News from America, Pittsburgh to be precise, informs us that Morpeth Harrier Scott Beattie,
currently studying at Tulsa University, posted a brand new personal best time of 8m13.17s,
when winning the Men’s 3000m at the State Invitational Meeting on Saturday 26th January 2019..

He posted the fastest time over the three races that housed a total of seventy-one athletes.
Beattie’s nearest challenger was Colby’s Nehemiah Too, who posted 8m13.73s.

Too is a Kenyan national, who had posted a best of 8m07.77s in Fayetteville in
​February 2018 for the distance, so this was indeed a prize scalp for the Morpeth athlete.

Morpeth Harriers Senior Male throws specialist Craig Charlton, now back with the club following a short defection
to Tynedale Harriers, mainly because of changed work commitments in his RAF capacity,
superbly took the Gold Medal in the Shot Putt at the Scottish Indoor Track and Field Championships,
held at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena on Saturday 26th January 2019,
when he produced a lifetime best effort of 14.47m, bettering his previous by around 19cm.

He won by a margin of 21cm from Clydesdale Harrier Craig Winslow,
who had finished a lowly seventh in the 2018 Championship.

Charlton’s previous best had been produced outdoors, in last years opening Northern League fixture at Gateshead in May, however his previous best indoors (13.94m), had come in the North Eastern Championships last February.

Meanwhile on the track, fellow Morpeth Harrier, and richly talented
Under 17 Woman Hurdler Amy Lott got to the final of the 60m Hurdles.

As a first year in her age group, Amy was always going to be under pressure in qualifications,
however she superbly carved her way forward during her three rounds of competition.

In her opening heat, she finished second, posting a modest 9.27s,
going on to finish an excellent second in her Semi Final,
to fellow North Easterner Charlotte Rutter of Darlington,
improving her time to 9.12s, which was just fractionally
adrift of her recently achieved lifetime best.
​
That time saw her qualify for the final with the sixth fastest time over the two Semi’s.
In her final she finished seventh with a time of 9.21s.

Morpeth Harriers are pleased to announce that their Athlete of the Month Award for December 2018, sponsored by Reeves the Pensions Specialist, has gone to their talented Under 13 Boy Ryan Davies, primarily for his excellent performance in the annual North Eastern Cross Country Championships, held at Wrekenton,
​where he won a Silver medal behind Blackhill’s Tom Slane, only losing out for Gold by a mere two seconds.

Ryan is pictured above receiving his Certificate of Achievement from Morpeth Harriers Club Secretary
​Mike Bateman, at the clubhouse on Mitford Road, on the evening of Monday 21st January 2019.

​Three individual, and two sets of team medals were secured by athletes from Morpeth Harriers, at the annual Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships, held at a breezy but relatively firm and dry Pontefract Park Racecourse, in Yorkshire on Saturday 26th January 2018.

Senior Woman Mhairi MacLennan retained her title that she won in 2018 at nearby Harewood House but was made to fight all the way to the finish line by Leigh Harrier Lauren Heyes (formerly Howarth),
and Blackburn’s Jessica Judd, only winning by the slender margin of four seconds.

MacLennan also led her club to a handsome set of Bronze team medals, courtesy of supporting counting runs by Emma Holt (24th), Catriona MacDonald (39th), and Gemma Floyd (61st).

Another top-drawer performance amongst the Morpeth Senior Women, came from Helen King,
​who produced an excellent run to finish in 110th place.

​After playing a sensible waiting game with two major rivals Euan Brennan of Ilkley and Nathan Dunn of Preston, Morpeth’s Rory Leonard eventually stole away on the final lap of two in the Under 20 Men’s race, to take the individual title, thus adding to the one that he also won at Harewood House in 2018, that being the Under 17 Men’s.
Unfortunately lack of a fourth counter here robbed his club of a possible team title, as Alex Brown and Kieran Hedley had also produced excellent runs to finish seventh and eleventh respectively.

The club did however have the utmost delight in seeing their Under 17 Men secure a team title, courtesy of Ross Charlton (14th), Daniel Melling (21st), Rowan Bennett (24th), and Tom Balsdon (33rd).

Morpeth’s other on the day medallist was Carl Avery, who took an individual
Silver in the Senior Men’s three lap event.
Avery, who won the title in 2018, just lost out to Leeds City’s Emile Cairess,
​who had won the Under 20 Men’s title at Harewood.
Only nine seconds divided the pair at the finish line.

In a hotly contested Senior Men’s team race, Morpeth Harriers eventually finished fifth, with further scoring counts coming from Andrew Lawrence (52nd), Jordan Scott (58th), Thomas Straughan (74th),
Phillip Winkler (99th), and Alistair Douglass (124th).

Other Morpeth Harriers competing in the 704 strong field of finishers in the event
​were Mark Snowball (162nd), and Steve Haswell (503rd).

On this occasion he finished in an excellent tenth place, five places, and three seconds ahead of Slane, however was third home from the region behind Houghton’s Brandon Pye, Bronze Medallist in the North Eastern’ s, and Gosforth’s Ethan Bond, who finished in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Other Morpeth finishers in the Under 13 Boys event, were Joe Dixon (30th), and Joseph Hudspith (77th).
​
Morpeth Harriers were also disappointed in not being able to field a full team of four counters
in the Under 17 Women’s 5k event, which began the days programme of ten events.

Holly Peck produced an excellent run to finish twelfth behind Darlington’s India Pentland, who won with eight seconds to spare, to add another Gold Medal to her tally, having won the North Eastern’ s in December.
​
Other Morpeth finishers in the Under 17 Women’s event were Kirsty Duffin (69th) and Lily Heaton (83rd).

In the Junior Women’s 5.7k event, Morpeth Harriers did manage to muster the required three scoring athletes.
Consequently, the club finished seventh of eight full squads, courtesy of Robyn Bennett (25th), who is returning to action following an injury lay-off, Gracie Hufton (50th), and Kay Errington (60th).
​
Perhaps the most disappointing team result for the club, came in the Under 15 Boys 4k event.
The Morpeth squad were unfortunately shorn of the services of two of their key athletes in the form of Ben Waterfield and Dylan Gooding with illness.

Nevertheless they did manage to finish as a team in nineteenth spot out of twenty three complete teams, courtesy of Ben Walker (44th), who is making good slow progress after a terrible period of illness and injury, Dylan Davies (54th), also recovering from illness over Christmas, Matthew Walton (145th),
in his first Northern Championship, and a very below par Euan Duffin (178th).

Another disappointment for the club, was not having a full Under 15 Girls squad for their 4k event.
Leading Morpeth home however was Abi Leaper, who finished 48th out 196 finishers, and was eleventh overall from the North East region.
Other Morpeth finishers in the field were Rebecca Bradley (105th), and Rhiannon Hedley (143rd).

Morpeth Harriers had no competitors taking part in the Under 13 Girls 3k event, however in the ten events on offer, they finished as leading regional club in half of them, which outlines a satisfactory day at the office, which could have been bettered by fortune, laced by a tiny bit of effort in some quarters.

As a final footnote, the Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships were also being used as a final stepping stone and performance guide by the regions selectors with regards to their possible final selections for the forthcoming annual UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, which are scheduled to be held in Loughborough in early March, and several Morpeth Harriers may be well in their minds for places in the regions squads, final decisions are expected sometime during February.

                         ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF ADRIAN ROYLE & ROBIN RUTHERFORD

Five athletes from Morpeth Harriers were in competitive action at the third in the series
of Indoor Athletics Meetings, held at Gateshead College on Thursday 16th January 2019.

Hannah Lott proved to be the fastest in the Under 13 Girls 60m Hurdles, posting a time of 10.73s,
and she later posted a sixth fastest clocking of 9.20s in the 60m sprint.

Another Under 13 Girl in action from Morpeth in the 60m was Saveena Mullin, who posted a twelfth fastest 9.41s.
In the Under 13 Boys 60m, Morpeth’s Elliot Mavir was sixteenth fastest with 9.38s.

Morpeth Harriers had two athletes in action in the Field Events.
Having made a welcome return to the fold after a very short defection to Tynedale Harriers,
Craig Charlton made a winning comeback in the Senior Men’s Shot Putt, with a best effort of 13.17m.

Ethan Stephenson won the Under 17 Men’s Triple Jump, producing a best effort of 12.75m.