2015 Northern Young Athletes Road Relay Championships

Some excellent performances, saw Morpeth Harriers and Athletics Club emerge as the regions sole
medallists at the Northern Athletics Young Athletes Road Relays, held at a very warm
and sunny Stanley Park, Blackpool, on Saturday 19th September 2015.

Marginally the clubs best performers on the day were their Under 13 Girls,
who following three excellent legs, where they never budged outside the top three,
eventually came through, courtesy of a very energised Holly Peck
on the final third leg, to grab Silver medals.

Peck’s second fastest of the leg of 12m11s over the 3.2k course
was enough to give them nearly a minute of daylight over third placed
Keighley and Craven, who had led throughout the first two legs,
and had unfortunately slipped back when it mattered.
Holly’s time was seventh fastest of the day; however she was just unable
to get to level terms with the Salford Harriers runner in front of her,
as she only lost out for Gold by a margin of twenty five seconds.

Lily Heaton on first leg for Morpeth, undoubtedly had the clubs run of the day,
clocking 12m04s on the first leg, which proved to be fourth fastest overall,
which speaks volumes on her performance improvement,
and living very much in the shadow of club colleagues Peck, and Rhiannon Hedley.

It was Hedley who produced a very stable performance on the second leg,
to hold on to third place with her clocking of 12m58s.
The efforts of this squad on the day were very warmly
applauded by their coach and Team Manager Mike Bateman.

Morpeth Harriers Under 17 Men finished an excellent seventh in their 3 x 3.2k Relay,
no doubt boosted by the performance of final leg runner Scott Beattie,
whose 11m39s, was not only the fastest of the leg,
but also the fastest of the day by a ten second margin.

Jacob Hopkins had the squad in 27th place on Leg One with his clocking of 13m27s,
however Kieran Hedley, already having witnessed his younger sister’s medal
winning efforts in the earlier  Under 13 Girls event, ran well to climb a further
eleven places on the second leg,
his clocking of 12m18s proving to be the third fastest of the leg.

It was then left to Beattie to provide the final leg flourish,
and he certainly carried out his duties to the letter.

Morpeth Harriers had two squads who lined up to face the
starter in the Under 15 Boys 3 x 3.2k event.
The clubs A team finished 13th and the B team finished 31st.

Ross Charlton had the A team in 26th place in 11m13s as he
handed over the reins to Joe Dowd, who managed to climb
an excellent nine places, as he got round his leg in 11m15s,
which was the eleventh fastest overall on the leg.

Third and final leg runner Connor Marshall also produced an
excellent run of 11m18s, to gain a further four places.

The Morpeth Harriers Under 15 Boys B team had Daniel Melling on lead off leg,
and he managed a clocking of 12m08s, as he came home in 37th place.
Second leg saw Matthew Waterfield improve by four places,
as he got round the course in 12m24s.
Final Leg runner Sam Bradley took the squad home to 31st spot,
with his clocking of 13m19s.

Morpeth Harriers very young and relatively inexperienced Under 13 Boys squad
produced some excellent performances collectively to get a final placing of 16th in their 3 x 3.2k event.
Andrew Hudspith ran a superb first leg of 11m53s, to come home in 20th place.
Dylan Davies improved by two places on the second leg with his clocking of 12m19s.
Ben Walker gained a further two places on the third and final leg, when he clocked 12m24s.

Results