Unfortunately, Mongolian International Serod Batochir of Morpeth Harriers
had nothing but disappointment with his Olympic Men’s Marathon run in a very wet Rio De Janiero on Sunday morning 21st August. In the early stages and up to half-way he was just inside the top 70 of the 140 field of finishers, however he faded badly in the final half of the tough race, which was won by Kenya’s Elliot Kipchoge, the reigning Olympic Champion, who posted a finishing time of 2hrs08mins44secs. Second place and the Silver Medal went to Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa, who clocked 2hrs09mins54secs, and third place went to Mo Farah’s sometimes training partner Galen Rupp of the USA, who produced a new best of 2hrs10mins05secs, for his well - earned Bronze medal. Considering Rupp had also run the 10,000metres final earlier in the week, it was a fine achievement. Meanwhile Batochir ended up a disappointing 92nd, with a time of 2hrs24mins26secs, which is well adrift of his lifetime best of 2hrs08mins. Batochir’s Mongolian team-mate Gantulga Dambadarjaa fared no better, finishing 107th in 2hrs27mins42secs, which was also well adrift of his lifetime best. In his first ever track 10,000metres, Morpeths Carl Avery finished an excellent fourth, posting a finishing time of 30m39.73s, at the BMC Trafford Grand Prix, held at Stretford, Manchester on Saturday evening 20th August 2016. He was forty-eight seconds adrift of race winner Adam Hickey of Southend, with Dacorum and Tring’s Jack Parslow, and Leeds City’s Wondiye Fokre claiming second and third places in an event that also incorporated the Northern Athletics Championships. At the time of going to press Fokre’s eligibility for Regional Championship status is awaiting full clarification, and Avery at the moment can definitely be termed as a medal candidate, however which colour is still under review, to be confirmed. Thankfully the heavy rainstorm which had affected earlier events on the programme, had abated during the running of the 10,000metres, and Avery’s club colleague Thomas Straughan finished sixteenth in 32m11.21s. In the earlier run Men’s 1500m C race, Morpeth’s Joe Armstrong posted new figures of 3m53.50s, winning with five seconds to spare over Kingston & Poly’s George Corcoran. Another Morpeth Harriers winner on the night was Jonathan Taylor, who won the Men’s 3000m A race in 8m05.37s, giving him a two second margin over Norway’s Marius Vedvik, with Adam Hickey, who much later in the evening had his 10,000m triumph, finishing third in 8m10.53s. Also performing well in the 3000m A race was Morpeths Scott Beattie, who finished eleventh, posting new figures of 8m28.23s, which was another two seconds off his time posted in last month’s English Schools Championships. Morpeth Harriers other athlete in action on the night was Jordan Scott, who finished seventh in the Men’s 1500m E race, posting a time of 4m11.97s. Runners faced excellent sunny conditions at the annual Durham City Summer Relays meeting,
held at the University Sports Ground in Durham on the evening of Thursday 18th August. 68 complete teams contested the Senior Men’s and Senior Women’s event, and no less than 99 teams were in action in the accompanying mixed Masters event. In the Senior Men’s event, Morpeth Harriers had a lone athlete in action in Sam Hancox, and it is such a shame that no one else from the club joined him on the night, as he finished a close fourth on the first of three legs, posting a time of 9m52s. The club did have athletes in action in the Masters event however, where their Over 35 squad finished second, losing out to Sunderland Harriers by twenty five seconds. They finished their three legs in 30m07s, courtesy of John Butters (9m52s), Fergus Bates (10m28s), and Chris Smith (9m47s). Smith’s time proved to be the second fastest in the Masters event, although was only beaten by Saltwell’s Eritrean import Abraham Tewelde (9m33s), who led on the first leg, however is still classed as a Senior. Morpeth Harriers had two other teams in action, and they finished in 13th and 31st places respectively, with total finishing times of 34m10s, and 36m57s. Athletes in action for the clubs 13th placed team were Rob Hancox (11m23s), Paul Waterston (11m33s), and David Swinburne (11m14s). In action for Morpeth in their 31st placed squad were Paul Bellingham (12m19s), Gavin Bayne (12m48s), and Paul Brown (11m50s). A much appreciated part of the continued sponsorship commitment between
Linden Homes and Morpeth Harriers is in the clubs Athlete of the Month Awards. With the latest deal now into its third month, the July 2016 award has now been announced and presented. Under 17 Man Kieran Hedley won the judges votes against some strong candidates, particularly for him finishing an excellent sixth in the Intermediate Boys 1500m final at the English Schools Track and Field Championships at Gateshead, and his excellent new personal best of 1m57.3s that he achieved in the final BMC Regional meeting at Chester Le Street, which saw him ranked 27th in the UK, and third regionally for his age group. Kieran is pictured above receiving his Linden Homes Certificate of Achievement from his Coach Mike Bateman, at the Morpeth Athletics track at KEVI School, on the evening of Wednesday 17th August 2016. Morpeth Harrier Laura Weightman could only finish eleventh in an
emotionally charged top class Olympic Women’s 1500m field in the early hours of Wednesday morning (17th August) in Rio De Janeiro. In what was felt to be the best field ever assembled for a Women’s 1500m Final, Weightman’s only prominent period in the three and three quarter lap event was when she went to the front after 300m to take early control of what was a fairly sedate pace. Her period at the front was fairly short lived however as she took the field through 400m in just under 77 seconds. With two laps remaining Weightman relinquished her reluctant leadership as fellow GB athlete Laura Muir went to the front. However even Muir’s lead was short lived, as Ethiopian hope Genzebe Dibaba made her first moves in a determined quest for glory. Dibaba took the field through the bell in 3m11s, but now Kenyan favourite Faith Kipyegon had emerged as serious threat. Kipyegon eventually passed Dibaba with 200m remaining and went on to take the Gold Medal in 4m08.92s. Dibaba held on for the Silver medal in 4m10.27s, just holding off USA’s Jenny Simpson, who took Bronze, her first Olympic medal, in 4m10.53s. Meanwhile after a brave effort GB’s Laura Muir eventually finished seventh in 4m12.88s, with Weightman finishing four places further adrift in 4m14.95s. |
Archives
April 2024
|