​Morpeths Daniel Dixon won the Angel View Under 15 Boys Race at Gateshead on
​Thursday 30th June 2016.

He had shared the lead with Houghton’s Henry Johnson on the first of three laps, then stole away to win by a margin of fifteen seconds in a time of 6m47s.

Johnson held off Birtley’s Matthew Cleugh to take second place.

​Morpeth Harriers & AC had four individual event winners at the third meeting
in the 2016 Start Fitness sponsored North East Grand Prix series,
held at Gateshead Stadium, on the evening of Wednesday 29th June 2016.

The main track event of the night, which also involved a Trophy presentation,
was the Stan Long Mile, which is run honouring the memory of the legendary Gateshead Harriers Coach,
who was mentor the Brendan Foster during his illustrious International career,
and is still revered and respected by many within the sport.

It was being run for the eleventh time, and on this occasion it was won
by Morpeth Harriers Under 20 athlete Joe Armstrong, who crossed the finish line in a time of 4m21.0s,
narrowly edging out Sunderland Harrier Sparrow Morley for the treasured prize,
after Morley had tried to get away at the bell.

This more than pleased his watching coach David Lowes,
who in his competitive days had also received some experienced guidance from Long,
an added factor which had also made him additionally proud of his young achiever.

Third place went to recent British Masters 5k Champion Chris Smith of Morpeth,
who was running the distance on the track for the first time,
and can feel well pleased with his clocking of 4m25.6s,
which was achieved following a very steady.

Other Morpeth performances in the race came from Ryan Green (9th) 4m38.3s,
and Mark Snowball (14th) 4m54.4s.

Andrew Knight of Morpeth Harriers went back to the top of the UK and Regional Rankings
when he set new figures of 14.15m in the Under 15 Boys Shot Putt, winning by a very clear margin on the night.

It was an excellent night also for young Rhiannon Hedley,
who not only won her Under 13 Girls 1500m event by a margin of three seconds,
her clocking of 5m03.4s, was a new personal best by three seconds,
it also saw her move to the top of the regional rankings.

The added factor was that a great deal of her good regional rivals were up against her in the race,
and her strength showed her to be more of a match to their threatening challenges,
throughout the three and three quarter lap event.

Another Morpeth winner on the night was Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot,
who was best Female in the combined Under 17/Under 20/ Senior Shot Putt event, with a best of 11.45m.

In the Under 15 Girls 1500m, Morpeth athletes Lily Heaton and Ellie Coxon
set respective new figures of 5m08.8s and 5m13.8s, when placing fourth and sixth.
They improved by three and seven seconds respectively.

Brothers Daniel and Joe Dowd also had respective new personal bests
in the Under 13 Boys Javelin and Graded 200m events.
Daniel made an improvement by four metres when his throw of 27.58m earned him second place in the Javelin.

Joe knocked three seconds off his previous best when finishing third overall in the 200m A race in 24.6s.
Fellow Morpeth Harrier Matthew Waterfield finished third in the C race in 25.3s.

Joe Dowd, Waterfield, along with fellow Morpeth Harrier Connor Marshall,
also competed in the B race of the Mile, finishing third, fourth,
and eighth respectively in 4m56.7s, 4m58.8s, and 5m05.9s.

Ben Walker of Morpeth was just outside his best, when finishing second in the Under 13 Boys 1500m in 5m02.4s.

The Under 15 Boys 1500m saw Morpeth’s Ross Charlton and Brad Brown
finish fifth and sixth  with respective clockings of 4m50.4s and 5m02.2s.

​Runners faced torrential rainstorms at the Trafford Grand Prix Meeting,
held at Stretford on the evening of Tuesday 28th June 2016.

Ross Floyd, Thomas Straughan, Robert Balmbra,
Jordan Scott and Josie Cram of Morpeth Harriers
were amongst the many that turned out,
when even the dogs remained indoors.

Floyd and Straughan both competed in a talent filled fastest of the 3000m events,
and they finished 20th and 26th respectively, posting times of 8m44.01s and 8m53.38s,
the former representing a new personal best by all of 37 seconds.
In fact Floyd had not run a track 3000m since 2009.

Balmbra and Scott both ran in the second fastest 3000m,
finishing sixth and nineteenth, and posting finishing times of 9m02.61s, and 9m20.35s.

For Balmbra it was a new personal best by nine seconds,
and he had not tackled this distance since 2006.

Josie Cram of Morpeth Harriers ran in one of the slower 800m events,
where she posted a time of 2m21.27s, a bit adrift of her best performance,
mainly because of the poor conditions.

Morpeths Emma Holt retained her title at the annual Anita Nott Women’s
Own Memorial Race held in Jesmond Dene on the evening of Monday 27th June 2016.

In doing so, she not only led all the way, she also beat her own course record by all of seventeen seconds.
She also won by the healthy margin of sixty seconds from Gosforth’s Rachel Lundgren, posting a finishing time of 18m02s.

Morpeth Harrier’s other runner in the event was Vicky Gibbs,
who finished twelfth overall in 20m57s, and was first Over 35 Veteran Woman.
​

A rampant all round performance saw Morpeth Harriers Young Athletes
Track and Field squad achieve a resounding match victory by a clear
margin of seventy three points over Blaydon Harriers in the third
North East Youth Development League Division 1 fixture,
held at the King Edward School track on Sunday 26th June.

One of the outstanding performers was Under 15 Boy Andrew Knight,
who throughout the Shot Putt competition, managed to break the league record on no less than three occasions.
His final flourish was to win by the clear margin of nearly three and a half metres, with his best effort of 13.77m.

Knight showed that he was really in excellent form when he won the Hammer,
his 24.58m bettering his previous figures by 2cm.
His record win in the Shot Putt was wiping out club colleague
Ruaridh Lang’s previous achievement in 2015;
however Lang found solace in the fact that he also set a new
Under 17 Men’s record in the Discus, when he achieved a best of 44.66m,
which was also a new personal best, bettering his previous figures by 10cm. 
Lang also enjoyed a superb victory in the Shot Putt, putting a best of 12.31m,
which was around 20cm adrift of his lifetime best.

Other excellent Morpeth Under 17 Male performers in the Field events were David Thomas and Matthew Waterfield.
Thomas enjoyed two A string victories in the Triple Jump, his favoured event, and the Long Jump.
He won the former with a best of 12.15m, and the latter 5.96m, which was around 9cm short of his lifetime best.

Mitchell Cryer of Morpeth won the B string Long Jump with a best of 4.46m.

Meanwhile Waterfield equalled his lifetime best when he cleared 1.35 to win the High Jump.
Waterfield also enjoyed two wins on the track, taking the 800m A race in 2m09.9s, and the B string 400m in 53.4s.

Sean O’Hara won the A string 400m in 52.3s, improving his lifetime best by two hundredths of a second.

Josh Burton of Morpeth secured maximum points for his club in the Under 17 Men’s 800m,
when he took the B race in 2m11.0s.
He finished slightly ahead of club colleagues Joe Dowd (2m12.1s), and Jamie Duguid (2m20.4s).

Morpeth clearly dominated the Under 17 Men’s 1500m event,
with no less than five of the seven on track coming from the club.
Taylor Glover emerged as the fastest overall, posting a finishing time of 4m21.9s.
Club colleague Rory Leonard posted the second fastest time overall time of 4m30.0s,
which for him was a seasons best, and clearly showed that form is on the way up,
as he secured victory in the B race, holding off the close attentions of three Morpeth non scorers
Connor Marshall (4m34.4s), Liam Marsh (4m39.5s), and Adam Shewry (4m47.1s).

Under 17 Women throwers Bobbie Griffiths and Charlotte Pickering-Pruvot were also in top form,
both securing two individual A string wins, and Griffiths adding a B string win for good measure.

Ellie Burt also managed a B string victory in the Shot Putt with a best effort of 9.09m,
backing up Pickering-Pruvot’s A string win with 11.10m,
which gave Morpeth two double victories from this section of athletes.

Griffith’s won the A string Hammer with a new best of 30.41m,
which bettered her previous figures by around four metres, and also threw 29.64m in the Javelin.
She also threw 27.26m in the B string Discus, backing up Pickering Pruvot’s 27.32m.

Katie Hilton of Morpeth Harriers pulled off two excellent A string victories
in the Under 17 Women’s Long Jump and Triple Jump events.
She produced a best of 4.55m to win the Long Jump by a margin of 21cm
from Blaydon’s Rebecca Thorpe, which also added 2cm to her lifetime best.

Ailsa Jones finished second in the B string Long Jump with 4.01m.

Hilton’s best Field performance of the day however came in the Triple Jump A string,
which she won with a best of 10.32m, again from Thorpe, and improved her lifetime best by a massive 29cm.

The Triple Jump proved to be rich pickings indeed for Morpeth
as Naomi Arkle took the B string with her best of 8.93m,
which was her first ever experience of the event.

On the track, Under 17 Woman athlete  Jessica Young-Rogers was in outstanding form,
winning both the A string 100m and 200m in times of 12.3s and 25.9s,
both new lifetime personal best performances.

Morpeth Harriers took more points from these events, with Katie Hilton and Naomi Arkle
taking the respective B races with clockings of 12.7s and 27.3s,
the former being a new personal best, and the latter very close to best.
Arkle also enjoyed an A string win in the 300m, where she produced a lifetime best of 46.6s.
She was well backed up in the B string race by comeback athlete Natasha Clark, who clocked 51.5s for victory.

In the Under 17 Women’s 80m and 300m Hurdles events,
Morpeth’s Harriet Priest and Bekki Foster formed a formidable pairing.
Priest finished second in the A string 80m Hurdles in 13.2s,
which proved equal to her lifetime best, and Foster took the B race in 14.1s.
In the 300m Hurdles Priest proved a convincing winner in 49.4s,
and Foster finished second in the B race in 60.5s.

As expected Morpeth Harriers proved to be clear winners in the Under 17 Women’s 4 x 100m Relay in 51.4s.
Whilst Andrew Knight’s Under 15 Boys Field performances,
which also included a third place in the Discus, where he threw 25.34m,
there were excellent B string support performances to Andrew from club colleague
Daniel Common in the Discus and Shot, where he had a victory and a second place
with respective bests of 20.49m and 9.62m.

The Under 15 Boys 300m saw Owen Priest of Morpeth Harriers win in 40.1s, which was a brand new personal best.
Matthew Heslop gave excellent support to finish second in the B race in 44.8s.

In the 200m, Priest produced another personal best when finishing third in the A race in 25.7s,
and club colleague Sam Yates did well to win the B race in 27.2s, which equalled his personal best.

Morpeth Harriers also had two excellent non scoring performers in the
Under 15 Boys 200m and 300m events in Matthew Ash (28.6s),
and Brad Brown (45.0s), both marginally personal bests.

Highlight of the Morpeth Under 15 Girls track performances was Nadine Arkle’s
two A string wins in the 100m and 200m in respective times of 13.1s and 27.4s,
both performances representing lifetime personal bests.
Arkle had superb B string backing in both events from newcomer Amy Shears,
who finished first in  the 100m in 13.7s and second in the 200m, posting a time of 28.6s.

In the Under 15 Girls 800m, Morpeth’s Holly Peck led throughout the early stages and through the bell,
but was forced to finish second to the fast finishing Erin Nelson of North Shields Poly.
Peck clocked 2m28.1s.
However club colleague Ellie Coxon took the maximum points in the B race, clocking 2m31.0s.

In the 1500m, Morpeth’s Lily Heaton finished second in the A race with 5m10.8s,
a brand new personal best, and Lauren Cummings won the B race in 5m34.8s.
Best performance in the Under 15 Girls Field events for Morpeth,
came courtesy of newcomer Megan Winter,
in the Javelin, where her 20.74m gave her second place in the A string.
Holly Peck finished third in the B string competition with a best effort of 12.89m.

Morpeth Harriers youngest age group athletes, the Under 13’s,
also produced some excellent results on the day by both genders.
On the track the Under 13 Girls had two A string victories, courtesy of Rhiannon Hedley and Amy Lott.
Hedley produced an elegant performance in the 800m, winning by a very clear margin of eight seconds in 2m31.7s,
and newcomer Lola Fraser did exceptionally well when finishing third in the B race in 3m06.1s.
It is good to see young Hurdler Amy Lott getting back to better form
​after a worrying injury wiped out all of her early season activity.
She was a very clear winner of the 70m Hurdles, where she posted a new personal best time of 11.8s.
There was good B string backing in this event by Alice Geoghegan, who finished third in 14.5s.

Lott’s other good performance came in the 200m, where she finished second in 30.1s, again a new personal best.

Morpeth Harriers best Field event result in the Under 13 Girls section came from the Javelin,
where Rosie Winter enjoyed an A string victory with her best effort of 21.38m.
Alice Geoghegan won the B string with a best effort of 19.64m, which gave Morpeth a superb double win.

Morpeth also had some non scoring Under 13 Girls in action in the Javelin,
with Hannah Allsop throwing 12.92m, and Mia Belton throwing 6.17m.
Alfie Ward’s A string victory in the Long Jump, with a best of 4.46m,
was one of the high points of the Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boy’s Field performances.
It also equalled his personal best performance.
Bobby Stone finished second in the B competition with a best of 3.70m.
Ciaran Leahy (3.35m) and Jack Lackenby (2.14m), were also additional non scorers in this event for Morpeth.

Adam Willoughby cleared 1.35, when finishing second in the A string Under 13 Boys High Jump,
and Koffi Avornyo achieved the same height to win the B competition.

The Under 13 Boys Javelin saw Oliver Geoghegan finish second in the A string with a best of 22.43m,
only losing out for outright victory by 49cm.
Jack Lackenby finished second in the B competition with 14.67m.

Lackenby finished third in the A string Shot Putt with 6.18m,
and Adam Willougby finished second in the B competition with 5.10m.

Morpeth Harriers had two B string wins in the Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m,
courtesy of Charlie Lane, who produced respective clockings of 14.2s and 29.1s.
He was supporting the A string efforts of Bobby Stone, who finished fourth in the 100m in 13.9s,
and Josh Adams, who was third in the 200m in 28.4s.

The Under 13 Boys 1500m saw Dylan Davies finished second in the A race in 5m22.8s,
and Aaron Haldane finished second in the B race in 5m53.8s.

Other Morpeth Harriers performances in this event came from
Benjamin O’Connor (6m30.2s) and Reece Garrett (6m39.5s).
Morpeth Harriers Under 13 Boys rounded off their competitive day
superbly by producing an excellent win in the 4 x 100m Relay in 58.2s.

FINAL MATCH POINTS

Morpeth 801
Blaydon 717
New Marske 618
North Shields 551
Harrogate & Wetherby 548
Darlington 170

This now puts Morpeth at the top of the Division 1 League table with 16 points,
with Blaydon Harriers one point behind in second place.

Morpeth Harriers are now very much poised to retain their league title
going into the final match at Middlesbrough on Sunday 17th July,
and respective Team Managers Steve Garrett (Boys),
and Mark Brown (Girls), will be doing their utmost over the next few weeks
to ensure that they have the strongest squad at their disposal for this vital fixture.