th) (8th O/35 Lady) 37m19s.

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Jonathan Taylor and Nick Swinburn of Morpeth Harriers competed at the second UK Cross Challenge meeting held at Liverpool's Sefton Park. Taylor 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 Swinburn finished 28th in a very competitive Under 20 Mens 6.7k event.

Excellent runs by Chris Sampson and Sarah Graham of Morpeth Harriers saw them each achieve new personal bests at the prestigious Leeds Abbey Dash 10k Road Race. Sampson clocked 30m55s to finish 14th, which not only beat his previous best by sixteen seconds, but also bettered his 2006 time in the same event by 24 seconds, where he had finished 25th. In Graham's case she finished as 19th Lady in 37m36s which took 21 seconds of her previous best and a whole 47 seconds off her 2006 figures in the same event. With runs like that, both can look forward to an excellent Winter barring injury.

Running with a five minute handicap against a good proportion of the field, Morpeth Harrier Archie Jenkins stormed to victory in Sunday's annual Blyth Sands Race.

Five Morpeth Harriers braved attrocious conditions when they competed in the Thirsk 10 Mile Road Race. Heavy rain had brought swamp like conditions to parts of the course, however this did not deter the clubs leading finisher Paul Waterston when he finished seventh in 56m03s, thus keeping up his current run of excellent form.

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

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.

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.

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). 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).

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.

Morpeth Harrier Marcus Cram finished an excellent second in the Under 15 Boys event at the Scottish East District Cross Country Championships held at Stirling University.

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. 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.

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).

Morpeth Harrier Jonathan Taylor made up for missing the North Eastern Cross Country Championships by finishing third to Newham & Essex Beagle Stephen Hepples in the Loftus Poultry 7.5mile Race. Taylor clocked 42m53s. Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the event were Andrew Lawrence (10th) 45m16s and David Steel (51st) 51m20s.

Ben Harrison of Morpeth Harriers competed in the first leg of the two leg running of the Great Langdale 10k event. The event had to be run as two separate races because of the amount who subscribed to run. With Christmas Puddings on offer as prizes it proved very popular, and Ben earned his by finishing seventh in 32m23s on a tough hilly out and back course.

Morpeth Harrier Phil Walker blew his disappointments of the North Eastern Cross Country Championships, where he had suffered with a severe headcold as he slogged his way round the rainswept and muddy Hartlepool course, well and truly out of the window, when he posted the fastest time at his new club's annual Christmas Handicap event on Lancaster Park. The former Blaydon Harrier, giving a ten minute start to the events slowest competitors, got round the two lap 2.7mile circuit in an excellent 15m02s to eventually pass six other competitors to finish 21st for his efforts. Second fastest on the night was Paul Waterston, who had a handicap of 9m30s, and just managed to hold off the close attentions of the aforementioned Walker as he finished one place ahead in a time of 15m14s.

One place ahead of Waterston was the events third fastest competitor Andrew Lawrence who clocked 15m22s after having a ten second advantage with a handicap of 9m20s reduced to a mere two seconds at the finish line. Winner overall of the event was Les Cavill, who working off a 3m00s handicap managed to take victory by five seconds with a clocking of 18m41s. Second place went to Sally Welsh, who with a handicap of 2m10s clocked a net time of 19m36s. One of Morpeth Harriers fast improving runners Ian Corner used his 5m50s handicap to good effect to come home in third place with a net time of 16m29s.

Jonathan Taylor of Morpeth Harriers ran an excellent 32m10s to finish second in the Saltwell 10k Road Race behind Elswick's Under 23 International Ryan McLeod. Taylor also led his club to the Senior Mens team title with further support coming from Alan Shepherd (13th) 35m00s and Ben Harrison (15th) 35m32s. Morpeth's Marcus Cram was an emphatic winner of the Under 15 Boys 3k event in 9m35s. Zoe Armstrong of Morpeth ran well and placed second in the Under 17 Womens 5k in 19m29s to Blaydon's Helen Gertig.

Morpeth Harrier Nick McCormick had his first run on local soil for some time when he finished second to Elswick's Ryan McLeod in the Woodlawn Christmas Pudding Run on Boxing Day. The annual event at Whitley Bay saw a strong field assembled, and McLeod was first to the finish line posting a time of 16m03s for the 5.5k course. That put him eleven seconds clear of McCormick, and reversed the 2006 placings. Another Morpeth man back in form is Neil Wilkinson, and he will be pleased to clock 17m16s for fourth place. Other leading Morpeth finishers were Ross Floyd (8th) 17m51s, Phil Walker (9th) 17m54s and Paul Waterston (11th) 18m29s.

Running in the colours of Northumberland Fell Runners, Morpeth Harrier Nick Swinburne was a convincing winner of the Ayhope Skyline Christmas Trail Race held at Bishop Auckland. Swinburn completed the 9.5mile tough circuit in 60m44s.

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