Following a week that had seen high profile cancellations of both the London Marathon (for all but elite athletes) and the whole of the Kielder Marathon weekend, competitive athletics action made a return to the North East at long last on Saturday afternoon 8th August) with the staging of a three way match between athletes from Morpeth Harriers, Blyth Running Club and North Shields Polytechnic Harriers. Held at the Morpeth track under strict UK Athletics Covid-19 guidance, competition was limited to sprint hurdles, distances from 100m– 400m, discus, shot and hammer, for some 70 athletes only, most of whom were juniors taking part in graded events. With the whole area carefully demarcated into separate zones for athletes, parents/ spectators, and officials, and rigorous routines in place for handwashing and social distancing, it was certainly a very different experience for all present. Social distancing meant that athletes were unable to run in adjacent lanes, so for all distances over 100m there could only be three in each race, while throwers were faced with the need to repeatedly sanitise and clean equipment. Nevertheless, with the sun shining and a light breeze making for near perfect conditions, there were smiles on the faces of participating athletes, parents, coaches and officials at the resumption of some form of competition after a full four months of lockdown with all involved delighted at the opportunity given. The outstanding performance of the meeting was by Senior Man Craig Charlton, Scottish Indoor Champion, in the Shot Putt with a personal best of 16.93m which keeps him in third place in the UK rankings. Under 20 James Wordsworth of NSP, last year's English Schools Athletics Association U17 Discus Champion, also threw a PB of 15.12m and then another PB in the Discus of 46.54m. Edward Gardiner (U15) of Morpeth, threw a Discus PB of 28.08m, and not to be outdone big sister Jessica (U17) threw well in both Discus (32.88m) and Hammer (44.02m), falling just short of her PBs. It was an exciting afternoon for Morpeth’s Amy Lott (U17) as she recorded a massive PB of 37.13m in the Hammer. She also ran PBs in the 200m (27.3s) and 100m (13.2s). She is the Scottish 60m Hurdle Champion and ranked fifth in the UK, but moved up to try the U20W 100m Hurdles for the first time ever. She ran 15.5s - just 0.2s outside the ESAA qualifier for next summer. Fastest times of the day were run by Matthew Waterfield of Morpeth, last season's ESAA 400m Champion. Looking in good shape despite the absence of competition, Matthew recorded 11.3s in the 100m and 22.7s in the 200m. The fastest lady on the track was Senior Woman Jessica Young-Rogers, also of Morpeth, with 12.8s for the 100m and 25.9s for the 200m, just outside her PB. Also in the senior ranks there were PBs for both Lynsey Storey and Laura Kincaid in the 100m. Showing that it wasn’t all just about the youngsters meanwhile, veteran Over 45 sprinter Trevor Hodgson ran a very good 12.8s for 100m, thirty odd years after competing for the last time, when he had run 11.0 s. In their first ever meeting, U17s Evan Logan and Tom Wales did well for the club in both the 100m and 200m, with Logan recording 12.4s and 25.5s, and Wales 13.0s and 25.7s. Charlie Lane recorded a 200m of 25.0s and a 400m of 55.2s, both PBs. Fastest times of the day were run by Matthew Waterfield of Morpeth, last season's ESAA 400m Champion. Looking in good shape despite the absence of competition, Matthew recorded 11.3s in the 100m and 22.7s in the 200m. The fastest lady on the track was Senior Woman Jessica Young-Rogers, also of Morpeth, with 12.8s for the 100m and 25.9s for the 200m, just outside her PB. Also in the senior ranks there were PBs for both Lynsey Storey and Laura Kincaid in the 100m. Showing that it wasn’t all just about the youngsters meanwhile, veteran Over 45 sprinter Trevor Hodgson ran a very good 12.8s for 100m, thirty odd years after competing for the last time, when he had run 11.0 s. In their first ever meeting, U17s Evan Logan and Tom Wales did well for the club in both the 100m and 200m, with Logan recording 12.4s and 25.5s, and Wales 13.0s and 25.7s. Charlie Lane recorded a 200m of 25.0s and a 400m of 55.2s, both PBs. U15 Reuben Moss recorded a massive PB in the 100m of 13.3s and then another in the 200m of 28.1s. U15s Ellie Wickens and Victoria Hodgson both ran 13.8s for the 100m.
In the U15G 75m Hurdles Hannah Lott, last season's Scottish U13 Champion, and Saveena Mullin, only U13, both ran the U15 Hurdles for the first time ever, recording respectable times of 15.5s and 13.9s, to go to Power of 10. Credit for the whole day is especially due to Morpeth track and field coach Dave Thomas, without whose tireless efforts and dedication – not least in dealing with a veritable Everest of paperwork for track and trace – the meeting would never have gone ahead. Morpeth Over 65 Masters Gavin Bayne and Dave Nicholson put in a decent shift at the track on Saturday when a breezy early afternoon saw both comfortably clocking very competitive age-related sub 20 minute times.
With Bayne only deciding to give it a go mid-morning (having already put some early morning miles in) and originally talking of only completing some of the distance, and Nicholson out of his preferred off-road habitat, both athletes were perhaps a little nervous as they settled down for the start of the 12 and a half laps. However, Bayne was soon into an almost metronomic rhythm, and able to tick off near identical 90 second laps, and with the bit between his teeth never looked likely to drop out. Nicholson meanwhile stuck gamely to his task despite a gap between the two starting to open up after lap 3. In the event, Bayne managed to just dip under the 19 minute mark for a 18:59 clocking while Nicholson finished not too far behind in 19:21. Both athletes professed themselves delighted with their runs and, like so many others, only disappointed that there were no competitive opportunities for them on the horizon. Congratulations to Bob Appleby on correctly identifying the July Picture Quiz as Eddie Hedley our Senior Sprints Coach. The picture was taken in the Borders, possibly Melrose or Selkirk, when Eddie competed as a highly accomplished professional sprinter himself. Our August picture (above) was taken at the 1969 UK Inter Counties Track & Field Championships.
The scene is the Men’s 5000m, we want you please to identify the race leader (No 20), who eventually went on to become a highly accomplished GB distance specialist, and became a very influential figure in the sport in later life. At the same time, only for interest, if anyone could please identify the third or fourth placed North East Counties competitor, we would appreciate your help in that. LOCKDOWN HANDICAP 1 MILE 6TH JULY TO 12TH JULY LOCKDOWN HANDICAP SERIES 3K 29TH JUNE TO 5TH JULY
Following what seems like an eternity of lockdown, we can report that actual athletics got underway on Saturday evening 25th July in Stretford in Manchester, when the British Milers Club hosted an Open Meeting, consisting of twenty one 800m events, with fourteen being run by Male athletes,
six by Female, with one Mixed race being tagged on at the end. A total of 62 athletes took part, with a maximum of three athletes spread across the track in lanes, recognising social distances in the two lap events. The Summer calendar having been decimated by the Coronavirus epidemic, most athletes certainly welcomed the unique opportunity to get back into some form of competitive action, albeit somewhat limited. One such athlete was Morpeth Harrier Joe Armstrong, who lined up in what was effectively the fourth fastest race on the programme. Joe finished second to Menai’s Osian Perrin, an Under 20 Athlete, who posted a winning time of 1m57.61s, which for him was a personal best. Armstrong meanwhile finished in 1m58.33s, some four seconds outside his best, however, will feel pleased to be part of the action following weeks of inactivity. His time was nineteenth fastest of those in action on the night, which also saw a few willing UKA Officials stretching their muscles again. Nevertheless, it was good to see athletics seeing some form of competitive action again, which means that those involved in the sport can at least remain hopeful of getting back into some form of action, albeit extremely low key. |
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