Morpeth’s Senior Men retained their title at the Gordon Smith Relays after a keenly-fought battle with rivals Sunderland and Elswick Harriers.
Taking place after a three-year break over the same two-mile circuit around Cobalt Business Park some 60 teams contested the Women’s race and 70 the Men’s in sunny and still conditions which were just about ideal for racing. Tom Innes had the best possible start for Morpeth, getting ahead of the rest of the lead group after the first mile to open up a small gap of around five seconds and recording 9 minutes 52 seconds. A key feature of the race is that one leg must be run by an Over 40 runner (Over 35 in the women’s race), and so John Butters went out for Morpeth on leg 2. Clocking 10:48 after a gutsy run that kept Morpeth well in contention, the lead had by now however passed to Sunderland Harriers by a margin of some ten seconds with Elswick also vying for medals. However, a very determined Sam Hancox soon set about reeling in the two runners ahead of him and, timing his effort to perfection, he got ahead of the lead runner from Sunderland with less than a quarter of a mile to go and was able to finish with a five second margin of victory. His time of 9:38 was in fact the fastest of the night and shows what fine shape he is now in, with Morpeth’s cumulative time being 30:18. Sunderland in 2nd recorded 30:23 and Elswick 30:45. Behind the A team, Morpeth’s B of Mark Snowball (10:25), Lee Bennett (11:10) and Jordan Scott (10:26) were in 10th ( 32:01) with a further C team of Graeme Cook (10:43), Jamie Johnson (12:00) and Anthony Liddle (11:09), in his first relay for the club, in 20th (33:52). In the earlier run Women’s race, Morpeth were just run out of the medals by the narrowest of four-second margins. Cat Macdonald did, however, run the equal fastest Women’s time of the evening, coming home in 1st place on leg 1 with 11:23. Lizzie Rank, leading out the B team, also had a fine outing, coming in 3rd place with 12:21. Veteran Shuna Rank ran a determined 4:48 on leg 2, with Rachelle Falloon on last leg now aiming to run down as many of those ahead of her as possible. Clocking 12:10, she got very close to the final leg runner of Claremont Road Runners in 3rd place, but just ran out of road. The team’s cumulative time of 38:21 saw them finish 4th behind Elswick Harriers (35:40) , for whom leading veteran Justina Heslop ran the same time as Cat Macdonald. They were nearly two minutes ahead of 2nd place team Tyne Bridge (37:30) with Claremont in 3rd (38:17). Morpeth’s B of Lizzie Rank, Sue Smith (15:52) and Lindsey Quinn (13:01) placed 16th in 41:14, with a further C team of Sarah Lawson (12:43), Pam Woodcock (17:13) and Tayla Douglas (13:29) coming in 23rd (43:25) out of some 60 complete teams. Morpeth Harriers Senior Men and Women’s Track and Field squad made an encouraging start to their 2022 league campaign when they finished a very close third in their opening Northern Athletics Premier League fixture held at Middlesbrough Sports Village, on Saturday 30 April.
The match was so close only a mere thirty-two points divided the top five teams, and Morpeth were only thirteen points adrift of match winners New Marske Harriers, with second placed Gateshead Harriers only eight points ahead. Some of the results are still to be fully confirmed, however there is unlikely to be much change to the situation for the leading contenders. Host club Middlesbrough unfortunately looks set for the drop, as they were well adrift in sixth place, over two hundred points behind fifth placed Wallsend/Blyth. In fourth place just behind Morpeth were North Shields Poly, and as the season progresses, it is definitely on the cards to result in a dog fight to the finish over the remaining three fixtures. Morpeth’s best results in the Men’s events came in the 5000m and 3000m Steeplechase. In the 5000m, Tom Innes (who is part of the new Morpeth Men’s Team Management structure, along with fellow athlete Mark Snowball and long serving Club Official George Patterson) easily won the A Race, posting an excellent first time best of 15m45.60s, and Adam Pratt took the B Race in 16m15.50s to make it a double success. Mark Snowball and Andrew Lawrence also achieved a double victory in the 3000m Steeplechase, with Snowball taking the A Race in 10m32.00s, and Lawrence the B Race in 11m11.60s, this being his first ever outing over obstacles. Snowball and Lawrence also teamed up in the 400m Hurdles, where Snowball finished third in the A Race in 74.70s, and Lawrence finished as second B String in 79.00s. Under 20 athlete Evan Logan finished second in the 100m A Race, posting a new personal best of 11.30s, and also finished second in the 200m A Race in 23.20s, which was also a pb. Hard working Veteran Dave Marshall stepped up for the first time to finish sixth in both B Races, posting respective times of 14.90s, and 33.20s. Logan also finished second in the A String Triple Jump, producing a best effort of 11.63m, just a few centimetres adrift of his personal best. Mark Snowball finished fifth in the B String competition, producing a best on the day of 7.44m. In the Men’s 1500m, Morpeth very nearly achieved another double win, however long-term leader George Rudman succumbed to the faster finishing pace of Wallsend/Blyth’s Josh Fiddaman in the closing stages, having been caught with only 200m remaining of the three- and three-quarter lap event. Rudman’s finishing time was 3m59.50s, which was a new personal best, and the first time he had eclipsed the four-minute barrier. Morpeth’s Connor Marshall gave excellent B Race support by winning in 4m13.30s, In the 800m event, making his Northern League debut, Under 20 athlete Joe Anderson finished second in the A Race, producing a new personal best of 2m02.20s, taking over two seconds off his previous figures. Morpeth newcomer Mark Banks marked his Northern League debut for the club by taking the B Race in 2m08.50s. In the 400m, Charlie Lane produced new figures of 52.30s, when finishing third in the A Race, and Mark Banks posted a time of 58.80s, when placing third in the B Race. On to the Men’s Field Events, where Evan Logan’s Triple Jump was clearly the most evident highlight. However, the club were dealt a heavy blow on the morning by the unexpected withdrawal of specialist thrower Hayden Richards, due to a positive Covid test. So, it was left to specialist track athletes being able to step in to fill some required gaps. Newcomer Mark Banks took on Long Jump and High Jump A String duties, his best result coming in the High Jump, where he cleared 1.45m, whilst having to return to track events during his competition, his clearance giving him fourth place. Meanwhile, in the Long Jump, he produced a best of 4.36m, giving him sixth spot. In the B String Long Jump, Mark Snowball finished fifth, with 4.04m. Richards’s absence meant that Tom Innes and Mark Snowball had to step up to the plate. Innes placed fifth in the A String Javelin with his best throw of 19.37m, whilst unfortunately Snowball couldn’t make a mark. In the Shot Putt, Father and Son David and Connor Marshall teamed up, and David finished fifth in the A String with 5.79m, whilst Connor putted 4.69m, to finish as fourth B String. The Discus event saw Innes finish fifth in the A String with 13.52m, and a hardworking David Marshall weighed in with 12.92m, to finish fourth in the B String. Unfortunately, a dropped baton resulted in Morpeth’s 4 x 100m failing to complete their circuit, however in the 4 x 400m, Morpeth’s quartet of Joe Anderson, Mark Banks, Connor Marshall, and Adam Pratt, managed to get the baton home in 3m44.80s, for second place. Morpeth Harriers Women’s squad, again under the Team Managership of Vina Desai, also played a major part in the clubs’ overall success on the day. Major contributors to the effort were Nisha Desai, daughter of the Manager, who managed no less than three A String victories, and Veteran Throws specialist Claire Reid who competed in four field events, achieving one A String victory, one second place, and two fourth places, and the Morpeth Team Manager herself, also gave B String support in four Field Events. On the Track, Nisha won the A String 400m in 59.50s, and Under 20 athlete Mia Belton, making her Northern League debut, won the B Race in 63.90s, to give maximum points to her club. Desai also won the 400m Hurdles (63.30s), and Triple Jump with a best effort of 10.26m, which was made much sweeter when Under 17 athlete Olivia Gent, produced a best of 8.16m, to win the B String, Nisha also finished a very close second in the 200m to Gateshead’s Megan Costello, producing a time of 26.50s. Laura Kincaid of Morpeth finished third in the B Race in 29.70s. Not long after she had achieved victory in the 400m Hurdles, Desai also finished second in the A String 800m, posting a time of 2m24.80s. Sarah Routledge, making her debut in the Northern League, finished second in the B race in 3m17.30s. Morpeth Harriers Women had a good result in the 1500m, where Lizzie Rank took the A Race in5m17.40s, which was a new personal best, taking six seconds off her previous figures, and Routledge once again rose to the challenge, by finishing second in the B Race in 6m26.70s. In the 100m, Mia Belton finished second in the A Race in 13.0s, and Laura Kincaid finished fourth in the B Race in 14.1s. Under 20 athlete Abbie Ross finished third in the A String Long Jump, with a best of 4.96m, which was a new personal best, and Olivia Gent finished third in the B String, with 4.01m. On to the women’s throws events, where Claire Reid and Vina Desai competed in the Morpeth colours. Claire very clearly won the Discus A String with an on the day best of 30.80m, and Desai finished fourth in the B String with 14.16m, which was a new personal best. In the Shot Putt, Reid finished second in the A String with 9.60m, and Desai finished fifth in the B String with 4.51m, and another new personal best. Reid finished fourth in the A String Hammer with 26.69m, and Desai finished as fourth B String with 15.24m. Completing the days throws events, Reid finished fourth in the A String Javelin, by throwing a best of 15.45m, and Desai produced her third personal best of the day, with 9.72m, getting her fourth B String placing. The Morpeth quartet comprising of Sarah Routledge, Nisha Desai, Lizzie Rank, and Mia Belton, competed to finish third for Morpeth Harriers in both the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m Relays, posting respective times of 57.90s and 4m38.70s. A special word of praise for Morpeth Harriers club effort must go to the Marshall family, where Connor and Father Dave both competed, Mum Denise officiated on the Field, and youngest daughter even Charlotte assisted the Track Judges. Many thanks to you all! MATCH RESULT (Subject to Further Scrutiny) 1st New Marske Harriers 301pts, 2nd Gateshead Harriers 296pts, 3rd Morpeth Harriers 288pts, 4th North Shields Poly 276pts, 5th Wallsend/Blyth 269pts, 6th Middlesbrough AC (Mandale) 60pts Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes opened their 2022 NEYDL Division 1 campaign by finishing fifth of six competing clubs in their fixture held at Churchill Playing Fields on Sunday 24 April, hosted by North Shields Poly.
New team managers David Swinburne (Boys), and Julie Roche and Judith Nutt (Girls), had clearly been hard at work, attempting to muster decent squads together, and could all rightly feel well pleased with the sterling efforts put in by those who turned out on what was a fairly cold day, with some Harriers, particularly in the younger age groups, experiencing serious Track and Field competition for the very first time. Despite some shortages of numbers, there was still an air of optimism, and good-hearted enthusiasm in the Morpeth camp, as the day’s events unfolded. The clubs’ biggest points scorers were undoubtedly their experienced Under 17 Men, who had nine athletes in their line-up. On the track, they secured two double victories, with one coming from the Field. In the 800m, Will DeVere Owen took the A Race in 2m03.00s, taking a full second off his personal best, and club colleague Elliot Mavir took the B Race in 2m20.30s, just a mere fraction outside his best. De Vere Owen also won the 400m A Race in 54.4s, his first attempt at the shorter distance. Staying on the track, Morpeth enjoyed another double victory in the 1500m, courtesy of Bertie Marr’s 4m18.0s in the A Race, and Joseph Close in the B Race, clocking 4m23.40s. In the 100m and 200m sprints, Morpeth were well served by Jack Dinning and Owen Omoigui. It was Dinning’s first outing in the league for the club, and he finished second in the 100m A Race in 11.8s, and third in the A Race of the 200m in 24.9s. Meanwhile Omoigui won both B Races in respective times of 12.2s and 25.2s, both new personal best performances. On to the Under 17 Men’s Field events, where Edward Gardiner produced a superb A String victory in the Discus, where he also achieved a mammoth 39.29m, improving on his previous best by a whole seven metres, a performance that takes him up to sixth in the UK, and top of the North Eastregion. Giving good support in the B String was Liam Roche, who produced a best throw of 11.28m, his first attempt at the event. Owen Omoigui finished second in the A String Long Jump, with his best effort of 5.16m, also a new personal best. In the Shot Putt, Will De Vere Owen putted 6.55m, finishing as fourth A String, Liam Roche took the B event with 6.23m. On to the Under 17 Women, who were served by a total of only four athletes on the day; a bit disappointing, however, those who put themselves on the line did their level best to achieve. Freya Caygill finished second in the 200m A Race in 27.0s, and third in the 100m A Race in 12.8s, which was equal to her best. In the 100m B Race, Victoria Hodgson enjoyed a victory in 13.1s, which was a new personal best for her, and she also enjoyed victory in the later run 300m in 43.4s, taking a whole second off her previous figure. Morpeth’s Caitlin Flanagan finished third in the 300m B Race in 47.7s, her first ever attempt at the distance. Another Morpeth athlete competing in the 300m was Kate Kennedy, who clocked 48.8s, also a first attempt at the distance. Kennedy also finished fourth in the 800m A Race in 2m31.90s, taking a whole eight seconds off her previous figures for the two-lap event. Flanagan also competed in the 1500m A Race, finishing fourth in 5m08.10s. Kennedy was the only Morpeth Under 17 Woman in action in the Field Events, where she finished fifth in the Long Jump with 3.64m, again a first ever attempt at the event. Disappointingly again, Morpeth Harriers could only muster four athletes from their Under 15 Boys section. Connor Phillips led the way here, finishing third in the A Race of the 100m in 12.3s, and second in the 300m in 40.4s. His 100m performance, saw him take a fraction of a second off his previous figures, and the 300m was fractionally outside. B String support in the 300m came from Steven Craske, who finished fourth in 53.4s, his first attempt at the distance. Newcomer Harrison Armstrong finished fourth in both the A Race of the 800m and 1500m, with respective times of 2m38.50s, and 5m17.0s. Steven Craske finished fourth in the B race of the 800m in 2m50.40s, and Thomas Moll was the Morpeth B String support in the 1500m, clocking 5m31.40s. Craske showed great appetite for work, as he finished fifth in the Long Jump, producing a best effort of 3.40m. Morpeth’s small band of Under 15 Girls, six in all disappointingly, still managed to achieve some respectable results. Most notably the B String 100m win by Amy Longstaff in 13.3s, and the A String win in the 300m by Amelia Hamlin in 45.0s. Hamlin also finished fourth in the A String 100m in 13.1s. Longstaff also finished fifth in the A String 200m in 28.5s, and Abigail Kahn finished sixth in the B String in 31.7s. B String support to Hamlin’s A String win in the 300m, came from Megan Potrac, who clocked 53.3s. In the A String 800m, Morpeth’s Molly Roche finished fifth in 2m46.20s. Morpeth’s leading performer in the Under 15 Girls Field Events was Alexandra Hodgson, who finished second in the Hammer with a best throw of 20.85m. She also finished fourth in the Javelin with 17.63m. Morpeth’s other Field eventer was Megan Potrac, who produced a best of 3.05m to finish sixth in the Long Jump, and 6.06m, to finish sixth in the Shot Putt. Six athletes participated for Morpeth Harriers in the Under 13 Boys events, all of them tasting league competition for the very first time. They also managed the clubs best 4 x 100m Relay performance of the day, finishing fourth in 64.4s. Kyle Phillips and James Ellis masterminded the sprints for Morpeth in this age group. Phillips, younger brother of Connor, finished fourth in the Arace of the 100m in 15.0s, and fifth in the 200m A race in 31.3s. Ellis, meanwhile, gave B race support, finishing fourth in the 100m in 15.4s, and third in the 200m in 33.8s. In the 800m, Daniel Vermass finished fifth in the A race (2m50.70s), and Evan Laude finished fifth in the B race in 3m06.50s. Thomas Roche, younger brother of Liam and Molly, finished fifth in the 1500m A race in B String with a best of 4.37m. Five athletes took part in the Under 13 Girls events for Morpeth Harriers. Their best result on the track came in the 800m, with Emma Tomlinson finishing second in the A race, and Sophie Pledger finishing second in the B race. Tomlinson’s time was 2m39.80s, which gave her an eight second improvement on her previous figures for the event. Pledger clocked an impressive 2m56.30s, on this, her first appearance in the league. She also finished sixth in the 200m in 31.3s, and also tackled the 70m Hurdles with gusto to clock 18.2s. In the scoring 70m Hurdles, newcomers Maia Annis and Cecily Findlay finished fifth in the A and B races respectively, posting times of 14.6s and 16.4s. Annis also finished sixth in the 100m A race in 15.7s, and Faye Heatley finished sixth in the B race in 17.0s. Rounding off the Under 13 Girls track performances, Heatley also placed fifth in the 1500m A race, posting a time of 6m22.0s. On to the Under 13 Girls Field Events, where undoubtedly the best performance belonged to Emma Tomlinson, who produced the clubs sole Under 13 Girl victory in the Javelin, which she won marginally over North Shields Poly’s Lily McColl, by producing a new personal best of 10.99m, an improvement of slightly less than two metres here. Tomlinson also secured more points for her club, when finishing fourth in the B String Shot Putt with 3.98m, giving support to Maia Annis’s fourth in the A String with her best of 5.4m. Annis also finished fifth in the A String Long Jump with 3.22m. Faye Heatley finished fifth in the B String with 2.92m, and Cecily Findlay also competed for Morpeth, producing a best of 2.74m. MATCH SCORE 1st Harrogate 711pts, 2nd North Shields Poly 658pts, 3rdDarlington/Allerton 515pts, 4th Gateshead Harriers 450pts, 5th Morpeth Harriers 354pts, 6th Blyth/Alnwick 260pts. The North East Masters Championships (for athletes 35 or over) returned to Bedewell Park, Jarrow after a two-year absence with Morpeth’s veteran men collecting three team medals over the two-lap, 3k course.
Taking place on the evening of Wednesday 4 May, Race 1, for Women and Men’s Over 65 and over teams, was won by Claremont Road Runners in 36:51 with NSP’s O/45s 2nd in 37:25 and Elswick’s O/45s in 3rd (37:40). Morpeth’s team of Shuna Rank (14:20), Jill Bennett (15:50) and Claire Calverley (15:03) were 8th Over 45. Fastest female leg of the night was by Becky Coleman of NSP who ran 11:58. In the following Men’s race, and in their first outing as an Over 35 team, Adam Pratt, Graham Cook and Andy Lawrence placed third behind a flying Sunderland Harriers squad of Liam Taylor, Stephen Jackson and Steve Rankin (29:12) and Tyne Bridge Harriers (30:11). Pratt (9:55) ran the club’s fastest time of the night with Cook on 2nd leg in 10:25 and Lawrence doing well to hold off a flying Gateshead Harrier with 10:03. Their team bronze was matched by the club’s Over 45s (33:16), with Graeme Thorpe (11:08), Jason Dawson (11:11) and Lee Bennett (10:57) finishing this time behind Darlington (32:02) and Elswick Harriers (32:51). The club’s Over 55s went one better, however, with the team of Gavin Bayne (11:41), Phil Walker (11:54) and Neil MacAnany (12:13) picking up a team silver in 35:48 behind Sunderland Harriers (34:22). Club performance of the night was undoubtedly that of leading Over 65 athlete Bayne, whose time for the 3 kilometre course was a new age group record. Pleasingly, the club was the only one to medal in all three categories in the Men’s race, despite the absence of a team Gold. Fastest Men’s time of the night was Sunderland’s Taylor with 9:35 with Gateshead’s Steve Richardson two seconds behind in pursuit , no doubt, of Lawrence’s totemic shorts (Andy would like to deny these are made from some Frankie Dettori old racing silks). Adam’s time was 5th fastest. Carl Avery led home a total of 357 runners in the Sunderland 5k on Saturday 7 May. The race formed part of the popular Sunderland City Runs, which also included a 10k and half-marathon on the Sunday and was blessed this time round with some decent weather.
Now getting back to his competitive best, Avery clocked a time of 14 minutes 25 seconds, just ahead of Hallamshire Harriers Tommy Power and Jamie Hall, who were only one and three seconds behind him respectively. Four other team mates lined up alongside Avery, and all made the top 50. George Rudman was 7th in a new personal best of 14m 46s, with Under 17 Will Devere Owen coming home 9th in 15m 11s, a whole minute faster than his previous best time. Andy Lawrence was 17th in 15m 51s and Over 45 veteran Graeme Thorpe 48th in 18m 2s. The following day’s 10k was won by Billingham Marsh House Harrier Liam Aldridge in 31:18 with homeboys Liam Taylor and Stephen Jackson 2nd and 3rd in 31:52 and 32:20. Aly Dixon was 1st female home in 35:32 with Imogen Bungay 2nd in 37:35 and fellow Elswick Harrier Robyn Naylor 3rd in 40:48. For Morpeth, Shaun Land was 38th in 38:04 and Gary Hall 114th in 43:10. Conrad Franks won the half marathon in 1:08:53 with well over four minutes to second place James McKenzie of Heaton (1:13:27). Gemma Tiller-Moses of Charnwood took the women’s title in 1:19:46. Morpeth’s Andy Leeson was 120th in 1:35:02. |
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