Nine young athletes from the ranks of Morpeth Harriers took part in the third meeting of the series of Indoor Standards events, held at Gateshead College on the evening of Thursday 16th January 2020.
The most Senior of those taking part was Jessica Young-Rogers, who in her first round 60m Sprint, was just outside her best time, when she clocked 8.02s, to finish as second fastest Junior Woman, behind Gateshead dynamo Megan Costello. In her later run 60m, although a little slower with 8.09s, she was equal fastest along with Gateshead’s Philippa Ellis. Alice Geoghegan ran a new personal best of 8.36s, when finishing as third fastest Under 17 Woman in the first-round phase of 60m events. Another Under 17 Morpeth Harrier in action here was Mia Belton, who was ninth fastest with her clocking of 8.56s, who later managed to produce a better clocking of 8.38s, which made her second fastest of the second-round athletes. Two Under 15 Morpeth Harrier Girls pulled off some excellent 60m performances. In her first attempt at the distance Freya Caygill clocked the third fastest time of 8.49s, and Victoria Hodgson produced a personal best of 8.72s, to finish as eighth fastest. Reuben Moss had his first outing in a Morpeth vest, when he finished as seventh equal fastest Under 15 Boy, producing brand new figures for the 60m of 8.45s, his previous outing over the distance being the North East Championships of 2019, when he had been competing for Wallsend Harriers. Another Morpeth Under 15 Boy in action over 60m was Sam Dent, who was ninth fastest in his age group with his clocking of 8.60s. Morpeth athletes Kayleigh Wenn and Charlotte Earl had respective victories in the Junior and Under 17 Women’s Triple Jump events, producing bests of 8.71m and 10.44m. The annual Brass Monkey half-marathon took place on Sunday morning (12th January 2020) at York racecourse.
Starting and finishing on the Knavesmire , the out and back course via Bishopthorpe and Appleton Roebuck on the outskirts of the city has been extremely popular for a number of years with runners in search of fast times on the flat roads and sells out within a matter of hours. Blessed this year by good weather, the event was won by Richard Start of North Derbyshire AC in a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 35 seconds with the women’s race won by Lorna Young of Leeds City in 1:18:32. Some seven athletes from Morpeth travelled down, with three recording personal bests. Adam Pratt was first home for the club in 7th place overall in a pb of 1:10:20. Behind him, both Ali Douglas, 21st in 1:11:03, and Richard Johnson, 22nd in 1:11:22, also recorded personal best times. Andy Lawrence returned to competitive action with a run of 1:14:11 for 48th and Lewis Timmins was 89th in 1:17: 40. There were also two fine veteran performances, with Gary Jones 7th Over 40 in 1:16: 57 and, one of the stand-out runs of the day for the club, Lesley Chapman 1st O/65 in 1:51:55. Saturday 11th January saw some extremely difficult conditions for the Home Counties Cross Country International at Kings Park, Stirling, an event which also incorporated the Scottish Inter-District Championships and the 4th round of the British Athletics Cross Challenge. Representing Scotland West as a member of Bellahouston RR, for whom she runs in Scotland, was Morpeth’s Cat Macdonald, who has been having a fine season over the mud already this Winter. Having led the club’s Senior Women to a team victory at Temple Park last weekend after finishing in 3rd place at the North East Championships at Alnwick before Christmas, Macdonald once again showed her appetite for challenging off road conditions when finishing in a commendable 29th place. She was also 3rd counter for the Scotland West team. Cat was 7th in the Inter Counties and picked up a team silver as a counter for the Scotland West team, Two other Morpeth Harriers were also in action. Joe Dixon had a strong run to finish in 5th place and only some 13 seconds off a podium place in the Under 15 boys. Dan Melling ran in the U/20 men and was 30th overall.
A total of four Championship medals were won by athletes from Morpeth Harriers at the Northern Athletics Indoor Track and Field Championships, held at Sheffield Arena on Saturday and Sunday 11th & 12th January 2019.
Under 17 Woman Hurdles specialist Amy Lott made a splendid start to 2020, when she won a hard, and well-earned Silver Medal on the first day of competition on Saturday. Lott worked her way through three gruelling rounds, including the final, run over a ninety minute period, to only lose out by a mere four tenths of a second, (a thickness of her club vest), to Stockport’s Meg Corker, who is last years Cheshire Under 15 County Champion, and had also finished second in the English Schools Championships in the outdoor 75m Hurdles. Having won her opening heat in a fairly modest 9.04s, Lott went on to record two consecutive personal best performances of 8.93s as she won her Semi, and just lost out by a whisker for Gold, as she further bettered her time with 8.86s. Going over the final Hurdle, Lott had a slight lead over Corker, and it was only in the very last breath that the Cheshire girl seized her opportunity Lott’s performance times are infinitely better than her clocking’s of 2019, where her best of 9.00s was achieved in an open meeting at the same venue just before Christmas. Her Coach and mentor Dave Thomas holds very high hopes for her next competition, the Scottish Championships in two weeks’ time. Other North East finalists in the event were Charlotte Rutter of Darlington Harriers, who was fourth in 9.01s, and Kate Smith of Tynedale Harriers, who was fifth in 9.03s. Another Morpeth Harriers sprinter in action at Sheffield on the first day, was Abbie Ross, who was having her very first experience of the Indoor circuit. She finished eighth in her heat of the Under 17 Women’s 60m Sprint, and was 33rd fastest overall, out of a total of 36 competitors. Ross also took part in the Long Jump final, achieving a best of 4.50m, which placed her 27th of 31 in the competition. This will have given great encouragement to the Vina Desai coached athlete. Moving up in distance on the track, to 1500m, Morpeth’s Rory Leonard just fell short of medal criteria, when he finished fourth in 4m03.77s in the Under 20 Men’s event. This was Leonard’s first piece of competitive action since early November in Mansfield, where he had led his club’s Under 20 Men to fifth place in the annual ECCA Cross Country Relays. It was also his first taste of Indoor action for three years, when he had finished second in the same Championship, when competing as an Under 17 Man. Saturday’s event was won by Liverpool’s Daniel Preston, who posted an impressive 3m54.37s, just outsprinting Houghton’s Henry Johnson. Leonard did have his moment of glory on Sunday however, when in the second day of competition he took Gold in the Under 20 Men’s 3000m, finishing second overall in a race that included eight Senior athletes, and two others in his age group. Leonard posted a time of 8m47.83s. Another Morpeth Gold Medal winner on Sunday was Craig Charlton, who won the Senior Men’s Shot Putt with his best effort of 15.32m, which was almost equal to his personal best, with the closest to him being Daniel Brunt of City of Sheffield, who putted 13.25m. Ruaridh Lang of Morpeth finished seventh in the competition. The Under 23 athlete posted a best of 11.46m in his series of efforts. Another Morpeth medallist on Sunday was Charlotte Earl, who won Bronze in the Under 17 Women’s Triple Jump, with a best of 10.83m, which was just outside her personal best. Back with Saturday’s Field Events, and Morpeth Under 20 Woman Kayleigh Wenn produced a personal best of 9.07m in the Triple Jump. Outside of the Morpeth athletes competing, it was good to see one of their former members in medal winning action in the form of Nisha Desai. The Trafford AC Veteran finished a good second in the Senior Women’s 800m on the second day of competition. She took her Silver Medal, posting a time of 2m13.34s. On Saturday she had just missed out in the 400m, where she finished fourth in 57.07s. The first competitive action of the New Year saw a day of mixed fortunes at Temple Park, South Shields on Saturday 4th January, with the club comfortably retaining the Sherman Cup but unable to hold on to the Davison Shield. Traditionally a test of strength in depth for North East clubs, the event has taken place regularly since 1949. The trophy was originally donated by Sherman’s Football Pools, hence the name, while in 2002, former Harrier league secretaries Pam and Ron Davison donated a trophy to allow women to compete in a similar fashion to the men. Athletes from across the area compete in five age categories (the men in Under 13, Under 15, Under 17, Seniors and Veterans, with the minor variation for the women of U/17 and 20 combined) with the first three from each club to count. Among the highlights of the customary breezy afternoon on the exposed playing fields were two team and two individual golds, the latter all the more memorable in coming from brother and sister Rowan and Robyn Bennett. The men’s team gold came courtesy of their Under 15 boys squad, for whom Joe Dixon again led the way, finishing in 2nd place. He was supported by the runs of Ryan Davies (who had run a fine personal best at the Blyth parkrun on New Year’s Day) in 6th and Will De Vere-Owen in 12th, with further support coming from Liam Roche in 13th, Sam Tate in 15th, Matt Walton in 18th, Bertie Marr in 21st and James Tilley 31st. The squad continue to provide a fine example of commitment and team spirit to the rest of the club. The run of Rowan Bennett to take an individual gold in the Under 17s was one of the highlights of the day. Behind early leaders Will Bellamy of Houghton AC and Charlie Daley of Gateshead Harriers on the first lap, Bennett stuck to his task in a determined fashion and made up for his disappointment at Alnwick two weeks ago (when he had mistakenly thought there were two laps). There was to be no such disappointment this time as he comfortably eased past his rivals on the second lap to win by a margin of well over half a minute in front of his delighted parents Lee and Jill. He was supported by the runs of Dylan Davies in 10th and Euan Duffin 11th, the latter doing well to grit his teeth despite injury to ensure the team count was complete. The team finished 2nd to Houghton AC. Ollie Calvert was first home in the Under 13 boys race, finishing in 6th place, with supporting runs by Oliver Tomlinson in 8th , Sam Livingstone in 19th, Luke Robson in 31st and Conner Phillips in 37th, in a squad that is developing nicely. The team were 3rd behind North Shields Polytechnic Harriers and Gateshead. Complete teams in all three Junior races meant the club was in pole position coming into the combined Senior and Veteran Men’s three lap race, and it was a winning combination of youth and experience that saw the club over the line. With many of the club’s more experienced Senior athletes either injured or unavailable, the spotlight was very much on those who had come through the club’s ranks, many of whom had of course run in Junior categories in the competition in previous years. Prominent amongst these was Modern Pentathlete Ross Charlton, who showed the fine form he has been showing in training when finishing in 3rd place overall behind Calum Johnson and Charlie Mcmillan of Gateshead Harriers. Confessing afterwards he had found the last lap a bit of a struggle - with the distance further than he had ever raced before - nevertheless Charlton took advantage of Dave Green of NSP’s mistake in the run in to get ahead of him and to stay in front of Gateshead’s hugely experienced Conrad Franks. Adam Pratt had a good run to make the top ten, finishing 9th overall, with the 3rd team count coming from Taylor Glover only one place behind. Kieran Hedley provided further back up in 13th. It was particularly pleasing to see both Glover and Hedley back competing after spells out, and both showing their real potential for the future. The team were 2nd behind Gateshead. Two more youngsters who have come through the ranks, Dan Melling and Connor Marshall, were 24th and 70th respectively, with the ever smiling Ricky Stafford 114th, Adam Coulson 143rd and Eric Adams 208th. In the veteran men’s race, meanwhile, Gary Jones was 50th and Lee Bennett 55th. The team count was completed by Jamie Johnson in 138th place. The veteran men were 4th overall, their highest finish for a number of years. There were further supporting runs by evergreen Dave Nicholson, 173rd, Jason Dawson, on his way back from injury and taking it easy in 179th, Paul Brown 219th, Bill Tilley 253rd and Pieter Vermaas 255th. In an event where the club has shown its dominance for a number of years now, the overall standings placed Morpeth on 12 points, well clear of nearest rivals Gateshead Harriers with Gosforth Harriers in 3rd. Sadly, a couple of last minute drop outs from illness and one or two no shows in the Davison Shield meant that two of the three Junior teams were incomplete, and so realistically any prospect of retaining the title from last year was also lost. Nevertheless, the Senior Women were able to go one better than their male counterparts, winning the Women’s team race, while their Under 17/20 combined squad also finished 2nd. The latter were led home by Robyn Bennett, older sister of Rowan, who won by a margin of some eight seconds from her nearest rival Chloe Wellings of Gateshead in a determined and purposeful fashion. Good team support was provided by U17 Holly Peck in 9th, Sophie Coaker in 21st, Ella Duffield 22nd , Kirsty Duffin 24th and Kate Gaffing, 34th, the team finishing just behind a strong Houghton Harriers outfit. In the Senior and Veteran Women’s two lap race, Cat Macdonald was agonisingly close to a gold medal, losing out to Amy Fuller of Elswick Harriers by the narrowest of one second margins. She was well supported by Josie Cram, back in competitive action and running strongly to finish 4th, and sister Lorna in 21st. The team finished just ahead of an experienced Jarrow and Hebburn outfit. Also running in the Senior race were Cat and Lorna’s sister Lindsey, 33rd, Hannah Rank, 42nd, and Sarah Lawson, 131st. In the women’s veteran competition, won by Gateshead, Morpeth finished 13th, with scoring counts by Gwenda Cavill, 92nd, Jane Briggs, 93rd and Julie Vermaas, 97th.
There were good numbers out for the club, which looks promising ahead of the remaining Harrier League fixtures, with in addition Shuna Rank 143rd, Sarah Routledge 158th, Jill Bennett 187th and Margaret Macdonald 278th. The Davison Shield was won by Gateshead Harriers with Birtley AC in 2nd and Gosforth Harriers 3rd. |
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