Unfortunately as a result of the heavy tumble after crossing the finish line in her heat of the Women’s 1500m in the IAAF World Athletics Championships, where she finished sixth in 4m06.13s, Morpeth’s Laura Weightman has been forced to pull out of her Semi Final on medical advice. The Commonwealth Silver and European Bronze medallist had been monitored overnight following a blow to her head on falling, which resulted in a noticeable graze above her right eye. Obviously Weightman is very distraught on missing out, especially after her recent London victory pointed towards a superb return of form at the right time, and her pre World Championship preparations in Japan had reportedly gone well. Great Britain’s hopes in the event now rest with Dundee’s Laura Muir, who ran well to finish second in her heat in a time of 4m05.53s. Two Morpeth Harriers were very much in competitive action at the first day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, in the early hours of Saturday morning. In the first round heats of the Women’s 1500m, Laura Weightman managed to qualify for Sunday’s Semi Finals, when finishing sixth in the third heat, in a time of 4m06.13s. Weightman’s Great Britain colleague Laura Muir of Dundee, also managed qualification, when she finished second in the first heat in 4m05.53s. After crossing the finish line Weightman unfortunately took a nasty tumble, as a result of catching a spike on the track, and suffered a graze to her forehead just above her right eye, hopefully she will recover in time before lining up in her semi final, as the fifteenth fastest qualifier in the competition overall. Morpeth Harriers other representative was Marathon runner Serod Batochir of Mongolia, who has a best of around 2hrs08mins for the distance. Batochir may have paid the penalty however here, because some early enthusiasm saw him go to the front before 10mile had been completed. However after his few moments of glory, which were captured in full by TV coverage, he eventually drifted back into the pack, and then went off the pace to finish a disappointing 38th, in an equally disappointing 2hrs32m09s. The event was won by Eritrea’s Ghirmay Ghebreslassie in a time of 2hrs12m28s, the youngest ever winner of the event. In conjunction with their current year long sponsorship deal with Linden Homes, Morpeth Harriers & Athletics Club are pleased to announce that their Athlete of the Month award for June 2015, has gone to prolific Under 15 Girl thrower Bobbie Griffiths. This is the second award in the present link with the Property Developer, and it is the second month in a row that the clubs award has gone to one of their Field eventers. Much talented Bobbie received her award after some superb performances during the period covered, which included, a double victory in the Javelin and Discus at the Northumberland Schools Championships with respective bests of 35.62m, and 22.04m, the former being two and a half metres inside the English Schools Standard. Griffiths followed this up a week later at the Schools Inter Counties Championships with another double victory in the same events, however in her clubs NEYDL fixture at Middlesbrough another week later, she completed a hat-trick of wins, again in the Javelin with a best of 34.23m and Discus with 21.96m, but this time adding the Hammer to her successes, throwing a best of 23.01m. Concluding, over the period of June, her improvement in her main event the Javelin has been just short of two metres, with her best being the 36.63m, which she achieved in the English Schools Cup in Hull. Bobbie is pictured above receiving her much deserved Certificate of Achievement from her very proud Coach Dave Thomas at the KEVI Track on Monday 17th August 2015. Griffiths is very indebted to Thomas, who has worked hard with her to help her make her achievements, which have since continued to blossom, and at the time of reporting, she is ranked 15th in the country for the Under 15 Women’s Javelin event. In the Discus she is ranked 31st, and more recent achievements in the Hammer have seen her rise to 132nd. On a regional basis she is ranked 1st in both the Javelin and Discus, and is now second in the Hammer. In the Shot Putt, by comparison which she very rarely does, she has a current UK ranking of 182nd, and regionally she is ranked fifth. Despite running a lifetime best performance of 31m55.57s,
Morpeth Harrier Ady Whitwam was just outpaced for a podium place in the Men Over 35 10,000metres at the 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships, held in Lyon in France. He ran in the Stadium in Venissieux on Monday 10th August 2015 on the sixth day of the 12 days of competition, and was a close fourth, in a race won by Belgium’s Rodriguez Diaz in a time of 31m08.72s. Second and third places went to Spain’s Javier Martinez, and Sweden’s Andreas Lundqvist. Whitwam was one of two Britons in the 26 strong line-up, the other being Hayward Heath’s Jack Chivers, who was 21st overall in a time of 38m49.64s, and was eighth B race finisher. Morpeth’s Ian Hudspith broke his own Veteran’s course record
when finishing a close second to Elswick Harrier Tadele Geremew in the Onboard Pro sponsored Exhibition Cup 5k Road Race, held at Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, on Sunday 16th August 2015. He posted an excellent time of 15m01s, which was a superb thirteen seconds inside his previous best set on the course in 2013. Morpeth also won the Veteran Men’s team title led by Hudspith, with further good team support coming from Paul Waterston (28th) (1st O/50) 17m33s, Rob Hancox (32nd) (2nd O/50) 18m01s, and Mick Skeldon (36th) (4th O/45) 18m26s. Other leading Morpeth finishers in the 5k event were Kevin Calvert, Jordan Scott and Sam Hancox, who finished seventh, tenth, and twelfth respectively in times of 15m49s, 16m06s, and 16m29s. Emma Holt finished as second in the Women’s race to Elswick’s course record breaking Justina Heslop, who won in 16m34s, finishing fourteenth overall. Holt finished 31st overall in 17m56s. Two of the Morpeth younger athletes James Young and Connor Marshall finished in 27th and 37th places in 17m30s and 18m29s respectively. Young and Marshall were third and fourth in the Under 20 category. Other Morpeth finishers in the 5k were Peter Scaife (65th) (4th O/50) 20m09s, Lesley Chapman (96th) (19th Woman) (1st O/60) 23m07s, and Steve Garrett (101st) (14th O/45) 25m02s. The name of Hudspith of Morpeth was also prominent amongst the finishers in the accompanying Exhibition Cup 1 mile Junior Race. Andrew, eldest son of Mark, and nephew of Ian finished third in 5m55s, only thirteen seconds adrift of Harry Morris of Gateshead Harriers. Second place went to Elswick’s Ben Flanagan in 5m54s. Other Morpeth finishers in the 27 strong field were James Tilley (6th) 6m24s, Ciaran Leahy (10th) 6m44s, and Andrew Hudspith’s younger brother Joseph, who did outstandingly well to finish 12th in 6m57s. |
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