Over 65 Masters Gavin Bayne and Dave Nicholson travelled to Scotland at the weekend to take part in the blast running Scottish Mile, incorporating the BMAF Mile Championships, where they were unlucky to miss out on medals despite strong runs.
Gavin finished 4th in 5:46 and Dave 5th just a second or so behind, with the O/65 and O/70 events, run in the same race, won by a pair of doughty Scots, John Thomson and Ed Norton, in 5:13 and 5:34. * Cat Macdonald finished 18th and 2nd Female in the lung-bursting Penshaw Hill Race on Wednesday evening with a time of 18:50, losing out to Durham City’s Alice Crane who ran 17:50 to come back in 7th overall. Host club Sunderland Harriers filled the first three places, with O/40 vet Stephen Jackson 1st back in 16:21. Two Under 17 Men from Morpeth Harriers represented the North East Counties at the annual Northern Inter Counties Track and Field Championships, held at York on Saturday 27 May.
The region finished second overall behind Yorkshire, losing out by 109 points, with Greater Manchester in third place, and 17points adrift. Conditions for all were very warm and Sunny throughout and Joseph Close finished fourth in heat one of the two heated 800m, posting a time of 1m58.43s, which was fifth fastest overall over both heats. Elliot Kelso finished third in the 1500m, posting a time of 4m09.50s. Both athletes had won their places in the regions squad by virtue of their respective performances at last months NECAA Championships at Middlesbrough, where Close had won both the 800m and 1500m, and Kelso had finished second to him in the 1500m. Members are reminded that club subs for 2023/24 must be paid in the next couple of weeks.
Subscriptions have been due since April 1 and need to be paid by June 19 to allow the club to register athletes for competition for the current track and field season and forthcoming winter season. Existing members can renew their subscriptions online here or by visiting the clubhouse during Monday night training sessions. Amble-based Jordan Scott was a winner at the Druridge Bay 10k Charity Run in aid of Hospice Care North Northumberland.
Jordan clocked up a 4th victory in the race, traditionally the property of the local Amble crew with Ian Harding and Karl Taylor all previous multiple winners, which Jordan won for the first time as far back as 2008, winning again in 2018 and 2019, in a time of 35:34. Club colleague Mark Snowball was 3rd in 39:38 with North Shields Polytechnic Harrier Darcey Tullis 10th and 1st Female finisher in 45:32. Numbers were markedly down on previous years however, with only some 129 finishers in total, maybe because entry prices were up and perhaps because the course now includes some longer stretches on the beach also. It has certainly been a busy time in the capital of Scotland, with Beyonce, Harry Styles and the Boss all in town and playing to capacity crowds at Murrayfield, while last weekend’s Edinburgh Marathon weekend saw some eleven different races over a range of distances and also incorporated many of the city’s historic landmarks en-route.
Sunday’s Marathon, which advertises itself as one of the country’s fastest and finishes on the coast at Musselburgh, was won by Alex Gladley of Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC in a time of 2 hours 21 minutes 34 seconds with Scottish Over 35 Jemima Farley first female finisher in 2:39:39. Rob Balmbra was first home for Morpeth in a time of 2:58:21 with four other finishers for the club. Anna Wright had an excellent run to finish 790th and 14th Over 40 in 3:24:07, with Jane Kirby not far behind in 3:29:29 for 1023rd and 10th 0/45, and Julie Vermaas 1548th and 17th 0/45 in 3:41:49. Mhairi Line was 5717th in 5:01:24. Congratulations to all four lasses who have certainly been putting the miles in. In the day’s Half Marathon race, won by Teesside based Kieran Walker in 1:05:24 with Basildon’s Emma Houchell setting a new female record in 1:14:48, Morpeth’s Finn Brodie had a fine run to finish agonisingly just outside the top three in 1:07:52 for 4th place. Long time member Mark Brown, now an Over 40, made a promising return to competitive action in the Half-Marathon where he was 297th and 38th O/40 in 1:25:24. |
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April 2024
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