Twenty-two athletes from Morpeth Harriers & AC took part in the second NEGP Meeting, held at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow on Wednesday 18 May.
The main event of the evening was the opening 800m, which was contested for the Jimmy Hedley Cup. It was retained for the second year in succession by Birtley AC’s Under 20 Man Chris Perkins, who secured himself an excellent marginal victory over North Shields Poly’s Zak Old in the hectic chase to the line. Just over a couple of seconds adrift of the front runners was Morpeth Senior Man Alex Brown, who placed fourth in 1m56.49s, which showed an eight-second improvement on previous figures. Another excellent Morpeth Harrier performer was William De Vere Owen, who finished seventh in 1m59.56s, which was also a new personal best for the Under 17 athlete, taking three seconds off his previous best. Two places behind William was his Under 20 Morpeth club colleague Joe Anderson, who posted a new personal best of 2m00.62s, taking two seconds off his previous figures. In the second fastest 800m event, Morpeth Harriers had three athletes in the line-up of twelve. Connor Marshall finished second to Gosforth Harrier Reece Slater, losing out for victory by just over a second. Marshall improved on his previous best by three seconds, as he clocked 2m00.98s. Under 17 athlete Joseph Close, also achieved a new personal best, when finishing sixth in 2m02.86s, improving on previous figures by two seconds. Morpeth’s James Tilley had his first ever 800m event, when finishing one place behind Close, posting an excellent time of 2m05.79s. In the third fastest 800m race, Morpeth Veteran Jason Dawson finished sixth in a time of 2m17.34s. Under 17 Woman Caitlin Flanagan finished fourth in the fifth fastest 800m, posting a new personal best time of 2m25.69s, improving her previous figures by two seconds. Under 15 Boy athlete Harry Armstrong marked his first Grand Prix outing excellently, by finishing fifth in the seventh fastest 800m heat in 2m31.04s. Rounding off the Morpeth 800m performances was that of Under 15 Girl Molly Roche, who produced probably her finest track performance in the club colours, when finishing third in the eighth race in 2m42.01s, an improvement of four seconds, and Sophie Pledger-Heywood, who finished ninth in the same race in 2m58.62s. The fastest 3000m event, attracted a total field of fourteen runners, which included six from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers. Josh Blevins of Gateshead, who had won the Under 20 Men’s 5000m, and finished third in the 1500m at the previous weekends North Eastern Championships at Middlesbrough, won in a close finish from Walton AC’s Alex Kilby, and Gala’s Darrell Hastie, posting a time of 8m42.42s, with Morpeth Harrier Sam Hancox placing fourth in 8m45.03s. Fellow Morpeth Harriers Kieran Reay, Tom Innes, Bertie Marr, Oliver Calvert, and Oliver Tomlinson finished seventh, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and fourteenth, posting respective times of 8m49.40s, 8m51.02s, 9m19.57s, 9m19.70s, and 10m03.34s. Innes got the best personal best of the evening, taking off a mammoth sixty-nine seconds from previous figures, and Calvert and Tomlinson were tackling the distance on the track for the first occasion. In the second of three 3000m heats, Morpeth Under 20 Woman Millie Breese finished ninth in 10m26.00s, finishing third fastest in her age group to North Shields Poly’s Holly Waugh. Morpeth’s Tabitha Robson finished fourth in the third heat, posting a time of 11m27.53s. The club's only event winner on the night was Under 17 specialist thrower Edward Gardiner, who convincingly won the Discus, by producing a throw of 41.34m, adding another 87cms to his personal best. Morpeth Harriers had three athletes in action in the 200m events. North East Under 15 Boy 300m Champion Conner Phillips, finished sixth in his heat of the 200m in 25.56s. Under 20 Woman Mia Belton finished sixth in her heat of the 200m, posting a time of 27.39s. Under 13 Girl Sophie Pledger-Heywood was fifth in her 200m, in a time of 31.79s. Twenty-four athletes were in action for Morpeth Harriers & AC at the annual NECAA Track and Field Championships, held at Middlesbrough Sports Village on 14 and 15 May.
Although the club were represented in every age group, apart from some of the older sections, there were sparse turnouts across the board disappointingly. Nevertheless, Morpeth managed a total return of sixteen championship medals, eight being Gold, with four respectively being Silver and Bronze. Weather conditions were fine over the two days, however there was an evident headwind factor on day one, which did hinder some sprinters and throwers ambitions. Apart from the well-achieved medals, a sizeable number of personal best performances were recorded. One of the most exciting finishes of the weekend on the track, came on Sunday, in the Under 17 Men’s 800m Final, where three Morpeth Harriers were amongst the line-up. Joseph Close and Will DeVere-Owen each won their respective heats in 2m10.12s, and 2m11.96s, and ran well in the later run, where Will took the Gold Medal in a last-ditch sprint finish with Billingham’s Fraser Allan, to win by a slender margin in a personal best time of 2m02.47s. Meanwhile Joseph secured the Bronze medal, by just outsprinting Elswick’s Elliot Kelso, who has just joined Morpeth for training purposes, under the guidance of coach Mike Bateman. Close also ran a new personal best of 2m04.51s, having also ran a personal best of 4m16.76s in the previous days 1500m, where he had just lost out on a Bronze medal behind club colleague Bertie Marr. Marr secured the Bronze medal in a season’s best performance of 4m13.06s. Morpeth’s other finalist in the Under 17 Men’s 800m was Elliot Mavir, who secured his place in the Final by placing fourth behind Close in a personal best time of 2m17.92s. In the Final, Mavir finished seventh of eighth, in 2m19.22s. Morpeth Harriers other medallist in the Under 17 Men’s age group, who represented the clubs largest entry over the two day’s, was Edward Gardiner, who on this occasion, gave his sole attention to Saturday’s Discus competition, which he won by nearly eight metres from his closest rival Ryan Cook of Gateshead Harriers, when he threw an excellent personal best of 40.44metres, thus adding another metre onto his previous achievement. All of Morpeth Harriers three competing Senior Men, were rewarded with Championship Medals, two of them Gold, and one of them Bronze. Alistair Douglass successfully front ran his 800m, to take the Gold Medal by a five second margin from Houghton’s Lee Dover, posting a finishing time of 2m00.17s. Phil Winkler of Morpeth won the 5000m, posting a time of 15m30.39s, winning by nine seconds from a previous Championship winner Greg Jayasuriya of Middlesbrough and Cleveland. Morpeth’s Connor Marshall took the Bronze medal in the previous day’s 1500m, posting a marginal personal best of 4m05.37s, behind winner Harry Allan of New Marske Harriers (4m01.47s), and Jayasuriya (4m02.56s). The clubs sole Senior Woman in action was Veteran Nisha Desai, who excellently achieved a one hundred percent return from her efforts, when she won Gold in her 800m Final on day one in 2m14.83s, and returned to the track on Sunday, to add another Gold Medal in the 400m, posting a time of 59.17s. Her watching Mother Vina could also take special delight in seeing another of her charges Charlotte Earl of Morpeth, clinch Gold in the Under 20 Women’s Triple Jump, where her best effort was 10.94m. Maisie French of North Shields Poly took the Silver medal with a best of 9.85m. Matthew Walton of Morpeth posted a time of 16m00.44s, when taking the Silver Medal in the Under 20 Men’s 5000m, behind Gateshead Harriers Gold Medallist Josh Blevins (15m30.29s). James Tilley of Morpeth was fourth in 16m24.13s, which was a personal best performance. Morpeth Under 17 Woman Freya Caygill, produced a season’s best time of 26.69s, when taking the Bronze Medal in Saturday’s 200m Final, behind Hartlepool’s Lily Mae Watson (26.10s), and second placed Lily Bradley of North Shields Poly (26.22s). Caygill returned to the Track on Sunday to compete in the 100m, where she finished fourth in her heat in 13.21s, however as a result of sustaining a slight injury, was forced to miss her later run Final after gaining qualification. After winning her 300m Heat in 44.75s, Morpeth’s Under 15 Girl, Amelia Hamlin, produced a marginally better 43.91s, to gain a Silver Medal in the later run Final, only a mere fraction behind Blyth’s Senna Gorvett (43.60s). Another Morpeth Under 15 Girl Medallist was Alexandria Hodgson, who won Silver in the Hammer with 19.47m. Hodgson also competed in the following days Javelin, finishing sixth with a personal best throw of 20.57m. Under 15 Boy Conner Phillips of Morpeth, crowned his first day of activity, by taking an excellent Gold Medal in the 300m, posting a personal best time of 39.88s, winning by over one second from Darlington’s Thomas Hill. He returned on the Sunday to try to add more Silverware to his tally in the 200m and did exceptionally well to finish second in his heat in a new personal best of 25.42s. Despite producing a slightly better 24.97s in the later run Final, he was just run out of the medals. Oliver Tomlinson won the Silver Medal in the Under 15 Boys 1500m, following a superb battle for supremacy with eventual winner Jacob Brown of Middlesbrough AC. Tomlinson posted a new personal best time of 4m32.67s. Morpeth Under 20 sprinter Evan Logan finished fourth in his 200m event on Sunday, posting a time of 23.23s. On Saturday, he got through to the Final of the 100m, when finishing fourth in his heat in 11.47s. His later run Final was tough, as he finished eighth in 11.52s. Under 20 Woman sprinter Mia Belton of Morpeth was unlucky not to medal in her 100m and 200m events. She equalled her personal best of 26.99s in the 200m on Saturday which gave her fifth place. On Sunday she finished fourth in the 100m Final in 13.17s. In a closely fought Under 17 Women’s 300m Final, Morpeth’s Victoria Hodgson, older sister of Alexandria, finished fifth in 44.68s, with winner Leoni Pye securing her Gold Medal in 43.41s. A very strong field took part in the Under 20 Men’s 1500m Final, including Morpeth’s Joe Anderson, who placed ninth of thirteen, posting a time of 4m07.00s. Morpeth’s Emma Tomlinson, younger sister of Oliver, finished ninth in the Under 13 Girls in 5m57.45s, despite having been unwell in the days leading up to her competition, which her first in a NECAA Track and Field Championships. Also having first tastes of a NECAA Track and Field Championships were another Morpeth Brother and Sister pairing, Thomas, and Molly Roche. Thomas finished eighth in the Under 13 Boys 800m Final in 3m03.60s, and Under 15 Girl Molly, was eleventh in 5m37.73s. The club's Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday June 7 at Morpeth Conservative Club at 8pm.
Due to the pandemic, this will be our first AGM since 2020. Items on the agenda will include: - Team management (Young Athlete/Senior) - Club facilities - Coaching - Event organisation - Administration To ensure the club's continued success it is critical that support is provided in these and other areas. Any formal items for discussion should be sent to the chair by June 1. All members are encouraged to attend. Please note, you do not need to be a Conservative Club member to attend! The club has been offered free use of the facility on the night with the rugby club being unavailable. Nearest parking behind St James's Church. Morpeth’s Senior Men retained their title at the Gordon Smith Relays after a keenly-fought battle with rivals Sunderland and Elswick Harriers.
Taking place after a three-year break over the same two-mile circuit around Cobalt Business Park some 60 teams contested the Women’s race and 70 the Men’s in sunny and still conditions which were just about ideal for racing. Tom Innes had the best possible start for Morpeth, getting ahead of the rest of the lead group after the first mile to open up a small gap of around five seconds and recording 9 minutes 52 seconds. A key feature of the race is that one leg must be run by an Over 40 runner (Over 35 in the women’s race), and so John Butters went out for Morpeth on leg 2. Clocking 10:48 after a gutsy run that kept Morpeth well in contention, the lead had by now however passed to Sunderland Harriers by a margin of some ten seconds with Elswick also vying for medals. However, a very determined Sam Hancox soon set about reeling in the two runners ahead of him and, timing his effort to perfection, he got ahead of the lead runner from Sunderland with less than a quarter of a mile to go and was able to finish with a five second margin of victory. His time of 9:38 was in fact the fastest of the night and shows what fine shape he is now in, with Morpeth’s cumulative time being 30:18. Sunderland in 2nd recorded 30:23 and Elswick 30:45. Behind the A team, Morpeth’s B of Mark Snowball (10:25), Lee Bennett (11:10) and Jordan Scott (10:26) were in 10th ( 32:01) with a further C team of Graeme Cook (10:43), Jamie Johnson (12:00) and Anthony Liddle (11:09), in his first relay for the club, in 20th (33:52). In the earlier run Women’s race, Morpeth were just run out of the medals by the narrowest of four-second margins. Cat Macdonald did, however, run the equal fastest Women’s time of the evening, coming home in 1st place on leg 1 with 11:23. Lizzie Rank, leading out the B team, also had a fine outing, coming in 3rd place with 12:21. Veteran Shuna Rank ran a determined 4:48 on leg 2, with Rachelle Falloon on last leg now aiming to run down as many of those ahead of her as possible. Clocking 12:10, she got very close to the final leg runner of Claremont Road Runners in 3rd place, but just ran out of road. The team’s cumulative time of 38:21 saw them finish 4th behind Elswick Harriers (35:40) , for whom leading veteran Justina Heslop ran the same time as Cat Macdonald. They were nearly two minutes ahead of 2nd place team Tyne Bridge (37:30) with Claremont in 3rd (38:17). Morpeth’s B of Lizzie Rank, Sue Smith (15:52) and Lindsey Quinn (13:01) placed 16th in 41:14, with a further C team of Sarah Lawson (12:43), Pam Woodcock (17:13) and Tayla Douglas (13:29) coming in 23rd (43:25) out of some 60 complete teams. Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Women’s Track and Field squad made an encouraging start to their 2022 league campaign when they finished a very close third in their opening Northern Athletics Premier League fixture held at Middlesbrough Sports Village, on Saturday 30 April.
The match was so close only a mere thirty-two points divided the top five teams, and Morpeth were only thirteen points adrift of match winners New Marske Harriers, with second placed Gateshead Harriers only eight points ahead. Some of the results are still to be fully confirmed, however there is unlikely to be much change to the situation for the leading contenders. Host club Middlesbrough unfortunately looks set for the drop, as they were well adrift in sixth place, over two hundred points behind fifth placed Wallsend/Blyth. In fourth place just behind Morpeth were North Shields Poly, and as the season progresses, it is definitely on the cards to result in a dog fight to the finish over the remaining three fixtures. Morpeth’s best results in the Men’s events came in the 5000m and 3000m Steeplechase. In the 5000m, Tom Innes (who is part of the new Morpeth Men’s Team Management structure, along with fellow athlete Mark Snowball and long serving Club Official George Patterson) easily won the A Race, posting an excellent first time best of 15m45.60s, and Adam Pratt took the B Race in 16m15.50s to make it a double success. Mark Snowball and Andrew Lawrence also achieved a double victory in the 3000m Steeplechase, with Snowball taking the A Race in 10m32.00s, and Lawrence the B Race in 11m11.60s, this being his first ever outing over obstacles. Snowball and Lawrence also teamed up in the 400m Hurdles, where Snowball finished third in the A Race in 74.70s, and Lawrence finished as second B String in 79.00s. Under 20 athlete Evan Logan finished second in the 100m A Race, posting a new personal best of 11.30s, and also finished second in the 200m A Race in 23.20s, which was also a pb. Hard working Veteran Dave Marshall stepped up for the first time to finish sixth in both B Races, posting respective times of 14.90s, and 33.20s. Logan also finished second in the A String Triple Jump, producing a best effort of 11.63m, just a few centimetres adrift of his personal best. Mark Snowball finished fifth in the B String competition, producing a best on the day of 7.44m. In the Men’s 1500m, Morpeth very nearly achieved another double win, however long-term leader George Rudman succumbed to the faster finishing pace of Wallsend/Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman in the closing stages, having been caught with only 200m remaining of the three- and three-quarter lap event. Rudman’s finishing time was 3m59.50s, which was a new personal best, and the first time he had eclipsed the four-minute barrier. Morpeth’s Connor Marshall gave excellent B Race support by winning in 4m13.30s, In the 800m event, making his Northern League debut, Under 20 athlete Joe Anderson finished second in the A Race, producing a new personal best of 2m02.20s, taking over two seconds off his previous figures. Morpeth newcomer Mark Banks marked his Northern League debut for the club by taking the B Race in 2m08.50s. In the 400m, Charlie Lane produced new figures of 52.30s, when finishing third in the A Race, and Mark Banks posted a time of 58.80s, when placing third in the B Race. On to the Men’s Field Events, where Evan Logan’s Triple Jump was clearly the most evident highlight. However, the club were dealt a heavy blow on the morning by the unexpected withdrawal of specialist thrower Hayden Richards, due to a positive Covid test. So, it was left to specialist track athletes being able to step in to fill some required gaps. Newcomer Mark Banks took on Long Jump and High Jump A String duties, his best result coming in the High Jump, where he cleared 1.45m, whilst having to return to track events during his competition, his clearance giving him fourth place. Meanwhile, in the Long Jump, he produced a best of 4.36m, giving him sixth spot. In the B String Long Jump, Mark Snowball finished fifth, with 4.04m. Richards’s absence meant that Tom Innes and Mark Snowball had to step up to the plate. Innes placed fifth in the A String Javelin with his best throw of 19.37m, whilst unfortunately Snowball couldn’t make a mark. In the Shot Putt, Father and Son David and Connor Marshall teamed up, and David finished fifth in the A String with 5.79m, whilst Connor putted 4.69m, to finish as fourth B String. The Discus event saw Innes finish fifth in the A String with 13.52m, and a hardworking David Marshall weighed in with 12.92m, to finish fourth in the B String. Unfortunately, a dropped baton resulted in Morpeth’s 4 x 100m failing to complete their circuit, however in the 4 x 400m, Morpeth’s quartet of Joe Anderson, Mark Banks, Connor Marshall, and Adam Pratt, managed to get the baton home in 3m44.80s, for second place. Morpeth Harriers Women’s squad, again under the Team Managership of Vina Desai, also played a major part in the clubs’ overall success on the day. Major contributors to the effort were Nisha Desai, daughter of the Manager, who managed no less than three A String victories, and Veteran Throws specialist Claire Reid who competed in four field events, achieving one A String victory, one second place, and two fourth places, and the Morpeth Team Manager herself, also gave B String support in four Field Events. On the Track, Nisha won the A String 400m in 59.50s, and Under 20 athlete Mia Belton, making her Northern League debut, won the B Race in 63.90s, to give maximum points to her club. Desai also won the 400m Hurdles (63.30s), and Triple Jump with a best effort of 10.26m, which was made much sweeter when Under 17 athlete Olivia Gent, produced a best of 8.16m, to win the B String, Nisha also finished a very close second in the 200m to Gateshead’s Megan Costello, producing a time of 26.50s. Laura Kincaid of Morpeth finished third in the B Race in 29.70s. Not long after she had achieved victory in the 400m Hurdles, Desai also finished second in the A String 800m, posting a time of 2m24.80s. Sarah Routledge, making her debut in the Northern League, finished second in the B race in 3m17.30s. Morpeth Harriers Women had a good result in the 1500m, where Lizzie Rank took the A Race in5m17.40s, which was a new personal best, taking six seconds off her previous figures, and Routledge once again rose to the challenge, by finishing second in the B Race in 6m26.70s. In the 100m, Mia Belton finished second in the A Race in 13.0s, and Laura Kincaid finished fourth in the B Race in 14.1s. Under 20 athlete Abbie Ross finished third in the A String Long Jump, with a best of 4.96m, which was a new personal best, and Olivia Gent finished third in the B String, with 4.01m. On to the women’s throws events, where Claire Reid and Vina Desai competed in the Morpeth colours. Claire very clearly won the Discus A String with an on the day best of 30.80m, and Desai finished fourth in the B String with 14.16m, which was a new personal best. In the Shot Putt, Reid finished second in the A String with 9.60m, and Desai finished fifth in the B String with 4.51m, and another new personal best. Reid finished fourth in the A String Hammer with 26.69m, and Desai finished as fourth B String with 15.24m. Completing the days throws events, Reid finished fourth in the A String Javelin, by throwing a best of 15.45m, and Desai produced her third personal best of the day, with 9.72m, getting her fourth B String placing. The Morpeth quartet comprising of Sarah Routledge, Nisha Desai, Lizzie Rank, and Mia Belton, competed to finish third for Morpeth Harriers in both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m Relays, posting respective times of 57.90s and 4m38.70s. A special word of praise for Morpeth Harriers club effort must go to the Marshall family, where Connor and Father Dave both competed, Mum Denise officiated on the Field, and youngest daughter even Charlotte assisted the Track Judges. Many thanks to you all! MATCH RESULT (Subject to Further Scrutiny) 1st New Marske Harriers 301pts, 2nd Gateshead Harriers 296pts, 3rd Morpeth Harriers 288pts, 4th North Shields Poly 276pts, 5th Wallsend/Blyth 269pts, 6th Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) 60pts |
Archives
April 2024
|