Harriers are edged out of the medal running at Sedgefield
Sunderland Harriers were pushed outside the medals in the 115th North Eastern Counties Cross Country Championships at Sedgefield on Saturday.
The senior men’s team, missing two of their leading runners through injury, found the situation too much ofahandicapandwererelegated to fourth place from the 27 competing clubs.
MorpethHarriers,boosted by an influx of new signings, packed their six counters inside the first 17 finishers to walk away with the championship.
InsecondplacewereGateshead, led by National Cross Country champion Calum Johnson and Tyne Bridge Harriers filled third place.
The Wearsiders had their first three runners inside 22, but there was a big gap to their last three counters.
MichaelWilson,moreused to the track than the country, ledtheroyalbluevestshomein ninthposition(39.58).Thiswas only his second cross country race over the distance and he showed his class by finishing strongly to advance his position.
He was followed by a solid run from Stephen Jackson in 13th(40.54),thencameNathan Reed with his best race of the seasonin22nd(41.55).Thefinal three team scorers were Mark Anderson in 47th (43.44), OwenWalpole57th(44.14)andMichael Edwards 61st (44.30).
Calum Johnson showed his pedigree and won as he pleased, winning by nearly twominutesinatimeof(36.14). Morpeth’s new man Finn Brodie was second (38.00) and Kieran Walker of North East Project finished third (36.06). In fourth place was former HoughtonHarrierAlexBrown of Morpeth (38.27).
While Sunderland did not win any senior medals, they came away with awards from the Under-17s and Under-20s events.
The Under-20s team won bronze medals and were led home by Alexander Seed in 13th (31.14), then came Cameron Lawton 17th (32.56) and Connor Prior was 18th (33.07).
The Under-17s saw Adam Hughes finish eighth in 20.07, Dillon Revel was next in 23rd (22.19) and final counter was SebastianWalton25th(22.26).
HoughtonHarrierBrandon Pyehadasuperbperformance in the Under-17s event in finishing second (19.12) to Gateshead’s Joshua Blevins (19.02), team-mate Chris Coulson was third Under-20s (27.38).
In the combined Under-17/20s women’s event, Houghton Harriers won bronze with Eva Hardie third in(20.06),AnnaPigfordfourth (20.15) and Amy Leonard 25th (22.58).
Sunderland Harrier Jessica Fox had a good run to finish 17th (34.10) in the senior women’srace.HayleyDobinsonwas 71st (40.01) and Aly West 84th (41.09) and Colleen Compson completed the scoring in 98th (41.59).Theteamfinished15th.
Jarrow and Hebburn won the team race for the fourth time in a row for a new record. The team was Alexandra Sneddon in fourth (31.26), Milissa Turner eighth (32.32), Georgia Campbell 12th (33.41) and Stephanie Patterson 18th (34.12). The race, won was by Catriona McDonald of Morpeth in (30.15)
Saltwell Harriers stage the oldest road race in the country on Saturday at Saltwell Park.
There are no late entries on the day and entries have already closed at 424, with the racestartat11.30am.Firstmale and female will be awarded a prize of £100 and if the course records are broken there are bonusawardsof£100.Records are Ryan McLeod 30.57 (2011) and Rosie Smith 35.05 (2014).