North East relay heads a busy weekend on the country in our round-up of the action
NORTH EAST COUNTIES RELAYS, Thornley, November 18
Calum Johnson is a great ambassador for club events in the north east and he duly turned out for and helped his Gateshead club win this event which went ahead despite being touch and go with regards to the state of the extremely muddy going, Martin Duff reports.
Fastest leg Calum Johnson (David Hewitson)
Johnson took his club into the lead mid-race and they held on to win despite Connor Marshall closing rapidly for Morpeth on the final leg. Earlier, Cameron Allan had poked in a good third stage for Heaton at 11:08 for second quickest behind Johnson’s 10:57 fastest split.
Gateshead’s men win (David Hewitson)
Morpeth took the women’s race after taking the lead on stage two through Linzi Quinn and then Catriona McDonald finished off with a 13:10 fastest lap time for a comfortable win over Birtley, whose anchor Amber Leigh was second fastest with 13:25.
Men (4x2M approx): 1 Gateshead 49:05 (M Linsley 12:34, C Johnson 10:57, D Alexander 12:48, L Liddle 13:06); 2 Morpeth 49:15 (T Balsdon 11;59, P Smallcombe 12:20, M Banks 12:57, C Marshall 11:59); 3 Houghton 50:46 (W Bellamy 12:32, L Dover 13:48, C Allan 11:08, L Pickering 13;18); 4 Heaton 52:27; 5 Gosforth 54:46; 6 Blyth 54;49
Fastest: Johnson 10:57; Allan 11:08; C Larkin (Heaton) 11:46
26 teams finished
Masters winners Elswick (David Hewitson)
M40 (3x2M approx): 1 Elswick 40:10 (J Durham 13:19, J Douglas 13:28, A Bell 13:23); 2 Hartlepool Burn Rd 41:09; 3 Gateshead 41:43
Fastest: C Franks (Gate) 12;39; S Walker (Burn Rd) 13:01; Durham 13:19
20 teams finished
U17 (3x2M approx): 1 Morpeth 35:56 (O Tomlinson 12:00, J Close 12:09, E Kelso 11:47); 2 Darlington 36:18; 3 Blaydon 37:03
Fastest: M Murray (Blay) 11;28; F Hall (Darl) 11:44; Kelso 11:47
U15 (3×1.5M approx): 1 Tyne Br 29;48 (F Palmer 9:08, J Whitfield 10:35, I Snell 10:05); 2 Darlington 31;12; 3 Blaydon 32;25
Fastest: 1 Palmer 9:08; D L’Anson (Darl) 9:47; Snell 10:05
U13 (3x2M approx): 1 Elswick 31:08 (D Kelso 10:12, E Eland 10:59, N Surtees-Brown 10:57); 2 Darlington 31:11; 3 Darlington B 32:41
Fastest: Surtees-Brown 9:57; L Heslop (Darl) 10:02; Kelso 10:12
Morpeth win the women’s race (David Hewitson)
Women (4×4.16km): 1 Morpeth 41:34 (L MacDonald 15:15, L Quinn 15:09, C McDonald 13;10); 2 Birtley 44:06 (H Linton 14:55, L Graham 15:46, A Leigh 13:25); 3 Houghton 45:45
Fastest: McDonald 13:10; Leigh 13:25; A Pigford (Hought) 13:39
20 teams finished
W40 (3x2M…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at AW…