There was a return to city centre Quayside action last Wednesday with the RunThrough hosted 5k taking place on the usual out-and-back route along the North Bank of the Tyne.
There were nine Harriers involved in the sub-20 fast race, won by Leeds City AC’s Linton Taylor in 14:19. Behind Taylor, there was a Morpeth 2, 3, 4, with Lawrence McCourt 2nd in 14:24, Carl Avery 3rd in 14:31 and Alex Brown 4th in 14:38. Returning after injury, Phil Winkler made the top ten, 8th in 15:19, with Adam Pratt also making a comeback and 51st in 16:42. Jake Parmley was 81st in 17:36, and Louie Cummings made his club debut with 18:19 for 114th. In the Women’s race, won by Stacey Smith in 16:06, Poppy Buck was 6th Senior in 19:03 and Tayla Douglas 9th in 20:08. In the following B race, actually won by U/17 Blaydon Harrier Ellie Fellows in 18:49,Dave Nicholson was 1st Over 65 in 20:50 and Richard Kirby, after a long lay off with injury, 6th Over 50 in 23:41. In the Young Athletes 3k, U/13 Heidi Wilkinson was 7th in 12:13. Comeback 5k The week’s outstanding performance by a Morpeth athlete undoubtedly came in London on Friday night, however, where Rory Leonard won the Belgrave Harriers-hosted Comeback 5000m Elite invitation event on the Battersea Park track. Paced by fellow Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie for much of the race, Rory finished in a new personal best of 13 minutes 29.54 seconds, less than four seconds off the course record held by Australian Craig Mottram in 2000. Watch a video of the event here.
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Nineteen Athletes from Morpeth Harriers took part in the opening North East Grand Prix Meeting of 2024, held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Wednesday 24 April.
The main highlight of the evening was the fastest of the 1500m events, which was won by Morpeth’s Josh Fiddaman, who won by a margin of three seconds from new club colleague Will Devere-Owen in a season’s best of 3m56.75s. Devere-Owen who had run well himself throughout the three-and-three-quarter lap event, came through strongly in the final strides, to snatch second place from 2023 North East 10,000m Champion Chris Coulson. His new personal best of 3m59.33s, taking almost three seconds off his previous figures, made him the latest Morpeth Harrier to break the four-minute barrier. Morpeth's Finn Brodie, who had forced the pace over the first couple of laps, unfortunately paid a little for his early exuberance, and slipped back to fifth, finishing in a season’s best of 4m00.32s, just holding off chasing club colleague Joseph Close. The Under 20 Man also posted a season’s best of 4m00.63s. Four more Morpeth Harriers also featured in the 1500m A Race, all posting seasons bests, they were Peter Smallcombe (8th) 4m01.50s, Bertie Marr (9th) 4m05.01s, Joe Dixon (10th) 4m05.65s, and Elliot Kelso (11th) 4m06.69s. Morpeth also had the winner of the 1500m B Race, when new acquisition Ellis Hetherington crossed the finish line in 4m02.38s, a new personal best, improving on his previous figures by three seconds. Other Morpeth Harriers featuring in the 1500m B Race were Connor Marshall (4th) 4m05.10s, and Under 20 athlete Ralph Robson (5th) 4m06.13s. In the 1500m C Race, Morpeth Harriers Oliver Tomlinson and Elliot Mavir finished sixth and fourteenth respectively in 4m20.74s, and 4m34.39s. Emma Tomlinson, younger sister of Oliver finished ninth in the sixth fastest 1500m race, posting a new personal best time of 5m22.11s, three places ahead of her Morpeth club colleague Tabitha Robson, younger sister of Ralph, who clocked 5m18.65s. There was also a new personal best performance for the youngest Tomlinson, when Under 13 Girl Zoe finished fourth in the eighth 1500m in 5m24s. Charlotte Marshall, younger sister of Connor finished fourteenth in a season’s best 6m18.62s. It was an excellent night of competition for Morpeth Under 15 Girl Sophie Pledger, who posted a new personal best of 19.72s, as she sprinted clear of Under 20 club colleague Ellie Wickens in the seventh fastest 150m race. Wickens also posted a personal best of 20.78s. Pledger’s night was firmly made, when she won the sixth fastest 300m heat in 43.92s, also a new personal best performance. In addition, she was the fastest Under 15 Girl in the 150m, and third fastest in the 800m. Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes made a disappointing start to their NEYDL Division 2 season in their opening match held at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Sunday 21 April.
Despite efforts made by joint Team Managers David Swinburne (Boys), and Julie Roche (Girls), the club only managed to turn out a total of 17 athletes between them, hardly enough to mount a serious team challenge. As a result, the hard-working squad who did turn out, could only finish seventh out of eight competing teams, and unless there is a significant improvement in turnout over the next three matches, beginning at Shildon next month, it is going to be an uphill struggle to improve. To be fair, the small number who did turn out, did their level best in their respective performances, and there were some good achievements, along with some positive attitudes. One of the most positive was Under 13 Boy Mason Gaylor, who made a superb start by winning both the 200m (30.4s), and 800m (2m27.40s) on the track, and in the Field Events won the B String Javelin (7.54m). Unfortunately Mason was one of only two Under 13 Boys who turned out on the day, the other being Jack Dhawar, who finished third in the B String 200m (36.8s), second in the B String 800m (2m58.0s), and second in the A String Javelin (11.5m). There were some better results to come however for Morpeth, created by their three Under 13 Girls who turned out. Lucy Raper took part in three of their events, winning the A String 800m in 2m42.20s, where Heidi Wilkinson made it a double victory for her club, by taking the B Race in 2m47.20s. Raper went on to also triumph in the Discus by throwing 16.97m and finished fifth in the Shot Putt (performance to confirm). Morpeth’s other Under 13 Girl was Zoe Tomlinson, who produced an excellent run to win the 1500m in 5m 23.0s and was sixth in the 200m (35.7s). The best result in the Under 15 Girls events, came from the 1500m, where Emma Tomlinson finished second in the A Race 5m14.65s, and Faye Heatley took the B Race in 5m36.67s. Emma also finished fifth in the 300m (51.6s) and threw 15.1m in the Javelin for third place. Miya Young finished sixth in the 200m (31.1s) and was seventh in the 800m in 2m49.36s. Daniel Scott very nearly won the Under 17 Men’s 800m, just losing out in the final 50m to Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth’s Ben Garbutt, as he posted a time of 2m19.43s. Scott was one of only four Morpeth Under 17 Men who turned out on the day, and he teamed up with Steven Craske in the Long Jump, winning the B event with a best of 3.65m, while Craske finished second in the A String, producing a best of 4.47m. In the sprints, Connor Phillips finished fifth in the 100m (12.0s), and fourth in the 200m (24.4s). Craske finished fourth in the 100m B Race in 13.3s. Morpeth’s Harry Armstrong finished second in the Under 17 Men’s 1500m in 4m35.54s. The club only had five Under 17 Women in their line-up. In the sprints, Abigail Kahn finished third in the 100m (13.9s), and fourth in the 200m (28.5s). Megan Potrac and Charlotte Marshall teamed up for Morpeth in the Under 17 Women’s 300m and 800m events. In the 300m A Race Potrac finished fifth in 54.0s, and Marshall was third in the B Race in 55.4s. Potrac was fifth in the 800m A Race in 2m54.65s, and Marshall posted a time of 2m58.71s to finish fourth in the B Race. Making her Morpeth track debut, Lucy Todd finished fourth in the 1500m in 5m52.50s. Mollie Roche competed for Morpeth in the Under 17 Women’s Field Events, finishing second in the Javelin with a best of 7.75m, and third in the Discus with 12.7s. Team Managers Swinburne and Roche, hope to see a better turnout when their charges are in second round action at Shildon on Sunday 19 May. MATCH RESULT 1st Chester Le Street/Durham C 715.5pts, 2nd Middlesbrough/Houghton/Derwentside 618pts, 3rd Blyth/Alnwick 519pts, 4th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 463pts, 5th Heaton/Tyne Bridge 430pts, 6th New Marske 413.5pts, 7th Morpeth Harriers 343pts, 8th Tynedale/Prudhoe 261pts. Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Women began their 2024 Domestic Track and Field campaign in enterprising fashion, when finishing a close third behind hosts Darlington, and a combined team of Blaydon/Elswick Harriers, in their opening NESDL Division 1 fixture, held at Shildon on Saturday 20 April.
Team Managers George Patterson and Mark Banks (Men), and Rachelle Falloon (Women), managed to recruit 19 members to turn out on the day, with nine men, and ten women contributing towards the club’s tally. In her very first track appearance for Morpeth, Poppy Buck proved to be a star performer, winning both the Women’s 800m in 2m25.40s, and later going on to win the 1500m in 5m32.20s. Team Manager Falloon provided excellent support to Buck in the B race of the 800m, finishing second in 2m35.30s. However, Falloon proved to be a star herself in the 2000m Steeplechase, which she very convincingly won in 8m13.03s, and also finished second in the earlier run 3000m in 10m51.30s. There were some good points scores from the Women’s sprint events. In the 100m, Mia Belton finished third in the A Race in 13.0s, and Freya Caygill in her first Senior outing won the B race in 13.1s. Caygill also finished third in the A Race of the 200m in 26.87s, and Nisha Desai finished second in the B Race in 27.4s Additional performances for Morpeth in the 100m and 200m respectively, came from Ellie Wickens 14.0s, and Mia Belton 27.44s. In the 400m and 400m Hurdles, Kay Errington finished fourth and third respectively in 75.9s and 78.3s. Morpeth finished second in both the 4 x 100m Relay and 4 x 400m Relay in 54.11s, and 4m46.79s. In the Field Events, the best Morpeth result came from Claire Reid in the Hammer, where she had a comfortable victory with a best of 25.34m. Reid also finished second in the Discus with a best of 28.69m. She also finished fifth in the Javelin B String (16.80m), backing up Nisha Desai’s A String performance of 19.05m, which saw her finish fifth. Olivia Gent finished third in the Triple Jump with a best of 9.23m, and fifth in the Long Jump with 3.94m. Although there were no A String wins on the day amongst the Men’s performances, there were still some good results achieved, with a sterling amount of effort being made by the nine athletes who turned out for Morpeth. One of the best of these, came in the 800m, where Peter Smallcombe finished second in the A Race in 2m02.20s, and Joe Dixon in his first Senior League outing, took the B Race in 2m07.70s. Josh Fiddaman, making his Morpeth track debut following his transfer from Blyth, finished second in the A Race of the 1500m in 3m57.11s, and Ethan Phillips finished second in the B Race in 4m20.73s. In his first appearance for some time in the Blue and White Vest of Morpeth, Ian Harding turned out to finish third in the 3000m, posting a finishing time of 9m17.70s. Harding also ran the B race of the 400m, finishing third in 64.9s, supporting Anthony Liddle’s excellent second in the A Race, where he posted a time of 57.97s, just missing out on actual victory by a mere fraction to Wallsend/Blyth’s Nigel Gorvett. Morpeth sprinters Sean O’Hara and Phil Pitt were also well to the fore in the action in the 100m and 200m events. O’Hara finished third in the A Race of the 100m in 11.9s, and also third in the 200m in 23.7s. Pitt was second in the B Race of the 100m in 12.2s, and also second in the B Race of the 200m in 25.2s. Another strong Morpeth performance in the 200m was from Anthony Liddle, who posted a time of 26.2s. Morpeth finished second in both of the Men’s Relays, posting times of 49.64s in the 4 x100m, and 3m58.63s in the 4 x 400m. The best result in the Men’s Field events was without doubt in the Long Jump where Veteran athlete Jason Dawson finished second in the A String, producing a best of 4.39m, and Anthony Liddle finished second of the B String with 4.1m. Dawson was indeed a workhorse in the Morpeth Field events, where he competed in three additional events. He was fourth in the Triple Jump (8.83m), fifth in the Javelin (22.46m), and third in the B String High Jump (1.40m), supporting again Anthony Liddle, who was fifth in the A String, by clearing 1.45m. Morpeth sprinters Sean O’Hara and Phil Pitt teamed up in the Shot Putt, with O’Hara finishing fourth in the A String (8.49m), and Pitt finishing second in the B String with 8.24m, all vital point scoring towards the final result. MATCH RESULT 1st Darlington Harriers 467pts, 2nd Blaydon/Elswick 321pts, 3rd Morpeth Harriers 318pts, 4th Wallsend/Blyth 317pts, 5th Gateshead Harriers 306pts, 6th New Marske Harriers 247pts. There were four Morpeth Harriers among the record 50,000-plus runners in Sunday’s London Marathon, where Peres Jepchirchir set a new Women-only World Record of 2 hours 16 minutes 16 seconds, with Kenyan compatriot Alexander Mutiso winning the Men’s race in 2:04:01.
First back for Morpeth was seasoned London veteran Andrew Lawrence, recording a time of 2:35:39 with another consistent run. (Coincidentally, Lawro’s old adversity – ‘the other Andrew Lawrence’ – finished just a few minutes ahead.) Behind him were three other runners in blue and white vests who all recorded personal bests despite the rather blustery conditions, a real tribute to their months of often solitary dedication, with training this winter frequently taking place in the wet. Rob Hancox ran 3:03:11, a delighted Anna Wright came home in 3:18:33 and her training companion Jane Kirby was not far behind in 3:28:24. Watchers of the Women’s race from Morpeth no doubt also spotted Mhairi Maclennan, who had represented the club when winning the Northern Cross Country title at Harewood House in 2018. She proved she’s not just a class act over the country with a time of 2:29:15 on her marathon debut, Mhairi aptly commenting later, ‘I had the debut of dreams.’ Saturday had seen the series of Mini-Marathons taking place over a 2.6 kilometre course on the Mall, with over 13,000 youngsters given a taste of the big race experience and this time there were three Harriers representing the North East region in an inter-area regional match. Ewan Line was 200th in the Under 13 Boys, recording a time of 9 minutes 29 seconds. Joe Close and Elliot Kelso both ran in the U/17s, with Close clocking 8:09 in 80th and Kelso a few seconds ahead in 60th place in 8:00. Well done all who took part. |
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