Sunderland Harriers senior men team produced their best performance for many a year as they finished a brilliant 8th at the Northern 12 stage road relays down at a cold, wet and windy Redcar seafront.
The relays are a test of endurance with the long legs 6 miles in distance and a test of speed on the short legs of 5k.
Stephen Jackson got the Royal Blues off to a solid start with a time of 30:00 and 15th position, Blackburn and Hallamshire were joint leaders with Rotherham back in 3rd.
Up next was Joe Armstrong, and it was he who produced the fastest short leg of the day with a blistering 14:42 to hurl the Royal Blues up to 4th place only 4 seconds behind 3rd place Morpeth. Craig Gunn then set off on leg 3 and produced a solid run with a time of 31:31, the Wearsiders were now back in 8th place well clear of 9th.
Scott Armstrong, brother of Joe, continued his fine form with a run of 15:36 to lift his team up to 7th. Hallamshire were in the lead at this stage with Sale and neighbours Salford battling it out in the medal positions.
Steve Rankin then took one for the team as he was a last-minute change to run a long leg, he done himself proud with a time of 31:42 and the Royal Blues were now locked in 7th place, almost 3 minutes behind 6th placed Blackburn. Carl Avery of Morpeth produced a polished performance as he propelled his team into the lead leaving chasing teams Hallamshire and Sale in his wake.
Melbourne bound Adam Hughes was then tasked to try and eat into the gap of 6th placed Blackburn, the 17-year-old ran 16:07 to stay in 7th. New signing Lawrence McCourt ran 15:17 to extend Morpeth’s lead with Hallamshire and Salford way back in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The last long leg saw Jake Ridding, in the midst of marathon training produce a brilliant 31:26. Leeds City AC moved into the podium places for the first time as Linton Taylor ran the fastest long leg of the day, 28:28. A great run but unfortunately not enough to cut into Morpeth’s almost 3 minutes lead.
Team captain, Nathan Reed continued his comeback with a time of 17:01 on leg 8, up next was England Masters International Michael Barker who headed off the challenge of Liverpool with a time of 16:30.
Legs 10 and 11 saw university students Joe Pomfret (15:58) and Alex Seed (16:29) produce the race of the lives as the chomped their way into 6th placed Sale Harriers advantage, the gap was cut down to 21 seconds. Morpeth were well clear in the lead, with Leeds, Hallamshire and Salford having a battle royale for the remaining medals.
On the last leg, Sam Thurlbeck who was a late call-up to the team put paid to the deteriorating conditions to run 17:02 as the Royal Blues finished in 8th place.
Philip Winkler had the pleasure of leading Morpeth Harriers home to a well-deserved victory, Hallamshire finished in second place and defending champions Leeds City AC a disappointing third.
Team Manager Jimmy Johnson was delighted with how his team performed "I am over the moon with how the lads raced today, everyone was focused from the off and the team spirit was absolutely superb. We had 8 lads in the top 10 fastest times of their respective legs and the performance of Joe Armstrong was the icing on the cake and it inspired his teammates tenfold.
We might not have won it, but we are making huge strides as a team and the Club is moving in the right direction. It certainly bodes well for the future."
The senior ladies finished 24th in the women's race. Jen Tomlin 41:03, Amy Callaghan 19:23, Natasha Steel 21:36, Charlotte Stidolph 40:53, Maria Davis 23:09 and Vicky Haswell 22:04.
In the under 17 Boys 5k race, Joe Willis (17:30) finished 20th. The race was won by William De Vere Owen of Morpeth who also took the team title home.
Hannah Hughes finished 12th in the under 17 girls race, which was won by Charlotte Dillon of Houghton Harriers.
In the girls under 15 race, Isabelle Abraham finished 11th in a time of 20:58. Grace Carter (Durham City) was third.
Liam Taylor (33:17) finished 5th at the Port of Blyth 10k which was won by Jordan Bell (32:16) of Blackhill Bounders.