With a final margin of over two minutes, a new course record and the three fastest times of the day, Morpeth Harriers’ veteran men were comprehensive winners at the British Masters Relays on Saturday 14th May. The annual competition, held in the traditional bucolic setting of Sutton Park to the North of Birmingham, sees the country’s leading veterans (now referred to as Masters) compete in ten year age categories over legs of three miles with teams of either six (35-45 year olds), four (45-55) or three (55-65, 65 and over). Chris Smith got proceedings off for the six stage Over 35 team, and in a head to head battle with Birchfield Harriers, quickly showed that he was now clearly back to his best as he got the better of his rival on the run in to post a time of 15 minutes and 5 seconds and take an early lead in the race. Smith handed on to Michael Morris who now had Birchfield’s second leg runner in close attention. With Morris’s training this year focussed on a forthcoming Ironman Triathlon, as well as a recent bout of bronchitis to contend with, this was a tough challenge, and though Morpeth dropped to second place at the end of the leg, his posting of 16m 6s was still good enough to keep the club firmly in contention and may even in a way have done Peter Newton on third leg a favour by giving him something to chase. This Newton did with a gusto that showed he too is now very much a man on form, having put last year’s injuries well behind him, and he soon reeled in Birchfield’s third leg runner to re-establish Morpeth’s lead. He went on to post the fastest leg time of the day (14m 31s) and, in so doing, put the club into a position which was never to be seriously challenged. On leg 4 John Butters - who had chosen to represent the club ahead of taking the opportunity to gain a North East counties vest in the Inter-Counties fell race championships at Snowdonia that same day - ran a very sensible and controlled leg of 16m 6s to comfortably maintain Morpeth’s margin and then handed on to leading national veteran Ian Hudspith. Hudspith has represented the club through thick and thin in these relays and indeed still holds the course record here, and once again he showed he was in dominant form, tearing round the course despite the absence of any challenger to push him, and in the process posting the day’s second fastest leg time of 14m 40s. At this point Morpeth had a commanding lead of over two minutes from their nearest rivals and it was up to final leg runner Ade Whitwam to bring the team home, and this he did emphatically with a final leg clocking of 15m 27s, just outside the top ten fastest times of the day. Morpeth finished in an overall time of 1 hour 31m 55s, a new course record, and were over two minutes clear of Ron Hill Camburslang in second place (1:34:06), with last year’s winners Thames Hare and Hounds in third (1:34:30). The legs of Newton, Hudspith and Smith were later declared the three fastest of the day. Morpeth also fielded a B team for the first time in this competition. Making their debuts in on legs 1 and 2 both Mark Cockburn (16m 56s, 26th position) and Steven Patterson (17m 7s, 23rd) had extremely creditable runs. Behind them, Peter Scaife (19m 44s, 26th) and Jim Alder (also 19m 44s, 30th), both eligible for older categories, did their best to plug the holes left by late unavailbility and Mick Thomsen took the fifth leg for a sadly incomplete team. His posting of 17m 6s saw the team up to 26th position at this point. In all, some 41 teams took part, with 38 complete. In the even more keenly contested Men’s Over 45s run at the same time, Morpeth fielded one team of four.
Paul Waterston led out in 17m 8s and came home in 21st place. Mike Winter on leg 2 ran 18m 56s and finished in 28th. Fastest time for the team was run by Fergus Bates on third, with a strong clocking of 16m 14s, as he moved the club up to 16th. On the last leg Rob Hancox dropped only one place, finishing in 17m 27s with the team finishing in 1:09:45 overall. Some 48 teams contested this category and the winning time of 1:05:14 was posted by Thames Hare and Hounds, with North Shield Poly in third (although they had been at one time in first place). Finally, although he was unable to run this year, the club would like to pay tribute to Phil Walker, who for so many years had the difficult and often invidious task of getting bodies down to these championships. This year’s victory was very much built on foundations Phil laid, as he worked tirelessly to persuade, plead and cajole Morpeth’s vets to go down. Quite why it should be so difficult to get people to go is a mystery to those of us who do go down: it’s usually a great day out, and while a long one, gives runners of all abilities the chance to compete with, and watch, the best in the country. Hopefully Phil will be there in 2017, next year’s teams will be both male and female, and we will look to build on this year’s results. It was left to the Female Members of Morpeth Harriers to fly the club flag
at the annual Wallsend Harriers Gordon Smith Memorial Relays, held on a new course at West Allotment, on Wednesday 11th May. The event, run in memory of the former Wallsend Harriers Chairman attracted a field of 137 complete teams, 74 Male and 63 Female, and Morpeth Harriers fielded four competitive Female Teams, all in determined mood for action, and the club managed to get on the podium by finishing second to a very strong Elswick Harriers squad, who were very much buoyed by Justina Heslop, who brought them home to a thirty three second margin victory, by clocking the fastest time over the approximately two mile course, with an excellent 10m52s. Second fastest Female of the night was Morpeth Harriers final leg runner Sarah Wilkinson, who brought the club home to a Silver medal placing with her clocking of 11m28s. Morpeth had held the lead throughout the first two legs courtesy of Gemma Floyd (11m51s), and Alison Brown (13m07s). Floyd’s time eventually emerged as the third fastest Female time of the night. The club’s next placed Women’s team finished 23rd, courtesy of excellent running by Shuna Rank (14m50s), Jane Kirby (14m24s), and Jo Carruthers (13m22s). Morpeth Harriers C and D Teams finished in 39th and 53rd respectively. The C team performances were Sue Smith (15m10s), Pam Woodcock (15m27s), and Carol Parry 14m55s. D team performances came from Frances Naylor (16m13s), Claire Walker (15m24s), and Claire Hiscock (17m12s). The Morpeth Women’s squads very much described their night’s running as a great social occasion, which was well laced by landing a well earned podium place for their A team, and the squad cannot wait till their next team outing, when it will definitely be Morpeth Women Rule !! Seven new records were created at the first meetings of the
2016 North East Youth Development League on 1st May. Amongst them was Morpeth Harrier Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot, who was also marking her competitive club debut, after linking up with the club, and her Coach Paul Reed last autumn. She now joins an impressive list of fifteen Morpeth Harriers including herself, after Putting 10.3m in the Under 17 Women’s 3k Shot at Whitley Bay. Other Morpeth Harriers on the current updated list of records are as follows Holly Peck, Under 13 Girls 1500m 5m06.20s (Middlesbrough 28/06/2015), Elena Sanders Under 13 Girls 2.72k Shot Putt 8.06m (Middlesbrough 28/06/2015), Ruaridh Lang Under 15 Boys 1.25k Discus 39.04m (Gateshead 17/05/2015), Ruaridh Lang Under 15 Boys 4.00k Shot Putt 12.4m (Middlesbrough 19/07/2015), Sean O’Hara Under 15 Boys 300m 37.3s (Middlesbrough 20/07/2014), Jessica Young-Rogers Under 15 Girls 100m 12.6s (Middlesbrough 28/06/2015), Rebecca Murray Under 15 Girls 3k Shot Putt 10.26m (Jarrow 29/06/2014), Rebecca Murray Under 15 Girls 1k Discus 28.8m (Jarrow 29/06/2014), Bobbie Griffiths Under 15 Girls 500g Javelin 34.42m (Middlesbrough 19/07/2015), Scott Beattie Under 17 Men’s 1500m 4m11.20s (Gateshead 17/05/2015), Ryan Green Under 17 Men’s 400m 52.4s (Hexham 27/04/2014), Ryan Green Under 17 Men’s 800m 1m59.2s (Morpeth 01/06/2014), Megan Deakin Under 17 Women’s 300m 42.9s (Jarrow 29/06/2014), Amber Cormack Under 17 Women’s 800m 2m21.40s (Morpeth 02/06/2013). On Wednesday 4th May 2016, Morpeth Harriers Senior Throws specialist Craig Charlton
competed in the RAF Athletics Association Presidents Cup Competition, held at RAF Cosford, Shropshire, West Midlands. Charlton, who is currently stationed at Boulmer in Northumberland, produced a new personal best of 13.19m in the 7.26k Shot Putt, bettering his old figures by around 59cm. Breaking the Under 13 Girls course record by one second at the
annual Elswick Harriers Good Friday Road Races, and winning the event outright, plus good placings in the final Start Fitness North Eastern Harrier League, the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, and the English Schools Cross Country Championships, undoubtedly put Lily Heaton very much in the frame for achieving the Linden Homes Morpeth Harriers Athlete of the Month Award for March 2016. Lily, who is now competing in the Under 15 age group for Track and Field, is pictured above receiving her well deserved Certificate of Achievement from Morpeth Harriers Press Officer George Patterson at the Morpeth Harriers clubhouse on Monday 9th May.. |
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