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​For the second year in succession,
Morpeth Harrier Bobbie Griffiths competed by invitation
at the annual Javelin Carnival, held in Pihtipudas in Finland
on Thursday 28th June 2018.

Bobbie threw a best of 39.08m,
which placed her fifth in the
Under 20 Women’s competition.

Four Morpeth Harriers took part in the annual Anita Nott Memorial Women’s only race,
held at Jesmond Dene, and organised by Heaton Harriers,
on the sunny evening of Monday 25th June 2018.

The quartet were led home by Carol Parry, who had an excellent run to finish 232nd overall,
and was 33rd Over 45 Woman, posting a finishing time of 30m03s.

One place behind her, and 34th Over 40 Woman Claire Walker, who finished one second adrift.

Morpeth Harriers other two finishers also ran a close race together.
Jacinta Wake finished 331st in 33m23s and was 37th Over 50 Woman.
One place behind her with an identical time was Sue Smith,
who was 38th Over 50 Woman.

The event had a total of 457 finishers.

In their third round NEYDL Division 1 match, held at the Morpeth Athletics Track at KEVI School on Sunday 24th June 2018, hosts Morpeth Harriers Young Athlete squad, provisionally,
with results subject to further scrutiny, finished second to Harrogate,
who very much look like gaining their first Championship,
with one fixture remaining at Hexham in July.

The combined Morpeth Male and Female squads, under the Managership of Mark Brown and Dave Thomas respectively managed a total of 37 wins, which included sixteen A String and twenty B string,
plus one 4 x100m Relay victory.
That 4 x100m Relay win came from their Under 15 Girls, who also notched up a total of five A String
and five B String wins, as part of the clubs’ overall tally.

The Under 15 Girls and Boys were also the clubs’ biggest contributors,
​managing a total of eleven A string wins and thirteen B string wins between them.

A very strong performer in the Under 15 Girls was Jessica Gardiner, who won both the Discus (28.26m) and Hammer (33.89m), the latter breaking her own league record, which she had set in the previous match at Whitley Bay in May.
Gardiner very nearly added a third A string win in the Shot Putt with her best of 8.60m.
In the Discus, Morpeth secured a double win, courtesy of Melody Brooks (16.99m)
Despite an earlier setback in the 75m Hurdles, which were won by club colleague Amy Lott (11.84s),
​where she hit a Hurdle badly, which caused her to pull out midway down the finish straight,
Morpeth’s Alice Geoghegan bounced back in determined mode, to win the 300m in a time of 43.92s,
and Mia Belton confirmed an excellent Morpeth double victory in the B string, winning in 44.05s.
Morpeth secured another Morpeth Under 15 Girl double victory, in the 200m,
courtesy of debutant Amber Witt, who took the A string in 27.04s, and Rosie Winter winning the B string in 28.12s.
Witt also finished an excellent second in the A string 100m in 13.17s,
where Ellie Longstaff won the B string in 13.51s.

Another Morpeth Under 15 Girl B string winner was Abi Leiper (4.51m), who supported Abbie Ross’s second place in the Long Jump A string (4.62m), only losing out for victory by a mere 3cm.
The 4 x 100m victory in 52.03s, confirmed an all-round excellent performance from the Under 15 Girls.

On to the Under 15 Boys, whose fourteen wins, six A string and eight B strings,
proved to be the biggest contribution towards Morpeth’s successful day.
Ben Waterfield won the 800m A string in 2m07.95s, and Euan Duffin duly obliged
by securing an excellent B string victory in 2m14.35s.

Morpeth secured no less than four double victories in the Under 15 Boys Field Events.
Koffi Avornyo cleared 1.55m to win the High Jump, with newcomer Thomas Damaher
securing a B string win with 1.50m.

A formidable pairing were Danny Dowd and Oliver Geoghegan,
twin brother of Alice, who secured a double win for Morpeth in the Javelin.

Dowd won the A string with his on the day best of 35.42m, and Geoghegan easily secured the B string with 22.95m.
Newcomer Theo Brown won the Discus with 26.35m, and another newcomer Nat Arkle shared the spoils by winning the B string with an on the day best of 20.19m.

It was all very much part of an excellent day for Arkle, as he also obliged with two superb A string victories in the Hammer (24.69m), and Shot Putt (9.63m), although the latter was narrow, by a mere 3cm.
Supporting Arkle in the Shot Putt with a Morpeth B string victory was Oliver Geoghegan (6.45m),
his second B string win of the day.

Another Morpeth Under 15 Boy B string winner was Dylan Davies in the 1500m (4m49.57s),
​supporting Dylan Gooding’s second in the A string with a time of 4m38.44s.

There were also Morpeth Under 15 Boy B string wins for Fergus Barclay in the 200m (26.47s),
and Charlie Lane in the 300m (41.55s).
Lane also finished fourth in a fiercely competitive 200m A race, posting a personal best of 26.08s, and Ben Waterfield very nearly landed a 300m double victory, when finishing second in the A race, posting a personal best time of 40.98s, just losing out by a mere fraction for a second win of the day.

Younger brother of Jessica Gardiner, Edward, alike to his sister, was a star in the Under 13 Field events, winning both the Javelin and Shot Putt A string competitions, producing best efforts respectively of 25.14m and 7.12m, both representing new personal best performances.

Newcomer Harry Brown won the B string Javelin with an excellent 22.73m,
adding an excellent double victory in support of Gardiner, and his club.
Supporting Gardiner in the Shot was Joe Dixon, who finished an excellent second in the B string with 5.51m.

Ryan Davies was Morpeth’s other Under 13 Boy A string winner, taking the 1500m in 5m03.32s,
a brand new personal best for the impressive youngster, and younger brother of Dylan.

Harry Brown added to his B string Javelin win, by winning the Under 13 Boys B string 100m in 13.88s,
backing up Owen Omoigue’s second in the A string with 13.85s.

Another B string win for Morpeth Under 13 Boys, came courtesy of
Joseph Hudspith in the 800m, a marginal new personal best.

Bertie Marr finished an excellent second in the A race in 2m34.18s.

An excellent effort by Morpeth’s Under 13 Boys 4 x 100m squad,
​saw them finish second to Harrogate in 59.40s, losing out by nearly two seconds.

Morpeth had one A string win in the Under 17 Men’s events, courtesy of Tom Balsdon in the 1500m in 4m16.55s, which was very close to his personal best, and Andrew Hudspith certainly made his win even more effective, by taking the B race in 4m46.33s, which bettered his previous figures by around three seconds.
The clubs other B string victory came courtesy of Luke Haxell in the Discus (29.48m).
David Sanderson finished second in the A string with 31.71m.

The double victory by Morpeth’s Holly Peck and Lauren Cummings in the 1500m
was the best result for the club in the Under 17 Women’s events.
Peck won the A race in 5m02.33s, and Cummings took the B race in 5m36.54s.

Morpeth’s Under 13 Girls section, who are very much at the learning stage, had some good performances,
with one notable winner Hannah Lott, younger sister of Amy, who cleared 1.20m to win the B string High Jump,
to support Kaitlyn Waddell’s third in the A string with a similar clearance.

MATCH RESULT (Subject to further scrutiny)
1st Harrogate 857pts,
2nd Morpeth 700pts,
3rd New Marske 671pts,
4th Blaydon 629pts,
5th North Shields Poly 617.5pts,
​6th Chester Le Street 189.5pts.

Eight Morpeth Harriers took part in the annual North East Masters
Athletics Association Track and Field Championships
at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium on Saturday 23rd June 2018.

Running in the Over 40 Men’s 100m, Wayne Gedge finished second in 14.9s.
Gedge also threw 17.33m for third in the Discus.

Another Morpeth Harrier taking part in the Discus was Steven Appleby,
who claimed the Silver Medal ahead of Gedge, throwing a best of 32.14m.
The Morpeth pair also claimed medals respectively in the Shot and Long Jump.
Appleby took Silver in the Shot with a best of 8.77m, and Gedge won Silver in the Long Jump with 4.46m.
Gedge claimed his fourth medal of the day in the Triple Jump with a best of 6.16m.

Archie Jenkins won the Over 65 Men’s Gold Medal in the 800m, posting a time of 3m22.1s.

In the 1500m, Over 60 Veteran Gavin Bayne won the Gold Medal in 5m26.3s.
Bayne also medalled in the Over 60 Men’s 5000m, taking Bronze in 19m31.6s.

Pam Woodcock, who was Morpeth’s only Female competitor in action,
won the Over 65 Women’s 1500m in 6m44.0s.

Paul Bentley, Morpeth’s oldest competing athlete on the day,
won an Over 70 Men’s Bronze medal in the 3000m, clocking 14m18.0s.

Although a non-medallist on the day, Paul Bellingham competed well
in the Over 55 Men’s 800m and 1500m events, finishing in fifth position in both cases,
producing times of 2m31.1s, and 5m07.3s.

Morpeth’s Alistair MacDonald finished fourth overall
​in the Open Mile race, posting a time of 5m30.6s.

In last week’s athletics coverage, we reported on Morpeth Harrier Rory Leonard unfortunately missing out on a certain medal possibility after being tripped in the 3000m at the combined Under 20/Under 23 England Athletics Track and Field Championships at Bedford.

By the end of the week however, things got better for the KEVI Sixth Form pupil, much better in fact, when he received the news that he had won selection to the GB Team for the forthcoming European Under 18 Athletics Championships, scheduled to be held in Gyor, Hungary between 5th and 8th July.

It all comes on the back of a superb Cross-Country season, which saw the Rothbury based athlete win not only the North East and the Northern Under 17 Men’s Championship, but also the Inter Counties Championship, and he finished fifth in the English Schools Championships.

Leonard is one of a total of 33 athletes selected over the many events, and he runs in the 3000m alongside great rival Thomas Keen of Cambridge and Coleridge on the 5th July.
His personal best time of 8m18.80s sees him currently ranked as No 5 in the UK, and quite high in the European figures also, credentials which have indeed won him International plaudits worldwide, where he is ranked No 3 overall in his age group.
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Leonard is firmly backed in his exploits by supporting parents Tony and Sharon, both being top class runners in their competitive days, and his Coach at Morpeth Mike Bateman.
All at Morpeth Harriers wish him congratulations upon his selection, and best of luck in the competition itself.