Morpeth 10k, 15th June 2025

Luke O’Neill was up in Morpeth, looking to capitalise on recent form this Sunday:

“Fast and Flat was how this one was advertised. I’ve been riding a runners high of late following a very surprising 10k PB a few weeks back. A few days before the race a friend messaged to say the route had been changed and it now included a lovely 500 metres of elevation. This was disappointing to find out as I was eager to attempt a new PB.

I arrived on the day and could hear various runners grumbling about the course change, a number of familiar faces were milling about the event village which made deciding which group to run with a bit easier.

We set off just as the sun decided to peep out from the cloud cover, after about 400 metres we began our first climb, a short and sharp hill, followed by a rather short and sharp descent. What followed was 5km of rolling hills and an ever increasing temperature. I knew any attempt at a PB was out the window so I decided instead to attempt to scrape in under 40 minutes.

I reached the 5k turn around point and my watch beeped to tell me I had done this is 21 minutes, farewell sub 40. The road back was less hilly but still not ideal. I had a rather nice gent from another club catch me, he gave an encouraging “let’s go” so we set off together at a faster pace than I wanted, never one to turn down some company I forced myself along with him for another 1k until I decided that this was just not my race and eased off again. My hero galloped off into the distance taking with him my hopes and dreams, go well sweet prince.

3k left to go and I had well and truly checked out and began cruising along at half marathon pace. The sun was getting hotter as my mood got worse. I trotted back into Morpeth town centre like a wounded unicorn who had lost his shine and headed for the finish line. It was then I heard “DADDY DADDY DADDDY DADDDY RUNNNNNNN” seemingly my 2 year old daughter had more confidence in me than I realised. With her very cute cheers spurring me on I picked up the pace for the last 400 metres and finished strong (my partner did tell me I didn’t look like I was putting in much effort when she saw me).

I grabbed a bottle of water and rather lovely medal and sulked off into the crowd ready to lick my wounds and bemoan my 41:50 finish time. Luckily I found a donut van and after eating an obscene amount of sugary goodness I realised that I was actually annoyed with myself for letting my training slip and that this would serve as a good lesson to remind me why I love this sport so much. The donuts were incredible though, ten out of ten would recommend.”