The annual Fair Day Fun Run, organised by Morpeth Harriers, on Sunday 11th June had a field of 116 finishers.
They were led home by Newminster Year 8 pupil Ben Waterfield, who is also a competing member of the club. Second and third places in the run went to club colleagues Dylan Davies and Olly Bruce, who were four, and twenty-five seconds adrift of Waterfield respectively. Finishing in ninth place, Morpeth Harrier Rhiannon Hedley was first girl home, ahead of second placed Freya Caygill (16th), and third placed Katie Fraser (24th). Commemorative keepsake trophies were presented to Waterfield and Hedley, by Morpeth Harriers legend Jim Alder, in respect of Les Thain and Tony Ward, who had passed away recently, and had done considerable work at previous Fair Day Fun Runs on behalf of both the Harriers and the Morpeth Chamber of Trade. Waterfield and Hedley are pictured above along with Alder receiving their well-deserved awards. Posting a finishing time of 36m11s, Morpeth Harrier Mhairi MacLennan was the winner of the Women’s event,
at the annual Run Northumberland 10k Road Race at Bamburgh on Sunday 11th June 2017. Finishing an excellent seventh overall, she was twenty-four places, and over four minutes clear of second placed Woman Lorna Graham of Birtley. Third place in the Women’s race went to Morpeth’s Helen King, who produced a superb run of 42m39s. In the Men’s event, living partner and training partner James Taylor, also of Morpeth Harriers, finished in second place overall, posting a finishing time of 33m32s, which was twelve seconds adrift of race winner Darrell Hastie, of Scottish Borders club Gala. Another prominent Morpeth finisher in the Men’s race was Dave Richardson, who finished one place and six seconds ahead of MacLennan in sixth place, posting a time of 36m05s. Other Morpeth Harriers finishers in the event were Steve Patterson (10th) 37m08s, and Jilly Bell (158th) (37th Woman) (4th O/45 Woman) 49m27s. In the combined Northern Athletics Senior and Under 20 Track and Field Championships, held at Sport City, Manchester on Saturday and Sunday 10th & 11th June 2017, Morpeth Harriers, Joe Armstrong, Ryan Green and David Thomas were in action. After finishing fourth in his heat of the Senior Men’s 800m in 1m58.97s, Armstrong finished sixth in the later run final, posting a time of 1m59.02s There was a medal for Green however, as he took Silver in the Under 20 Men’s 800m final,
posting a time of 2m02.24s, which was very much slowed by a strong swirling wind. Thomas meanwhile competed in the Under 20 Men’s Long Jump and Triple Jump events, finishing sixth and fourth with 5.67m and 12.39m respectively, only losing out by 50cm for a Bronze medal in the latter. Despite miserable and prevailing wet conditions throughout the annual Northumberland Schools
Track and Field Championships, held at Gateshead Stadium on Saturday 10th June 2017, there were still four championship records broken, three of them by athletes from Morpeth Harriers, who in addition managed to win a total of thirty-one medals, sixteen from the track and fifteen from the field, including twenty Gold, seven Silver, and four Bronze individual medals. With rain descending from the heaven’s Intermediate Boy Rory Leonard certainly tested himself over the seven and half laps of the 3000m distance, and quite remarkably with very little opposition in site, he clocked 8m59.07s, which although was well adrift of his personal best, however it was good enough to break the 29-year-old Schools record set by Elswick’s Ceri Rees, who had clocked 8m59.5s in 1988. Considering he had very little opposition to draw from, Leonard can take consolation from the fact that he also took the Gold medal, and looks a near certainty to be boarding the Northumberland team bus bound for Birmingham next month, and the English Schools Championships, where no doubt the North East double medallist will face sterner rivals. Another Morpeth Harrier who also looks certain to make that bus, is fellow Intermediate Boy Andrew Knight, who throughout the course of his Shot Putt event, actually broke the championship record on no more than five occasions, eventually ending his series of performances with a best of 15.07m, which although was not a personal best, was still enough to shave a mammoth 64cm off the previous record, set by a relatively unknown David Cowie in 1987. Another eight Gold medals were won on the track by Morpeth Harrier athletes, courtesy of Jake Masterman (Senior Boys 2000m Steeplechase) 6m40.57s, Liam Marsh (Intermediate Boys 1500m Steeplechase) 5m14.17s, Amy Lott (Junior Girls 75m Hurdles) 12.7s, Josh Burton (Senior Boys 800m) 2m06.11s, Matthew Waterfield (Intermediate Boys 400m) 51.40s, Holly Peck (Junior Girls 1500m) 4m53.54s, Kieran Hedley (Senior Boys 1500m) 4m04.12s, and Taylor Glover (Intermediate Boys 1500m) 4m06.09s, which was agonisingly only just under three seconds adrift of Max Pearson’s 2016 championship record. Back with the Field events, where another ten Gold medals went to Morpeth Harriers on the day. Ruaridh Lang was agonisingly just a mere 23cm adrift of the twenty-year-old Intermediate Boys Discus record, with his best effort of 45.05m taking a thoroughly deserved Gold medal. Lang is another athlete hoping to win the selectors hearts for the English Schools trip. A new personal best of 39.84m, earned Morpeth Harrier Bobbie Griffiths the Gold medal in the Intermediate Girls Hammer, and gave her a new championship best performance, beating the previous record set by Rebecca Simpson in 2010, by a mammoth 1.30m. Griffiths added another Gold medal in the Javelin, with a best effort of 38.98m, which won by a good thirteen metres, but was agonisingly two metres adrift of the 1986 record set by Linda Barnes. Making a welcome return to action following injury, Morpeth Harrier Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot managed to achieve two well-earned Gold medals in the Intermediate Girls Shot Putt (11.19m), and Discus (32.95m). Hopefully both performance standards will see her considered for selection for the English Schools Championships, despite the missed opportunities during her period of inactivity. Another two double Gold medal winners from the club were Kayla Devon and Ethan Stephenson. Devon is certainly faring well on her return to the sport following a brief departure, and under the watchful eyes of her coach Dave Thomas, she is progressing rapidly, and these two performances alone certainly lay testimony to that effect. In the Intermediate Girls Long Jump she produced a best of 4.35m, winning by 21cm over her closest rival, and her 10.24m in the Triple Jump, saw her win by a 58cm margin. Meanwhile in the Junior Boys High Jump, Stephenson cleared 1.65m for victory, and in the Triple Jump, which he was attempting for the first time, he jumped a best of 11.42m, to win by 42cm over fellow Morpeth Harrier Matthew Heslop, who took the Silver medal. Morpeth’s other Field winner was Junior Girl Jessica Gardner, who achieved a new personal best in the Discus with 23.49m A total of seven Silver medals, including that of Matthew Heslop, were won by athletes from Morpeth Harriers. Five came from the track, with two coming from the Field. Two of the track Silver medals came from Jessica Young-Rogers, in the Intermediate Girls100m (13.06s), and 200m (26.5s), in both cases she was just a fraction adrift of North Tyneside’s Stella Perrett. Other Morpeth Track Silver medallists were Ella Duffield (Intermediate Girls 800m) 2m29.5s, which was a new personal best performance, Joe Dowd (Intermediate Boys 800m) 2m09.91s, and Joe Ramshaw (Intermediate Boys 1500m) 4m12.36s. In addition to Matthew Heslop, Morpeth’s other Field Silver medallist was Elena Saunders, who produced a new personal best of 8.96m in the Junior Girls Shot Putt. A total of four Bronze medals were won by Morpeth Harrier athletes, two from the track, and two from the field. Lily Heaton finished third in the Junior Girls 800m in 2m35.2s, Thomas Cunningham finished third in the Junior Boys 800m, posting a new personal best time of 2m25.48s. In the Field events, Andrew Knight added a Bronze to the Gold that he won in the Shot Putt, by throwing 29.88m in the Intermediate Boys Discus, finishing third to club colleague Ruaridh Lang. Joe Briddon secured a Bronze medal in the Intermediate Boys High Jump, with a best clearance of 1.45m. Other non-medal winning performances by athletes from Morpeth Harriers were as follows Brad Brown (Intermediate Boys 800m) (6th) 2m18.38s (personal best), Ella Duffield (Intermediate Girls 300m) (5th) 47.0s (personal best), Kirsty Duffin (Intermediate Girls 300m) (6th) 49.53s, Dylan Davies (Junior Boys 1500m) (7th) 4m58.8s (personal best, Jonny Kidd (Junior Boys 1500m) (8th) 5m03.3s, Megan Winter (Intermediate Girls 200m) (5th) 29.5s, and (Intermediate Girls Javelin) (4th) 21.98m, Owen Priest (Intermediate Boys Triple Jump) (4th) 10.68m, Alfie Ward (Junior Boys Triple Jump) (8th) 10.30m (personal best), and (Long Jump) (5th) 4.46m, and Alice Geoghegan (Junior Girls Javelin) (5th) 19.62m. Leading athletes will have a second opportunity of raising a performance in trial for the English Schools competition this weekend, when the Northern Schools Inter Counties Track and Field Championships are being held at Wentworth Stadium in Hexham. Nearly 4,200 runners took part in the annual Blaydon Race, run for the 37th occasion,
and sponsored for the first time by local recycling company J & J Stanley Ltd, on Friday 9th June 2017. Glorious sunshine, plus a strong headwind, made conditions extra tough for leading contenders, however, for the second year in succession, Morpeth Harrier Peter Newton led the field home, to retain the title of first Senior Man, that he had won for the first time in 2016. Posting a finishing time of 27m50s at Shibdon Pond, which was around forty seconds adrift of his 2016 time, he finished fourteen seconds ahead of club colleague Carl Avery, with early leader Abraham Tewelde of Saltwell Harriers, coming home third in 28m07s. Fourth place went to former Morpeth Harrier Lewis Timmins, now back with Gosforth Harriers, who clocked 28m18s. Fifth and Sixth places went to Salford Harrier Marc Brown, and Morpeth’s Ian Hudspith, who clocked 28m21s and 28m22s respectively. Hudspith was first Over 40 Man, which gave him the traditional Blaydon Race title of First Gadgee. Two seconds, and one place behind Hudspith, was another Salford Harrier Thomas Cornthwaite, who had also been prominent in the early stages, who just held off Thomas Straughan of Morpeth Harriers, who finished eighth in 28m24s. Next home was Daniel Johnson of Gateshead Harriers (28m33s), and another Morpeth Harrier Ross Floyd, closed the top ten placings in a time of 29m19s. With Ian Hudspith being declared as a Veteran finisher, Morpeth Harriers may still have retained the Senior Men’s team title, courtesy of race winner Newton, Avery, Straughan and Floyd. The Women’s race, was won by Sale Harrier Sonia Samuels, formerly with Wallsend Harriers, who finished 20th overall in 29m48s, thirteen places ahead of 2016 Women’s Champion Alyson Dixon of Sunderland Strollers, who posted a finishing time of 30m45s. Third place in the Women’s event went to another former Wallsend Harrier Danielle Hodgkinson, now running for Birchfield Harriers, who was 41st overall in 31m31s. Fourth place in the Women’s event went to Morpeth’s Emma Holt, who was 74th overall in 32m45s, who is in the early stages of a running comeback following an unfortunate injury sustained in March. Other prominent Morpeth finishers in the event were Chris Smith (21st) 29m54s, Ian Harding (25th) 30m14s, John Butters (28th) (3rd O/40 Man) 30m19s, Andrew Lawrence (29th) 30m37s, Lorna MacDonald (21st Woman) 36m59s, and Gemma Floyd (33rd Woman) (12th O/35 Woman) 37m51s. A total of 34 runners from Morpeth Harriers took part, which also included Matthew Boyle (77th) 32m52s, Tony Lewis (83rd) 33m01s, Rob Hancox (93rd) (2nd O/50 Man) 33m19s, Tim Miley (148th) (5th O/50 Man) 34m42s, Paul Banks (246th) (55th O/40 Man) 36m44s, Paul Brown (344th) (29th O/50 Man) 37m55s, Steve Haswell (362nd) (34th O/50 Man) 38m10s, Jim Alder (400th) (42nd O/50 Man) 38m44s, Peter Scaife (445th) (46th O/50 Man) 39m22s, Mark Crosby (473rd) (49th O/50 Man) 39m39s, Ryan Shiel (546th) 40m14s, Mike Steven (634th) (72nd O/50 Man) 41m00s, Eric Adams (676th) (191st O/40 Man) 41m19s, Richard Sill (713th) (14th O/60 Man) 41m38s, Norman Clark (821st) (16th O/60) 42m32s, Jane Kirby (955th) (54th O/35 Woman) 43m38s, Frankie Wilson (1,160th) (211th Woman) 45m09s, Carol Parry (2,059th) (119th O/45 Woman) 51m16s, Jacinta Wake (2,060th) (120th O45 Woman) 51m16s, Damian Foster (2,204th) (529th O/40 Man) 51m59s, and Jane Blackett (2,386th) (159th O/45 Woman) 53m06s. In speaking afterwards, winner Newton said that he had been very pleased, and somewhat relieved by his victory. He had not raced, and had not even trained properly since March because of injury, and fully knew that he was up against it in attempting a second victory, but had to put himself on the line, because he would not be in the position to compete as regularly in the near future, as he and his Wife are expecting their first child sometime in August. In conclusion, many thanks go to Lynn Craig and her superb team of workers at Blaydon Harriers for once again staging a tremendous and most important event on the region’s road running calendar. |
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