Golden Spike Meeting Running a remarkably similar time to her run in Stockholm last month, Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman finished an excellent second to Kenyan International Faith Kipyegon in the Women’s 1500m at the Golden Spike Meeting, held in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia on Tuesday 8th September 2020. The newly crowned UK Champion, again ran with superb control, and was always a threat to the winner until the final lap, and managed to post her second best time of the year of 4m01.96s, which was only just over a second adrift of her personal best. Kipyegon won in 3m59.05s, which was a meeting record. Two other Brits in the event were Jemma Reekie, who finished third in 4m03.25s, and Eilish McColgan, who finished eleventh in 4m12.07s. In her five appearances, in what has been a very restricted track season, Weightman has yet to finish outside the top three, which certainly speaks volumes about the quality of her present form. Antrim Coast Half Marathon
Meanwhile on Saturday 12th September 2020, another Morpeth Harrier who competed at the 2012 Olympics was running in the talent filled Antrim Coast Half Marathon. Nick McCormick proved that he still has what it takes, event though he is now competing in the Over 35 Veteran Men’s age group. In the event, won by fellow 2012 5,000metre colleague Mo Farrah, also now in the V35 category, McCormick finished in 24th place, posting a seasons best of 67m08s, and he was third Veteran Man finisher. Farrah’s winning time was 60m27s, who won by twelve seconds from Cambridge and Coleridge’s Marc Scott, formerly of Richmond and Zetland, with former National Cross-Country Champion Ben Connor of Derby, finishing third in 60m55s. The second NECAA Open Meeting of the Summer took place under UKA Covid-19 guidance at the KEVI track on Sunday, and there was once again widespread gratitude shown by all present at the opportunity given, however belated, for some track and field competition after the months of enforced inaction. With the morning rain abating, little or no wind and, as the afternoon progressed, the sun even showing its face, conditions were excellent for both participants and spectators and the track certainly looked at its best. Events this time round included shorter distances of 200, 300 and 400m as well as the 1500m, all being graded races (athletes having submitted anticipated times) and in the field, long and triple jumps as well as shot, discus and javelin. There were some twenty-one 200m races with nearly 100 sprinters involved. The stand-out performance for Morpeth was perhaps by Under 17 sprinter Melody Brooks, who ran 26.28 seconds in heat 14 to come home first, bettering her personal best by over half a second and recording the third fastest female time of the day into the bargain. U/15 girls Kaityln Waddell (29.42s) and Hannah Lott (29.43s) both won their heats and colleague Ellie Wickens (28.42s) was second in hers, all three recording pbs. For the boys, U/17 Charlie Lane ran an impressive 24.98s to win heat 17, while veteran O/40 Phil Pitt (24.59s) just pipped younger teammate U/17 Josh Adams (25.09s) in heat 18. Fastest times of the day overall were by Gateshead Harriers U/20 Philippa Ellis (25.48s) and Ben Schofield (23.40s). The 300m – a distance rarely competed over – was understandably less popular with only some four heats. U/15 Reuben Moss won his heat in 43.01s while Alice Geoghegan recorded 42.47s in hers, keeping her as the fastest over the distance in the NE. Rebecca Grieve of Pitreavie ran 40.12s and Jemes Bell of Carlisle Aspatria 39.41s for the fastest times of the day, both athletes having travelled considerable distances to take part. The busy Charlie Lane was Morpeth’s only competitor in the 400m, coming home third in a time of 55.12s in heat 4. Jason Nicholson of Gateshead was the only athlete to break the 50s mark, recording 49.94s with Ellie Maxwell of Middlesborough Mandale clocked 1m 3:53s for the fastest women’s time. Most popular event of the day proved to be the 1500m, with six athletes in most races, although seeding meant the strange sight of some U/13 and U/15 athletes running up against others old enough to be their granddad! In the early heats, Morpeth O/60 Andrew Dippie ran 5 minutes 45s in heat 2 and Tayla Murdy 5: 38:74 in heat 3 with O/40 Elswick veteran Judith Nutt a highly respectable 5:34:38s just ahead of her. Heat 5 was won by U/13 Oliver Tomlinson in a very impressive 5:03:03, a big personal best by nearly 15 seconds for the youngster, while U/20 Junior Kirsty Duffin was fifth in the same heat in 5:30:53 but also knocked over 10 seconds off her own pb. Sandwiched between them was one of the club’s leading veterans, O/65 Gavin Bayne recording an excellent 5:25:75 - a time which makes him the leading runner in the country for his age in 2020. Another stand-out performance followed in heat 7, U/17 Abi Leiper easily going under the five minute mark to win with a time of 4:52:47 and knocking over fifteen seconds off her previous best. In her first race in a Morpeth vest meanwhile, Millie Breese (U/17) placed second in the following heat in 4:48:54. U/15 Liam Roche (4:28:45) and U/17 Sam Tate (4:28:54s) battled it out at the front of heat 9 for a Morpeth one, two, with Roche knocking a whole 17 seconds off his pb, while there was a perhaps even more impressive performance in the following race, U/17 Joe Anderson taking it out hard from the front – much to the concern of his watching coach Mike Bateman – but hanging on with a bit to spare to record 4:17:78s, another fine pb. In the same heat, U/20 Alex Cunningham was second in 4:20:70 and U/15 Joe Dixon sixth in 4:37:88, both also pbs. There were two more notable runs in Heat 11, U/15 Bertie Marr finishing second in 4:23:53, a time that puts him eighth in the country for his age group and particularly pleasing after an injury hit cross country season. Meanwhile Guy Bracken, newly transferred to Morpeth from NSP but running with a niggling injury, ran 4:23:62, some way off his best but still showing he remains a class act. Fastest times of the day were of course run in the day’s final two races. In heat 12, U/20 Connor Marshall was fourth in 4:19:87 and U/15 Ryan Davies sixth in 4:27:67, both pbs. Final race of the day featured a terrific battle between early leader Josh Blevins of Gateshead and Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman, with Fiddaman judging his effort to perfection over the last 150 metres to win in the day’s fastest time of 4:03:24. Morpeth’s Ross Charlton, admittedly race-rusty, clocked a respectable 4:06:29 for third. The day’s fastest time by a female runner was Emily Chong of Chester-le-Street in 4:43:94. Two Morpeth athletes took part in the Long Jump, U/17 Abbie Ross recording 4.57 metres and U/15 Olivia Gent 3.96m, both pbs. Blyth’s Alfie Ward recorded the day’s longest jump of 6.36m and Gateshead’s Lucy Turner 5.53m. The triple jump had fewer competitors by comparison, with the day’s longest being that of 12.20m by Jarrow and Hebburn U/17 Thomas Paterson. Morpeth’s U/17 Charlotte Earl did, however, record the furthest distance by a female athlete, 11.11m for perhaps the club’s stand-out field performance of the day. Kayleigh Wenn jumped 9.48m. Morpeth’s javelin specialist Bobbie Griffiths threw 37.14m with U/17 Alice Geoghegan hitting 30.33m. With few if any competitive opportunities for throwers this Summer, although distances were understandably down both were grateful to have had the chance to flex their arm. Blyth’s Alfie Ward threw 40.45m for the longest mark of the afternoon. The brother and sister team of Jess and Ed Gardiner (U/17 and U/15 respectively) lined up in the discus, Jess recording 30.16m, the furthest female throw of the afternoon, with Ed 24.94m. Fellow U/15 athlete Georgia Turner threw 16.61m, in her first time at the new weight. James Woodward of NSP had the day’s furthest mark of 42.58m. There were no Morpeth athletes in the Shot Putt this time, with the busy Woodward throwing 14.94m and Kaitlin Enderwick of Middlesborough Mandale 10.94m for the day’s biggest marks. Another very successful afternoon for NECAA then; so successful in fact that a third meeting has been scheduled for Sunday 27th September, which will hopefully include some track 3000m races bound to be popular with Morpeth’s distance specialists. Thanks and congratulations to all officials, and once again to Hemant Desai who worked tirelessly to liaise with the school, despite having had a busy Friday and Saturday at the British Championships supporting daughter Nisha, and also doing some officiating himself in his first British Athletics Senior Appointment. PHOTOS FROM MEETING AT MORPETH ON SUNDAY
COURTESY OF PETER SCAIFE A week after Hurricane Laura struck America, another one of it’s very own kind struck Manchester’s Sport City, in the form of Morpeth Harrier International Laura Weightman, who took her fifth UK Women’s 1500m title, thus equalling Rita Ridley (formerly Lincoln’s) record of wins, achieved in 1967,68,69,70, and 71.
After winning her Friday night heat in a fairly modest 4m17.01s, Weightman returned as firm favourite on Saturday, and cast aside any doubts by winning very clearly from Blackburn’s Jessica Judd, posting a finishing time of 4m09.76s. Judd had won the Women’s 5000m title on the Friday night, about forty minutes before entering the cauldron again to win her 1500m heat, but she was clearly no match for a determined Weightman, who won by a near three second margin, after attacking at the bell, before powering away with 300m remaining, before putting in a final thrust over the final 200m. Following the race, Weightman, coached by Steve Cram, said that she had been very pleased with her race, and that despite the disappointments of the pandemic, she had managed to put them well behind her, and felt that at 29, she had achieved more than she had wished for in a strange season. Another Morpeth Harrier who managed to get through to a final, was Women’s 400m Hurdler Nisha Desai. At the age of 36, she was the oldest of the athletes competing over the two heats on Friday night. In finishing fourth in her heat in 61.57s, she qualified for Saturday’s as a fastest loser, where she finished eighth in 64.76s. Despite that, she felt pleased that she was still good enough to match up against younger rivals to make the final eight. Two former Morpeth Harriers were very much up against each other in Saturday’s Men’s Shot Putt Final. Despite fouling two of his six allotted Putt’s, Andrew Knight, now competing for Southampton, produced a best of 15.07m, to finish sixth in a competition, very clearly won by City of York’s Scott Lincoln, who managed to make a mark with all six attempts, to win with a best of 19.65m, which was almost three metres better than Stratford’s Lewis Byng, who is still 18 years of age, the same age as Knight. One place behind Knight in seventh place, was his former Morpeth colleague Craig Charlton. Charlton, now competing for Woodford Green & Essex Ladies, produced a best of 14.87m, managing to foul three of his six attempts. Morpeth Harriers pictured prior to a Morpeth to Newcastle Road Race.
Well done to all of you who identified the year in question as 1997. AUGUST PICTURE QUIZ Many thanks to those who correctly identified the runner in the lead in the picture, it was of course David Bedford. Congratulations to Keith Weightman, Doug Cockburn & Kevin Bray, who all correctly identified, and many thanks to Doug and Kevin, who also identified the NECAA runner as John Caine. Athletics in the region continued its slow and controlled return to activity with a mixed age and gender Track and Field meeting, being held at Hexham’s Wentworth Stadium on Sunday 30th August 2020, organised under Covid 19 regulations by Team Decathlon North East, which also represented the second meeting of the Tyne Tees Grand Prix, the first being held at Middlesbrough earlier in the month. Under the direction of local co-ordinator Richard Hunter, athletes enjoyed events covering 100m, 200m, 300m,400m, 800m, and 1500m on the track, whilst in the field, there were Pole Vault and Discus competitions. Amongst those athletes were sixteen representatives from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers. Seven brand new personal best performances were achieved on the day, four of them coming from the club’s contingent of fit and determined Under 15 Boys. One of the most notable performances however came from new signing Millie Breese, who has just signed up with Morpeth full time, following an excellent early career with Alnwick Harriers. In this her first year as an Under 17 athlete, she completely smashed her previous personal best by all of twelve seconds, in her heat of the 1500m, winning in 4m47.21s, taking victory from Chester Le Street’s Emily Chong by a margin of almost two seconds. Another new Morpeth recruit, Tabitha Robson, previously with Tynedale, finished third in the same race, also posting new personal best figures of 5m30.58s, taking four seconds off her previous best. There were some excellent new personal best performances achieved by Morpeth Under 15 Boy athletes. The trio that ran in the 800m Bertie Marr, Liam Roche, and Ryan Davies, were second third and fourth respectively in their heat, posting times of 2m10.56s, 2m11.06s, and 2m12.80s. Marr just lost out for victory to Gosforth’s Ethan Bond by two seconds, as he took two seconds off his previous best. Roche took a mammoth eighteen seconds off his previous, whilst Davies bettered his previous by four seconds. The other excellent Under 15 Boy performer was Edward Gardiner, who won his age group in the 1.25k Discus, by throwing a best of 31.89m, adding nearly four metres to his previous achievement. Following her earlier achievement in finishing as fastest Under 20 Woman in the 100m, Morpeth’s Jessica Young-Rogers posted new figures of 25.31s, to win her heat of the 200m, from Gateshead Senior Beth Pringle. Other Morpeth sprint performers were Matthew Waterfield, who was second fastest man in the 100m with 11.11s, and fastest in the 200m with 22.56s, Laura Kincaid who was fastest Veteran Lady in the 100m with 14.54s, and also fastest in the 200m with 30.0s, Phil Pitt who was fastest Veteran Man in the 100m with 12.05s, and second fastest in the 200m with 24.35s. Back with the two lap 800m events, and Under 15 Girl Caitlin Flanagan was second fastest in her age group, when she posted a time of 2m35.26s. Morpeth’s Ben Waterfield was second fastest Under 17 Man over 800m, posting a time of 2m09.44s. Back to 1500m, and Sam Tate was seventh fastest Under 17 Man, with his clocking of 4m38.51s. Veteran Man Andrew Dippie was second fastest in his category, posting a finishing time of 5m54.40s. Returning to Field Events, and the 1k Discus, and perhaps most frustratingly, Morpeth’s Under 17 Woman Jessica Gardiner again fell just a little short of her best mark with an on the day best of 33.04m, which is around a metre short of her best during 2019. She finished second to fellow Under 17 and Middlesbrough athlete Grace McDonald, who threw an on the day best of 35.10m. The overall competition was won by Gateshead Senior Sophie Littlemore, who managed a best of 41.93m. Morpeth’s other Discus thrower on the day was Ruaridh Lang, who finished fourth in the Senior Men’s competition with an on the day best of 38.92m, which was around a metre and a half adrift of his personal best. There is more Track and Field action happening at Morpeth on Sunday 6th September when the North East Counties Athletics Association host their second Covid 19 meeting. PHOTOS FROM HEXHAM
(Courtesy of Alan Gardiner) |
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