Once again, only a narrow margin of points divided the leading four teams at the second round Northern League North East Premier match, held at Churchill Playing Fields, Whitley Bay, on Sunday 12 June.
Only 28 points divided match winners Gateshead Harriers and fourth-placed Morpeth Harriers at the end of a hard-working day for the respective squads. Tom Innes, Mark Snowball, and George Patterson (Men), and Vina Desai (Women), had worked hard to get decent squads together, despite one or two last-minute withdrawals and key athletes competing elsewhere at major championships. However, the end result sees the club's Senior Men and Women still in a very respectable third team place cumulatively at the halfway point in the season. On to the match itself, and the best result in the Men’s performances came in the 1500m where Alistair Douglass won the A Race in 4m09.5s, and Under 20 athlete, Joe Anderson, took the B Race in 4m16.7s. The clubs main Men’s sprinters, both of them still Under 20, Evan Logan and Charlie Lane, were also in excellent form. In the 200m, Logan finished second in the A race, posting a time of 23.3s, and Lane finished second in the 200m B race in 23.8s. Lane also finished second in the 400m A race in 52.6s, and Birthday Boy Connor Marshall finished second in the B race in 58.8s. Logan, meanwhile, also finished second in the 100m A race in 11.4s, being supported in the B race by Alistair Douglass, who was third in 12.4s, a warmup no doubt for his forthcoming 1500m win, later in the day. Marshall also got a good warmup for his later 400m in the 800m, finishing third in the A race in 2m07.2s. The 800m B race, saw a much-awaited Richard Johnson comeback, and his return from a long-standing injury paid rich dividends for Morpeth, as he won in 2m13.4s. Johnson later went on to finish a good third in the 5000m A race in 16m12.0s, being supported in the B race by Mark Snowball, who was second in 16m38.2s. Adam Pratt was assigned to the Morpeth hurdling duties for the day, finishing second in the A race of the 400m Hurdles in 66.7s, and getting round the seven and a half laps of the 3000m Steeplechase, to also finish second in the A race in 10m36.7s. Giving B race support for Morpeth in both events, was a brave Neil McAnany, who finished second in the 400m Hurdles in 75.7s, and third in the Steeplechase in 14m15.6s, a brave effort for valuable points. In the field events, it was particularly pleasing to see specialist thrower Hayden Richards back in a Morpeth vest. He was particularly very much at home in the Javelin, winning with his best throw of 41.80. Alistair Douglass finished third in the B string, with his best throw of 22.18m. Richards also performed well in the Hammer, finishing third with a best throw of 34.20m. He finished fifth in the A string Discus, with a best of 22.96m, and David Marshall finished as fourth B string with 15.84m. In the Triple Jump, Charlie Lane secured valuable points when finishing third in the A string with 9.86m, and Mark Snowball was second in the B string with 7.66m. Morpeth Harriers Men rounded off a good day, by winning the 4 x 400m Relay in 3m52.8s, courtesy of Evan Logan, Connor Marshall, Alistair Douglass. The same quartet also brought the baton home in third place in the earlier 4 x 100m in third place, posting a time of 49.4s. On to the Women’s events, where unfortunately Morpeth were forced to reckon without the services of leading lights Nisha Desai and Claire Reid, who were competing at the British Masters Championships during the same weekend. However, they welcomed back Tayla Murdy and Rachelle Falloon following a lengthy period of inactivity due to injuries. Murdy began excellently, by winning the 800m A race in 2m44.9s, and later followed that up well by placing third in the 400m A race in 76.7s. Morpeth had good support in the respective B races by Sarah Routledge. Routledge finished second in both B races, posting times of 87.4s and 3m10.5s. It was also good to see Falloon make a winning return, when she took the 1500m A race in 5m09.3s, and she certainly came close to a second win in the 3000m, where she finished second in the A race in 10m49s. Giving B race support for Morpeth in both the 1500m and 3000m was Julie Vermaas, who was second on both occasions, posting respective clockings of 5m52.5s and 12m11.0s. Under 20 athlete Mia Belton and Laura Kincaid tackled the Women’s sprints for Morpeth. In the 100m A race Belton finished fourth in 12.7s, and in the 200m, she very nearly beat Gateshead’s Megan Costello in a close finish to the A race in 26.9s. Meanwhile, Kincaid finished fourth in the 100m B race in 14.3s, and she finished third in the 200m B race in 30.2s. Morpeth Harriers best performance in the Women’s field events came from Under 20 athlete Charlotte Earl, who won the Triple Jump with her best effort of 11.00m In the Long Jump, fellow Under 20 athlete Abbie Ross finished fourth with her best of 4.69m. Morpeth Women’s Team Manager Vina Desai, Mia Belton, Julie Vermaas and Laura Kincaid shared duties in the Shot, Discus, Hammer, and Javelin events. Desai did the lion's share, competing in all four of them. She finished fifth in the A strings of the Discus (13.96m), Hammer (13.34m), and Javelin (8.24m), and supported Mia Belton in the Shot Putt, by finishing fifth in the B string with 4.43m. Belton finished fifth in the A string with a best of 5.94m. In the B string Javelin, Laura Kincaid finished fifth, producing a best throw of 7.08m. Sarah Routledge, Tayla Murdy, Laura Kincaid, and Mia Belton, combined to finish third in the Women’s 4 x 100m Relay, posting a time of 60.5s. In the 4 x 400m Relay, Julie Vermaas, Rachelle Falloon, Laura Kincaid, and Mia Belton, combined to bring Morpeth home in second place, in a combined time of 4m56.4s. MATCH RESULT 1st Gateshead Harriers 350pts, 2nd New Marske Harriers 341pts, 3rd North Shields Poly 339pts, 4th Morpeth Harriers 328pts, 5th Wallsend/Blyth 309pts, 6th Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) 71pts. NORTH EAST MASTERS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS The weather above Jarrow may have been overcast, but Gavin Bayne continued what is proving to be a golden Summer already with three more Gold medals at the North East Masters Athletics Association Track and Field Championships at Monkton Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Following last weekend’s British Masters Championships, this time Over 65 Bayne took part in no less than three track finals: the 800m, the 1500m and the 3000m, winning Golds in all three races. Taking the 800m in a time of 2 minutes 48.96 seconds, he moved on to the metric mile, winning this time in 5:30.51 before moving up to the 3000m, which he also took in 11:28.75. O/75 Paul Bentley also picked up a Gold in the 3000m in a time of 14:50.61. O/35 Laura Kincaid took Golds in both the 100m, with a time 14.50s, and the 200m (30.16s). A frequent visitor to these Championships, Scotland based Claire Reid, competing as a Guest, was 2nd in both the O/45 Shot Putt with a best of 9.32m and the Hammer (25.36m). A busy afternoon’s throwing was completed with a 3rd in the Javelin (15.64m) and a further 2nd place in the Discus (29.37m). RAT RACE THE WALL It was a case of a much longer distance for club companion Mark Snowball – 70 miles, no less, as he took on the fearsome ‘Rat Race the Wall’ event. Starting from Carlisle Castle at 7 am in the morning, the run takes in most of Hadrian’s Wall, with a finish on the Newcastle Quayside. Remarkably, Mark completed the distance in a time of 12 hours 41 minutes, with leading NE veteran Jarlath Mckenna setting a new course record. PENSHAW TRAIL OUTLAWS HALF MARATHON Ian Harding continued to work his way back to his competitive Best with a fine win in the Penshaw Half marathon on Sunday with a time of 1 hour 26.58 seconds, over four minutes ahead of nearest challenger Chris Fothergill of Darlington. Starting at the foot of Penshaw Hill, the route take in trails along both sides of the River Wear and includes a fair degree of ups and downs. NEWBURN RIVER RUN Last Wednesday saw the return of another old favourite of a race, the Newburn River Run. Traditionally a 6 mile race from Newburn Sports Centre that had crossed the Tyne at Wylam, this year’s race saw a newer and shorter 5 mile race due to subsidence on the South bank of the river, so this time it was an out and back along the Wylam Wagon Way. Won by Jarrow and Hebburn runner Peter Smallcombe in 26 minutes 6 seconds with Sunderland Harrier Craig Gunn in 2nd place, Richard Johnson finished in 3rd with 26.38s and John Butters was 5th and 1st O/40 in 26.53s. With teenager James Tilley 11th in 28.11s and O/35 Adam Pratt one place behind in 28.15, the club picked up the Men’s team prize. Finishing in 33rd place overall, Rachelle Falloon was 1st Female finisher in a time of 30.35. There were a lot of other club finishers keen to enjoy the Tyne Valley scenery. Anthony Liddle was 13th in 29.56, Jamie Johnson 48th in 32. 07 and Dave Nicholson 55th and 1st O/60 in 32. 23. Phil Walker was 57th in 32.42, Mike Winter 67th in 33.59, Lindsey Quinn 78th and 5th Senior Female in 34. 39, Rich Kirby 105th in 36.45 and Jane 124th in 38.19, Mike Steven 131st in 38.34 and Sue Smith 193rd in 44.36. Some 233 finished in all. The 9th of June saw the return after a two-year Covid-enforced absence of the Blaydon Race, celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2022.
This year’s event had faced numerous obstacles to even get on, and it is to the great credit of host club Blaydon Harriers and all those involved with its organisation that their determination to ensure it took place meant it could again be staged despite the many difficulties in so doing. There had to be changes, however, and notably to the start, which for the first time ever was not on Collingwood Street, near to Balmbra’s, where of course Geordie Ridley’s Tyneside anthem had its earliest airing. With runners unable to congregate on Grey Street, partly due to changes in the layout there, and with a bottleneck on the course after only a few hundred yards in front of the new Vita student flats, the organisers accepted they needed to find a different start and moved down to the Quayside. Now starting pretty much where August’s Quayside 5k is held, this meant a much less congested area for runners and a flattish long run of nearly two miles along the road under the Tyne Bridges by the side of the river, even if the route doesn’t any more follow completely that laid out in the original song. Thereafter, runners climbed out through Newcastle Business Park up a steady incline to ‘gan along the Scottswood Road’ once more, although further course changes took the out and back dogleg after the Chain Bridge further than in previous years and increased the distance to just short of 10k. A leading group of some seven or eight soon formed at the head of the race, with Carl Avery, Finn Brodie and Sam Hancox very much to the fore in the first few miles. Thereafter, a break away by Avery saw him joined by 2019 winner Graham Rush of Leeds City and Gateshead Harrier Calum Johnson as these three battled for the final medals. In the end, it was Johnson who was able to take a decisive lead, winning for the first time in 29 minutes 19 seconds. Rush was 2nd in 29:28 and Carl had to settle for a gutsy 3rd (29:35). With Finn 4th (29:46) and Sam 7th (29:54), the club did have three finishers in the top ten however, and when Ali Douglas placed 21st (32:17), Morpeth were once again confirmed as the winning team, thus enabling race commentator (one George Patterson, of this parish) to again take the trophy home… Wallsend Harrier Danielle Hodgkinson (who’d taken part in the Stan Long Mile only 24 hours previously) was 1st Female finisher in 33:58 with Sunderland Stroller and leading vet Ally Dixon 2nd in 35:08. Cat Macdonald continued her fine year by coming in in 3rd place (35:44), although she was also credited as 1st Senior Female, with Rachelle Falloon in 10th (37:39). With veterans not counting for the team prize, the club’s Senior Women (with Lindsey and Tayla making up the count) were unfortunate to miss out Tyne Bridge Harriers by a margin of only six places. Morpeth’s other finishers, many of whom had only realised they had an entry, going back to 2019, when it dropped in the letter-box (and some of whom were still listed as running for other clubs) included: Andy Lawrence, 22nd in 32:24; Ian Harding, 4th Over 40, 31st in 32:40; Mark Snowball, 35th in 33:12; Mark Banks, feeling the previous night’s mile race, 81st in 35:24; Jake Parmley, 132nd in 36:41; Shaun Land, 139th in 36:53; Rob Hancox, 201st in 38:30; Jamie Johnson, 211th in 38:42; Neil Gunstone, 231st in 39:14; Mike Winter, 361st in 41:34; Julie Vermaas, 469th in 43:20; Lindsey Quinn, 487th in 41:39; Pieter Vermaas, 516th in 43:30; Richard Kirby, 555th in 43:48; Tayla Murdy, 599th in 43:02 and being paced round with Jason Dawson, 600th in 43:03; Jim Alder ‘the younger’, in an old Morpeth t-shirt salvaged from the depths of Pam’s cupboard, 713th in 46:03; Peter Scaife (‘didn’t know I’d even entered’), 888th in 48:11; Mike Stevens, 923rd in 48:00; Laura Mclean, 1262nd in 49:21; Claire Calverley, 1342nd in 50:20; Laura Shaw, 1611st in 51:42; Nobby Clark, 1822nd in 52: 53 and Damian Foster, 2356th in 57:24. The weekend saw the British Masters Track and Field Championships taking place at Moorways Athletics Stadium in Derby with the best of the country’s older veterans involved, with four Golds and one Bronze won by the three Morpeth Harriers who had travelled to take part.
One of the performances of the weekend was undoubtedly that by our own Gavin Bayne. Competing in the Over 65 category on a gusty afternoon, he took charge of the 1500m and made an early break for home on the last lap to try and draw out the sprint finish of his nearest rival. Managing to keeping well ahead of all challengers, he finished in a tremendous time of 5 minutes 27.95 seconds. With little time to celebrate, he was back in action only a couple of hours later in the 800m and once again overawed all his rivals with a gun-to-tape victory in a time of 2.46:84. A tremendous pair of results for Gav - his first British Masters Golds - there will be no let up in his training, with his next target the World Half Marathon Championships in Finland next month. The following day Nisha Desai was in action over the 400m hurdles, winning the Over 35s in a time of 61.20 seconds, a season’s best and a very strong run. Scotland based thrower Claire Reid was the busiest of the three, however, taking part in Discus, Javelin and Shot Putt, with her best performance in the Discus of 29.94 metres meaning she took the O/45 title. She picked up a Bronze in the Shot with 8.96m and was also 5th in the Javelin with 13.67m. Four super Golds and a lesson to us all about what’s possible despite the advancing years with the right motivation and training. Congratulations to all three. Morpeth Harrier Andrew Hebden is joining a dad’s ultramarathon fundraising effort in memory of his son who died last year from a rare brain tumour aged just eight.
Andrew will join Ross Peckham as he tackles a 53-mile run from his home at Marske-by-the-Sea near Redcar to the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle where his son Lochlan was cared for. Andrew's fiancee Dr Rebecca Hill, who was Lochlan's consultant, will join the for the last 10 miles of the run on 24 June. They are raising funds for two charities which support brain tumour research – Children’s Cancer North and Brain Tumour Research. Lochlan was diagnosed with a rare form of brain tumour, a high-grade glioma, in the summer of 2019. For almost two years he endured surgery, endless hospital visits and months of gruelling treatments. Lochlan, who died in May 2021, was a real life superhero who never failed to stop smiling and making people laugh throughout his treatment. Ross, 43, said he hoped the fundraising effort would ensure that something positive came as a result of Lochlan’s passing, and that it would support much-needed research into brain tumours. He said: “It is a year since Lochlan passed away and the pain remains very raw for all of us. There is nothing we can do to bring Lochlan back. But we can try to raise money for, and awareness of, the research that is so desperately needed into this devastating illness. “While there is a great deal of awareness about cancer generally, that is frequently not the case with certain types of brain tumours. While rare, these can be devastating forms of cancer that often, as in Lochlan’s case, prove fatal. It is essential that more is done to fund research in this area and to support the vital work of the teams at hospitals such as the Great North Children’s Hospital.” Rebecca, MRC Clinical Scientist at Newcastle University and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Oncology at the Great North Children’s Hospital, said: “It was a true privilege meeting Lochlan and being part of the team who cared for him. He was a joy to look after, and I will always miss his infectious smile and the jokes he used play on our medical students!” Andrew, 43, will be tackling an ultra distance for the first time. His marathon PB is 2hrs 47mins which he achieved at London in 2016. But he is expecting to break any records on the long trek to Newcastle! He said: “It has been great to get to know Ross and start training with him. I am keen to do my bit and help with the fundraising effort, as well as providing Ross with some support as we undertake this challenge together. “Although we’ve both run marathons before, this is a run on a different scale. It’s going to be really tough and we are going to be taking it at a very steady pace but we’re both determined to complete it for such a great cause.” Andrew and Ross would really appreciate any support. You can read more about their story and donate on their Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/runforlochlan |
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