The popular Gordon Smith’s Relays were held at Cobalt Business Park, Wallsend, with each team requiring at least one Over 35 (the age for the Men changing from 40 this year).
With some 78 complete Women’s and 94 Men’s teams out, this is always a popular event and once again spectators were treated to a good standard of competition across the evening’s two separate races. Featuring a flying Stacey Smith, whose 10:30 was the fastest time of the night in Race 1, NSP were unsurprisingly big winners, with their cumulative time of 33:10 (veteran Charlotte Penfold 11:19, Jacqui Penn 11:21) over two and a half minutes ahead of 2nd place Tyne Bridge (35:55) and their B team 3rd (36:01). Nevertheless Morpeth’s three Women’s outfits performed creditably, with two squads in the top 15 and a blue and white debut in the C team. The A team of Poppy Buck (12:23, but having moved heaven and earth to make the race after an accident on the way in), veteran Kirsty Burville (13:11) and Lizzie Rank (12:14) were 7th in 37:48. The B finished in 14th in 38:45, with legs by Lorna Macdonald (13:06), Jane Kirby (13:39) and Rachelle Falloon, whose 12:00 was the club’s fastest time of the night. The debut was by Sophie Ward for the C team, who certainly didn’t look out of place when running 14:08 on leg 1. With Margaret Macdonald on leg 2 (17:31) and Laura Maclean on leg 3 (14:21), the team were 44th in 46:00. The Men’s race got off to the customary eyeballs out start, with Sunderland Harrier Liam Taylor first back in 9:43. With Stephen Jackson on leg 2 (10:04) and Joe Armstrong on leg 3 (9:14, the evening’s fastest time), the Wearside outfit were always going to be hard to live with, and in the end their time of 29:01 saw a winning margin of exactly a minute ahead of Morpeth’s A. It was good to see the mercurial Ian Harding back in blue and white action however, taking the first leg in 10:09, and thereafter a flying James Tilley, looking in excellent shape, got the club up to 2nd place with a clocking of 9:52. In his first competitive outing for many months, Sam Hancox gave his all as ever, but race rustiness and a day’s hard graft meant he could make little impression on Sunderland, although he did well to stay ahead of Gateshead Harriers in 3rd (30:10). Morpeth’s four other teams also performed well, with two also making the top thirty. The B of Andrew Lawrence (10:46), Andrew Ball (11:03) and Richie Hughes (11:30) finished 22nd in 33:19, and the C of Louie Cummings, 11:27 in his team debut, Anthony Jannetta (11:25) and Jake Parmley (11:21) 25th in 34:13. Ian Armstrong ran a strong 11:20 for the D on leg 1, Andriy Volkov 12:18 on leg 2 and Richard Glennie 12:31 on leg 3 for 36:09 and 43rd place. Meanwhile, although finishing 51st in 37:08, the E of Rob Hancox (11:53), Dave Nicholson (13:15) and Jason Dawson (12:00), claimed a moral victory, largely on account of a seriously high combined age tally of well over 175! Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League | Thanks to everyone who took part and supported our annual Gordon Smith Memorial Relays 2024 | Facebook * The previous evening saw disappointingly low numbers turning out at the Les Allcorn 10k in Alnwick Pastures, with only some 38 finishers in what’s always been a popular race, though clearly a congested fixture calendar hasn’t helped. Catriona Macdonald found the course, perhaps unsurprisingly, to her liking, with a 6th place overall in 37:16 and a big category win. Lee Cuthbertson was 8th in 37:44, but it was also good to see Mark Snowball back in action, 11th in 40:24. The race was won by Alnwick Harrier Liam McDonough in 34:57. The annual NEMAA Relays took place in what’s become their traditional home at Bedewell Park in Jarrow on the first Wednesday evening in May once again.
Numbers seemed down this year, but it was as ever a welcome chance to catch up with fellow NE vets and compete against them, with none of those pesky speedy Seniors around. A slight course variation made for a less twisty and perhaps slightly shorter (1.75 mile) route, with the same two lap, teams of three format. Race 1, again for Women and Men Over 65, saw Elswick Harriers Over 45s, led home by Justina Heslop, first team back with a cumulative total of 32 minutes, with Heslop, now getting back to her best once again with a 10 minutes 19 seconds clocking here, running the evening’s fastest female time. Morpeth’s only female team on the night was the O/55s outfit of O/70 Pam Woodcock (11:37), Margaret Macdonald (15:21) and Jane Briggs (12:21), who finished 24th on the night. Meanwhile the O/65s Men’s team picked up a team Bronze behind winners Jarrow and Hebburn and Crook and District. Dave Nicholson took an early lead in 11:37 and, in his team debut in blue and white, O/70 David McGuckin ran 12:55, with Kevin Bray (13:43) slowly reeled in on last leg. Race 2 saw the expected Sunderland Harriers O/35 victory in a time of 26:45. Meanwhile Morpeth managed to get out full outfits in 35s, 45s and 55s, although not without some difficulties. Unfortunate last minute unavailability (down to illness) meant team manager Peter Scaife, who’d put in a five mile tempo run at 2 pm that afternoon (followed by some sardines on toast) having to fill in at very short notice. With O/55 Rob Hancox already dragooned in to the 35s team, it certainly wasn’t the club’s strongest outfit: ‘How on earth did we find ourselves, with our combined ages of 120, in this 35s outfit?’ wondered a bemused Rob. Anthony Jannetta nevertheless had a decent first leg with 9:52, and Rob ran 10:36 on leg 2. Thereafter, the team was only going in one direction – backwards. ‘I started slowly then I faded,’ reflected Scaife, with the team recording 35:23 in 43rd. There was better news in the O/45s, who like the 65s picked up a team Bronze. Ian Armstrong had the customary strong first leg with 9:50, Andy Ball ran 9:42 and Richard Glennie brought the team home in 11:03 for a cumulative clocking of 30:35 in 14th place overall. Led home by Andrew Dippie (12:02), with Alistair Macdonald on leg 2 (11:36) and Paul Bellingham on leg 3 (12:29), the team finished 47th in 36:02. Full results here: NEMAA Road Relay Champs May 1st 2024 - NEMAA 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. 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. |
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