Birthday Girl Laura Weightman not only won the UK Women’s 1500m title
at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday 2nd July 2018 she also firmly booked her place on the plane to Berlin, and next month’s European Championships. The 27-year-old Morpeth Harrier has built up her preparations carefully, under the guidance of coach Steve Cram, following her return from April’s Commonwealth Games, where she competed over the longer distance of 5000m, winning an excellent Bronze medal. On Sunday however, Laura showed that she still has what it takes to win at 1500m, taking the lead on the final lap from long term leader Jessica Judd of Chelmsford, who had won the heat on Saturday, where Weightman had qualified for the final by finishing third in a very modest 4m16.18s, to superbly win the final in 4m08.80s, although a little adrift of her lifetime best, a pleasing victory. Another Morpeth Harrier in action at the Championships on Sunday was Mhairi MacLennan, who finished fourteenth out of twenty-one finishers in the Women’s 5000m, posting a finishing time of 16m48.27s, which was around forty seconds adrift of winner Steph Twell of Aldershot. Representing England, Morpeths Nick Swinburn finished seventeenth in the Senior Men’s 11k race at the European Mountain Running Championships, held in Skopje, in the Republic of Macedonia, in the heart of the Balkans on Sunday 1st July 2018. Swinburn posted a total finishing time of 51m40s, on a course which reached a maximum height of 950m, with ascents and descents of 700m, and the Start and Finish points were at a height of 585m. Although just adrift of the England scoring three, Swinburn was very pleased to be able to take part in such a level of competition. Northumberland Schools selectors have now chosen the final 24 athletes who will be representing them
at the annual English Schools Association Track and Field Championships, scheduled to be held at Alexander Stadium on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th July, and their officially selected list includes eight representatives from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers & AC. Heading the list is Rory Leonard, who will be competing in the Senior Boys 1500m, hopefully having returned from the European Under 18 Athletics Championships in Hungary, in fine form, and armed with a medal also. Competing alongside Leonard in the Senior Boys 1500m, will be his Morpeth Harriers club colleague Kieran Hedley, and the club can also boast a third Senior Boy, in the form of Ruaridh Lang, who competes in the Discus. Staying with the Seniors, Bobbie Griffiths is very naturally selected for the Girls Javelin competition. The Intermediate competitions see Andrew Knight and Ethan Stephenson line up in the Shot Putt and Triple Jump for Boys. Two Junior athletes, both of them Girls, have also made the limited squad of 24. Amy Lott goes in the 75m Hurdles, and Jessica Gardiner, who is certainly showing an excellent level of recent form, takes part in the Discus competition. We comment limited, this is because under new stringent competition guidelines, the county was only allowed to select a modest 24 in number, so selectors have been forced to make some tough decisions, which has led to some athletes narrowly missing out, who will quite naturally feel disappointed. Some on the other hand will be delighted, including Stephenson, Lott, and Gardiner, for whom it will be their very first experience of the English Schools Track and Field Championships. Congratulations to those selected and best of luck in Birmingham. |
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