John Butters and Mike Steven took part in the gruelling Lakeland 50/100 mile at the weekend.
The 100 mile ‘ Ultra Tour of the Lake District’ describes itself as ‘the most spectacular long distance trail race which has ever taken place in the UK’ and covers a circular route that takes in 6300m of ascent in the Lakeland Fells over bridleways and footpaths. The Lakeland 50 is run over the 2nd half of the 100-mile course, but is scarcely any sort of an easy option, with 3100m of ascent on rough terrain. Starting and finishing in Coniston, the 100 route takes in popular dales such as Dunnerdale, Eskdale and Wasdale and towns including Keswick and Ambleside while avoiding the major summits. With a 6pm start on Friday and a cut-off of 10am on Sunday, the event is certainly not one for the faint-hearted or the unprepared, with the organisers noting: ‘The drop out rate for this event is a warning signal for anyone contemplating entry…consider the preparation, consider the hours, and consider what it takes to complete the Lakeland 100. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be an achievement. There are few things in life for which you will have to work so hard.’ John had a fine run to finish in 36th place overall in a fantastic time of 27 hours 15 minutes and 16 seconds, coming in just as it was starting to get dark at 9.15pm on Saturday. He later commented on the lousy weather, with drizzle and rain for most of the race, and finding, like many, adverse conditions affecting the feet badly. The event was won by fellow North Easterner Ali Bailey of Gateshead Harriers in a time of 20 hours 46 minutes with Emma Stuart 1st female home in 23 hours 5 minutes. Meanwhile club colleague Mike Steven took on the 50 once again and came home in a time of 13 hours 46 minutes – a 2 hour pb at the ripe old age of 65, proving that, like a fine wine, he is only getting better with age! Full results: 100 results https://results.opentracking.co.uk/event/22lakeland100 50 results https://results.opentracking.co.uk/event/22lakeland50 The opening day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games saw Dan Dixon join a small but illustrious group of Morpeth Harriers, including Mark Hudspith, Laura Weightman and club president Jim Alder MBE, who have represented their country at a major championships – the difference this time being of course that Dan was competing in the Men’s Sprint Triathlon.
Held in the hilly grounds of Sutton Park, a few miles North of Birmingham, a venue familiar to many who have competed in relay action there, there were huge numbers out on the course to support, and Team England saw immediate success with a thrilling win for Olympic Silver medallist Alex Yee in an overall time of 50 minutes 34 seconds. Yee’s win was hard fought, and one Dan significantly helped contributed to. A fine swim by him saw him 4th out of the water and in contention with the lead group that included New Zealander Hayden Wilde, who led the competition for all the but the last kilometre of the run but incurred a 10 second time penalty to frustrate any chance of holding off Yee. Dan meanwhile focussed his efforts, along with fellow Team England triathlete Sam Dickinson, on supporting Yee on the bike and limiting time losses to the leading group. Taking the lead several times at the front of the chasing group, his efforts meant Yee went into the T2 transition to the run still in contention. Thereafter, Dan was able to focus on his own 5k run, which he completed in a time of 15 minutes 54 seconds, finishing overall just outside the top ten in 12th place in 52 minutes 2 seconds as second placed English triathlete, ahead of Dickinson in 19th. Yee was later hugely grateful to both Dan and Sam for their efforts on the bike, saying:, ‘They were immense. Those guys worked super hard for me.’ Dan himself later commented: ‘The main thing is we came here for a medal as a team and we got it. That was absolutely the key goal. The aim was to bring Alex towards the front as much as possible. We did a cracking job in the end. It was great.’ Dan was unfortunate to miss out on selection for Sunday’s Mixed Team Relay, that saw a further Gold medal, with Dickinson given the nod. But his day will surely come. Morpeth Harrier James Young produced a season’s best performance of 3m40.03, when
finishing a close second to Woodford Green’s Phil Norman in the fastest 1500m at Saturday night’s BMC Grand Prix Meeting held at Stretford, Manchester. Further back in the field in twelfth place, was fellow Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie, who posted a personal best time of 3m43.48s, taking six seconds off his previous figures. Four other Morpeth Harriers in action at Stretford were Alistair Douglass, Alex Brown, Sam Hancox, and Phil Winkler. Douglass certainly has found a zest for regular action, and he can feel pleased with his win in the ninth fastest 800m event, where he posted a season’s best of 1m55.28s. In the fastest 5000m, Brown finished in thirteenth place in 14m24.90s. Meanwhile Hancox and Winkler both ran in the second fastest 5000m. Hancox finished fifth in a new personal best time of 14m46.84s, taking one second off his previous figures for the twelve and a half lap event. Winkler finished twelfth in 14m59.68s. The fifth and penultimate NEGP Meeting was held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on
Wednesday 20 th July. A total of twenty-one athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in action on the Track on the night, and no fewer than sixteen of those athletes achieved new personal bests, on what was a very cloudy evening, still warm, with just a whisper of wind. There were also three winning performances from the club. With three runners in the Field, Charlie Lane held off the close attentions of Thames Valley Harrier, and former Alnwick Harrier Oliver Telfer, to win the fastest 400m by a fraction of a second, posting new figures of 51.26s. In the fourth fastest 400m, Under 15 Boy Daniel Burrow ran his first outing over the distance, finishing seventh in 63.59s. Alistair Douglass showed very much the strength of his current form, when he won the fastest 1500m in a season’s best 4m00.35s, almost leading from gun to tape. Seven other Morpeth Harriers lined up alongside Alistair in the event, six of them producing new personal best performances. Connor Marshall finished fifth in 4m01.26s, an improvement here of four seconds. Almost one second and one place behind Connor, was his Morpeth club colleague Joe Anderson, who improved by four seconds with his clocking of 4m02.27s. Two Morpeth Harriers occupied seventh and eighth places in the form of James Tilley and Matthew Walton, who posted new personal best times of 4m06.65s and 4m08.03s, improvements of twelve and thirty-five seconds, respectively. Further back in the field were Will DeVere-Owen, who had a missing pair of spikes problem shortly prior to his event, Ryan Davies, and Ralph Robson, who finished thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth respectively, posting times of 4m13.26s, 4m13.70s, and 4m14.29s. For Davies, it was a two second improvement, and Robson can feel delighted with an eleven and a half second improvement. In the second fastest 1500m, Under 17 Man Liam Roche can feel well pleased with his improvement of six seconds, when finishing second, posting a time of 4m17.58s. Morpeth Under 15 Boy Oliver Tomlinson finished seventh in 4m24.34s, an improvement of six seconds. Under 17 Man Elliot Mavir finished eleventh in 4m31.17s, an improvement of nineteen seconds to previous. Morpeth’s Caitlin Flanagan ran superbly in the fourth fastest 1500m, finishing third in 4m53.79s, an improvement of thirteen seconds for the Under 17 Woman, who has been troubled by niggling injuries of late. Fellow Under 17 Woman Tabitha Robson, younger sister of Ralph, can also feel well pleased in finishing tenth in 5m03.22s, an improvement of six seconds here. Another excellent Morpeth winner on the night was Under 15 Boy Harry Armstrong, who always looked as if he was going to get into the frame in the fifth fastest 1500m event. He posted a winning time of 5m01.91s, an improvement of twelve seconds. Other Morpeth Harriers in this heat were Emma Tomlinson and Molly Roche. Tomlinson finished ninth in 5m12.95s, an improvement of eight seconds, and Roche finished thirteenth in 5m34.65s, an improvement by one second. Molly Roche’s younger brother Thomas, an Under 13 Boy, finished seventh in the sixth heat in 5m34.48s, an improvement of twenty-five seconds. Rounding off the evening’s achievements, two Morpeth Harriers were in action in the 100m events. In the third fastest of these, Under 20 Woman Mia Belton finished fourth in 13.15s. Senior Man, Anthony Liddle finished sixth in the fourth fastest 100m, posting a time of 13.66s. Despite already knowing that they were facing 2023 in the lower tier, thirty-seven young
athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC travelled to take part in the fourth and final round of competition in the 2022 NEYDL Premier League match, held at a very warm and sunny Middlesbrough Sports Village, on Sunday 17 th July. Once again, with a small number of athletes, the club finished fifth of six competing teams, and the combined team of Blyth/Alnwick also face the drop. Again, it was Harrogate, as the days hosts, who dominated affairs, winning the match by a margin of over one hundred points from a fairly strong Gateshead Harriers, with another combined squad of Darlington/Atherton finishing third, and North Shields Poly in fourth place, over 120 points clear of Morpeth. There were some good performances however within the Morpeth ranks, to keep hard working Team Managers David Swinburne (Boys), and Julie Roche and Judith Nutt (Girls) smiling. Morpeth managed seven A String and two B String wins amongst their day’s achievements, and the Team Managers praised the positive spirits amongst their assembled charges, on a difficult day for all, and conceded it was a weight of numbers which made the difference. One of Morpeth’s star performers was Under 13 Girl Emma Tomlinson, who won the 1500m A Race in 5m20.90s, and also triumphed in Javelin, producing a best of 15.20m. Although not a winner on the day, elder brother Oliver showed a zest for hard work, by finishing second in the Under 15 Boys 1500m (4m35.20s), second in the Javelin (17.77m), and second in the Discus (19.04m). One of Morpeth’s best results of the day was in the Under 15 Girls 100m, where Amy Longstaff won the A Race in 13.0s, and Amelia Hamlin was just outsprinted for victory in the B Race (13.3s). Hamlin also finished second in the 300m, posting a time of 43.2s. Staying with the Under 15 Girls, throws specialist Alexandria Hodgson finished second in the Hammer with a best of 23.87m. There were some good points won by Morpeth’s Under 17 Men. Ben Hope won the 100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles in 15.7s and 65.7s respectively, and also the B String 400m (58.0s), in support of Will DeVere-Owen’s second in the A Race in 55.3s. DeVere-Owen also finished third in the A Race of the 800m in 2m06.00s, and Joseph Close took the B Race in 2m08.20s. Morpeth also got a boost in the 4 x 100m Relay result from their Under 17 Men, who posted a finishing time of 49.0s when finishing second. Edward Gardiner had an excellent victory in the Under 17 Men’s Discus, with a best throw of 39.14m. In the Under 17 Men’s Long Jump, Owen Omoigui finished second in the A String with 5.03m, and the hardworking Ben Hope finished second in the B String with 4.99m. Some good results were also secured by Morpeth’s small band of five Under 17 Women. In the sprints, duties were shared between Freya Caygill, Ellie Wickens, and Victoria Hodgson. Caygill finished second in the A Races of the 100m, posting respective times of 13.0s and 26.5s. Hodgson came second in the B Race of the 100m in 13.5s, and Wickens finished third in the 200m B Race in 29.0s. Meanwhile, Hodgson’s individual moment of glory came in the 300m, which she won in 43.7s. There were good performance for Morpeth in the Under 17 Women’s 800m, where Caitlin Flanagan finished second in the A Race in 2m22.70s, and Kate Kennedy finished second in the B Race in 2m30.40s. Kennedy also turned her hand to securing more points in the Triple Jump, finishing third, with a best of 8.81m. Morpeth finished second in the Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m Relay, posting a time of 54.2s. Whilst they couldn’t secure any on the day wins, Morpeth’s band of Under 13 Boys, namely, James Ellis, Kyle Phillips, William Hawkins, Thomas Roche, William McBryde, Daniel Vermaas, and Evan Laude, all worked hard to produce some respectable performances, and they are all very much athletes that the club will look to in future years to maintain credible status, as with the Under 13 Girls, Gabriella Jobson, who was making her debut, Sophie Pledger, Maia Annis, and Emma Tomlinson, whom we mention earlier in the report. MATCH RESULT (Subject to further scrutiny) 1 st Harrogate 768pts, 2 nd Gateshead, 664pts, 3 rd Darlington/Allerton 629pts, 4 th North Shields 588pts, 5 th Morpeth 461pts, 6 th Blyth/Alnwick 239pts. |
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