SAFETY FIRST AT MORPETH ATHLETICS TRACK
( A Timely Reminder to all from our Throws Coach Paul Reed ) Quiet tonight at the track Thursday 7th June 2018, but some people were still wandering into the throws sector on the centre field. Once again can I please remind all users of the facility, athletes, coaches, parents, etc, etc, that you should not enter the inside of the track unless you are involved in training for or coaching events taking place there. This includes taking short cuts, jogging across diagonally between repetitions and walking from the pavilion to the start/finish area. Let’s keep everyone safe and avoid unnecessary accidents and injuries Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard of Morpeth Harriers continued their excellent run of summer track form,
when they finished second and third respectively in the Men’s 1500m B race, at a star-studded BMC Gold Standards Meeting, held at Loughborough in Leicestershire, on the evening of Wednesday 6th June 2018. Both athletes produced new personal bests of 3m49.80s, and 3m50.14s, as they finished behind Victoria Park and Tower Hamlet’s Under 20 athlete Yusuf Bizimana, who also produced a new personal best of 3m49.65s, to just deny Beattie a well-deserved win, his first since his vacation return from America, where he is studying at Tulsa University. Consolation for both Beattie and club colleague Leonard is that they improved on their previous figures for the three and three-quarter lap distance by three, and a massive ten seconds respectively. Beattie was sixth fastest Under 23 Man on the night, and Leonard emerged as third fastest Under 20 Man. Four athletes from Morpeth Harriers took part in the 1500m events at the second BMC Regional Meeting,
held at Chester Le Street on the evening of Monday 4th June 2018. Three of those athletes competed in the A race, the best performance coming from Under 20 Man Taylor Glover, who set new figures of 4m02.65s, when finishing fifth behind fellow age group athlete Cameron Steven of Lasswade, who won in a new personal best time of 3m56.44s. Glover took just under two seconds off his previous figures. Other Morpeth Harriers in the event were Phillip Winkler and Kieran Hedley, who finished sixth and eighth, posting respective times of 4m08.38s, and 4m16.35s. Dylan Gooding of Morpeth Harriers, having his first ever outing in a BMC event, produced a new personal best performance of 4m39.52s, when finishing fourth in the sixth fastest event of the night. The Under 15 Boy took just over a minute off previous figures off set at Morpeth in 2015, when he had been running in the Under 13 Boy’s age group. Late withdrawals, and general no shows, let down the Morpeth Harriers Senior Track and Field squad, i.e. those who did turn out, and their respective hard-working Team Managers David Swinburne (Men), and Vina Desai (Women), at their second round Northern Athletics League Division 2E Match, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Sunday 3rd June. Because of this, the squad will now continue to face an uphill struggle in the latter half of the season in efforts to preserve their current league status, after finishing fifth of six clubs, headed by a very strong Gateshead Harriers. Only North Yorkshire outfit Richmond and Zetland finished below Morpeth on the day, and only a mere 41 match points adrift. Morpeth’s best Male performance of the day came in the 5000m, where Lewis Timmins and Karl Taylor secured a double win in the A and B races in 15m36.9s, and 15m56.5s respectively. Best points haul in the Women’s events, came from the Field, courtesy of Under 20 athlete Bobbie Griffiths and seasoned Veteran Claire Reid. Griffiths won the A string Javelin, with an on the day best of 34.78m, whilst Reid finished as second B string with 15.76m. Although Morpeth men did not manage any further A string wins, Taylor’s 5000m B string success was one of four on the day. Another came again from Taylor himself, who won the B 3000m Steeplechase in 10m43s, backing up Mark Snowball’s A string second place, where he clocked 10m42.4s. This is despite Snowball taking a rather nasty looking heavy tumble on his final lap, when negotiating a barrier. Other Morpeth B String victories came in the 800m and 1500m, courtesy of Alistair Douglass (1m58.7s), and Rowan Bennett (4m11.6s), taking a good ten seconds off his best for the distance, on this his Northern League debut for the club. Morpeth A string performers in these events were Phillip Winkler, who finished fourth in the 800m in 1m57.4s, and Tom Inness, who was fourth in the 1500m in 4m09.8s, taking eight seconds off his previous figures. Matthew Waterfield very narrowly lost out for victory in the Men’s 400m A race, clocking a brand new personal best of 49.9s. A very hard-working Mark Snowball finished fifth in the B race in 70.5s. Snowball completed his track commitments by finishing fifth in the A race of the 400m Hurdles in 75.8s. In some very close 100m and 200m finishes in the Men’s events, Morpeth’s Phil Pitt finished third in the 100m A string in 11.7s, with David Storey finishing third in the B race in11.8s. Sean O’Hara finished second in the A string 200m in 23.2s, whilst Kenny Harrison finished second in the B race in 24.5s. Harrison, Phil Pitt, Sean O’Hara, and David Storey secured second place for Morpeth in the Men’s 4 x100m in 46.1s. Unfortunately, Morpeth were very much lacking firepower in the specialist throws events, and their only regular athlete in this discipline was Ruaridh Lang, who finished third in the A string Discus, producing an on the day best of 36.85m. Alistair Douglass finished fifth in the B string, with a best of 18.56m. He also did well in the B string Shot Putt, producing an on the day best of 7.43m, to finish third. Other Morpeth Men who committed to helping in the Field events in the quest for points, were Karl Taylor and Phil Pitt in the Javelin, Pitt and Douglass also took on the Shot Putt competition, and Taylor and Snowball further worked their socks off in the Long and Triple Jump competitions. Men’s Team Manager Swinburne, whilst heaping due praise on all those who turned up for him on the day, nevertheless remained bitterly disappointed by those who had not even returned his calls for help under the circumstances he was facing in selection issues. He hoped however, that by the time the next fixture is reached in July, he may have a stronger squad at his disposal. Morpeth Women’s Team Manager Vina Desai faced similar issues, having around only a dozen athletes at her disposal, including herself having to don her own competitive vest for two of the events. One of those events was the Hammer, where she was a very effective B string assistance to Claire Reid in the A string. Whilst Reid finished second in the A string with a best of 31.58m, which was only a few centimetres adrift of her lifetime best, Desai produced 15.59m, to edge home third in the B string. In addition to that excellent Javelin result alongside Bobbie Griffiths, the pair also lined up in the Discus, where Reid produced an on the day seasons best of 29.49m to finish third in the A string, with Griffiths finishing as second B string with an on the day best of 23.49m. Reid teamed up again with Desai in the Shot Putt, finishing third in the A string with 9.37m, whilst the latter finished sixth in the B string with 2.76m. Under 17 youngster Kayleigh Wenn competed well amongst older rivals in the Long and Triple Jumps, finishing fourth and third with respective efforts of 3.74m and 8.30m. In the Women’s track events, it was a unique blend of Youth and Veteran status that searched for valuable points for Morpeth. The best result came in the 800m, where Holly Peck finished third in the A race in 2m25.0s, and Helen King also finished third in the B race, posting a new personal best of 2m34.0s, taking three seconds off her previous figures. Lynsey Cunningham took on the unexpected role of A string sprinter, finishing fourth in the 100m, and sixth in the 200m. In the corresponding B races, Helen King tackled 100m for the first time in her life, finishing fourth in 15.6s, and youngster Holly Peck an excellent second in 29.2s, a lifetime personal best. Helen King showed her team spirit thoroughly by also finishing fourth in the A string 400m, posting a time of 70.9s, only a second adrift of her lifetime best. Sue Smith finished fifth in the B string, posting a time of 86.8s. n the longer Women’s events, the 1500m and 3000m, Morpeth had four athletes at their disposal, one Under 17, One Senior, and two Veterans. The youngest of the quartet Lauren Cummings,
finished fourth in the A string 1500m, posting a time of 5m48.4s. Jane Kirby backed her up well, by finishing third in the B string in 6m11.2s, this being her first attempt at the distance. In the 3000m A race, Lorna MacDonald finished third in 10m59.4s, which for her was a new lifetime best of some magnitude. Tackling a 3000m track event for the first time Carol Parry finished as fourth B string, to add more much needed points to the Morpeth tally, which would have proved much better had some of the clubs’ stronger athletes rallied to their Team Managers calls. MATCH SCORE (Subject to further scrutiny) 1st Gateshead Harriers 399pts, 2nd Middlesbrough AC 340pts, 3rd Wallsend/Blyth 318pts, 4th Tynedale Harriers 290pts, 5th Morpeth Harriers 277pts, 6th Richmond & Zetland 236pts. Posting a brand new personal best time of 8m18.04s, Morpeth Harrier Carl Avery, finished an excellent second in the Men’s 3000m A race, at the BMC Regional event, held at the Scotstoun track, near Glasgow, on Friday evening (1st June). The event was won by Fife’s Edinburgh University student Logan Rees, who clocked 8m16.34s. Two other Morpeth Harriers were also in action at the same meeting, and both achieved new personal best performances in their respective events. Mhairi MacLennan won the Women’s 3000m A race, by producing a new personal best performance of 9m32.06s, taking nearly six seconds off her previous figures. She won by a margin of two seconds from Aberdeen’s Naomi Lang. In the second fastest Women’s 800m event, Morpeth’s Under 15 athlete Rhiannon Hedley produced new figures of 2m21.02s, when finishing fifth in her race. She was fifth fastest in her age group, as she shaved just over a second off her previous figures. |
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