Harriers take senior men’s relay event

GATESHEAD Harriers came through from fourth on the first stage to claim victory in the senior men’s 4x2.2-mile relay at Newburn Riverside Park.

Adrian Bailes (10:25) had Birtley in the lead at the first changeover with Tyne Bridge (Finn Brodie) second, Morpeth (James Young) third and Jed Marshall (Gateshead) in fourth place.

Tyne Bridge (James Dunce) moved into the lead on stage two followed by Morpeth (Thomas Straughan) with Birtley (Tom Golding) and Gateshead (James Cripwell) dropping down to fourth and fifth respectively.

Tom Charlton kept Tyne Bridge in front on leg three though Gateshead (Matty Hynes) were now in second place just nine seconds behind with Morpeth (Andy Lawrence) a further seven seconds back in third place.

Chris Parr took over for Gateshead for the glory leg and quickly cut back the deficit to move the Tynesiders into the lead for the first time, a lead he extended to 27 seconds at the finish which was no surprise as his 10:02 stint was the quickest of the day.

Morpeth, thanks to Karl Avery’s second fastest time of the day of 10:22, finished runners-up with Tyne Bridge finishing a clear third (43:09) after Sparrow Morley’s leg of 11:08.

In the veteran men’s event over the same four 2.2-mile stages, victory went to Sunderland in 46:29 after Ian Dixon had given them the perfect start with the fastest time of the day of 11:01.

Crook, with Carl Chapman their star performer in 11:05, finished runners-up in 47:59 with Morpeth competing the one-two-three in 49:23 after Graeme Thorpe set the team’s best figures of 12:01.