Churchill Playing Fields in Whitley Bay played host to the latest double-header of track and field action over the weekend of 29 and 30 June with the seniors in action on the Saturday and the juniors the following day.
In the Seniors' division one match just 23 points divided the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth teams. But a weakened Morpeth squad, not helped at all by two on-the-day injuries, finished in that disappointing sixth place. George Lowry and Dan Melling provided the club with its best result from the Men’s track events by producing an excellent double victory in the 1500m, with Lowry taking the A race in 4m07.03, and Melling finishing second overall in the thirteen strong field, to take the B race in 4m11.54s. The club also saw some good performances in the Men’s 800m, where Ellis Hetherington just lost out for victory to Darlington’s Adam Russell in the final strides to finish second in the A race posting a time of 1m55.50s, and Alistair Douglass won the B race in 1m58.40s, being the third fastest overall. Fourth fastest in the event was Morpeth’s Dan Melling, clocking 2m03.60s. Ellis Hetherington also produced a good performance to finish second in the 400m A race in 55.7s, and Morpeth debutant Ben Harding finished second in the B race in 56.9s. Unfortunately, Harding injured himself in the process, and was unable to later take his place in the 4 x 100m squad. Another Morpeth performance in the 400m came from Jason Dawson, who posted 60.53s. In the Men’s 5000m, Ian Harding, no relation to Ben, finished third in the A race in 16m26.75s, and Andrew Lawrence finished second in the B race in 16m37.18s. Under 20 Men’s sprinter Harry Scott finished fourth in the 100m A race in 11.5s, in a very close finish, and his Morpeth club colleague Trevor Hodgson finished third in the B race in 11.9s. Scott went on to also finish third in the 200m A race in 23.6s. Morpeth were forced to withdraw their 4 x 100m Relay squad due to injuries within the squad, however the club's 4 x 400m squad did manage to finish second to Gateshead Harriers, posting a time of 3m46.78s, and included Mark Banks, who had had to withdraw earlier in the day from the 400m Hurdles, after picking up an injury during his warm up, that had ruled him out of vital Field Events. However, the club only managed to turn out athletes in three of the Men’s Field Events. Dave Marshall finished sixth in both of the A Strings of the Shot Putt (5.68m), and Discus events (15.6m), and Jason Dawson finished third in the Javelin, with his best throw of 22.30m. A great deal of credit for Morpeth’s overall performance, must go to the Women’s section, led by manager Rachelle Falloon. Distance runner Holly Lawrence, in only her second league outing for the club, had a superb win in the 1500m A Race, posting a time of 5m04.84s, the fastest time so far in the league for the distance this season, and was well backed up by the B race performance of debutant Nicola McCoy, who finished third in 6n08.64s. Lawrence also finished second in the A race of the 3000m in 10m31.27s, whilst Morag Stead comfortably won the B race in 10m39.19s. In the sprints, Freya Caygill finished third in both of the A races, posting times of 12.9s for the 100m, and 26.9s for the 200m. Mia Belton finished second in the B races of the 100m (13.0s), and 200m (27.0s). Other Morpeth performances in both the 100m (13.97s), and 200m (29.25s), came from Ellie Wickens. Poppy Buck finished second in the A race of the 800m, posting a time of 2m28.54, and Kay Errington was fourth in the B race in 2m55.37s. Errington was also third in the 400m Hurdles A race in 78.6s. Buck also finished fifth in the A race of the 400m sprint in 69.0s. Morpeth enjoyed a victory in the Women’s 4 x 400m Relay in 4m40.40s and finished second in the 4 x 100m Relay in 52.3s. Charlotte Earl of Morpeth enjoyed excellent wins in both the A String Long Jump (4.99m), and Triple Jump (11.6m) events, being well backed up by Olivia Gent in the B String equivalents, winning the Triple Jump with a best of 9.29m, and finishing third in the Long Jump, with a best of 4.17m. Claire Reid was once again Morpeth’s strength force in the throws events, finishing second in the A String Discus with 29.4m, only losing out for victory by a mere fraction, third in the Shot Putt A String with 9.08m, and also third in the A String Hammer with 22.3m. Reid also finished third in the B String Javelin with a best of 17.2m, backing up Kay Errington’s fourth in the A String, with a best of 19.5m. With the club now threatened with relegation, it’s more than ever important that’s it’s all hands to the pump in the final fixture. We must try and at least fill the field fixtures where we are picking up zero points, as this is where we are losing out in a big way. MATCH RESULT 1st Darlington 405pts, 2nd Gateshead 381pts, 3rd Blaydon/Elswick 304pts, 4th Wallsend/Blyth 292pts, 5th New Marske 291pts, 6th Morpeth Harriers 281pts. ………………………………………………………………. An excellent turnout of 27 athletes from Morpeth Harriers produced the club’s most stable performance of the season so far in their third round NEYDL Division 2 match. Despite the increased turnout, the club placed sixth of eight for the second match in succession, however the points difference collectively over third, fourth, fifth and sixth spots, only spanned a mere 53 points. One of the day’s highlights for Morpeth, came in one of the early events in the programme, when Under 17 specialist thrower Alexandria Hodgson managed 50.5 metres to win the Hammer, the first time she had broken the distance in her young life. Under 13 Boy Mason Gaylor was also in the form of his life, as for the third match in succession he executed a winning double in the 200m and 800m A races, posting respective times of 29.4s, and 2m27.95s. His win in the 800m, had an extra touch of sweetness when club colleague Aj Watson took the B race in 2m48.99s. Another Morpeth performer in the Under 13 Boys 800m was Jack Dhawar, who posted a time of 2m50.66s. Gaylor’s A race win in the 200m, was backed up in the B race by George Moll, who finished third in 31.5s. Aj Watson also took part in the 200m, clocking 33.42s. For the third match in succession, Morpeth Under 13 Girl Lucy Raper executed a throws double victory in the Shot (7.04m), and Discus (18.6m). Another Under 13 Girl winner was Heidi Wilkinson, who won the 1500m, in 5m29.63s. Zoe Tomlinson won the 1500m B race in 5m47.26s. Tomlinson also finished third in the Javelin, throwing a best of 9.90m. The best Morpeth Under 15 Boy performance came from Daniel Vermaas, who finished third in the A race of the 200m in 28.2s. Thomas Wilson finished second in the B race in 31.5s, and there were also other Morpeth 200m performances from Edward Roff (32.79s) and Will Lowrie (36.3s). Roff also finished third in the Javelin, producing a best throw of 15.2m. There were some good points for Morpeth in the Under 15 Girls events. Sophie Pledger won the 200m in 27.2s, and just missed out on a second win, when finishing second in the 300m in 43.4s. Miya Young gave good B race support in the 300m, finishing second in 47.6s. Another Morpeth performance in the 300m, came from Faye Heatley, who posted a time of 50.66s. Heatley also finished third in the 800m in 2m39.89s. Emma Tomlinson of Morpeth finished second in the Under 15 Girls 1500m in 5m24.41s. There were excellent debut performances from Sofia Gibson in the 100m, where she finished second in 13.7s, and in the Long Jump, where she also finished second, producing a best of 4.29m. Morpeth’s best results from the Under 17 Men, came courtesy of Ollie Tomlinson, who won both the Javelin (16.6m), and Discus, with a best of 25.1m. Another good Field result for Morpeth in the Field Events, came from Steven Craske, who won the Long Jump with a best of 4.76m. In the Under 17 Men’s 1500m, Harry Armstrong finished second in the A race in 4m28.50s, and Ollie Tomlinson saw his third victory of the day, come in the B race, where he posted a time of 4m31.80s. George Mavir finished second in the 800m in 2m06.62s. Sprinters Harrison Scott and William Hodgson also produced good performances in the 100m and 200m events. The best of these was the 200m, where Harrison was second in the A race in 23.0s, and Will was second in the B race in 24.7s. In the 100m, Harrison was third in the A race in 11.4sm, and Will finished second in the B race in 12.1s. It was good to see Amelia Hamlin back in Under 17 Women’s action, where she finished third in the A race of the 300m in 45.2s, and Charlotte Marshall finished second in the B race in 56.2s. Marshall also finished third in the Shot, with a best Putt of 5.18m. MATCH RESULT 1st Blyth/Alnwick 623pts, 2nd M’Boro/Houghton/Derwentside 581pts, 3rd Chester Le Street/Durham 488pts, 4th New Marske 460pts, 5th Blaydon/Wallsend/Gosforth 448pts, 6th Morpeth 435pts, 7th Heaton/Tyne Bridge 364pts, 8th Tynedale/Prudhoe 242pts.
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The annual Chevy Chase run high up in the Cheviots was this held for a remarkable 67th time, with meticulous organisation by local outfit Wooler Running Club.
The 20 mile circuit takes in ‘some of the finest upland scenery in Northumberland’ as the organisers quite rightly boast and also includes climbs of the area’s two highest peaks, Cheviot itself and Hedgehope, but is certainly not one for the faint-hearted, not least when the usual mixed bag of Cheviot weather is thrown in. Two runners nevertheless completed the race in under three hours, Heaton Harrier Chris Larkin completing in an outstanding 2 hours 46 minutes and 34 seconds, with Craig Jones 2nd in 2:53:06. Third place was taken by Ross Jarman in 3:02:49. Keswick AC runner Shirley Murray had a similarly excellent victory in the Women’s race, finishing 9th overall in 3:20:18, over twenty minutes ahead of 2nd and 3rd female finishers Nicola Duggan (3:44:50) and Georgia Campbell (3:45:32), with less than a minute separating these two after twenty miles. This time there were four Morpeth Harriers out, some running in NFRA vests, with Nicola McCoy having a great run to come home 48th and 2nd woman O/50 in 4:09:32. Anna Wright was close behind her, 50th and 4th O/40 in 4:09:58. Die hard fellrunner Gary Mason was 93rd in 4:31:08 and Jane Briggs 102nd in 4:37:34. Sunday morning saw well over 5,000 runners take to the streets of Newcastle in the AJ Bell Great North 10k for an event the organisers describe with some justification as ‘bigger and better than ever’.
Having abandoned the old course at Gateshead, this year saw the second running of the new route which was trialled for the first time last year with a start and finish at the northern end of the city near Exhibition Park. It includes now a long loop over the Tyne Bridge and back with a city centre circuit that takes in such landmarks as Grey’s Monument, the City Hall and the Civic Centre, and is a good one not just for competitors but also spectators, with the added bonus of the weather also thankfully holding up till the early afternoon. Inverclyde AC’s John Bell was first home in a time of 30 minutes and 52 seconds, the Scot well ahead of local lads Kieran Walker of NE Project (31:26) and Gateshead’s Dan Alexander (32:50). GB international Gemma Steel of Charnwood AC was a comfortable winner of the Women’s race with an impressive clocking of 34:23, with Border Harrier Kate Maltby second (35:39) and Hallamshire Harrier Philippa Williams third (36:02). There were some eight runners from Morpeth Harriers among the many excited to take part, with experienced veteran Andrew Lawrence first back for the club in 12th place in 34:17 and O/45 veteran Andy Ball next, 81st in 38:22. With the race incorporating a trial for the England Masters team, Gavin Bayne finished ahead of all of his rivals in the O/65 category with an excellent time of 40:47. Kirsty Burville was 248th in 42:10. Also finishing were Mike Winter, 259th in 42:25, Neil Gunstone, 287th in 42:57, John Clark, 785th in 48:40 and Leah Scott, 907th in 49:40. Morpeth fielded the maximum of six teams once again at the midweek Weetslade Relays, held in excellent conditions in the grounds of Lockey Park, Wideopen.
This year saw some slight change to the course, with the start and finish area now moved to the far corner of the field, but the race high (or low) light remains the lung-bursting ascent of the old Weetslade spoil heap half way through the 2.7 mile course. After several years of success, but a second place team finish last year, Morpeth again lost out despite a plucky team performance, but this time to Tyne Bridge in their first ever victory in the event, with last year’s winners Sunderland Harriers a close second. The team of Sam Hancox, Lizzie Rank and Ian Harding did at least make the podium in third place however. With Sam coming home in first place after a strong leg 1 (13:40, the day’s 2nd fastest time), Lizzie had the difficult task of being the hare to chase on leg 2. Finishing in 17:31, she was eventually caught on the course by TBH’s Jess Eaton (16:35, the day’s 2nd fastest female clocking – again veteran Justina Heslop ran the day’s fastest female time here) and the Sunderland runner, but did enough to leave Ian in contention on leg 3, with his 14:27 (the day’s 4th fastest male veteran time) meaning a cumulative time of 45:38 for 3rd place. TBH won in 43:37, with Sunderland Harriers 2nd in 43:55. There was also a top ten finish for Morpeth’s B team (47:28) of Matt Walton, Jane Briggs and Will de Vere Owen, with Will running the day’s fastest overall time of the day (13:32) after Matt’s 15:03 and Jane’s 18:53. The C team – aka ‘Team Bennett’ – made it three Morpeth teams in the top twenty, with Lee clocking 16:02, Robyn 18:58 and Lee Cuthbertson 15:27 for an overall time of 50:27. Morpeth’s three other teams were 28th (52:10), with Shaun Land (15:46), Tayla Douglass (18:10) and Gavin Bayne (18:14); 49th (55:44), with Mike Winter (18:25), Nicola McCoy (19:35) and Richard Glennie (17:44); and 97th (1:05.49), with Dave Nicholson (19:00), Pam Woodcock (26:07) and Stephen Land (20:37. A special mention for Pam, who was determined the 6th team would not be incomplete, and in the absence of anyone else coming forward, stepped up herself to fill the space over what is probably her least favourite surface – a real club Trojan. Great night had by all, with the most memorable comments from Jane – ‘ running with Matt Walton? I used to teach him!’ – and Gavin – ‘I enjoyed everything about the night - except the running!’ Thanks to all who turned out. Hopefully a bit easier next year to get teams out. Seven Morpeth runners out in the popular (and always sold out) Bridges of the Tyne 5 miler this year, with Sam Hancox, a winner for the last two years but still working his way back to full racing fitness, having to settle for 2nd this time in a time of 25 minutes 34 seconds behind Sunderland Harrier Stephen Jackson, with NSP’s Neil Sillence in 3rd (25:55; on this occasion Sillence clearly not Golden). Richard Deathe was 21st and 5th O/40 in 28:04 and Lee Cuthbertson next in, 46th in 29:20. Jason Dawson was 86th and 9th O/50 in 31:29, Neil Gunstone 142nd in 33:59, Robyn Bennett 186th and 13th Senior Female in 35:36 and Laura Mclean 200th and 6th ) O/35 in 36:16. Some 459 finished. Just short of 400 finishers by contrast at the annual Tynedale 10k, a race which always used to attract a strong field from Morpeth but where, this time, only two Morpeth Harriers ran. Jamie Johnson was 33rd and 1st O/50 in a time of 39 minutes 51 seconds and Norman Clark 278th and 3rd O/70 in 55:55. The race was won by Gala Harrier Darrell Hastie in 31:50, with the ubiquitous James Anderson of NSP 2nd (32:38) and Sunderland’s Liam Taylor 3rd (32:59). Derwent Valley Running Club’s Bex Hewitson was 1st Female home in 40:34, with TBH’s O/50 Kathryn Stevenson 2nd (40:57) and another Gala Harrier on a cross border raid, Julia Johnstone, 3rd in 42:11. Another midweek race saw Rachelle Falloon 2nd Female home at Newburn River Run in a time of 29:41, with visiting runner Megan Stenhouse of Rugby and Northampton first in a time of 29:41. The race was won by Sunderland Harrier Steve Rankin in 25:37. Dave Nicholson was 83rd in 35:33 and Andrew Dippie not far behind, 95th in 36:47. Some 258 finished. Off road meanwhile, Anna Wright and Nicola McCoy took themselves up the A197 and into the Cheviots for the Yeavering to Wooler Trail Race, where Anna finished 14th in 1 hour and 50 seconds, and was 5th Female finisher, and Nicola 17th and 6th in 1:04:54. Roderick Bruce was one place behind Anna, 15th in 1:01:47. There were four Morpeth Harriers in action in the UKA Championships held at the Manchester Regional Arena over the weekend of 29 and 30 June, which also doubled for the GB Olympic Trials.
First up was 400m hurdler Nisha Desai, a veteran of these championships, who was using the event primarily for competition in advance of the World Masters Championships at Gothenburg in August, her main target for the season, finishing 8th in her heat in a time of 63:95 seconds. Also competing on Saturday was Cameron Boyek, who took part in the first of the day’s three 1500m heats, where he qualified in 3rd place for Sunday’s final in a time of 3:44.59, coming home in 3rd place in a strong heat won by GB international Neil Gourley. Sunday afternoon saw training companions Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard line up together in the 5000m event, run as a straight final. This time it was Scott who finished ahead of Rory, coming home in 4th place in a time of 13:47.71, with Rory in 8th in 13:52.65. The race was won by Tonbridge’s James West in 13:43.62, with Preston’s Patrick Dever and Aldershot’s Jack Rowe in 2nd and 3rd. Final race of the day, the Men’s 1500m, saw Cameron finish 11th in a time of 3:44.10, with GB internationals Neil Gourley (3:37.67) and Danny Mills (3:38.29) contesting 1st and 2nd place. |
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