STORM LAURA HITS HETTON HARD
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| Morpeth Harrier's Laura Weightman |
THE only storm visible at
Hetton Lyons Country Park was that of fleet-footed Olympian Laura Weightman who
scorched round the 2.2-mile of the North Eastern Counties Road Relay
Championship in a new course record time of 11:01 minutes which was 21 seconds
quicker than she posted back in 2014.
With such an important year
ahead for the Morpeth athlete it was good to see she still manages to fit in
local events whenever possible and, by all accounts the Signals is usually penciled in at the dawn of a new year.
The first of two relays on
the programme were the combined senior women, masters’ over-50 and masters’
women 4x2.2-mile event and it was New Marske, thanks to Martin Murray, whose
12:02 at the end of the day, was the quickest overall, led at the first
changeover followed by North Shields Poly, Sedgefield and Tyne Bridge.
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| Martin Murray, New Marske |
New Marske continued to lead
as the contest entered the third stage with the Poly still in second place with
Morpeth now third, Elswick fourth and Houghton fifth.
By the final changeover
Morpeth had surged to the head of affairs with a big lead thanks to super vet
Guy Bracken while just six seconds separated North Shields Poly, New Marske and
Elswick in the chase for the minor awards.
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| Guy Bracken |
At the conclusion it was
Morpeth who claimed their second title of the day as Elswick came through to
claim second place six seconds ahead of New Marske with the Poly just missing
out despite a brave effort by club stalwart Vaughan Hemy.
Meanwhile, in the women’s
section, Elswick teenager Imogen Bungay – whose 12:22 was the second fastest
female after Weightman – led at the first changeover then came veteran woman
and course record holder Olympian Aly Dixon. North Shields Poly were in second
place ahead of Gateshead and Jarrow and Hebburn in the senior women’s contest
while North Shields Poly and New Marske were behind Sunderland Strollers in the
veteran women.
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| Aly Dixon and Imogen Bungay battle it out |
On stage two North Shields
Poly moved into the lead – thanks to Holly Waugh who was the quickest of their
quartet - followed by Elswick and Morpeth while North Shields Poly edged into
the lead ahead of Elswick and Sunderland Strollers in the vet women.
The fireworks began
immediately on leg three when Weightman took over the running for Morpeth and
she quickly overhauled the athletes ahead showing a superb turn of foot which
augurs well for the task ahead in a quest for major championship selection.
After her two-lap stint the
Northumbrian had turned a 47-seconds deficit into a minute and 31 seconds
advantage before handing over to Millie Breese to run the glory leg.
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| Morpeth's Millie Breese |
The leading positions
remained the same in the run to the finish with Morpeth claiming victory in
51:11, the Poly finished runners-up in 52:39 with a delighted Elswick claiming
the bronze awards.
And that wasn’t the end of
the celebrations for the Newcastle club for, after playing catch up behind
North Shields Poly for the first three stages, a superb run by former English
Schools’ cross-country champion Justina Heslop, saw the West Enders hit the
front in the closing stages of the vet women’s event to cross the line with a
four-seconds cushion ahead of the Poly’s Katherine Davis. The Strollers
completed the one-two-three a further 22 seconds behind.
It was an exciting finale to a
great competition which had over 100 teams overall competing with Weightman,
who was delighted with her run, commenting: “I felt good and it’s always nice
to be able to do this race and be part of the Morpeth team for the opportunity
doesn’t often come about. My immediate plans are to have a couple of more road
races before moving on to track training before the summer championships.”
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| Morpeth's winning ladies team, from George Patterson |
MORPETH RETAIN TITLE WITH RECORD-BREAKING
PERFORMANCE
THE blue-vested Morpeth
sextet had the bit between their teeth even before their event got underway
after they watched Laura Weightman produce an eye-catching performance in the
opening event, so much so the Northumbrians were never headed throughout the
six-stage contest after George Lowry brought them to the first changeover in
pole position and at the end of the day Sam Hancox, George Rudman, Finn Brodie,
Alex Brown, who was quickest overall, and Carl Avery celebrated victory after
just over an hours running to break their own course record by over a minute and
with their second string finishing in fourth place it shows how strong
endurance wise the club is at present.
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| George Lowery & Josh Blevins |
Teenager Josh Blevins had
Gateshead in second place at the first changeover with the Poly’s David Green
third just ahead of Sunderland’s Scott Armstrong.
On leg two Morpeth continued
to lead (Hancox) with Sunderland moving into second place as Birtley, thanks to
the stages’ second fastest time by Chris Perkins – New Marske’s Lewis
Gamble-Thompson was quickest - moved into third ahead of Tyne Bridge and
Gateshead.
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| Sam Hancox |
Morpeth extended their
advantage at the half-way point after Rudman was quickest on leg three with
Gateshead moving back into second ahead of Birtley, Tyne Bridge, Morpeth B and
Sunderland.
The Morpeth lead widened even
further on stage four thanks to Brodie as Gateshead just held onto second place
with Sunderland a close up third ahead of Morpeth B and Birtley.
Any doubts of a Morpeth
victory were blown away on the penultimate stage as Brown took over the running
and not only did he extend the lead even further to over two minutes his clocking
of 10:28 was the overall best of the day. Sunderland, thanks to Steve Jackson,
were now in second place ahead of Morpeth B with Birtley and Gateshead racing
together just behind.
Now near full fitness Avery
had the honour of taking over for the glory leg for Morpeth and he brought the
team home just over three minutes clear of Sunderland who held off the
fast-finishing Adrian Bailes (Birtley) to claim the silver medals. Morpeth B
team finished in fourth place ahead of Gateshead, Tyne Bridge, North Shields
Poly, New Marske, Elswick, Blackhill.
**THE North Eastern Counties AA
is indebted to Houghton Harriers for once again hosting the Signals Relays and
to Peter and Maureen Dodsworth especially who took on most of the hard work
prior to and on the day in making sure the Championships were a huge success.
Also a big thank you to all
the officials – we wish Phil Lancaster a speedy recovery after having an
accident which resulted in a gashed leg just before action began - especially
David Daniels for taking the entries and supplying the results. It was a great
day’s sport with nearly 900 competitors taking part so well done to you all.
**THE next relay on the local
calendar sees action change terrain when the NE Counties once again host their
Cross-Country Relay Championships at Thornley Hall Farm on March 19.
This fixture, with the first
event at 11am, is for Men and Women Masters and Senior Men and Women and
Under-20 Men with a planned programme for junior teams at the same venue on
April 2.
The Masters and Under-20
Relay is 3x3k while the Senior Men contest 4x3k. Clubs can enter A and B teams
with entries for the senior relays closing on Wednesday, March 9.
Report by Bill McGuirk
Photos: www.stuartwhitman.co.uk
