Several Young Athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in competitive action at the annual Northumberland Schools Track and Field Championships, held at Gateshead Stadium on Saturday 10 June.
One of the most notable performers was East Northumberland Junior Girl Alexandria Hodgson, who won both the Discus and Hammer competitions. In the Hammer, she not only achieved a most prized English Schools Standard, with her best throw of 38.73m, she also broke a Championship record that former Morpeth Harrier Jessica Gardiner had set in 2018, by almost three metres. She also won the Discus by a narrow margin of 68cm from Newcastle’s Rebecca Etherington, producing a best throw of 20.87m. Elder Sister Victoria Hodgson also had a taste of victory in the Inter Girls 80m Hurdles, producing a winning time of 12.8s. She also finished second to North Tyneside’s Senna Gorvett in the 300m Hurdles, who produced a Championship best performance of 45.6s. Hodgson’s time was 48.1s. There were further event wins for Morpeth Harriers Edward Gardiner, Joe Dixon, Elliot Kelso, Joseph Close, and Ben Hope. Gardiner, representing East Northumberland, won the Senior Boys Discus, producing a best effort of 36.20m. Dixon, also representing East Northumberland, won the Senior Boys 3000m in 8m59.5s. Elliot Kelso, representing Tynedale, won the Intermediate Boys 1500m in 4m23.9s, finishing just ahead of Morpeth Harriers club colleague Oliver Tomlinson of East Northumberland who was second in 4m29.8s. Another Morpeth Harrier Harry Armstrong, representing North Northumberland was ninth in 4m59.9s. Joseph Close, representing North Northumberland, comfortably won the Intermediate Boys 800m in 2m03.4s. Representing East Northumberland, Ben Hope won the Intermediate Boys 400m Hurdles in 62.8s. Hope was also third in the 100m Hurdles, posting a time of 20.3s. Staying with the Intermediate Boys, Oliver Tomlinson was fifth in the Javelin with a best throw of 20.29m. Intermediate Girl Amy Longstaff of East Northumberland finished second in the Final of the 100m in 13.2s. After winning her 200m heat in 28.2s, Longstaff finished third in a hotly contested final in 28.3s. East Northumberland’s Amelia Hamlin finished a very close second to Newcastle’s Poppy Wilde, in the Inter Girls 300m Final, being rewarded with the same time of 43.2s. Morpeth trio Harrison Scott, Jack Dinning and Connor Phillips all competed in the Inter Boys sprints. After running his 100m heat in 11.8s, Scott finished seventh in the final in 12.3s. Dinning unfortunately went out in his 100m heat in 11.9s. Scott clocked 24.4s in his 200m Heat, and Phillips clocked 25.0s alongside him, however Phillips lined up in the later run final without Scott, clocking 25.1s for seventh place. Other Morpeth Harriers results were as follows. Junior Boys 200m: Heat, William Hodgson (East) (3rd) 26.0s, Final 26.8s (6th) Junior Boys 300m: Final, James Trotter (3rd) 41.6s, Junior Boys 800m Final; Ben Moll (4th) 2m21.1s, Junior Boys 1500m: Final, George Mavir, (8th) 4m51.0s Junior Boys Triple Jump: William Hodgson (6th) 9.82m Junior Girls 800m: Final, Megan Potrac (8th) 2m47.5s Junior Girls 1500m: Final, Molly Roche (6th) 5m36.8s. Several athletes will await word of a place in next week’s Inter Counties Championships, also being held at Gateshead, the final steppingstone to the English Schools Championships, being held in Birmingham in the summer. It has certainly been a busy few weeks athletically for the Hodgson family, with four of them being in action in a number of Track and Field events, in the colours of their club Morpeth Harriers.
Both Victoria and Alexandria picked up medals at the NECAA Championships at Middlesbrough in May, and they also competed for their club at Shildon in the second NEYDL match, along with Alexandria’s twin brother William, who made a welcome return to athletics action, following a spell of activity on the Rugby Field for one of the Morpeth squads. But more recently it is Father Trevor, who has been carving out a reputation as one of the country’s top sprint performers in the Over 50 Masters category. On Monday 5 June, Trevor posted the fastest time of 11.5s in the 100m, which was the fastest overall time at the NEMAA Track and Field League Meeting at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow, and cemented his No 1 placing nationwide in 2023, and also sees him ranked highly in both the European and World Masters Rankings. A couple of days following his Monkton achievement, Trevor retained his crown at the National Police Championships at Nuneaton, clocking an impressive 11.8s, against a headwind registering minus two. Trevor is also earning his place in the Morpeth Harriers Northern League squad, and competing against much younger rivals. His improvement from a best of 12.4s in 2022 is quite phenomenal, and his club are more than pleased to be able to call upon his services. There were just short of 4,000 finishers in Friday night’s Blaydon Race, the 41st running of which took place on a busy night for Tyneside, with local lad Sam Fender playing the first of two sell-out nights at St James’ Park the same evening.
An overcast day finally saw the sun emerge in time for the evening’s race, good for photos but a mixed blessing perhaps as it proved to be straight in the face of those ‘gannin along the Scotswood Road’, although this was compensated for to some extent by an easterly wind. Organisers stuck with 2022’s changed course, not one for the traditionalists perhaps with no start outside Balmbra’s (or the traditional vaulting of barriers outside the Cathedral), but at least a fast two miles west along the river from the Law Courts through Newcastle Business Park before a steady pull up to get on the Scotswood Road. Times were fast, however, with 2022 winner Calum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers again proving too strong for his rivals and winning in a time of 26 minutes 43 seconds for the 5.75 mile course, bettering his previous year’s time by over two minutes. Johnson finished some 40 seconds ahead of second-placed Cameron Allan of Houghton Harriers (27:22) with 2019 winner Graham Rush of Leeds City AC, now an O/40, second last year, in third (27:32). Morpeth Harriers comfortably retained Men’s team title however, a trophy that has been in the club’s possession for nigh on two decades. Carl Avery was first back for the club in 4th place in 27:47, and also first O/35, having gone toe-to-toe with fellow Harrier Alex Brown all the way, Alex finishing 5th one second behind. Lawrence McCourt was 6th in 27:52, having headed the chasing group to Johnson and Allan for much of the way, with Sam Hancox 13th in 28:41 making up the four to count team prize. Leeds City athletes were 1st and 2nd in the Women’s race, with Camilla Mckenspiey winning in 31:04 from Heather Townsend in 31:15. Durham City’s Jasmine Wood was 3rd in 31:28 and first North East female. Aly Dixon was 1st O/40 and 4th in 31:51 and Danielle Hodgkinson 6th and 1st O/35 in 32:05. Some 31 athletes from Morpeth in total completed the course, with other notable runs coming from Thomas Prentice, 30th in 30:18, Andrew Lawrence, 45th in 31:02 and Andrew Ball, 77th and 2nd Over 45 in 32:01. Catriona Macdonald was the club’s first female finisher, just outside the women’s top ten in 11th place in 33:38. Other Morpeth finishers were: Dave Stabler, 138th in 33:36; Shaun Land, 147th in 33:51; Anthony Jannetta, 150th in 33:51; Jake Parmley, 165th in 34:04; John Butters, 206th in 35:12; Rob Hancox, 211th and 3rd O/55 in 35:16; Jamie Johnson, 368th in 37:48; Mike Winter, 374th in 38:08; Jason Dawson, 390th in 37:52; Richard Glennie, 442nd in 38:26; Jane Kirby, 512th in 40:01; Linzi Quinn, 578th in 39:40; Mark Snowball, 594th in 39:31; Richard Kirby, 655th in 41:37; Anna Wright, 672nd in 39:44; Sarah Lawson, in her first race back since injury, 768th in 42:08; Peter Scaife, 1599th in 47:57; Arjan Piet, 2322nd in 53:53; Sue Smith, 2330rd in 52:08 and Norman Clark, 2332nd in 56:10. Special congratulations to Andy L and Carl who somehow also managed to make Fender at SJP. Alistair Macdonald’s photos from the night are available here. Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers competed at the annual Northern Athletics Track and Field Championships, held at Sport City in Manchester on Saturday and Sunday.
On day one, Phil Winkler won a prized Gold Medal in the Senior Men’s 5000m, posting a winning time of 15m02.95s. Also winning a podium place on day one from Morpeth Harriers was Under 20 Man Edward Gardiner, who won Bronze in the Discus, by producing a best throw of 36.99m. Medals continued on the second day for Morpeth , when Joe Dixon won Bronze in the Under 20 Men’s 5000m, where he produced a time of 15m46.30s, this being his first outing over the twelve and a half lap distance. This was accompanied by another Bronze Medal being won by fellow Under 20 athlete Charlotte Earl, who produced a best of 11.59m in the Triple Jump, which was just a mere fraction adrift of her personal best. Matthew Waterfield finished third in his heat of the Senior Men’s 800m in a time of 1m57.40s, which was also only a mere fraction adrift of his personal best. Unfortunately, in the later run final, he finished outside the medals in eighth spot, posting a time of 2m03.48s. * Morpeth had an additional medallist in the NECAA Track and Field Championships, when Senior Man Alistair Douglass finished third in the 10,000m at Churchill Playing Fields, Whitley Bay on the evening of Wednesday 31 May. Douglass was presented with his Bronze Medal by NECAA President Mick Frazer, after crossing the finish line in 33m17s, behind Houghton Harrier Chris Coulson, who won in 31m35s, from Sunderland Harrier Jake Ridding (32m41s). Over 65 Masters Gavin Bayne and Dave Nicholson travelled to Scotland at the weekend to take part in the blast running Scottish Mile, incorporating the BMAF Mile Championships, where they were unlucky to miss out on medals despite strong runs.
Gavin finished 4th in 5:46 and Dave 5th just a second or so behind, with the O/65 and O/70 events, run in the same race, won by a pair of doughty Scots, John Thomson and Ed Norton, in 5:13 and 5:34. * Cat Macdonald finished 18th and 2nd Female in the lung-bursting Penshaw Hill Race on Wednesday evening with a time of 18:50, losing out to Durham City’s Alice Crane who ran 17:50 to come back in 7th overall. Host club Sunderland Harriers filled the first three places, with O/40 vet Stephen Jackson 1st back in 16:21. |
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