It was an evening of celebration for Morpeth Harriers at the presentation for the Start Fitness sponsored North East Harrier League 2022/2023 cross country season last Thursday, with the club collecting four team trophies along with four individual medals.
Oliver Calvert won Gold in the Under 15s Boys, and also led the U/15 Boys squad to the team trophy, with a winning margin of seven points ahead of North Shields Polytechnic Harriers and Tyne Bridge. Support came from Oliver Tomlinson, tied in second place with Alnwick Harrier Liam Mcdonough, who both collected individual Silvers, and team members Stephen Craske, Harry Armstrong, Dan Burrow and Ben Moll. The margin of victory was even greater for the club’s U/17 Boys, who won every fixture over the season to finish with a mere six-point total, 17 ahead of nearest rivals Birtley AC and Durham City. They were led home by Will De Vere Owen who, like Calvert, collected an individual Gold ahead of Gosforth’s Ethan Bond and Blackhill’s Tom Slane. Just missing out on individual medals, Morpeth’s Elliot Kelso, Bertie Marr and Joe Close were fourth, fifth and sixth overall. And although Morpeth missed out on the overall title in the Senior Women’s Division One by an agonising one point margin, both Cat Macdonald and Jane Hodgson, who have had outstanding seasons once again over the cross country, picked up individual Golds in the Senior and Veteran competitions. The final individual medal went to Emma Tomlinson, who picked up a good Bronze behind winner Kathryn Pye of Houghton AC and second placed Niamh Phillipson of Birtley in the U/13s. Meanwhile the club’s Senior Men picked up the Sisterson Cup for the second year running as overall winners in the Men’s Division One competition by a margin of eight points over Tyne Bridge Harriers and Gateshead. Final trophy of the night to collect was the Sherman Cup, won at Temple Park, South Shields in January, with contributions across the board from the club’s U/13, 15 and 17 Boys, and Senior and Veteran Men. Nine new personal best performances were achieved by athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC from the 19 who turned out at the opening NEGP fixture, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on the evening of Wednesday April 26.
The conditions were a little chilly on the night, however, some athletes very soon warmed to the fact that they were very much back in Track and Field action following the long and hard gruelling exploits of a successful winter of Road and Cross Country. One of those athletes was Under 20 Man James Tilley, who chose not to get involved in the three-horse battle of wits between Birtley A pair Adrian Bailes and Chris Perkins, and Houghton’s Brandon Pye in the opening 1500m. He instead ran an excellent close race behind them, to finish fourth behind eventual winner Pye, who outwitted Perkins in the final strides, to finish in 3m53.72s. Tilley meanwhile was content to post a finishing time of 4m00.54s, which presented a new personal best. The Morpeth man had taken six seconds off his previous figures, to his obvious delight. Two places behind Tilley, was his Morpeth club colleague Connor Marshall, who was fractionally just outside his personal best with a time of 4m01.90s. Other Morpeth Harriers in the fastest 1500m were Peter Smallcombe (8th) 4m02.45s, which saw him take three seconds off his previous figures, Bertie Marr (9th) 4m02.67s, which was seven seconds faster than previous, and Elliot Kelso (13th) 4m07.09s, which was a new personal best by two seconds. No fewer than seven Morpeth Harriers lined up in a talent-filled field of 15 in the second fastest 1500m. They were led home by Joseph Close, who set a new personal best with his winning time of 4m06.36, taking ten and a half seconds off his previous figures for the distance. A few strides adrift of him, after being the early leader, was his Morpeth club colleague Liam Roche. Now running in the Under 20 Men’s section, Roche can feel well pleased that his second-place time of 4m07.77s, saw him take ten seconds off his previous figures. Other Morpeth performers in this heat were, Mark Banks (5th) 4m15.09s, Joe Dixon (6th) 4m17.93s, Ralph Robson (7th) 4m20.31s, Oliver Tomlinson (13th) 4m27.08s, and Elliot Mavir (14th) 4m27.66s, a new personal best here by four seconds. In the fourth fastest 1500m heat, Morpeth’s Caitlin Flanagan finished ninth, posting a time of 4m57.37s. Harry Armstrong, who is now running in the Under 17 age group, showed much improvement, when he finished third in the fifth heat, posting a finishing time of 4m55.66s, which was a new personal nest, taking six seconds off his previous figures. In the same heat, his Morpeth club colleague Emma Tomlinson, now running in the Under 15 age group, finished twelfth in 5m16.63s. Thomas Roche, younger brother of Liam, can feel well pleased that his finishing time of 5m19.33, earned him eighth place in Heat 6 of the series of 1500m, and saw him take a mammoth fifteen seconds off previous performances. He is now competing in the Under 15 Boys events. Rounding off the Morpeth 1500m performances was Under 13 Girl Zoe Tomlinson, younger sister of Emma and Ollie. Zoe finished thirteenth in the seventh heat, posting a first-time effort of 6m01.87s. In the 300m, Morpeth Veteran Woman Nisha Desai showed some very good early season form, when she finished third in the third fastest heat in 42.49s. Morpeth Under 15 Girl Abigail Kahn enjoyed her first NEGP experience, when finishing seventh in the final heat of the 150m in 21.80s, and she was second in her age group in the Long Jump, with her effort of 4.01m. Morpeth Harriers' Young Athletes finished sixth of eight competing squads, in their opening NEYDL Division 2 fixture, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Sunday April 24.
A great deal of effort on the part of Team Managers David Swinburne (Male), and Julie Roche and Judith Nutt (Female), had resulted in a total turnout of 26 athletes to contest a full programme of events over the three age groups Under 13, 15 and 17, in both genders. But those efforts are going to be well and truly stretched across the whole season unless they obtain the support of more younger members. In overall points terms the squad were only 70 points adrift of fourth, and 50 adrift of fifth, tells us that with another three or four athletes on board, they could gain a better position before the season's end. On the day, Morpeth managed to get seven A String wins, plus five B String wins within their efforts, however, lack of strength in numbers, especially in the Under 15 Boys, where only Daniel Scott turned out, was going to take its toll. Two of the A String wins belonged to Under 17 Man Joe Close, who undoubtedly has the furthest to travel, coming down from Berwick in the Borders. He won the 800m comfortably, posting an excellent early season time of 2m00.15s. Club colleague Elliot Kelso took the B race in 2m03.21s. Also running the 800m in a Morpeth vest was Elliot Mavir, who posted the third fastest time of 2m12.08s. Close also secured an excellent win in the 1500m, in a time of 4m26.19s. First year Under 17 Harry Armstrong finished second in the B race in 5m05.05s. Morpeth Under 17 sprinters Jack Dinning, Harrison Scott, and Conner Phillips shared duties in the 100m and 200m events. Dinning finished third in both the 100m and 200m A races, posting respective times of 11.8s, and 24.7s. Scott finished second in the B race of the 100m in 11.9s, and Phillips also finished a close second in the B race of the 200m in 24.8s. Five athletes turned out for the club in the Under 17 Women’s events. The best A String performance here came in the 300m, where Amelia Hamlin had a clear win in 43.6s. In the 100m and 200m A races, Freya Caygill finished second in both, posting respective times of 13.0s, and 26.5s. She was well backed up in the B races by Amy Longstaff in the 100m and Victoria Hodgson in the 200m, who both had wins in 13.4s and 27.6s, respectively. Longstaff also ran in the 200m, posting 27.93s. Hodgson also finished second in the 300m Hurdles in 48.5s. Morpeth’s other athlete in the Under 17 Women’s events was Kate Kennedy, who finished second in the 800m in 2m31.86s, and third in the Shot Putt A String with 7.59m. Caygill, Longstaff, Hodgson, and Kennedy combined to bring Morpeth’s Under 17 Women’s 4 x100m squad home in second place to Blyth/ Alnwick in 52.8s. Unfortunately, and somewhat disappointingly, Morpeth only had one Under 15 Boy to turn out in support of his club. Daniel Scott ran well to finish a close second in the 800m, posting a finishing time of 2m31.9s. He also competed in the Shot Putt, finishing second with a best effort of 5.00m. The turnout of Morpeth’s Under 15 Girls was considerably better however, with six athletes responding to their team managers call. One of the best results from that age group, was that of newcomer Abigail Kahn’s second place in the Long Jump. Her best effort of 4.21m, was only 40cm from an event win. Another second A String placing in the Field Events, was Emma Tomlinson’s 12.2m in the Javelin. In the Discus, Molly Roche finished third in the A String competition, with a best throw of 10.3m. Emma Tomlinson’s 9.9m, saw her win the B String. Three of Morpeth’s six Under 15 Girls took part in the Shot Putt competition, with good points coming from their efforts. Megan Potrac finished third in the A String with a best of 6.23m. Charlotte Marshall finished second in the B String with 4.86m, and Molly Roche was not far adrift of her, with a best of 4.65m. On the Track, the best performance came from Emma Tomlinson, who was third in the 800m in 2m38.99s. Megan Potrac finished fourth in the A String 1500m in 5m51.64s, and Charlotte Marshall was fourth in the B String in 6m17.89s. Abigail Kahn was sixth in the A String 100m in 14.2s, and another newcomer Isla Dawson was fourth in the B String in 14.8s. Morpeth’s Under 15 Girls 4 x 100m Relay squad finished fifth in 61.0s. The two Morpeth Under 13 Boys who turned out, worked hard to try to achieve some excellent results with their committed determination. Evan Line won the 1500m in 5m19.64s, finished second in the A String 800m in 2m32.58s, and sixth in the A String 200m in 31.4s. Daniel Vermass finished second in the B String 800m, but found great success in the Field, by winning the Long Jump with a best of 4.03m, and clearing 1.33m to win the High Jump. Five Morpeth athletes competed in the Under 13 Girls events, they probably would have had six, had Sophie Pledger’s day not been halted when sustaining an injury in the 70m Hurdles. The best result for Morpeth in the Under 13 Girls events came in the Long Jump, where newcomer Gabby Jobson won the A String competition, producing a best of 3.58m. Posting the third best overall performance of 3.25m, Abi Potrac won the B String, to bring maximum points from the event. Faye Heatley of Morpeth also performed well here, producing 3.13m. Jobson very nearly had a second victory in the 100m, where she posted a time of 14.6s, which made her second in the A String. Her Morpeth club colleague Anna Archibald finished third in the B String in 15.9s. Abi Potrac was a very close second in the A String 200m, posting a time of 31.4s. In the Under 13 Girls 1500m, Faye Heatley finished second in 5m45.07s. Anna Archibald was seventh in the A String 800m in 3m04.19s, and Zoe Tomlinson was fifth in the B String in 3m06.52s. Morpeth’s Under 13 Girls 4 x 100m squad finished third in 63.5s. The club will certainly require more support in the squads in time for the second fixture, which is at Shildon on Sunday 21st May, particularly in the Under 13 and Under 15 Boys events. FINAL MATCH RESULT 1st Birtley/Jarrow/Phoenix 623pts, 2nd Blyth/Alnwick 519pts, 3rd Chester Le Street/Durham 515pts, 4th Houghton/Derwentside/Tyne Bridge 483pts, 5th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 463pts, 6th Morpeth 413pts, 7th Middlesbrough AC 309pts, 8th Tynedale/ Prudhoe 176pts. Four athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in competitive action for the North East Counties at Saturday’s British Athletics Road Race Championships for younger age groups that were contested within the annual London Mini Marathons, held in the nation’s capital.
The best result for the region came in the Under 17 Men’s section, where they finished second to the South East. Finishing 12th, Will Devere-Owen was second counter for the North East, with club colleague Liam Roche fractionally behind in 13th place. Outside the scoring count was Morpeth’s Bertie Marr, who was fifth home for the region in 44th place. The regions Under 15 Boys finished as twelfth team behind winners North West. Morpeth’s Ollie Tomlinson was third counter in 52nd place. There were nine finishers, including the race winner, from the club at the Terry O’Gara Memorial 5k held at the Cobalt Business Park and hosted by Wallsend Harriers.
Winning in a new course record of 14 minutes 26 seconds, Alex Brown showed a clean pair of heels to nearest challengers Joe Wales of Gateshead Harriers (14:52) and Chris Coulson of Houghton Harriers (14:56). Fourth and fifth were two of the club’s talented youngsters, with Peter Smallcombe having an excellent run in 4th (15:15) and KEVI sixth former James Tilley recording a personal best in 5th (15:26). Behind them, Mark Banks was 17th in 16:06, new member Andrew Ball, in his first race in a Morpeth vest 27th and first Over 45 (16:34), Shaun Land 48th (17:26) and Dave Nicholson 118th and first Over 65 in 19:50. Also great to see Gemma Floyd racing again, 116th and 19th female runner in 19:48, with Kirsty Burville 121st and 21st just outside the twenty minute mark (20:02). The women’s race was won by Elswick’s Sophie Harris in 16:20 with Wallsend’s Danielle Hodgkinson 2nd in 16:47 and Holly Waugh 3rd (16:48). With just over 200 finishers, thankfully there was no repeat of the calamitous accident at the start from last year. |
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