An excellent fifty-point margin victory gave Morpeth Harriers & AC’s Senior Track and Field team a confirmed championship in Division 2 of the North East Senior Development League for 2026, in their third-round match, held at Hexham’s Wentworth Stadium, on Sunday 14th June.
Having also won the opening two fixtures, a well fought match here, once again saw Northumbrian club triumph.
No less than five A race wins on the track, plus a couple of B race wins added in the Men’s events, some good supportive track performances from the Women athletes, plus some strong efforts in the Women’s Field Events, four A String wins, along with a couple of B String successes, helped to pave the way to a very successful day, which delighted Team Manager George Patterson.
Making his debut, Under 18 athlete Evan Baskerville showed his prowess in both the Men’s 100m and 200m events, winning in 11.8s and 24.6s, respectively.
Alistair Douglass won the 200m B race in 25.2s, and Paul Bellingham was third in the B race of the 100m in 15.1s.
Bellingham was an additional runner in the 200m, posting a time of 31.79s.
Douglass also won the A race of the 400m in 53.5s, with Bobby Hagan placing third in the B race in 71.0s.
Hagan was also supportive in the B race of the 800m, winning in 2m32.10s, and it was a great Morpeth double here, with Alistair Beasley taking the A race in 2m11.80s.
Andrew Mirfield won the A race of the 5000m in 16m27.3s, and again it was Hagan giving excellent B race support, finishing second in 18m52.32s.
In the Men’s Mile event, Lee Cuthbertson was third in the A race in 4m53.92s, with Under 18 athlete Daniel Craig making a sound Senior debut in the B race, finishing second in 5m04.05s.
Added to the Morpeth Men’s track successes was the 4 x 100m Relay squad, who won in 53.4s, and the Morpeth Men’s 4 x 400m squad, who finished second in 4m09.80s.
The 4 x 100m squad was Evan Baskerville, Alistair Douglass, Bobby Hagan, and Dave Marshall.
Alastair Beasley, Lee Cuthbertson, Daniel Craig, and Bobby Hagan performed the duties in Morpeth’s 4 x 400m squad.
Three athletes shared duties in the Men’s Field events for Morpeth.
Dave Marshall finished sixth in the A String Shot Putt (5.28m), and Booby Hagan was sixth in the B String with 4.02m.
Alistair Douglass was fourth in the A String Javelin with a best of 27.3m.
He was also fourth in the A String Discus with a best of 20m, and Dave Marshall was fourth B String with 13.9m.
In the Women’s Track events Ellie Wickens was a strong performer for Morpeth, finishing second in the A races of both the 100m, and 200m events, and very courageously stepped up in distance to finish third in the A race of the 400m.
Ellie posted times of 13.3s, 27.5s, and 66.5s, respectively.
In the 200m, she had exceptionally good welcome support from club colleague Mya Young.
The exceptionally talented Under 18 athlete, still only 15 years of age, won the B race in 28.8s.
In the 100m B Race, Olga Bell finished fourth in 16.1s.
Morpeth did have an A Race winner in Kay Errington, who won the 400m Hurdles in 86.00s.
On to the Women’s distance events, where Sophie Ward competed in all three.
She finished third in the 3000m in 2m41.52s and went on to give B Race support in both the 800m, and Mile events.
She finished second in the 800m in 3m18.14s, and third in the Mile in 6m51.99s.
Olga Bell finished third in the A Race of the 800m in 3m08.35s, and Under 18 athlete Charlotte Marshall finished third in the A Race of the Mile in 6m19.60s.
Morpeth Harriers finished second in both Women’s Relay events.
In the 4 x 100m Ellie Wickens, Mya Young, Charlotte Earl, and Olga Bell saw them round in 58.0s.
Kay Errington, Olga Bell, Mya Young, and Charlotte Marshall got the squad home in the 4 x 400m in 4m59.59s.
Morpeth Harriers were strong and excellent in the Women’s Field events, where they executed no less than three double victories.
They won both the Long Jump and Triple Jump events and added the Discus to their maximum point successes.
Charlotte Earl won the A String Long Jump, producing a best effort of 4.82m, with Ellie Wickens taking the B String with a best of 4.63m.
Roles were reversed in the Triple Jump, with Wickens securing victory in the A String with 9.22m, and Earl took the B String with 9.13m, a bit down on best, as she is currently performing with a troublesome injury.
Morpeth’s other double victory in the Discus saw Claire Reid take the A String with 26.5m, and Ellie Wickens won the B String with her best of 17.1m.
Claire Reid also claimed an excellent victory in the A String Shot Putt with 8.99m, and Olga Bell finished fifth in the B String with 5.11m.
In the Women’s Hammer, Reid finished second, producing a best throw of 22.5m.
Bobbie Griffiths finished second in the A String Javelin, where her best throw was 30.1m.
Kay Errington finished second in the B String, with a best of 17.8m.
MATCH RESULT
1st Morpeth Harriers 354pts, 2nd South Shields/Birtley 294pts, 3rd Tyne Bridge 284pts, 4th New Marske Harriers 222pts, 5th Houghton Harriers/Jarrow & Hebburn 214pts, 6th Chester Le Street/Durham City 173pts.
CUMULATIVE RESULT (After 3 Matches)
1st Morpeth Harriers 18pts (1036), 2nd South Shields/Birtley 12pts (754), 3rd Tyne Bridge 11pts (698.5), 4th New Marske 10pts (647), 5th Houghton Harriers/Jarrow & Hebburn 6pts (548), 6th Chester Le Street/Durham 6pts (527.5).