Running her third fastest time of the year, and the tenth in her lifetime,
Laura Weightman qualified for her second Olympic Women’s 1500m Final, in the cauldron of Rio’s Olympic Stadium, in the early hours of Monday morning (15th August). She posted a finishing time of 4m05.28s to finish fifth in the first of her two heat Semi Final, and was ninth fastest of the twelve who have made the Final, which will be run at the early hour of 2.30am on Wednesday 17th August. Employing totally different tactics from her Round One heat on Saturday Morning, where she had finished seventh, and had qualified for the Semi’s as a fastest loser, Weightman went to the front of the field as they went through the first 300m, which was to prove a very positive move as the race progressed, and was always prominent leading to the bell. With 200m remaining Weightman was in sixth place, but drew on all of her left resources to chase the vital fifth place, and although she was pressured all of the way to the finish line, she managed to hold on for qualification, but not without sustaining a horrifying spike injury to her right shin, which she clearly showed to BBC Interviewer Phil Jones before departing for much needed medical attention. During interview, a clearly emotionally charged, and very much in pain Weightman, said how delighted she was in reaching another Olympic Final, and was pleased to have been able to run her race to her plan, and not to the desire of fellow competitors, and was relieved that it had worked out. Meanwhile Laura’s fellow GB rival Laura Muir also qualified, finishing third in the marginally faster second heat, posting a finishing time of 4m04.16s, which was fourth fastest overall going into the Final. Laura’s Semi Final was won by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, who remains one of the favourites to watch, along with Genzebe Dibaba, who was the winner of Muir’s Semi Final. So it’s all down to the early hour of 2.30am on Wednesday 17th August to see Laura Weightman’s next action, when we hope she can get close to medals. Well done Laura Morpeth Harriers had three medallists at the first day of competition, in the combined Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 Northern Athletics Track and Field Championships, held at the Middlesbrough Athletics Village on Saturday 13th August 2016. In the very first effort in his Under 15 Boys Shot Putt, Andrew Knight achieved a new personal best of 14.30m, which was a good metre better than his closest rival Shaun Kerry of Kingston upon Hull, which not only gave him a much treasured Gold Medal, but also a Northern title. Knight’s progress under the careful guidance of his Morpeth Coach Paul Reed has been quite remarkable, and this latest achievement is definitely the icing on a well-developed cake. Since May, Knight has improved his Shot Putt performance from a mere 11.25m to this latest achievement, which Reed is more than pleased with, and promises that if he continues to improve to this degree during the forthcoming period, his charge will indeed be a force to be reckoned with. The second Morpeth medal also came from the Field events, where David Thomas secured a Bronze in the Under 17 Men’s Triple Jump, with a best of 12.73m, which was only a mere 30cm adrift of Silver, and 44cm adrift of the Gold Medal. Holly Peck was Morpeth Harriers third medallist, finishing just under five seconds adrift of her Darlington rival India Pentland in the Under 15 Girls 1500m, with her finishing time of 4m55.02s, to take the Silver medal. After posting a new personal best of 14.71s, Morpeth’s Koffi Jeje Avornyo finished sixth in the Final of the Under 13 Boys 100m with a time of 14.82s. Koffi also competed in the 200m, going out in the Heats with a time of 31.08s. Morpeth’s Under 15 Boy sprinter Owen Priest finished seventh in the Final of the 300m with 41.28s, after equalling his personal best of 40.01s in his Heat. He also competed in the 200m, only to go out in the Heats with 26.90s. Competing in his very first Northern Championship, Morpeth’s Ethan Stephenson did well to finish seventh in a tough Under 15 Boys Long Jump, with a best of 5.55m, an effort which pleased his Coach Steve Garrett. Another Morpeth Harrier tackling an event for the first time was Under 15 Boy Ross Charlton, who produced a best of 9.97m in the Triple Jump, to finish fifth. In the Under 17 Women’s Discus and Shot Putt Finals, Morpeth’s Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot produced bests of 28.92m and 12.00m to finish sixth and fifth respectively. Morpeth’s Katie Hilton competed in the Under 17 Women’s Triple Jump and 100m events. She finished eighth in the Triple Jump with a best of 10.29m, and went out in her heat of the 100m, posting a time of 13.57s. Morpeth’s Harriet Priest finished fifth in the Final of the Under 17 Women’s 300m Hurdles, posting a time of 49.78s. Another two Championship Medals were added to the club’s tally on the second day of the Championships on Sunday 14th August. In her very much favoured Javelin event, Under 17 Woman athlete
Bobbie Griffiths threw a new personal best of 40.24m, to win a Gold Medal by a margin of just over two and a half metres over East Cheshire’s Paige Ditchfield. Rory Leonard won a much prized Bronze medal in the Under 17 Men’s 1500m Final, posting a time of 4m21.97s, which was agonisingly fractionally short of his personal best which he had posted at Stretford a few day’s previously. David Thomas was very unfortunate not to take his second medal of the weekend in the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump, when he produced a best of 6.09m, which was 27cm adrift of Bronze. Morpeth’s Under 15 Boy athlete Ethan Stephenson enjoyed his second ever Northern Championship appearance, finishing fifth in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.60m, which was 5cm adrift of a medal placing. Posting a time of 4m08.37s, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman managed to qualify
for the Semi Finals of the Women’s 1500m at the Rio Olympics in the early hours of Saturday Morning in the Olympic Stadium. She finished in seventh place in the second of three heats, however her time saw her go through as a fastest loser, and she will take her place alongside fellow Brit Laura Muir, who also qualified automatically from the third heat, finishing a comfortable third in 4m06.53s. The Semi Finals will take place at 1.30am on Monday 16th August for those who wish to stay up to view. This Friday (12th August) the Athletics Programme at the Rio Olympics finally gets underway at 9.30am GMT (13.30 in Brazil), with the Discus Qualifiers for Men, followed five minutes later by the Women’s 100m Hurdles in the Heptathlon Event. TV coverage is exclusive to the BBC on terrestrial channels, and please note Brazil is 4 hours behind in time. Two Morpeth Harriers will be in competitive action during the programme, which lasts for 10 days until Sunday 21st August. Laura Weightman, who is competing in her second Olympics, having finished ninth in the Women’s 1500m Final in 2012 in London, hopes to improve on that this time round, when she competes in the same event for Team GB, along with Scotland’s Laura Muir, who recently broke Kelly Holmes’s British Women’s 1500m record at the Anniversary Games, held in the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park. Laura begins her 1500m competition on Friday evening, when she lines up in her first round heat. Time of this event is 20.30 (Brazil Time), which is 12.30am GMT on Saturday. If she manages to qualify from this, she will then line-up in a Semi Final, which is scheduled for Sunday evening at 21.30 (Brazil Time), which is 1.30am GMT on Monday. The Final of the Women’s 1500m is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 22.30 (Brazil Time), which is 2.30am GMT on Wednesday. Medal Ceremony for this event is 21.05 (Brazil Time) on Wednesday 17th, which is 1.05am on Thursday 18th. Morpeth Harriers other Olympic interests lie with Mongolian Men’s Marathon runner Serod Batochir,
who competes on the final day on Sunday 21st August at 09.30 (Brazil Time), which is 1.30pm GMT. The Medal Ceremony for the Men’s Marathon takes place just prior to the closing Ceremony later in the day. MORPETH HARRIERS WOULD LIKE TO WISH LAURA AND SEROD ALL THE BEST IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPETITIONS, AND ARE IMMENSELY PROUD OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. There was quite evidently more joy in the Hedley household on the evening of Wednesday 10th August,
when the younger sibling Rhiannon achieved a new personal best time of 4m57.8s, when winning the Under 13 Girls 1500m, and the fifth and penultimate Start Fitness North Eastern Grand Prix Meeting, held at a rain-soaked Monkton Stadium in Jarrow on Wednesday 10th August. 24 hours earlier, elder brother Kieran, who is also a Morpeth Harrier, had achieved a new best of 4m00.66s over the same distance at a BMC Gold Standards Meeting at Stretford, and there was no doubt that his achievement had spurred his sister into adding further success to the family tally. Rhiannon has now furthered her standing as the leading athlete in her age group regionally, and overnight has seen her rise from nineteenth to twelfth nationally. It was a very good night all round for Morpeth Harriers, who including Rhiannon, had a total of fifteen athletes in action, on a night that was certainly well adrift of August in terms of conditions and temperature. Although there were constant showers of rain, thankfully there was no hint of wind. All fifteen athletes from the club did manage to score points in the individual Grand Prix, and including Hedley, the club’s athletes managed to pull off no less than seven age group victories, two from the track, and five coming from some excellent Field eventers. Prominent amongst the Field Event achievers was Under 17 Women’s Throws specialist Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot, who won both the Discus and Shot Putt with best efforts of 30.01m and 11.40m respectively. There were also Field event victories for Ruaridh Lang, Andrew Knight, and Adam Willoughby. Ruaridh won the Under 17 Men’s Discus with a best throw of 39.69m, Andrew won the Under 15 Boys Shot Putt with a best of 13.33m, and Adam Willoughby equalled his best clearance of 1.35m, to win the Under 13 Boys High Jump. In the Senior Men’s Shot Putt, Morpeth’s Craig Charlton was up against North East Champion Craig Sturrock of Gateshead, who managed to Putt 14.44m. Charlton managed a best of 13.09m to place second. Back to the Track, and Morpeth secured their second win, when Holly Peck won by a near margin of six seconds in the Under 15 Girls 1500m, posting a finishing time of 4m59.8s, which was a little adrift of her personal best. Another Morpeth Harrier competing in this event was Lily Heaton, who finished fifth in 5m23.3s. When finishing fourth in the A race of the Graded 1500m, Morpeth Harrier Philip Winkler posted a new personal best of 4m11.00s In the B race, Morpeth Under 17 athletes Liam Marsh, Matthew Waterfield, and Connor Marshall finished second, fourth, and sixth respectively. Marsh set a brand new personal best of 4m31.7s, taking all of six seconds off his previous figures. Waterfield equalled his personal best of 4m34.4s, and Marshall posted a finishing time of 4m35.0s. In the Graded C race, Morpeth’s Abby Sheldon finished eighth in 5m10.1s, and was second Under 20 Woman. Morpeth’s Adam Gibbs competed in the Graded 200m events, finishing 6th in the C race in 24.7s, and was fourth Under 20 Man. In the E race, Matthew Waterfield finished third in 25.3s, and was third fastest Under 17 Man. Morpeth’s Jacob Clayton competed in the Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m events, finishing sixth and fifth respectively, posting times of 15.5s, and 31.1s. |
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