Morpeth’s Laura Weightman superbly maintained her love affair with major
championships on Sunday evening in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, when she won a Bronze medal behind fellow Brit Laura Muir in the Women’s 1500m final at the European’s. Weightman very much immediately went to the front of affairs in the three and three-quarter lap event, and led the field until two laps to go, when Muir went to the front. At that point, Muir put in a 62 second lap to take the bell, having established a very strong lead. With 200m remaining as Muir drew further ahead, Weightman, who had chased her alone after she broke, began to weaken slightly, and with 100m to go, with Muir now well clear, Weightman was caught by her heat winner from the Friday Sofia Ennaoui of Poland. Weightman dug deep at this point, and while she couldn’t quite match the finishing pace of Ennaoui, she managed to hold off Ireland’s Ciara Mageean to win her second European Bronze, by nearly a whole second, posting a time of 4m03.75s. Whilst this was Weightman’s second European outdoor Bronze medal, it was Muir’s first outdoor Gold Medal, and in fact Britain’s first outdoor European Gold at the distance. Weightman had very nearly won her heat on the Friday, where she posted the second fastest overall heat time of 4m08.74s, and the end result of a Bronze medal was very rewarding. Birthday Girl Laura Weightman not only won the UK Women’s 1500m title
at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on Sunday 2nd July 2018, she also firmly booked her place on the plane to Berlin, and next month’s European Championships. The 27-year-old Morpeth Harrier has built up her preparations carefully, under the guidance of coach Steve Cram, following her return from April’s Commonwealth Games, where she competed over the longer distance of 5000m, winning an excellent Bronze medal. On Sunday however, Laura showed that she still has what it takes to win at 1500m, taking the lead on the final lap from long term leader Jessica Judd of Chelmsford, who had won the heat on Saturday, where Weightman had qualified for the final by finishing third in a very modest 4m16.18s, to superbly win the final in 4m08.80s, although a little adrift of her lifetime best, a pleasing victory. Another Morpeth Harrier in action at the Championships on Sunday was Mhairi MacLennan, who finished fourteenth out of twenty-one finishers in the Women’s 5000m, posting a finishing time of 16m48.27s, which was around forty seconds adrift of winner Steph Twell of Aldershot. Four Morpeth Harriers took part in the annual Anita Nott Memorial Women’s only race,
held at Jesmond Dene, and organised by Heaton Harriers, on the sunny evening of Monday 25th June 2018. The quartet were led home by Carol Parry, who had an excellent run to finish 232nd overall, and was 33rd Over 45 Woman, posting a finishing time of 30m03s. One place behind her, and 34th Over 40 Woman Claire Walker, who finished one second adrift. Morpeth Harriers other two finishers also ran a close race together. Jacinta Wake finished 331st in 33m23s and was 37th Over 50 Woman. One place behind her with an identical time was Sue Smith, who was 38th Over 50 Woman. The event had a total of 457 finishers. Late withdrawals, and general no shows, let down the Morpeth Harriers Senior Track and Field squad,
i.e. those who did turn out, and their respective hard-working Team Managers David Swinburne (Men), and Vina Desai (Women), at their second round Northern Athletics League Division 2E Match, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Sunday 3rd June 2018. Because of this, the squad will now continue to face an uphill struggle in the latter half of the season in efforts to preserve their current league status, after finishing fifth of six clubs, headed by a very strong Gateshead Harriers. Only North Yorkshire outfit Richmond and Zetland finished below Morpeth on the day, and only a mere 41 match points adrift. Best points haul in the Women’s events, came from the Field, courtesy of Under 20 athlete Bobbie Griffiths and seasoned Veteran Claire Reid. Griffiths won the A string Javelin, with an on the day best of 34.78m, whilst Reid finished as second B string with 15.76m. Morpeth Women’s Team Manager Vina Desai faced similar issues, having around only a dozen athletes at her disposal, including herself having to don her own competitive vest for two of the events. One of those events was the Hammer, where she was a very effective B string assistance to Claire Reid in the A string. Whilst Reid finished second in the A string with a best of 31.58m, which was only a few centimetres adrift of her lifetime best, Desai produced 15.59m, to edge home third in the B string. In addition to that excellent Javelin result alongside Bobbie Griffiths, the pair also lined up in the Discus, where Reid produced an on the day seasons best of 29.49m to finish third in the A string, with Griffiths finishing as second B string with an on the day best of 23.49m. Reid teamed up again with Desai in the Shot Putt, finishing third in the A string with 9.37m, whilst the latter finished sixth in the B string with 2.76m. Under 17 youngster Kayleigh Wenn competed well amongst older rivals in the Long and Triple Jumps, finishing fourth and third with respective efforts of 3.74m and 8.30m. In the Women’s track events, it was a unique blend of Youth and Veteran status that searched for valuable points for Morpeth. The best result came in the 800m, where Holly Peck finished third in the A race in 2m25.0s, and Helen King also finished third in the B race, posting a new personal best of 2m34.0s, taking three seconds off her previous figures. Lynsey Cunningham took on the unexpected role of A string sprinter, f inishing fourth in the 100m, and sixth in the 200m. In the corresponding B races, Helen King tackled 100m for the first time in her life, finishing fourth in 15.6s, and youngster Holly Peck an excellent second in 29.2s, a lifetime personal best. Helen King showed her team spirit thoroughly by also finishing fourth in the A string 400m, posting a time of 70.9s, only a second adrift of her lifetime best. Sue Smith finished fifth in the B string, posting a time of 86.8s. In the longer Women’s events, the 1500m and 3000m, Morpeth had four athletes at their disposal, one Under 17, One Senior, and two Veterans. The youngest of the quartet Lauren Cummings, finished fourth in the A string 1500m, posting a time of 5m48.4s. Jane Kirby backed her up well, by finishing third in the B string in 6m11.2s, this being her first attempt at the distance. In the 3000m A race, Lorna MacDonald finished third in 10m59.4s, which for her was a new lifetime best of some magnitude. Tackling a 3000m track event for the first time Carol Parry finished as fourth B string, to add more much needed points to the Morpeth tally, which would have proved much better had some of the clubs’ stronger athletes rallied to their Team Managers calls. |
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