The major road race of the weekend was the North East Road Relays

Signals Relays, inc NE Athletics Championships, Hetton-le-Hole, Northumberland, February 19

Morpeth Harriers retained both their men’s and women’s titles over a blustery two lap course totalling 2.2 miles per leg, where Laura Weightman was their star turn, Martin Duff reports.

Their men won by more than three minutes and George Lowry gave them a lead on the opener. They then increased their lead throughout, winding up with Carl Avery matching his team mate’s opening 10:35. Both were however upstaged by their fourth leg runner Alex Brown, whose 10:28 was the days’ fastest.

It had been the third lap that was most intriguing as Weightman set off in third spot and, after an 11:01 fastest lap split not only overhauled North Shields Poly’s women, but team mate and top M60 Guy Bracken to take the overall four-lap race.

It was the first outing of the year for Weightman, the two-time European Games bronze medallist and double Olympic Games 1500m finalist. She sailed past NSP’s Jacqueline Penn as well as Bracken to give her Morpeth club the lead, which Milly Breese increased by the finish.

The second best women's time behind Weightman was 81 seconds slower at 12:22.

Men (6x2.2M):
1 Morpeth 63:56 (G Lowry 10:35, S Hancox 10:57, G Rudman 10:45, E Brodie 10:36, A Brown 10:28, C Avery 10:35); 2 Sunderland 67:00 (S Armstrong 10:52, C Gunn 11:08, J Pomfret 11:43, N Reed 11:08, S Jackson 10:57, A Hughes 11:12); 3 Birtley 67:16 (L McDonnel 11:24, C Perkins 10:38, T Goulding 11:09, A Beevers 11:54, G Poulton 11:38, A Bailes 10:33); 4 Morpeth B 68:35; 5 Gateshead 69:48; 6 Tyne Bridge 70:00;7 NSP 72:26; 8 New Marske 72:38; 9 Elswick 72:40; 10 Blackhill 73:10

M40 (6x2.2M):
1 Elvet 75:27 (M Littlewood 12:23, M Griffiths 13:05, M Kearney 12:05, M Warner 12:16, L McEwan 13:18, G Watt 12:20); 2 NSP 75:55; 3 Darlington 77:23; 4 Sunderland H 79:24; 5 Gateshead 80:14; 6 Crook 80:20

Fastest: J Clifford (Darl)/B Cook (NSP) 11:26; S Medd (Gates) 12;03; Kearney 12:05

M50 (4x2.2M):
1 Morpeth 51:25 (J Dawson 13:05, R Hancox 13:16, G Bracken 12:27, L Bennett 12:32); 2 Elswick 53:25; 3 N Marske 53:32; 4 NSP 53:58; 5 Houghton 54:18; 6 Tyne Br 54:54

Women (4x2.2M):
1 Morpeth 51:11 (L Quinn 13:47, A Leiper 13:29, L Weightman 11:01, M Breese 12:54); 2 NSP 52:39 (K Joslyn 13;30, H Waugh 12:55, J Penn 13:05, M Pace 13:09); 3 Elswick 54:30 (I Bungay 12:22, I Russell 14:06, R Naylor 14:23, K Bonner 13:39); 4 Jarrow & H 55:09; 5 Birtley 55:19; 6 Gateshead 55:33

Fastest: Weightman 11:01; Bungay 12:22; A Dixon (Sund Str) 12:25

Birmingham Running Festival, Sutton Park, February 20

Overall (10km):
1 M Peck (M40) 35:08
2 M Hipwell 36:39
3 R Harris (Bir, M40) 38:02

Women:
1 D Hay 39:10
2 Z Bentley 43:28
3 K Ellis 44:58

Overall (13.1M):
1 R Deakin 79:23
2 F Wellacott (M40) 79:36
3 D Robinson (M50) 83:07

M55: R Andrew (Alnw) 84:07

Women:
1 L Tait-Harris (W45) 87:57
2 L Collins 89:25
3 K Williams 92:55

W55: H Tolly 99:57

Chilly 10k, Combe, Wiltshire, February 20

Overall:
1 E Pierce (Swin) 34:45
2 T Swinn (S’ville) 34:49
3 D Giles (Calne) 34:50

Women:
1 C Baker (RN) 38:55
2 N Avery (Taunt) 39:39
3 A Halton-Hanley 39:51

3 VILLAGE 5, Carlisle, February 20

Overall:
1 B Riddell (Alt, M35) 25:54; 2 M Walsh (Kesw, M40) 26:05; 3 R Anderson (Holm) 27:44

Women:
1 F Todd (Bord H, W45) 31:22; 2 V Rankin (Bord H, W35) 32:39; 3 K Merrall  34:28

CHERTSEY HOUSE SERIES 10km, Guernsey, February 20

Overall:
1 T Le Cheminant (Guern, U20) 33:31; 2 N Mann (Guern, M40) 34:37; 3 C Holden (Guern, M35) 35:32

Women:
1 N Whitty (Guern, W35) 39:08; 2 N Petit (Guern) 39:44; 3 C Truffitt 40:47

GREAT NORTH WEST HALF MARATHON, Blackpool, February 20

Overall:
1 J Hall-Brown (Hal) 77:35; 2 S Walsh (Horw) 77:40; 3 B Rooney (Bord H) 77:43

Women:
1 G Draper (Lyth, W35) 90:30; 2 F Williams (Port T) 90:31; 3 R Leary (S'worth, W35) 95:59

HEREFORD 10, Hereford, February 20

Overall:
1 M Rees (Swan) 53:42; 2 O Graham (Here C) 57:22; 3 C Grubb (Led, M40) 58:04

M55: 1 J Mower (Glouc) 62:56

Women:
1 D Morris (Builth, W35) 62:10; 2 K Bowen (Croft A, W35) 69:49; 3 J Eddy (Here C, W45) 71:43

RUGELEY 10, Rugeley, February 20

Overall:
1 L Gratton (Ruge, M35) 55:06; 2 J Scott (Inov8) 57:14; 3 R Connor (Stoke) 57:50

M70: 1 D Alcock (Trent) 75:14

Women:
1 K Butler (Stoke) 65:58; 2 K Stephenson (Stone MM, W45) 68:36; 3 H Green (Lich) 69:11

TEMPO WINTER SERIES 10km, Ilmington, February 20

Overall:
1 A Lawrence 37:43; 2 A Boon (Cov, M40) 38:03; 3 H Al-Zubaidi 38:09

Women:
1 D Allen (Hook N, W35) 46:41; 2 M Kirkham (Cov, W40) 48:44; 3 J Kidd (Kenil, W60) 49:10

RUNTHROUGH GREENWICH PARK 10km, London Greenwich Park, December 19

Overall:
1 R Willmott (Herne H) 34:59
2 L O'Driscoll (NEB) 36:14
3 P Sadler (M50) 36:54

Women:
1 N St Clair (W40) 45:36; 2 T Kaur (W40) 47:40; 3 K Kaplet (W35) 47:55

Overall (5km):
1 J Leonard 17:52; 2 M Lu (M35) 22:42; 3 A Valentin (W35) 23:06

Women:
1 Valentin 23:06; 2 H Seamer (W35) 23:22; 3 H Arkwright 23:33

W65: 1 A Rutherford (Fordy) 24:30

Derby Midweek Races, February 16

Overall (5km):
1 M Collins (Osw) 15:34
2 F Arentz 15:45
3 S Nelson (Banb) 15:54

M50: 1 I Chant (L Eaton) 18:00

Women:
1 V Wills (Der) 18:07
2 R Vatter (Lough) 18:46
3 S Watts (Der Tri) 21:05

Overall (1M):
1 J Booth (Der) 4:57
2 M Kerr (Shelt) 5:13
3 A Perrin (L Eaton) 5:21

Women:
1 H Josephs (Cannon, W40) 6:54
2 E Eldridge (W40) 7:05
3 R Chamberlain (M’over, W40) 7:48