Gold medal run at European Championships for Morpeth Harrier and former KEVI pupil Rory Leonard

Members of Morpeth's Women's team at the recent Track and Field fixture, where they came third. Picture: Peter Scaife

In a smartly run race where he always looked to be well in contention, he pulled away with five laps to go, finishing three seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

Clearly overjoyed at his victory, Leonard admitted to being still ‘buzzing’ hours later.

Also representing their country at the weekend was Morpeth’s Cat Macdonald when running for the Scotland team, who had to battle not just with the opposition but also some truly appalling conditions in the 46th International Snowdon Ras yr Wyddfa Race.

Although the race was shortened to 6.4 miles, competitors still had to contend with gusts of over 90mph.

Macdonald was second counter behind team mate Holly Page, who was first female finisher, with Scotland’s men’s and women’s teams both picking up silver medals.

Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie had a storming win on a wild night in Ireland on Friday, recording an excellent time of 13:25.53 in the Morton Games, Dublin.

Also performing with distinction in a Morpeth vest recently was the club’s leading veteran sprinter, Trevor Hodgson, who won the Scottish Masters 100m in a time of 11.74s.

Hodgson is currently ranked fifth for his age in Europe, and has his eyes set on the European Masters Championships in September.

Closer to home, 23 Harriers were in action at the NE Grand Prix meeting at Jarrow last week, competing in seeded heats of either the 3,000m or 800m.

Heat 1 of the 3,000m offered some tasty action, with Team GB triathlete Daniel Dixon lining up against Morpeth colleagues Carl Avery and Finn Brodie.

Dixon looked to have the race won with 800m to go, but he was reeled in by Avery. Brodie made it a Morpeth one-two-three.

Later, U17 Joe Close was just pipped for the win in the fastest 800m heat. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Ethan Phillips was third.

The club’s Senior Men’s and Women’s Track and Field squad placed third in the latest round of the Northern Athletics North East Premier League match at Middlesborough. Club stalwarts Veena and Neesha Desai spearheaded the women’s team, with Mark Snowball to the fore for the men.