Ten new personal bests were achieved amongst the performances by fifteen Morpeth Harriers in action at the fourth meeting in the series of Start Fitness sponsored North Eastern Grand Prix events, held at Gateshead’s International Stadium, on Wednesday 1st July 2015. Boosted by the recent confirmation that has won his way into the Northumberland squad for the forthcoming English Schools Championships, Under 15 Boy Joe Dowd has certainly reacted positively with some excellent performances, and none more so than on this occasion, when he set new figures of 2m08.3s, when crossing the finish line at exactly the same time as Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman in the 800m, and was very unfortunate not to get the judges nod for outright victory. Alongside Dowd, there were another two Morpeth Harriers bests in the 800m for Matthew Waterfield and Connor Marshall, who respectively clocked 2m16.3s and 2m20.2s. Those times gave them fifth and seventh places in the Grand Prix, and eighth place went to another Morpeth athlete Ross Charlton, who was marginally adrift of his best performance with 2m27.2s. Charlton made up for this disappointment however, by setting new figures in the 200m, with 29.4s. Marshall had the added satisfaction of taking first place in his heat. Joe Dowd’s brother Daniel also had a good night, when he finished third in the Under 13 Boys Javelin, increasing his best performance to 23.65m, adding a whole 1.70m to his previous, and being in the younger half of his age group, this is superb for the Dave Thomas coached athlete. In the Under 13 Girls events Morpeth’s Lily Heaton also had an excellent night by setting new figures of 30.8s in the 200m, and then finished second in her 800m in 2m36.6s, only two seconds adrift of her previous best. Morpeth Harriers athletes were very prominent finishers in the Junior Men’s Graded 800m. Nathan Cox was second fastest with 2m00.2s. James Young clocked 2m02.4s for fourth fastest, and Joe Elder was fifth fastest, setting new figures of 2m06.6s. Setting new figures of 2m28.2s, Morpeth Harrier Abby Sheldon was second fastest Under 17 Woman in her Graded 800m. Club-mate Amber Cormack also finished second in the Graded Junior Women’s 800m, clocking 2m25.8s, which was some way short of her best performance. In the Under 17 Men’s Graded 200m, Morpeth Harrier Will Kelly finished as third equal fastest, in a new personal best of 25.0s. On an improvement scale, Morpeth’s Ellie Coxon made further good progress, when finishing as eighth fastest in the Under 15 Girls 800m, in a new personal best time of 2m37.5s. Morpeth sprinter Daniel Moore had an excellent night by winning the Senior Men’s Graded 100m in 11.5s, and he finished an excellent third in the 200m in 23.2s. Another Morpeth Harrier competing in the Senior Men’s 100m was Wayne Gedge, who finished as fifth fastest in 13.1s. At the Saisbury's UK Track and Field Championships
at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium today, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman won her way through to Sunday's Women's 1500m Final, by clocking a time of 4m21.25s. She will be joined in the Final by Dundee's Laura Muir, who won the faster second heat in 4m18.39s. Other notables joining Weightman and Muir in what should prove to be a hotly contested Final, will beChelmsford's Jessica Judd, Epsom's Rosie Clarke, Wakefield's Charlene Thomas, and Oxford City's Hannah England. Another Morpeth Harrier in action today in Birmingham was Blaydon Race winner Jonny Taylor, who competed in the Men's 5000m Final. After a prominent start, where he shared the lead over the second and third thousand metres, unfortunately he faded to finish a disappointing thirteenth, posting a time of 14m17.13s, which on reflection was some way down on his best time of 13m52.14s, which he set in the BMC Grand Prix Meeting at Sports City in Manchester on 30th May. Morpeth Harriers Ian Harding and Emma Holt were both winners at the annual Tynedale 10k race held last Wednesday evening (1st July). On the hottest day of the year, with sultry temperatures still well over 20 degrees C, over 500 competitors took part over the traditional route from Ovington to Prudhoe via Ovingham and Wylam, with most, if not all, later reporting the difficulties caused by the extreme heat – and, indeed, some hardy souls even taking a cooling dip in the Tyne on completion. Harding was part of a small leading group, which included club colleagues Ryan Stephenson and Chris Smith, as well as Kevin Jeffress of Sunderland Harriers, in the early stages of the race, but was able to break away once the race had reached the half way stage at Wylam and thereafter establish a lead which was not challenged. Still working to get back to his best this year after April’s London Marathon, Ian completed the course in 32 minutes and 28 seconds, with Jeffress 2nd in 32m 44sm, and Stephenson (32m 57s) and Smith (33m 9s) 3rd and 4th. With three in the top four, Morpeth also completed a resounding team victory. In the women’s race, Emma Holt’s victory was even more emphatic. Having completed the course in 37 minutes 28 seconds, her nearest rival on the night, veteran Louise Rodgers of Tyne Bridge Harriers, came in over three minutes later. Despite the conditions, there were also strong performances by Sam Hancox, 9th in 34m 51s, Jordan Scott, 10th in 34m 54s, Matty Boyle, 14th in 35m 48s and Mick Thomsen, 15th in 35m 58s and 2nd Over 40 male, though like everyone else, their times were adversely affected by the conditions. Other Morpeth finishers who battled through to the finish were: Paul Waterston, 22nd in 36m 24s and 3rd O/50; Mike Winter, 68th in 40m 4s; Paul Banks, 27th in 41m 55s; Chris Waugh, 111st in 42m 18s and 2nd O/55; Peter Scaife, 121st in 42m 43s; Richard Kirby, 112th in 42m 44s; Mike Steven, 148th in 43m 44s; Jane Briggs, 151st in 43m 56s and 2nd female O/45; Richard Sill, 189th in 45m 18s and 3rd O/60; James McFetrich, 238th in 47m 23s; Lesley Chapman, 257th in 47m 51s and 2nd O/60; Lucy Fenwick, 319th in 50m 22s; Rob Hancox, 349th in 51m 53s; Carol Parry, 409th in 54m 34s; Jacinta Wake, 418th in 55m 4s; Sarah Hunter, 468th in 59m 13s; Jane Blackett, 469th in 59m 13s; Jane Dungait, 510th in 64m 31s and Pam Woodcock, 513th in 65 minutes. Clearly in some distress from the oppressive conditions, Rob Hancox had battled through to the end despite suffering greatly with heat exhaustion, but then collapsed over the line. Thankfully, he was back in feet after an hour or so, with no serious damage caused and hopes to be back in action soon. Rob would like to thank all those who helped him at the finish. Report by Peter Scaife Morpeth Harriers, courtesy of new sponsors Linden Homes made the first of their resurrected Athlete of the Month Presentations, at the KEVI Track, on the evening of Monday 29th June 2015. The first award for the month of May, went to their Under 15 Discus and Shot specialist Ruaridh Lang, who truly excelled in the period covered by winning two championship Gold Medals at the North Eastern Track and Field Championships at Gateshead Stadium, and produced championship bests to accompany those medals. He also further excelled by breaking two league records in the NEYDL, and has since made further progression in his two chosen disciplines, which see him respectively in the top three, and twenty fifth in the country for his age group. Ruaridh is pictured above receiving his award from his Coach Paul Reed. |
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