This weekend, athletics action centres round the annual North Eastern Counties
Athletics Association Road Relay Championships, which are being held at the now well established course at Hetton Lyons Park, Co Durham. Action gets underway at 12.00 noon with the four leg relay for Senior and Veteran Women, and Over 50 Veteran Men. At 1.15pm the Senior and Veteran Men Over 40 six leg relay gets underway, all legs comprise of two laps, covering a total distance of 2.22 miles. Morpeth Harriers hold the current Senior Men’s team course record, and Laura Weightman holds the Women’s individual course record. With local cross country action not an option, several Morpeth Harriers took to competing in Park Run’s on Saturday 13th February, and the club had four first finishers to show for their efforts. Despite wintry conditions of driving icy rain, Ian Harding prevailed at Druridge Bay, crossing the finish line for the 5k distance in 17m20s, nearly two minutes clear of his closest rival. Third across the finish line was Tim Miley, who clocked 19m29s. Other prominent Morpeth finishers at Druridge were Neil McAnany (6th) 21m00s, Peter Scaife (9th) 21m24s, Kevin Bray (22nd) 22m30s, and Abby Sheldon (28th) (3rd Lady) 23m09s. Down on Humberside, Mark Snowball was first across the finish line in the Peter Pan Park Run, in Anlaby in West Hull. Snowball clocked 16m48s. At the Roundhay Park Run in Leeds, Morpeth’s Sarah Graham was first lady finisher, when she placed ninth in 21m12s. Meanwhile over in South Africa, Morpeth Harrier Graeme Taylor was first finisher in the Greenpoint event, in a time of 17m07s, which proved to be nearly two minutes clear of his closest rival. Young Morpeth Harrier Alex Porteous competed in his first Park Run in Edinburgh on Saturday 13th February. Finishing 63rd in 22m08s on the 5k course, he was third in the 11 to 14 year age group. Well done Alex. Morpeth Harriers youngest Indoor specialist Amy Lott was certainly in sparkling form at the Gateshead College Series meeting, held on Thursday 11th February. The North East Under 13 60m Hurdles Champion once again reigned supreme at her main event, when up against four opponents, including her fiercest rival Katie Smith of Tynedale Harriers, who was the closest to her, clocking 11.1s to Lott’s 10.44s, which not only proved to be a new personal best, it also sees the Dave Thomas coached youngster elevated to tenth in the country, in the British rankings for her age group. In the later run flat 60m, Lott also proved to be the fastest in the first of two heats, with her clocking of 9.05s, which again was a personal best. Smith was again second to Lott with 9.06s, however the second heat proved to be one too many, as Lott found herself just outpaced by Smith as she clocked 9.31s. But nevertheless, two personal best’s, plus a rise up the rankings, raised a confident smile to the face of the Morpeth athlete. Lott was only one of six Morpeth Harriers in action on the night. Hannah Brown was strong in the Under 17 Women’s 60m Hurdles with her clocking of 9.83s. In the flat 60m, Brown was third fastest with her clocking of 8.62s, and she clocked a second fastest 8.61s in the later run second heat. Both of these clockings were an improvement to previous performances. Fellow Morpeth Harrier Katie Hilton proved to be second fastest in Round 1 of the 60m with 8.50s, and in the second round she clocked 8.54s, which saw her emerge as fastest in her Under 17 age group. In the Under 17 Men’s 60m Rounds, Morpeth’s Oliver Bultitude clocked 8.33s and 8.20s respectively, which gave him a placing of fifth in his age group. On his debut for Morpeth, Under 13 Boy Koffi Avomyo clocked 9.33s and 9.46s, which gave him a final placing of fourth in his age group. Morpeth Harriers other athlete in action was Field event specialist Daniel Lloyd, who was second Under 13 Boy in the Shot Putt with a best of 7.83m, which frustratingly was a little short of his best. It was very much a blank weekend on the North East Cross Country scene after the total cancellation of Saturday’s re-arranged fourth Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League fixture. This was because the two prospective courses at Newcastle’s Town Moor, and Cardinal Hume School in Wrekenton, Gateshead, were still well waterlogged, and both were deemed unfit for racing following earlier in the week inspections. Event organisers have now declared the fixture as void, and action will now move on to the fifth fixture, which is scheduled for Saturday 5th March at The Pastures in Alnwick. Grand Prix scoring will now revert to best four out of five for Senior and Veteran Men and Women, and for all other age groups, best three from five, as many younger athletes will be missing on the Alnwick date, because of a clash with the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Wollaton Park in Nottingham. The sixth and final fixture in the league will be held at Wrekenton (conditions permitting), on Saturday 19th March. A brand new track relays event takes place on Sunday 10th April.
It is similar in format to the Monkton sprint relay in September, but with 4x800m added onto the schedule, as well as races for U11's. |
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