It has certainly been a busy few weeks athletically for the Hodgson family, with four of them being in action in a number of Track and Field events, in the colours of their club Morpeth Harriers.
Both Victoria and Alexandria picked up medals at the NECAA Championships at Middlesbrough in May, and they also competed for their club at Shildon in the second NEYDL match, along with Alexandria’s twin brother William, who made a welcome return to athletics action, following a spell of activity on the Rugby Field for one of the Morpeth squads. But more recently it is Father Trevor, who has been carving out a reputation as one of the country’s top sprint performers in the Over 50 Masters category. On Monday 5 June, Trevor posted the fastest time of 11.5s in the 100m, which was the fastest overall time at the NEMAA Track and Field League Meeting at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow, and cemented his No 1 placing nationwide in 2023, and also sees him ranked highly in both the European and World Masters Rankings. A couple of days following his Monkton achievement, Trevor retained his crown at the National Police Championships at Nuneaton, clocking an impressive 11.8s, against a headwind registering minus two. Trevor is also earning his place in the Morpeth Harriers Northern League squad, and competing against much younger rivals. His improvement from a best of 12.4s in 2022 is quite phenomenal, and his club are more than pleased to be able to call upon his services. There were just short of 4,000 finishers in Friday night’s Blaydon Race, the 41st running of which took place on a busy night for Tyneside, with local lad Sam Fender playing the first of two sell-out nights at St James’ Park the same evening.
An overcast day finally saw the sun emerge in time for the evening’s race, good for photos but a mixed blessing perhaps as it proved to be straight in the face of those ‘gannin along the Scotswood Road’, although this was compensated for to some extent by an easterly wind. Organisers stuck with 2022’s changed course, not one for the traditionalists perhaps with no start outside Balmbra’s (or the traditional vaulting of barriers outside the Cathedral), but at least a fast two miles west along the river from the Law Courts through Newcastle Business Park before a steady pull up to get on the Scotswood Road. Times were fast, however, with 2022 winner Calum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers again proving too strong for his rivals and winning in a time of 26 minutes 43 seconds for the 5.75 mile course, bettering his previous year’s time by over two minutes. Johnson finished some 40 seconds ahead of second-placed Cameron Allan of Houghton Harriers (27:22) with 2019 winner Graham Rush of Leeds City AC, now an O/40, second last year, in third (27:32). Morpeth Harriers comfortably retained Men’s team title however, a trophy that has been in the club’s possession for nigh on two decades. Carl Avery was first back for the club in 4th place in 27:47, and also first O/35, having gone toe-to-toe with fellow Harrier Alex Brown all the way, Alex finishing 5th one second behind. Lawrence McCourt was 6th in 27:52, having headed the chasing group to Johnson and Allan for much of the way, with Sam Hancox 13th in 28:41 making up the four to count team prize. Leeds City athletes were 1st and 2nd in the Women’s race, with Camilla Mckenspiey winning in 31:04 from Heather Townsend in 31:15. Durham City’s Jasmine Wood was 3rd in 31:28 and first North East female. Aly Dixon was 1st O/40 and 4th in 31:51 and Danielle Hodgkinson 6th and 1st O/35 in 32:05. Some 31 athletes from Morpeth in total completed the course, with other notable runs coming from Thomas Prentice, 30th in 30:18, Andrew Lawrence, 45th in 31:02 and Andrew Ball, 77th and 2nd Over 45 in 32:01. Catriona Macdonald was the club’s first female finisher, just outside the women’s top ten in 11th place in 33:38. Other Morpeth finishers were: Dave Stabler, 138th in 33:36; Shaun Land, 147th in 33:51; Anthony Jannetta, 150th in 33:51; Jake Parmley, 165th in 34:04; John Butters, 206th in 35:12; Rob Hancox, 211th and 3rd O/55 in 35:16; Jamie Johnson, 368th in 37:48; Mike Winter, 374th in 38:08; Jason Dawson, 390th in 37:52; Richard Glennie, 442nd in 38:26; Jane Kirby, 512th in 40:01; Linzi Quinn, 578th in 39:40; Mark Snowball, 594th in 39:31; Richard Kirby, 655th in 41:37; Anna Wright, 672nd in 39:44; Sarah Lawson, in her first race back since injury, 768th in 42:08; Peter Scaife, 1599th in 47:57; Arjan Piet, 2322nd in 53:53; Sue Smith, 2330rd in 52:08 and Norman Clark, 2332nd in 56:10. Special congratulations to Andy L and Carl who somehow also managed to make Fender at SJP. Alistair Macdonald’s photos from the night are available here. Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers competed at the annual Northern Athletics Track and Field Championships, held at Sport City in Manchester on Saturday and Sunday.
On day one, Phil Winkler won a prized Gold Medal in the Senior Men’s 5000m, posting a winning time of 15m02.95s. Also winning a podium place on day one from Morpeth Harriers was Under 20 Man Edward Gardiner, who won Bronze in the Discus, by producing a best throw of 36.99m. Medals continued on the second day for Morpeth , when Joe Dixon won Bronze in the Under 20 Men’s 5000m, where he produced a time of 15m46.30s, this being his first outing over the twelve and a half lap distance. This was accompanied by another Bronze Medal being won by fellow Under 20 athlete Charlotte Earl, who produced a best of 11.59m in the Triple Jump, which was just a mere fraction adrift of her personal best. Matthew Waterfield finished third in his heat of the Senior Men’s 800m in a time of 1m57.40s, which was also only a mere fraction adrift of his personal best. Unfortunately, in the later run final, he finished outside the medals in eighth spot, posting a time of 2m03.48s. * Morpeth had an additional medallist in the NECAA Track and Field Championships, when Senior Man Alistair Douglass finished third in the 10,000m at Churchill Playing Fields, Whitley Bay on the evening of Wednesday 31 May. Douglass was presented with his Bronze Medal by NECAA President Mick Frazer, after crossing the finish line in 33m17s, behind Houghton Harrier Chris Coulson, who won in 31m35s, from Sunderland Harrier Jake Ridding (32m41s). Over 65 Masters Gavin Bayne and Dave Nicholson travelled to Scotland at the weekend to take part in the blast running Scottish Mile, incorporating the BMAF Mile Championships, where they were unlucky to miss out on medals despite strong runs.
Gavin finished 4th in 5:46 and Dave 5th just a second or so behind, with the O/65 and O/70 events, run in the same race, won by a pair of doughty Scots, John Thomson and Ed Norton, in 5:13 and 5:34. * Cat Macdonald finished 18th and 2nd Female in the lung-bursting Penshaw Hill Race on Wednesday evening with a time of 18:50, losing out to Durham City’s Alice Crane who ran 17:50 to come back in 7th overall. Host club Sunderland Harriers filled the first three places, with O/40 vet Stephen Jackson 1st back in 16:21. Two Under 17 Men from Morpeth Harriers represented the North East Counties at the annual Northern Inter Counties Track and Field Championships, held at York on Saturday 27 May.
The region finished second overall behind Yorkshire, losing out by 109 points, with Greater Manchester in third place, and 17points adrift. Conditions for all were very warm and Sunny throughout and Joseph Close finished fourth in heat one of the two heated 800m, posting a time of 1m58.43s, which was fifth fastest overall over both heats. Elliot Kelso finished third in the 1500m, posting a time of 4m09.50s. Both athletes had won their places in the regions squad by virtue of their respective performances at last months NECAA Championships at Middlesbrough, where Close had won both the 800m and 1500m, and Kelso had finished second to him in the 1500m. |
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