Morpeth Harrier Jane dons her England vest again in British and Irish Masters Cross Country race

Running as as Over 40 Veteran Woman, she finished 19th overall in the Women’s 6k event at Glasgow’s Tollcross Park on Saturday. She was ninth in her category, but just missed out on being a scorer for England by one place and two seconds to Scunthorpe athlete Nicola Curtis. However, she still received a medal for her team participation along with the others.

Jane posted a finishing time of 22.04, which was just over a minute adrift of race winner Teresa Doherty of Northern Ireland.

England finished in second place.

In his first official UK Cross Challenge race for three years, Joe Dixon, now competing as a first year Under-20 athlete, finished 32nd in the Junior Men’s 6.4k event in Cardiff on Saturday.

The main athletics event in the region was the annual Heaton Harriers Memorial Road Races, which were held on Newcastle’s Town Moor on Sunday.

More than 400 runners lined up in the Senior event, including 11 finishers from Morpeth Harriers.

At the halfway point in the race, Morpeth’s Alex Brown had a slender lead over Adrian Bailes and Alex Coulson, with Liam Taylor also coming into the reckoning.

Brown may have paid a slightly heavy price for his early pace setting, as by the time the front runners emerged from the far reaches of the two-lap course, he had slipped slightly off the pace to fourth.

Coulson won, Bailes came second, with Taylor third, just holding off a fast-finishing Brown.

Next Morpeth Harriers finisher was Gavin Bayne, who was first Over-65 Veteran Man in 140th place.

Three places behind Bayne was Robyn Bennett, who was the sixth Senior Woman finisher.

One place behind Robyn was Lee Cuthbertson, only a second adrift, and 43rd Senior Man overall.

The other Morpeth Harriers finishers were: Alistair MacDonald (fifth Over-60 Man), Lindsay Quinn (eighth Senior Woman), David Nicholson (third Over-65 Man), Richard Kirby (15th Over-50 Man, Laura McLean (11th Over-35 Woman), David McGuckin (second Over-70 Man), and Andrew Dippie (13th Over-60 Man).

Morpeth Harriers Sophie Pledger (Under-15 Girls), and Harrison Scott (Under-17 Men), both made successful competitive debuts on the boards at the opening meeting of the Gateshead Harriers Winter Series.

Both competed in the 60m sprints, where Pledger, in her preliminary heat, won in a time of 8.63s, which was eventually to become the fourth fastest time of the night in her age group.

Having qualified to run in a later final, Pledger finished second.

Meanwhile, Scott won his preliminary heat in 7.73s, which was seventh fastest, and went on to finish third in his final in 7.57s, which made him fourth fastest on the night in his age.

Will DeVere-Owen piloted King Edward VI Senior Boys to the English Schools Cross Country Cup final by winning the regional final by a comfortable margin at Middlesbrough’s Stewart Park.

He was supported by fellow Morpeth Harriers Ethan Phillips (sixth), Bertie Marr (eighth), and Liam Roche (ninth).

Also competing was Ryan Davies, who finished in 35th in a field of 80 finishers.

King Edward Intermediate Boys came ninth and were led by Ben Moll, who was 22nd.

Fellow Morpeth Harriers George Mavir and Thomas Roche were 29th and 47th respectively​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.