DESPITE one of the day's outstanding performances by Ian Hudspith, Morpeth Harriers had to settle for eighth place in the National Six-Stage Road Relay Championships in Sutton Park, Birmingham.
The Northumbrians got off to a promising start thanks to Jonny Taylor’s opening stage of 17min 23sec for the 5.8 mile course though, after a three-month absence, New Marske’s Ricky Stevenson was the first athlete to reach the changeover.
Durham (Michael Grimes) were in 34th place, three ahead of Gateshead (Ryan Stephenson).
On stage two Morpeth (Matt Nicholson) slipped back to 21st while Andy Wiles, with a 17:39 clocking, kept New Marske in the reckoning in second place.
Gateshead, meanwhile, who were in 37th position after the opening leg, moved up to 20th thanks to Ross Murray’s 17:40 stint.
Lewis Timmins moved Morpeth up four places to 17th while Gateshead (Marc Ellliott) slipped to 23rd and Durham (Liam Ayton) to 63rd.
Ian Harding improved Morpeth’s position to 15th with Gateshead (Tim Calder) dropping a further two places to 25th while Durham improved five positions to 58th thanks to Dan Jenkin.
Richard Morell kept New Marske in pole position as far as the North East was concerned though he handed over for the final leg in 12th place just two places ahead of Morpeth (Peter Newton) with Gateshead (David Old) dropping back to 32nd and Durham City (Jonathan Wilkinson) losing further ground to 64th.
On the final leg Hudspith had no chance of bringing Morpeth into a medal position but that didn’t deter the 41-year-old giving his all.
Taking over in 14th place, Hudspith’s determination saw him reel in six rivals and his effort (17:17) was rewarded with the third fastest stage time and 11th quickest overall.
It was a superb effort by Hudspith, one he should be immensely proud of, as Morpeth eventually finished just over two minutes behind champions Aldershot, Farnham and District.
Morpeth, who were crowned North of England champions, three weeks earlier, sadly didn’t make an appearance in the women’s 4x4.3 mile relay and it was left to Durham City, the North of England cross-country relay bronze medallists, and New Marske to fly the flag.
Rosie Smith gave the cathedral city a superb start handing over in second place in 14:26, a time which only eight other athletes bettered all afternoon.
Katy Livingston brought New Marske home in 44th place closely followed by Sarah McDonald who was Jarrow and Hebburn’s only athlete.
Aiveen Fox slipped back seven places for Durham on stage two with Jess Russon improving two places for New Marske to 42nd.
Kim Simpson ran the penultimate leg for Durham City and handed over to Katherine O’Mahoney in 18th place while Bobbi Phillips continued New Marske’s forward move up to 35th.
On the final stage Katherine O’Mahoney, like Smith and Simpson, a member of the Durham team which won medals in Sheffield, came across the finish line in 27th place while Kath Aspin improved New Marske’s position up to 33rd at the finish.
With 72 teams finishing, both Durham City and New Marske had more teams behind them than ahead of them at the line.