Gateshead Harriers hosted the first Indoor Athletics meeting of 2017/18
at the Gateshead College facility, on the evening of Thursday 16th November 2017, which saw seven athletes from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers & AC in competitive action. Four of the seven were competing in their new age groups for the first time, and there were good early signs that all were settling in well to that factor competitively. Still competing in the Under 15 Girls age group however, was specialist Hurdler Amy Lott, who proved to be the fastest over the 60m obstacles, posting a time of 9.63s, improving on her previous by 300th’s of a second. Amy also competed in the flat 50m, finishing fifth equal fastest with 8.49s, also a new personal best performance. Another Morpeth athlete competing in his previous age group was Alfie Ward, who was third fastest Under 15 Boy in the 60m Hurdles, posting a time of 10.42s, which was also a new personal best, his previous figures being 10.65s. Alfie also competed in the flat 60m, posting the eighth fastest time of his age group of 8.85s, and the Long Jump, where he was fourth in the competition, producing a best of 4.37m. Morpeth athletes Alice Geoghegan, Mia Belton and Ellie Longstaff all produced good performances in their first outings in their new Under 15 age group events. Alice was fifth fastest in the 60m Hurdles (11.07s), and eighth fastest in the flat 60m (8.64s). Both of these being her first outings over the distance. Belton, making her indoor debut, can be well satisfied with her 12.31s in the 60m Hurdles, which made her seventh fastest, and her thirteenth fastest 8.85s in the flat 60m. Meanwhile Longstaff was fifth equal fastest in the flat 60m, alongside club colleague Lott, with 8.49s, just fractionally adrift of her lifetime best. Morpeth’s other athlete in the younger age group events was Olivia Gent, who was third fastest Under 13 Girl in the 60m Hurdles with 12.21s, and thirteenth fastest in the flat 60m (9.52s), the latter representing a new personal best performance. Competing for the first time as an Under 17 athlete, Ethan Stephenson was seventh fastest in his age group in the 60m, posting a time of 7.70s. It was also Stephenson’s first outing over the distance, although he had previously had a best of 12.2s over 100m. Overall, a very satisfactory nights work for Morpeth’s young sprint talents. Having his first competitive outing in four months, Morpeth Harrier Peter Newton certainly made easy meat of all the opposition in the annual Heaton Harriers Memorial 10k Road Race, held on Newcastle Town Moor, on a cold and windy, and sunny autumnal Sunday Morning (12th November 2017)
. A total of 536 finishers took part, with 350 contesting the Men’s section, and 186 in the Women’s event, and Newton led the entire field home, posting a finishing time of 31m08s, which although was well outside the course record, was still enough to see him win by the very healthy margin of 82 seconds from Gateshead Harrier Conrad Franks, with Birtley AC’s Adrian Bailes finishing third in 32m35s. It was also Newton’s first win in the event since 2007, when he had been running for his previous club Claremont Road Runners. Despite also having Sam Hancox (6th) 32m52s, John Butters (9th) (1st Vet) 33m22s, and Jake Masterman (21st) 35m22s, the Morpeth dominance was still not enough to prevent Tyne Bridge Harriers from taking the team title. Other Morpeth finishers in the Senior Men’s race were, Liam Marsh (31st) 36m49s, David Cunningham (48th) (2nd O/50) 38m17s, David Nicholson (63rd) (1st O/60) 38m57s, Rob Hancox (77th) (3rd O/50) 39m45s, Paul Bellingham (154th) (6th O/55) 42m33s, Kevin Bray (171st) (8th O/55) 43m02s, Mike Steven (209th) (6th O/60) 44m28s, and James McFetrich (224th) (30th O/40) 44m45s. There were no Morpeth Harriers competing in the Senior Women’s event. Having the first three finishers in the combined Under 17/20 Men’s 5k event, ensured the club a landslide team victory, courtesy of Taylor Clover, who won in 16m14s, with thirty-one seconds to spare over second placed club colleague Joe Ramshaw, with Daniel Melling a further six seconds adrift in third place. The Morpeth dominance did not cease there however, having Matthew Waterfield (4th) (17m07s), Tom Innes (6th) (1st U20) 17m27s, and Dean Lonsdale (7th) (2nd U20) 17m48s. Morpeth’s Gracie Hufton certainly continued her current run of excellent form, and continues to impress, as she finished second in the combined Under 17/20 Women’s event. She was seventy-six seconds adrift of Under 20 race winner Robyn Bennett of Elswick Harriers, as she posted a superb personal best of 19m59s, taking a mammoth 107 seconds off her old figures, to take the Under 17 Women’s title. The club also added the Under 15 Boys team title to their impressive tally, in their 3k event, courtesy of Thomas Cunningham (3rd) 10m24s, Ben Walker (4th) 10m29s, and Dylan Davies (5th) 10m37s. Other Morpeth runners in this event were, Tom Balsdon (6th) 10m49s, Andrew Hudspith (8th) 11m05s, Ben Waterfield (10th) 11m23s, and William Donaldson (12th) 11m38s. Holly Peck of Morpeth Harriers missed out unfortunately on retaining her Under 15 Girls 3k title, when she finished second to her fiercest rival Innes Curran of Gateshead Harriers, losing out by ten seconds, posting a finishing time of 10m51s. In the Under 13 Boys 3k event, Morpeth finished second to a very strong Gateshead challenge. Their contingent was led home by Sam Tate, just fractionally missing out for third place, as he posted a finishing time of 11m11s. Further team support came from Ryan Davies (6th) 11m27s, and Joseph Hudspith (9th) 12m17s. Morpeth’s other finisher in this event was Callum Rowell, who was tenth in 12m24s. Sophia Cunningham (6th) 13m29s, Laura Melling (7th) 13m42s, and Faye Archbold (10th) 14m24s, combined to produce an emphatic Under 13 Girls team win for Morpeth Harriers in the Under 13 Girls 3k event, which gave the club a haul of three team titles on the day. Prior to the Senior event, a customary one-minute silence was observed, honouring those who fought during the first world war, in respect of Remembrance Day. Many thanks to all officials and helpers at Heaton Harriers for once again organising a splendid friendly event on a traffic free course. Information has reached the club this week, that for two weeks in succession,
(Tuesday 31st October, and Tuesday 7th November) the floodlights at the athletics track, have been switched on after 20.00hrs, and have remained in operation throughout the night, resulting in a switch off by the KEVI School groundsman the following morning at 9.00am. This is immediately following the conclusion of the Community Athletics session, which ceases on a Tuesday at 20.00hrs approx., whereupon the keyholder has subsequently switched off the floodlights, and left the premises. Someone is evidently allowing themselves access to the facility after the said keyholder has left, and is somehow switching up the floodlights, either by an approved key, or maybe other means, still unknown ?? This presents two problems for us as a sharing club. (a) A significant rise in energy costs, if this practice is allowed to continue. (b) As a club and shareholder, we would be automatically breaking an agreed rule of covenant of usage if the said floodlights were to remain in operation after 21.00hrs, which is the regulated shut down time. Investigations are currently being carried out into how this is occurring, and whether any of our club members may be responsible. Coaches and keyholders and responsible people within the club have now been contacted by either Email or Telephone to make them aware of all of these circumstances, and we ask any members to be particularly vigilant over the next few weeks to ensure these actions are not repeated. If anyone has any circumstances that they wish to report, please contact by Email, giving brief details of time, date etc, should they see these lights in operation beyond the regulated time, or if they suspect any unauthorised access of the facility. Email morpethharriers@aol.com Or Text 07801734806 or 07540412089 Thank You. Morpeth Harriers, and training partners James Taylor and Mhari MacLennan, travelled to Teardrop Lakes in Milton Keynes on Saturday 11th November 2017, to compete in the Senior Men and Senior Women’s events at the latest British Cross Challenge Meeting. Taylor finished 39th against top class Men’s opposition, whilst MacLennan finished an excellent 13th in a hard-fought Women’s event. The Senior Mens race was won by Mahamed Mahamed (Southampton AC)
and the Womens race was won by Jess Judd (Chelmsford). Finishing second to Ermysted’s Grammar School of Skipton, North Yorkshire,
the Intermediate Boys of King Edward Grammar School of Morpeth, have progressed to the final of the English Schools Cross Country Cup competition, which will be held at Sevenoaks in Kent on Saturday 25th November 2017. On Saturday 11th November, at Stewart Park in Middlesbrough, they were led home by promising Morpeth Harrier Euan Duffin , who produced a superb individual run, to finish a close third, behind the Yorkshire school’s leading counters. Duffin had excellent team support from fellow Morpeth Harriers, Thomas Cunningham (8th), Dylan Davies (11th), and Ben Walker (15th). Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the same event were James Gilholme of Duchess High School in Alnwick (22nd), and Dylan Gooding (30th), and Ben Waterfield (31st), who were both non-scorers in the King Edward squad. Duchess High School finished sixth in the competition, with Gilholme their second scorer. Unfortunately, King Edward School could not finish with the required four counters in the Intermediate Girls event. This was indeed a great pity, as their three representatives Holly Peck, Lily Heaton, and Rebecca Bradley, all of them Morpeth Harriers, competed well, finishing second, eleventh, and thirty fifth respectively. In Holly’s case, she only missed individual victory by a mere four seconds, to Skipton’s Alice Jones, who competes for Wharfedale AC, and was the Under 13 Girls Northern Cross-Country Champion at Knowsley, Merseyside, earlier this year. |
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