Harriers get off to flying start in defence of league title
Sunderland Harriers got off to a good start in defence of their league title in the opening fixture of the Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League at Wrekenton on Saturday.
The senior men’s team, back in action after the league was suspended for 19 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, were greeted by a bone-hard course and hot conditions more conducive to the track thantherigoursofcross-country running.
Team manager Jimmy Johnson assembled a team for the six-mile handicap race, overatoughhillycourse,which he thought would be good enough to get the club off to a flying start.
And he was proved right, with the royal blue vests finishing in second place behind Morpeth Harriers in the First
Division.
Johnson was relying on Liam Taylor and Michael Barker, running from the medium packandenjoyingastartoftwo and a half minutes on the fast pack, to do the business.
They both set off chasing the biggest pack of all, the slow pack, where the vast majority of the 500-plus field were running from. It was not long before they were among them and rapidly weaving their way towards the front of the field.
At the finish, Taylor had got through to ninth with an actual time of 33.00 to finish first from the medium pack and Barker took 22nd with his time of 34.36.
Next to finish for Sunderland was Chris Bell, from the slowpack,whoclocked38.13in 40th, then over-50 Chris Auld ran out of his skin to take 51st (36.10) before Dave Lash had his best run with 53rd (38.45) and fast pack man Craig Gunn closed the scoring in 80th (34.26).
Morpethwontheteamrace on 65 points from Sunderland with 108 and Tyne Bridge 119.
The race winner was exSunderland Harrier Liam Roarty, of Morpeth, with 32.57. The fastest runner on the course was Tyne Bridge’s MichaelHedley,whorecorded 31.57 from the fast pack.
Houghton Harriers, who compete in the Third Division,finishedsecondtoSedgefield,withslowpackmanChris Coulson finishing runner-up (33.40)andLukePickeringwas 42nd(33.14)fromthefastpack.
In the women’s race, Sunderland Harrier Jessica Fox finished second running from the slow pack, recording 26.32 behind race winner Emily Baines, of Blaydon (25.14).
Fox also led Sunderland to third place in the Second Division,withLindaMudford28th (29.33), Colleen Compson 58th (30.59), and Hayley Dobinson 77th (31.29).
There was also a medal for Sunderland in the under-17 men’s race, where improving Adam Hughes split four Morpeth Harriers to finish third to win bronze. He also led Sunderland to third team place with Dillon Revell 17th and his brother Brandon 30th.
Stephen Jackson will carry Sunderland Harriers’ flag in Sunday’s London Marathon. He goes into the race in the form of his life after clocking five personal bests this year over varying distances.
He recorded 2.26.37 in April’s Cheshire Elite Marathon, finishing 27th. In the Great North Run he brought his half-marathon time down to 68.46 to finish 26th and recorded 31.17 finishing third in the Sunderland City 5km. He dipped below 15 minutes for the first time when he clocked 14.59intheSunderland5kmat Silksworth.
Sunderland Harrier Michael Wilson continued his comeback from injury with a win in the Surrey 5km at Woking, winning in a time of 15:39.