Ross crowns 2019 with World Championships Gold
Morpeth Harrier's Ross Charlton rounded off his 2018/19 season on Saturday,2nd Septem,ber 2019 by claiming Gold at the UIPM’s Under 19 LaserRun World Championship in Budapest. The 17-year-old, added another major medal to his collection with a superb display in the Hungarian capital. For the first time, the World Championships for both the Junior’s LaserRun and Senior’s Pentathlon were held together. The Combined LaserRun being the final two events in a full Pentathlon, comprising 4 x pistol shooting and subsequent 4 x 800m runs. The field of thirty-two athletes saw Ross lead throughout before coming home ahead of Egypt’s Eiad El Kashef and Yuriy Kovalchuk from Ukraine by margins of 21 seconds and 25 seconds respectively. Modern Pentathlon is the only sport actually created for the Olympic Games. The five disciplines are a 200m Swim, Fencing, Show Jumping and the Combined Laser Pistol Shooting & 3,200m Run. Reaction Reflecting on his performance across the season, Ross said, “This year has been my first taste of international action in Pentathlon. I did okay at the European’s in Lithuania, whilst getting knocked out in the Semi-Finals in the World’s in Bulgaria was a disappointment. So it feels good to round the season off today with a win in my strongest events.” Ross went on, “People often ask me how on earth I find the time to train for five very different events? Well, the answer is that I don’t really do much else! Fortunately, I enjoy all the disciplines which makes it a labour of love. And I have to give a ‘shout out’ to all of my coaches and training partners who keep me going, without them it wouldn’t be possible. So thanks guys, I appreciate all that you do for me.” Article and photos courtesy of John Charlton A North East Youth Development League squad of 146 competing athletes, under the stewardship of Morpeth Harriers Coach and Team Manager Dave Thomas, including 21 from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers, travelled to Cudworth, near Barnsley in Yorkshire, on Sunday 1st September 2019 , to compete in the annual Inter League fixture against Yorkshire and District, and once again, and for the fourth year in succession, came away winners, on this occasion by the handsome margin of 198 points.
It was the first occasion that Yorkshire has hosted this fixture, and they certainly did the match proud in terms of organisation, helped of course by a few officials from North East clubs Birtley and North Shields Poly, who were amongst those helping to run some of the vast number of Field Events, that spanned the three age groups, and two genders. The Dorothy Hyman Stadium, named of course after the Yorkshire town’s famous Olympian, provided the splendid backdrop for a spectacle of athletics, enhanced by the respective excellent talents, who were individually chosen from the league’s eighteen member clubs, to represent the area on the basis of their equally excellent performances, achieved throughout the season just ended. In the case of Morpeth Harriers, amongst their 21, (second largest contributors), they provided the North East with seven individual winners on the day, with three of those athletes enjoying two wins apiece. Six of the club’s athletes also achieved new personal bests, which was in itself excellent, especially with it being very much an end of season affair, plus a varying range of weather conditions, changing between sunny, cloudy, and sometimes wet and windy, throughout the five hours or so of competition. Charlotte Earl and Jessica Gardiner both achieved two victories in the Under 17 Women’s section. Earl won both the Long Jump and Triple Jump competitions, producing respective best efforts of 4.48m and 10.66m. Meanwhile Gardiner won both the Hammer (41.36m), and Discus (31.27m) events. Additional Morpeth Harriers performers in the Under 17 Women’s event came from Amy Lott and Rosie Winter, who both showed exceptional commitment to the cause, by each of them competing in three individual events, and sharing success in the winning 4 x 100m (51.95s). Lott competed in the 100m, 200m, and her favoured 80m Hurdles. She finished second over the obstacles in 12.11s, and although she finished fourth in both sprints, she set new personal bests of 13.46s and 28.41s respectively. Meanwhile Winter finished third in the 200m (28.18s), fourth in the Javelin (19.54m), and seventh in the 100m (13.57s). Nat Arkle won two events in the U15 Boys section. He putted 10.83s to win the Shot, and also triumphed in the Discus, with a best throw of 29.33m. Other Morpeth performers in the Under 15 Boys events were Edward Gardiner, who was third in the Javelin with a best of 25.50m, Dan Waddington, who was third in the Hammer (22.25m), and seventh in the Discus (22.11m), Jack Kyte, who was fourth in the 200m (25.24s), and Ryan Davies, who finished fifth in the 1500m in 4m51.64s. There were two winners in the Under 17 Men’s section from Morpeth Harriers. Dylan Gooding won the 1500m in 4m26.69s, and David Sanderson won the Hammer, producing a best of 24.49m. Sanderson indeed worked his socks off, by also finishing fourth in both the Shot Putt (9.77m), and Discus (27.17m) events. Although he could only finish third, Morpeth’s Daniel Dowd produced a personal best of 43.18m in the Javelin. Victoria Hodgson of Morpeth Harriers was in exceptional form in the Under 13 Girls sprints, where she produced personal best performances of 10.67s and 21.11s in the 75m and 150m events, where she placed second and third respectively. Recent Scottish Gold medal winner Hannah Lott finished second in the 75m Hurdles in 11.88s. Kaitlyn Waddell finished second in the High Jump with her clearance of 1.35m and produced new figures of 7.18m in the Shot Putt, finishing third. Just behind Kaitlyn in the Shot Putt, was her club colleague Georgia Turner, who also produced new figures of 7.17m. Hodgson and Lott also competed for the regions 4 x 100m squad, who won in 56.30s. In the U15 Girls events, Morpeth’s Mia Belton proved to be one of the star performers, producing a personal best time of 43.08s, when winning the 300m. Belton also contributed by competing in the 4 x 100m and 4 x 300m events. Melody Brooks finished second in the 200m in 27.49s, and also produced a best of 17.87m, to finish fifth in the Discus. Brooks also contributed by competing in the 4 x 300m squad. Alice Geoghegan won the Javelin, producing a best throw of 27.65m, and finished fifth in the 200m in 28.32s. Geoghegan was also a contributor in the 4 x 300m squad. Abi Leiper was a tireless worker in the Under 15 Girl events, taking part in the 800m, finishing third in 2m26.27s, sixth in the 300m in 45.84s, and seventh in the Long Jump, producing a best of 4.16m. Rounding off the Under 15 Girls performances, Morpeth’s Olivia Carruthers finished seventh in the 300m in 47.49s, and also finished seventh in the Javelin, throwing a best of 18.63m, and was another contributor to the regions 4 x 300m squad. In closing, Team Manager Thomas, would also like to thank particularly Claire Rutter – Darlington/Allerton, Chris Mole -North Shields Poly, and Jayne Sorrell of Harrogate for their help on the day with athlete guidance, along with numerous coaches and parents from clubs who gave very valuable support on the day. A great day, and another great result. Well Done Everyone!! Morpeth’s Senior Women’s squad were delighted gold medallists at the annual NECAA Signals Relays at Hetton Lyons Country Park on Saturday 31st August 2019, while their Senior Men and Over 40 Veterans both picked up silver medals.
Although the race had been moved this year from its traditional Spring time slot in the fixture calendar, the course itself remained the same – a 2.2 mile, two lap hilly leg for each runner twice round the lake, although the late scheduling did mean that the number of teams looked well down on previous years. Running at the same time as the Over 50 men, Morpeth’s women were led off by Cat Macdonald who clocked 13 minutes 1 second and had the team in a good second place. Second leg runner and veteran Claire Calverley had only been drafted into the team at short notice on Friday night, but she stuck at her task gamely to keep the team in contention ((15m 24s) although the lead passed to Wallsend Harriers thanks to a flying fastest leg of the day by Danielle Hodgkinson of 11m 49s. Another runner not overawed at making a Senior Women’s team debut was Sarah Lawson on leg 3, whose gutsy 15m 41s meant that, at the end of her leg, the club was now in fifth place with the lead having passed to Gateshead Harriers with Houghton Harriers in pursuit. It was down to Rachelle Falloon to reel in the four teams ahead of her, and this she set about doing with a controlled and determined performance, passing Houghton’s last leg runner, Anna Pigford, with only a few hundred metres to go and in doing so clocking 12m 45s, the second fastest overall women’s time of the day to put the team in a winning position for a very pleasing gold medal with an overall time of 56m 51s. Houghton were 2nd, only 5 seconds behind, with Elswick in 3rd. In a women’s veteran competition won by North Shields Polytechnic Harriers in a time of 59m 39s, Morpeth’s veteran women, represented by Jill Bennett (16m 48s), Sue Smith (16m 41s), Pam Woodcock (17m 38s) and Lesley Chapman (17m 35s) finished as a respectable 10th veteran team. Meanwhile in a strong Over 50 men’s team competition won by Sunderland Harriers from NSP (times of 52m 20s and 54m 16s) the club’s two teams were 8th and 12th. With a couple of leading Over 50s out and two more drafted into the O/40s team, these were decent showings, although ironically, with the World Vets imminent, Guy Bracken for once didn’t turn out for the Poly. For the A team, Phil Walker had the fastest run after a long spell out from an injury from which he is still recovering with a time of 13m 28s. Paul Bellingham (choosing not to run in the scheduled-on-the-same-day Bellingham Show…) clocked 14m 59s, Paul Brown, another runner in his first competitive outing since an operation, 14m 49s, and Ben Abbott 15m 2s for an overall clocking of 58m 18s. In a B team featuring a couple of 60 + athletes, Kevin Bray ran 15m 13s, Bill Tilley 15m 25s, Steve Johnstone 15m 33s and Jim Alder ‘the younger’ 15m 39s. Special mention should be made of Jim, who opted to run through the pain barrier to make a full team up when clearly not 100%. The six leg Senior Men and Over 40 male veterans race followed, and here Morpeth were always in the mix with local rivals Sunderland Harriers, Gateshead, Tyne Bridge and Houghton. Youngster Rowan Bennett got the club off to a good start despite being the youngest runner of the leg with a clocking of 11m 11s but after Joe Armstrong’s blistering 10m 43s on leg 2 – the fastest time of the day - the club had moved into the lead. Tom Innes’ 11m 40s meant the club were still just ahead at the end of leg 3, but were now being hunted down by Sunderland, Houghton and Tyne Bridge. However, on leg 4 Ross Floyd, in his first competitive outing for several months, ran 11m 29s to maintain the lead. Unfortunately, strong runs on the last two legs by Sunderland Harriers, who had a good day in the men’s competitions all round, meant that despite the best efforts of Jordan Scott (11m 58s) and Kieran Hedley (11m 30s) the club could only manage second place and narrowly missed out on retaining the trophy they had held for several years by a final margin of only some 21 seconds and an overall time of 1:08:31. An incomplete B team featured Andy Lawrence (11m 41s), Mark Snowball (12m 1s) and Richard Johnson (11m 46s); credit to them for turning out in an incomplete team. It was a similar story in the Over 40 veteran’s race with the club again losing out to Sunderland. Ahead of next week’s Great North Run, Tony Lewis had a good first leg of 12m 36s to put the club in a second place they never lost, with Over 50 veteran Lee Bennett recording the team’s fastest leg of the day with 12m 25s. Jamie Johnson ran 13m 35s on leg 2, and Paul Waterston, like Lee, stepped down with a decent clocking of 13m 16s. Men’s team manager Dave Swinburne showed he continues to make progress on the road back with 13m 08s on leg 5 and Jason Dawson brought the team home in 13m 27s for an overall clocking of 1:18:27. A strong Sunderland team, who actually finished in 8th overall place in the race in 1:15:32 finished well over two minutes ahead, however. Missing a number of leading runners like the Senior Men, a silver was nevertheless a creditable performance and the team were actually 13th overall, ahead of the Senior teams of Jarrow, Crook and NSP. Overall then, considering the late and rather inconvenient scheduling and the absences of a number of male and female athletes, a successful day. The Club are very saddened and shocked to learn that on Monday afternoon (26th August), George Young,
our friend and fellow club servant passed away following a great fight against a progressive illness. George joined Morpeth Harriers a few years ago, after a long, and fairly prolific competitive career with Blyth Running Club, where in his later days, he had also assisted as a Club Coach, helping to cultivate the development of some of their growing numbers of younger talents, who included his own son James. It was when James joined up with Morpeth Harriers to further his own competitive ambitions, that George decided to follow him, and he joined the ranks of our own much needed coaching staff, helping mainly with the progressive Middle-Distance Groups, coached by Mike Bateman. George soon proved himself to be a real asset, and being a most knowledgeable and likeable man, he quickly fitted into a new club setup. The club are extremely grateful to George for all of the time and hard work he has carried out over the last few years, and he will be very sadly missed by all who worked alongside him, and indeed grew to know him as a very pleasant and gentle man, and someone who would go out of his way to be of assistance in whatever task was given to him. He had a great relationship with some of the club’s younger talents, that, in itself a very precious and special virtue, and in that respect will be very sorely missed by all who knew him and respected him. At this time, Morpeth Harriers & AC, and its members, offer their deepest condolences and thoughts to George’s Wife Catherine, Son James, Daughter Louise, and all other close family members, at their time of extreme sadness. The funeral Service for George took place on Friday 6th September 2019 at 12.15pm at Cowpen Crematorium. This was followed by refreshments at Blyth Golf Club, to which all friends were invited by George’s family, in his honour. Kaitlyn Waddell, Amy Lott, Georgia Taylor, and Ryan and Sam Davies of Morpeth Harriers,
all competed in the annual Tartan Games Open Meeting, organised by Gateshead Harriers, and held on Bank Holiday Monday (26th August 2019). Busiest of all the five athletes was Under 13 Girl Waddell, who competed in no less than three individual events on the day. Her best performance came in the 70m Hurdles Final, which she won quite handsomely in a time of 13.04s. She went on also to finish second in the High Jump, producing a personal best clearance of 1.40m, and for the first time, produced a Putt of 6.49m, to finish fourth in the Shot. Also competing in the Shot Putt from Morpeth Harriers was Georgia Taylor, who finished second, with a best effort of 6.87m, this also marking a first outing in a Blue and White vest. Another Morpeth winner on the day was Under 17 Woman Amy Lott, who was the victor of a two-horse race in the 80m Hurdles Final. The recent Scottish Bronze medallist clocked ac winning time of 12.22s. Siblings Ryan and Sam Davies competed respectively in the Under 15 Boys Mile, and Year 3 Boys 400m Finals. Ryan finished third in 5m21.97s, and the younger Sam finished second in 1m25.08s, both testing themselves over the respective distances for the first time. |
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