Sunderland Harriers went agonisingly close to winning the much anticipated Good Friday road relays as they produced an all-round superb team effort, only to be pipped by recently crowned Northern champions Morpeth Harriers.
The event was making a long-awaited return after a hiatus of three years, host club Elswick Harriers managed to secure a new venue in Albermarle Barracks in Stamfordham. All senior athletes were to race over one lap of 2.4 miles carrying a baton, a quick course indeed.
The final race of the day saw the senior men line up, and judging by the calibre of athletes on leg one the supporters penned into a tight corner of the course were in for a treat of fast running. The athletes certainly didn't disappoint either as James Young (Morpeth), coached by Steve Cram produced the fastest time of the day in 10:44 coming in first. He was quickly followed by Brandon Pye (Houghton), the returning Sam Charlton (Wallsend), USA bound Chris Perkins (Birtley) and our own Scott Armstrong who ran 11:12.
Liam Taylor was next off for the Royal Blues and he managed to improve one place to bring his team up to third running 11:37. Sam Hancox (11:19) still had Morpeth in a commanding lead with Houghton in second thanks to Chris Coulson (11:24).
Things would dramatically change on the third leg as Sunderland's Stephen Jackson produced a scintillating run (11:22) as he went toe to toe with the rapidly improving Connor Marshall (11:17) of Morpeth and both athletes were neck and neck at the finish line. The lead had been cut too just 26 seconds as Ali Douglas (Morpeth) held onto the lead setting up an enthralling last leg.
It was Joe Armstrong who had the task of overhauling the leading runner, Lawrence McCourt (11:05) of Morpeth. The latter a new recruit from Ilkley Harriers had a 26 seconds lead and this was reduced to 5 seconds as he and Joe came into the last turn with 400m to go. A superb battle ensued but it was Morpeth who held on, only just to lift yet another trophy. Armstrong gave it his all running 10:54.
The B team of Craig Gunn (11:34), Steve Rankin (11:46), Adam Hughes (11:50) and Michael Rodenby (12:49) finished 8th.
Joe Willis (12:53) and Chris Newby (13:52) ran in an incomplete C team that was hampered by two late withdrawals.
The men's veteran race was equally as exciting as Sunderland Harriers who had led all the way were beaten by a whisker with Tyne Bridge claiming the spoils. The Royal Blues team consisted of Michael Barker (12:02), Sam Thurlbeck (12:33), Chris Dwyer (13:12) and Michael Edwards (12:47). Gateshead Harriers were a distant third.
The veterans B team of Darren Dodd (13:31), Andrew Hughes (13:52), Darren Stoker (14:14) and Steven Gordon (13:39) finished 7th. The C team of Mike Cherrington (14:30), Paul Redman (14:58), Dean Phillips (16:05) and Ed Sweeney (16:41) were 20th.
The Royal also had two ladies' teams racing, the A team of Izzy Abraham (15:32), Vicky Haswell (15:43) and Hayley Dobinson (15:02) finished 17th. The B team finished 39th thanks to the efforts of Hannah Hughes (20:42), Debbie Defty (19:21) and Doreen Dickinson (18:30).
There were also a host of junior races and the Club were represented by three boys, in the under 13's 1.5 mile race Seth Hughes (9:25) finished 17th and Lucas Barker (10:15) was 24th. William Young (8:47) was 14th in the Under 15's 1.5 mile race.
Club Manager Jimmy Johnson was delighted with a good days work at the event, "Obviously I'm gutted for the lads to miss out on the win in both the senior and veterans races, but they gave it their all out there today and I can't ask for more than that.
What is more pleasing is the fact that Morpeth were expecting to finish first and second in the senior race, despite them fielding two strong teams we put a spanner in the works. I knew they were panicking when their team manager came up to me on the second leg and asked what leg Joe Armstrong was running, we made them work for that victory and it proves for future races that they should never underestimate us.
It certainly shows the progress being made and it was yet another brilliant turnout by other athletes across the board."
Johnson has also taken over the role as Women's team manager, " I'm delighted to be taking over, it will be a work in progress - a long term project. Hopefully we will see some improvement in team results in the future, this can happen with hard work and commitment."