“At least there's one team from Sunderland top of the league”, was team manager Albert James’ wry assessment after Saturday’s victorious North-East Harrier league fixture at Alnwick.

While Sam Allardyce’s men were busy throwing away two points on the south coast against Southampton, the city’s Harriers were way up north, strengthening their grip on Division One of the NEHL with a winning performance in the shadow of Alnwick Castle thanks to some shrewd selections by Albert and gritty performances as each and every member of the squad, including the non-scorers, stepped up to play their part.

Nathan Reed led the charge, making light of the wintry conditions and scything through the field from the Medium pack to finish third overall. Nathan’s overall time of 37:41 was fourth fastest of the day behind runaway winner, Eritrean Abraham Tewelde of Saltwell, who, while not quite the 2:10 marathon runner that was rumoured before the race, nevertheless has a very respectable PB of 2:19:34 for 26.2 miles.

Nathan was ably supported by two club stalwarts in Tim Field and, making a rare appearance over the country this winter, Brian Bewick who placed 8th and 11th respectively. Medium pack runners Ian Ritchie (22nd), Michael Edwards (29th) and Jack Tallentire (31st) moved through the field well to close the team out with 72 points and then followed an anxious wait to see if we had managed to hold off title rivals Tyne Bridge and a weaker than normal Morpeth team following their National heroics seven days earlier. Tyne Bridge had packed well with 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, but luckily the Sunderland team’s heroics paid off and we edged the Black and Whites by just five points.

Every finisher contributed to the win however, as they strained through the mud to gain every last place and point they could, pushing the scoring six all the way to the finishing funnel. In-form Steve Rankin moved through to 34th from the Fast pack, just outsprinting Jake Archer, who doubled his weekly mileage in the process of finishing 35th.

Then came Steve McMahon, on the hunt for Harriers Grand Prix points, in 62nd and 800m specialist Ben Craig, putting in valuable strength work for the summer, 67th. Al Knebel rounded out the top 100 and was followed home by Paul Redman (134th), Mark Head (168th), Michael Heskett (188th), Paul Merrison (206th), Dean Phillips (252nd), Alan McManus (261st), Karl Robinson (270th), Barry Marlee (298th), Gary Fox (328th) and Fred Judson (355th).

“It’s ours to lose now,” says Steve McMahon, “let’s bring home the bacon at Wrekenton”.

Emma North led home a women’s team in 37th place, with Nicola Woodward, still feeling the effects of her national effort, in 71st from the Fast pack. Vikki Cotton was third counter in 104th, and Rachael Moore fourth in 140th. It was great to see Vicky Younger back in action after a long lay-off, coming through from the Medium pack to place 163rd with Lucie Forster in 215th.

With several junior Harriers on County duty at the English Schools Championships in Nottingham, there were fewer athletes than normal wearing the Royal Blue in the younger age groups, but there were some notable performances nonetheless. Nathan Bland battled well to finish 4th in the U-15 Boys race, with Josh Bland having earlier finished 27th at U-13 level. Duran Gun, in new spikes having lost his others in The National mud last week, continued his good form finishing 7th in U-15 Boys race, and Fast-packer Jack Smith just made the top 10 in the U-17’s. Caitlin Watson (25th) and Lydia Stoker (32nd from the Fast pack) both showed well in a competitive U-13 Girls race.

Harrier League attention now moves to Wrekenton in two weeks time. A good turn-out in the men’s race is crucial to ensure there are no mistakes and that the Division One title comes back to Wearside, where it belongs.