The only major athletics competition taking place in the region over the weekend,
was the annual NECAA Indoor Track & Field Championships being held over two days at Gateshead College. Saturday was designated for Field Events, with Track Events being held on Sunday. Morpeth Harriers had five athletes in action here over the two days, with two competing on the Saturday, and three on the Sunday. The club showed a handsome return of five medals in all, with three on the Saturday, and two being won on the Sunday. The three won on Saturday were two Golds and one Silver, with a Silver and a Bronze being won on the Sunday. Saturday’s two Golds went to one athlete, Ethan Stephenson, who retained his Under 17 Men’s Triple Jump title, achieving 12.37m, which although was still some way short of his best, was enough to give him a title by just over a metre margin from his closest rival. Stephenson was also pleased to take a second Gold in the High Jump, where he cleared 1.75m, which was around 10cm short of his lifetime best which he performed outdoors. He was forced to sit out the High Jump competition in 2018, after winning the Under 15 title a year previous. Saturday’s other medallist was Craig Charlton, who faced very stiff opposition from Thames Valley’s former Gateshead Harrier Craig Sturrock in the Senior Shot Putt. Charlton had to be content with Silver, when putting 14.19m, behind Sturrock’s 15.28m. The Morpeth man is still No 1 regionally however from a residential club. Hurdling siblings Hannah and Amy Lott each won respective Silver and Bronze medals in Sunday’s Under 13 Girls and Under 17 Women’s 60m Hurdle competitions. Amy had to compete firstly in a heat, which she won in 9.13s, which was just outside her lifetime personal best. However, in her hotly contested later run final, she did improve her figures to 9.08s, which now sees her ranked nineteenth equal in the UK, but still third in the North East. She was just outsprinted by Darlington’s Charlotte Rutter, and had to settle for Bronze, behind Gateshead’s Phillipa Ellis. In a straight run final, which she fully expected to win, Hannah Lott was pipped somewhat surprisingly by Blyth’s Hannah Wilson in the Under 13 Girls event. Morpeth Harriers third athlete in action on Sunday was Mia Belton, competed in the Under 15 Girls 60m sprints. She finished second in her heat in 8.51s, which was enough to take into the later run A Final, where she finished fifth, despite clocking her best 2019 time of 8.36s, which was agonisingly just short of her lifetime best. Five Male athletes from Morpeth Harriers competed in the very highly profiled annual Armagh 5k Road Race I
n Northern Ireland, on the evening of Thursday 14th February 2019. As good conditions prevailed, the Morpeth contingent were led home by Northern Cross Country Silver medallist Carl Avery, who finished in twenty fourth place overall in a total field of 202, posting a new personal best of 14m17s for the distance, which saw him take twelve seconds off his previous best, which had been at Kingsley in the Mid Cheshire event in April 2018, where he had finished seventeenth. On Thursday, Avery finished thirty-four seconds adrift of Topi Raitanen, who is a Finnish International, specialising in the 3000m Steeplechase. Second and third places went to Inverclyde’s Adam Craig, and Wreake and Soare Valley’s Sam Stabler, who were both clocked at two seconds adrift of the winner. Under 23 athlete James Young was Morpeth’s second man home, finishing in 46th place, also setting new figures for himself of 14m29s, his previous best having been 15m13s, which was a massive improvement on the time he had set at Barrowford in March 2018. Another Morpeth athlete improving on his previous best was George Lowry, who finished 70th in 14m41s, his previous best being the 14m42s, he had posted at Kingsley in 2018 along with Avery in the Mid Cheshire event. Finishing 94th, Joe Armstrong added to the excellent Morpeth performances, as he posted a personal best of 14m53s, his previous best, having been the 15m10s in the Croft 5k at Dalton on Tees in December 2018. Completing the superb Morpeth performances was club newcomer Adam Pratt, who had triumphed in the previous weeks North Eastern Harrier League meeting at Thornley. Pratt finished 167th in 15m27s, bettering his previous by an excellent twenty-two seconds, that being achieved at Barrowford in December, when he had still been a Tynedale athlete. Over 70 Veteran Bob Marshall, of Morpeth Harriers, who lives in Kelso in the Scottish Borders,
finished an excellent second in his age category at the annual Scottish Masters Cross Country Championships, held in Hawick, on Saturday 2nd February 2019. Proving that there is still plenty of life in his well oiled competitive legs, he was forty two seconds adrift of Gold Medal winner Alex Sutherland of Inverness Harriers AC. Just a reminder that because of the Chantry School closure for half term,
the Chantry Shed will not be open on Monday 18th February 2019, therefore their will be no training session for Hemant Desai’s group on this day. Normal training will resume on Monday 25th February 2019 at 7.30pm. All other club sessions operating from our Clubhouse on Monday 18th February, will be as normal. Morpeths Scott Beattie, currently studying in Tulsa, finished an excellent sixth in his first ever
5000m Track event at the Iowa State Classic, held in Ames, on Friday 8th February 2019. Beattie clocked a superb 13m59.42s, which currently ranks him number three in the UK rankings, behind fellow North Easterner Marc Scott of Richmond & Zetland, who posted his 13m21.97s in Boston USA, on the same day. The second fastest UK time is 13m54.80s, which was also posted on the same day in the USA by Preston’s Jamaine Coleman, in Seattle. Back with Beattie, his event was won by Arizona’s Fearghal Curtin, who posted a time of 13m52.26s.Curtin is an Irish National, studying in Charleston. |
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